Shetha Al-Dargazelli, PhD           

There is an enormous body of evidence to validate healing.  Unfortunately, until very recently there have been great difficulties in convincing the scientific community of the validity and practical utility of these phenomena.

  If major healing processes could be induced at the researchers' will and under controlled conditions, then repeatable experiments could more easily establish the benefits of healing.

  This article casts light on a group of reproducible healing phenomena that are readily amenable to scientific study.  Sadly, they have heretofore been neglected by the medical community and by parapsychologists.

  The Deliberately Caused Bodily Damage (DCBD) phenomena have been investigated under rigorous scientific conditions in the laboratories of a dedicated research team called Parmann Programme, initiated in Amman, Jordan.

  Gifted practitioners of DCBD apply detrimental stimuli to their bodies which ordinarily would induce serious damage.  A typical feat of the DCBD phenomena is inserting sharp instruments such as skewers and spikes into various parts of the human body.  Subjects can control all the naturally expected harmful consequences of the injuries and finish their demonstrations unscathed and without subsequent infections - despite the fact that the piercing instruments are not sterilised.

  The extraordinary body responses of the talented subjects that are manifested through these feats could be divided into the following categories:

  1. The body responds with 'Super Reactions' (SRs) to the ordinary responses of pain and bleeding.

  In most cases either no bleeding occurs or there are a very few droplets of blood.  In rare cases a thin line of blood of some 3-5 centimetres length might extend from the wound.  The degree of bleeding is completely unpredictable.  A person who has undergone DCBD feats tens or hundreds of times at a particular site on the body without bleeding might show a few drops of blood on the next occasion.

  A similar unpredictability has been observed with scarring.  Some wounds heal without producing scars, while others leave small scars.

  2.  Almost immediate healing of the induced wound occurs upon removing the piercing instruments from the body.
 
  In most cases the wound seems to close  immediately upon removal of the inserted object.  Healing occurs so quickly that it cannot be pursued by the eye.  In the remaining cases it might take 4-10 seconds till the wound is completely closed.  We classify these also within the 'instantaneous healing' category.

  Thicker of skewers, which might induce injuries of larger diameters in the body, are not necessarily correlated with slower healing times.  Shapes of skewers are likewise not correlated with healing times.

  3.  No infections follow these injuries, despite the lack of sterility of the instruments and procedures.

  Until recently, mastery over these abilities could be found primarily in devotees of certain eastern religions.  Since 1988 the researches of Parmann Programme focused on the DCBD abilities of the followers of a Sufi school known as Tariqa Casnazaniyyah (Tariqa = way; Casnazan = the secret that none knows).  These dervishes were chosen for the following reasons.

  1.  The DCBD abilities of the dervish cover a wide range of SRs:

  a. They insert unsterilised sharp objects such as skewers, daggers, spikes and the like into various parts of their bodies.  They also chew and swallow glass and sharp razor blades.  They exhibit the SRs of immunity to pain, bleeding and infection.  At the request of observers the dervishes deliberately contaminate their sharp objects before using them, without subsequent infections.

  b. They expose themselves to bites of poisonous snakes and scorpions.  In some cases, the poisonous creatures are also eaten.  The SR in this instance is immunity to poison.

  c.  They also exhibit immunity to fire.  They can expose various parts of their bodies to flames for 5-15 seconds, can hold red-hot iron plates in their hands and bite them with their teeth, all with no pain or injury.

  2.  The dervishes acquire their DCBD abilities immediately after initiation as a dervish, which requires only 2-3 minutes.  After this ritual the new dervish is informed that he can practice the DCBD feats which are performed by the other dervishes.

  The dervishes' immediate acquisition of SRs requires no previous preparation.  This contradicts the common belief that abilities such as those listed above could be accessed only after subjecting the mind and/or body to many years of disciplined training.  In the light of the dervishes' immediate acquisition of SRs, one might speculate that the intent behind the requirements of many religions for years of practice could be motivated by religious concerns rather than other alleged limitations.  Devotees are regularly recommended to exercises that have been derived from teachings of the particular religions.  Unfortunately, these claims have acquired considerable credibility within the general and parapsychological communities.  The immediate acquisition of the dervishes of their DCBD abilities strongly suggests that the assumed requirements for training may be unnecessary.

  3.  All the dervishes acquire the same DCBD abilities.

  Among the devotees of some eastern religions and among the members of some shamanistic communities, the percent of individuals who have DCBD abilities relative to the total number of ordinary members of their communities has always been very small.  The communal acquisition of the DCBD abilities by the dervishes stresses the fact that there should be some fundamental differences between the abilities of the dervishes and similar abilities of other practitioners.

