ESP at New Frontiers Institute

The New Frontiers Institute was a loosely knit organization under the leadership of a Bay Area chiropractor and hypnotherapist, Dr. Richard Gierak. Other members of the group have included a tax consultant, a housewife, a medical doctor, and an astrophysicist. During the past two years there has been some turnover in membership.

Membership selection in the group has been based on a screening process designed to find individuals who have the potential for successful psi training. This screening process involves a standard hypnotic induction. When in a light hypnotic state, the candidate is asked to visualize being alone in a comfortable room. Then the candidate is instructed to visualize the creation of "protective shields" around his or her body in this room and to visualize the separation of the "etheric body" from the physical body. If the candidate is successfully able to create and maintain this image of separation, a level is achieved that Gierak labels "Stage Three." (Stages One and Two involve the level of hypnotic trance prior to this point.)

Gierak then asks the candidate to leave the physical body back in the room, where it is safely protected, and to come with him on a journey "through the portals of time." Using hypnotic age regression Gierak has the candidate vividly recall early life memories. Then he asks the candidate to go back in time to a point perhaps fifteen years prior to birth to obtain imagery from what might be thought of as a previous incarnation. He is generally careful not to phrase his suggestions as to imply reincarnation.

If success is achieved in obtaining imagery from a supposed past incarnation, Gierak then directs the candidate to a point in time which is thought to be "between births" in a nonphysical reality. The experience of the candidate in this nonphysical reality is what will determine if he or she is a "Stage Four" and thus fit for psi training. In this part of the screening process, the candidate is not given hypnotic suggestions but is simply asked to describe the experience of the "before birth" state.

A wide variety of descriptions are possible and whatever experience is described is likely to reflect a deep layer in the psycho-mythological dynamics of the individual. Some individuals describe a godlike radiance, which shines on them and of which they stand in awe and fear, daring not to approach too closely. This is a typical "Stage Three" response. The "Stage Four" response that Gierak is looking for might be thought of as becoming one with the divine radiance or, in his terms, "merging with the hive mind."

The selection procedure is to some extent parallel to the archetypal images of the afterlife that are found in the Tibetan Book of the Dead in which one must recognize and experience, without fear, the "clear light" in order to attain enlightenment and avoid rebirth. Gierak himself is not a scholar and claims to have deliberately kept himself unaware of other mystical or psychic training traditions.

In his unpublished notes, Gierak provides the following description of "the hive mind": "The Supreme Being is most analogous to a hive mind, composed of individual units which have no physical form but instead are classified as ethereal or energy forms. The hive mind is omnipotent, yet lacks all of the emotions known to physical man through training and maturity. Each individual unit as it is formed has all the capabilities of the Supreme Being, however, the thought processes, experiences and creative thoughts are undeveloped.... To solve the problem of training these young energy beings, the adult hive mind has devised a most ingenious solution as the young are imprisoned within physical beings on the habitable planets of our universe and deprived the use of their paranormal powers during this period. As the physical forms mature and die, the energy being moves on to another physical form until the beginning of maturity takes hold.... This may continue for thousands of physical years or lives before the ethereal being begins to have consciousness of self. Once maturity is complete the beings become part of the hive mind and then become working members of the Supreme Being."

While it is possible that Gierak has found some objectively testable psychological condition relevant to screening subjects for psychic training, the screening procedure may actually, or perhaps additionally, be a way for him to select subjects with whom he has good hypnotic rapport. The philosophy about the experience is his; the other individuals who are classified at who had been refusing to cooperate with the trainers, to perform specific acrobatic maneuvers. The results were impressive.