Book Review: Wings Of Illusion

I must admit, that when I first received this book for review I wondered whether its publishers had sent it to the wrong journal. Nevertheless, out of an initial sense of duty due to my once significant involvement with parapsychology, I began to read and, much to my surprise, found myself engrossed, stimulated, and somehow believed to find that Schumaker's text did indeed have something of relevance, and import, to say to an existential readership.

First of all, the term paranormal is employed by the author in a much more general way than a reader might initially suppose. Schumaker uses the term to denote all beliefs, be they religious, transcendental and pseudo-scientific that attest to anything beyond what he terms to be those of the 'natural scientific' boundaries of human existence. His thesis, put simply, is that while human evolution has provided our species with the ability to consider, intellectualise, and experience 'reality', that self-same experience leads to a confrontation with the chaos, brutality and utter meaninglessness of existence. As such, it became necessary, early on in the evolution of human consciousness, for us to find the means to protect ourselves against the 'truth' of the human condition. Thus was the 'birth' of paranormal belief systems that are the one constant to be found in all societies. For Schumaker, all such beliefs are, in themselves, 'crazy', but without them we would all be 'clinically insane'.

This is not, to be sure, a novel idea. Schumaker refers extensively to the ideas of Ernest Becker, author of The Denial of Death among other influential texts, as a source-point of many of the ideas discussed in the book. But this is not a simple re-hash of Becker's conclusions. Schumaker makes it his task to address a number of key concerns, among them: what the function of paranormal beliefs might be and what the 'price' and worth of continuing to adhere to such beliefs might be for us as we enter the 21st Century.

As a practising clinical psychologist, Schumaker considers Becker's assertion 'that mental illness is a consequence of failing to misinterpret the world in which we find ourselves' (Schumaker, 1991, p 109) and, on the whole, provides intriguing analyses that by and large back up this view. The first two chapters, and sections of all seven of the remaining ones in Schumaker's book are exciting, intellectually challenging, and well-worth the attention of existential philosophers, psychologists and psychotherapists. Unfortunately, for this reader, from Chapter Three onwards, the text has a tendency to veer into, admittedly interesting but tangential issues (including suggestibility and anorexia nervosa) which, while certainly relevant to any extended discussion of paranormal beliefs, are intrusions in a short book (164 pages of text) such as this one where the central ideas deserve and demand as much space and consideration as possible.

In a similar manner, I was irritated by Schumaker's own seemingly unquestioned allegiance to the 'truths' of natural science: while I agree with him that scientific theory may be a more adequate system of truth-revealing enquiry than any other thus far invented by our species, I remain sceptical of the 'objective facts' it claims to have discerned. Schumaker cannot also resist making cynical reference to such things as ESP, spiritualism and consumerist-based 'New Age' beliefs. Certainly, there are important and valid critiques to be made of such, but here Schumaker uncharacteristically resorts to cheap and dismissive shots that, to my mind, miss their mark.

Nevertheless, I recommend this text to Journal readers. Its relevance to key existential notions is obvious and its stated area of discourse is both intellectually and emotionally challenging.

Ernesto Spinelli