  Shaykh Muhammad al-Casnazani, the Master of Tariqa Casnazaniyyah, generously responded to the request that some of his dervishes serve as subjects of experiments of Parmann Programme.  Twenty eight members of his sect who had been practising Sufism as dervishes of Tariqa Casnazaniyyah for varying lengths of time were selected.

  The experiments conducted revealed some important facts:

  1.  No special physical, psychological, ethnic or sociological characteristics are required for a person to be able to access DCBD abilities and their SRs.  There were no indications whatsoever that the DCBD abilities should be understood in terms of gifts or talents.  All human beings seem to be potentially prepared to demonstrate these abilities.

  2.  No preparatory rituals or exercises are needed by the dervishes to start their demonstrations.

  3.  Neither before nor during their performances were the dervishes in any sort of trance or altered states of consciousness.  The dervishes were quite alert and able to answer in detail all general and personal questions.

  4.  The similarities between the abilities of the new and old dervishes suggests that strength of belief and faith do not affect their abilities positively or negatively.

  5.  Numerous studies of body parameters of the dervishes during and after their performances showed no deviations from normality.  These included brain wave patterns, blood pressure, cardiac rate, peripheral skin temperature, respiratory rate, chemical tests of blood, urine and stools, sweating rate, and more.

  The complete absence of laboratory changes indicated that the DCBD abilities of the dervishes seem to be quite independent of the practitioners' characteristics and the environment in which they are demonstrated.  These findings do not match what is known about other healing phenomena, where success seems to be a function of characteristics of the healers and healees, their mutual interactions during the healing process and various environmental variables as well.

  In order to have a complete picture of the DCBD abilities of Tariqa Casnazaniyyah it is helpful to examine the details of the ritual of changing an ordinary person into a dervish.

  When people come to one of the Takyas (place where the dervishes practice their worship) and declare their wish to become dervishes of Tariqa Casnazaniyyah they are asked to participate in a single ritual.  This is performed by any one of the distinguished group of dervishes known as 'Califas'.  People are asked to put their right hand in the right hand of a Califa and recite after him a few religious statements through which initiates announce their loyal to Tariqa Casnazaniyyah.  Depending on the speed of the Califa and the initiate in reciting the religious vow, this ritualistic handshake may take 2-3 minutes.  After that the new dervishes are informed by the Califa about their religious duties and are told also that from then on they can perform DCBD feats like all other dervishes, provided that they demonstrate these abilities only for the religious purpose of providing a living demonstration of the spiritual powers of Tariqa Casnazaniyyah.

  These abilities are considered to be manifestations of spiritual powers of the Master of Tariqa Casnazaniyyah and are by no means viewed as manifestations of intrinsic powers of the dervishes themselves.  However, practising DCBD feats is not considered among the religious obligations of a dervish.  Therefore it is up to the dervish to determine the necessity for using them when trying to attract other people to Tariqa Casnazaniyyah.  Thus, the DCBD abilities in Tariqa Casnazaniyyah do not represent an aim but rather a means.  Generally speaking, except for a few dervishes who decline to practice these feats for various reasons, most dervishes do perform them.

  Close observations of the religious handshake ritual disclosed the following:

  1.  The acquisition of the DCBD abilities by the new dervish could be understood as a transfer process of these abilities from the Califa to the new dervish.

  2.  The Califas can transfer the DCBD abilities to every person.

  3.  After participating in this ritual the person becomes a dervish but not a Califa.  In terms of the DCBD abilities of this sect this means that new dervishes can practice these feats using their own bodies but they cannot transfer them to others.

  4.  Although the number of dervishes is very large the number of Califas is quite small.

  5.  The Califas are appointed by the Master himself and none of the dervishes or even the Califas is authorised to promote a dervish to Califa.

  The Master's explanation of the Califas transfer ability and the rules of choosing these Califas is summarised in the following quotation:  "They are chosen due to their loyalty to Tariqa Casnazaniyyah. This loyalty enables them to be carriers of spiritual powers of the Master to the other dervishes."

  Beyond the traditional religious explanation quoted above, the Califas themselves do not offer any theories about how their DCBD abilities transfer to other dervishes.

  As for the factors contributing to the transfer process of the DCBD abilities from the Califas to the new dervishes, the recitation of the religious vow appeared irrelevant in some instances because deaf and dumb persons can become dervishes.  In such cases the new dervishes are unable to recite the religious statements.  However, they still have to put their hands in the hand of the Califa who alone recites the religious vow.  With those who have physical problems in their right hand, the left one can be used instead.  If the initiate has problems in using both hands then the Califa usually puts his hand on the initiate's shoulder.  A physical contact between the hand of the Califa and a part of the body of the new dervish for not less than around two minutes seems to be the only requirement of the transfer to occur.

  Women may become dervishes through the same ritual but are not permitted to practice DCBD feats.  According to their religious tradition, the Califas should not touch the hand of women during the ritual.  Instead of shaking hands the Califa holds one end of a rosary while the woman holds the other during the recitation of the religious vow.  This restriction has the following explanation.  The hand of a person received during the ritual by a Califa is considered to be received 'spiritually' by the hand of the Master himself.  Since the Master does not touch foreign women, the Califa should not use a handshake with a woman initiate.

  There is no upper limit for the number of dervishes to whom the Califa can transfer the DCBD abilities.  This could be directly concluded from comparing the large number of dervishes with the very small number of Califas.  Furthermore, the Califa can transfer his abilities to many dervishes simultaneously.  When there is a group of people who want to become dervishes, the Califa usually receives the hand of one of the persons and asks the other to put their hands on the pair of hands which are in the ritual shake.  Even through this indirect handshake the initiates' DCBD abilities are awakened.

  In addition to investigating the abilities of the Califas inside the Takyas and their religious atmosphere, many studies of the abilities of the Califas were performed in the laboratory.  The Califas' capability to transfer their DCBD abilities to a large number of subjects was explored under various circumstances.  According to their religious tradition the Califas should transfer their DCBD abilities only to adult male dervishes.  However, the laboratory experiments included subjects of both sexes and a number of children as well.

  Without exception, with all the subjects (among whom were experimenters of Parmann Programme) the Califas proved successful in transferring their DCBD abilities.  Only the handshake was used, while the religious recitation was omitted.  It was clear that the transfer process is entirely created by a special ability of the Califas.  No identifiable qualities of subjects who acquired the DCBD abilities seemed to influence the results.

  None of the experimental subjects who acquired the DCBD abilities from a Califa has instantly acquired the Califa's special transfer ability.  However, another ability has been noted in many subjects, including some of the experimenters.  Besides becoming able to practice the DCBD feats on their own bodies, some developed an ability to induce SRs and exceptionally fast healing processes in bodies of persons who do not have such abilities.  We have labelled this 'Spontaneous Transmission' (ST).

  The ST was tested on people who do not possess SRs, under various conditions, without recording any failure.  Those who have developed ST succeeded in using others' bodies in performing the simplest forms of DCBD feats, such as skewering the peripheral skin and also very dangerous feats, such as inserting spikes into sensitive organs and tissues of the body.

  While the Califa can transfer the DCBD abilities to others permanently so that they can practice these feats whenever and wherever they wish, without requiring the Califa after the initial induction, most of the ST gifted subjects can only induce DCBD abilities in others' bodies temporarily.  Thus, the ordinary people who are subjected to ST do not develop independent DCBD abilities.  There are no obvious differences between the subjects who developed ST and the others who did not.  However, the ST gifted subjects seem to possess a power of will that enables them to manipulate others' bodies to the extent of apparently forcing them to respond with SRs and fast healing processes when subjected to DCBD challenges.

  Five of the ST gifted subjects developed an exceptional application of their ST.  Like the Califas, these five could achieve permanent transfer of their DCBD abilities to others.  Each one of these 'duplicators', as we call them, can transfer permanent SRs and fast healing abilities to any person who is in their vicinity.  The startling point here is that duplicators can transfer their DCBD abilities to any person even if this person is not willing to receive DCBD abilities.  Even if subjects do not want to possess DCBD abilities, they cannot stop the transfer of these abilities from the duplicator to themselves.  It is worth noting that a child and a woman are among the five duplicators.

  Like their ability of granting SRs to other people, the duplicators showed an opposite ability of depriving talented people of their SRs.  Through this switch-off technique the duplicators can cancel the SRs of any person in their vicinity.  The duplicators proved successful in applying the switch-off technique even to subjects who had been performing DCBD feats for years.  When in the vicinity of one of the duplicators who held the negative intent in his mind, even ascetics, who claimed that they have developed their SRs after years of training, could not demonstrate SRs.

  It would appear that the power of will of the duplicator is the predominant factor in the mechanism of the switch-off technique.

  The apparent percent of Califas to dervishes is much smaller than that of duplicators to those granted DCBD abilities.  The percent of the Califas to the other dervishes is of the order of one to thousands.  Accurate figures cannot be given since the numbers of Califas and dervishes cannot be accurately determined.  [Nor is it possible to assess whether any of the dervishes who are not chosen to transfer abilities might nevertheless be able to do so. - Ed.]  It is reasonable to speculate that the numbers of duplicators could be larger.  Even with only five experimental duplicators, the percent of these to the subjects in general is much higher than that of the Califas to the other dervishes.

  Fire immunity has also been investigated by Parmann Programme.  We had many opportunities to observe 'talented' firewalkers in addition to the dervishes and our laboratory subjects.  Our investigation, along with the observations of other fire immunity researchers (of which there are far more than of DCBD phenomena), has led us to hypothesise that firewalking is a transferable ability but that this transfer is uncontrolled.  Therefore we call it 'Free Transmission'.  Neither the will of the experienced firewalkers nor the new ones can warrant permanent transfer of fire immunity.  In the same firewalking ceremony one finds successful and unsuccessful firewalkers.  Failures might include experienced firewalkers who could suffer severe burns.  Experienced firewalkers also cannot block the transfer of their fire immunity to attendants of their ceremony.  Even the professional firewalkers cannot tell in advance which participants would have a safe walk and which would not.  These accounts explain why we believe there is a basic difference between fire immunity of different firewalking traditions and that of the Califas.  The Califas' and dervishes' fire immunity does not transfer to the attendants of their performances.  This ability, along with the other SRs, transfers only through the ritual handshake.  We have therefore coined the term 'Bound Transmission' to refer to the controlled mechanism of the dervish SRs, including fire immunity.

  Discussion:   So far it is not clear whether the range of abilities described above are essentially different or simply represent various manifestations of one phenomenon.  The power of the human will seems to be the common denominator of all of these abilities.  However, this does not necessarily mean that all these phenomena should be grouped together.

  None of the available theoretical models seems able to account for the mechanism of transfer, nor to explain how the abilities of these Califas seem inexhaustible to transfer DCBD abilities to unlimited numbers of people.

  The history of science teaches that establishing and developing a reliable knowledge depends mainly on discovering more of the characteristic phenomena of that science, as well as developing facilities competent for manipulating these phenomena.

  In healing and parapsychology, even the most gifted subjects do not achieve regular and reliable mastery over their psychic abilities.  Reproducibility is vital for subjecting the phenomena to rigorous scientific investigation.

  Traditional scientists severely criticise the fact that healings are unpredictable and unrepeatable phenomena, even with exceptionally talented subjects.  Even healers who bring about improvements or even cures in quite serious and complicated physical diseases (which conventional medicine can do little to help) cannot promise consistent success.  This methodological shortcoming has heretore been insurmountable.

  The unrepeatability in demonstrations of healing is usually explained by the assumption that the talent of the healer is not the only influential factor in achieving successful healing.  Other, unknown factors also are thought to be contributing to the healing phenomena.

  Parapsychology has evolved into investigations of events rather than phenomena.  Naturally, very little can be expected from such researches.  Sadly, parapsychologists and medical researchers have neglected the DCBD phenomena that are as reproducible as any of the phenomena studied by conventional science.

  None of the available theoretical models can account for ST or the switch-off technique.

  Although many characteristics of the duplicators' abilities might be seen as parapsychological phenomena, this explanatory avenue does not seem promising, given that parapsychology has not, so far, come to be a clearly defined concept.  We are optimistic that subjecting these phenomena to further investigations can reveal significant facts not only about their very nature but about the mechanism of healing phenomena in general.

  The absence of satisfactory theoretical explanation cannot deprive a phenomenon of its serviceability.  Even the history of conventional science is full of examples where experimental findings were utilised in applications before being satisfactorily understood, especially in he medical field.  There are innumerable cases of successful healings which have been recorded in the absence of any satisfactory theoretical explanation.  This proves beyond doubt that practical utilisation of unexplained phenomena is an indisputable possibility.

  The unknown is not something that scientists have to avoid or be afraid of.  This is precisely what science is challenged to explore.

  Even from the perspective of conventional science the Califas' and duplicators' feats have extremely significant implications.  First of all they represent reproducible phenomena which can be subjected to rigorous scientific investigation under highly controlled laboratory conditions.  Second, they prove that the SRs and exceptionally fast healing processes that are manifested through DCBD feats could be induced in every human body.  These abilities are within the capacity of everyone and are not restricted to highly gifted or trained persons only.

  Obviously, the most important immediate potential benefit is in mastery over traumatic causes of serious injuries and deaths.

Shetha Al-Dargazelli, PhD, Physics Department, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE

You may quote from or reproduce these editorial clips if you include the following credits and email contact:
Copyright © Daniel J. Benor, M.D. 1994 Reprinted with permission of the author P.O. Box 76 Bellmawr, NJ 08099 www.WholisticHealingResearch.com   DB@WholisticHealingResearch.com

RETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THIS NEWSLETTER