Ch. 3 CARTESIAN DUALISM SUPPORTS WOMEN & AMPUTEES AS COMPLETE:

IAN STEVENSON'S CONCEPT OF THE PSYCHOPHORE 

Silvia Francesca Stein, Author 

Mridula Sharma, Technical Adviser, Reincarnation Facebook group Administrator,

                          & former aquaintance of Ian Stevenson, MD

"I perceive that I now exist and recall that I have previously existed for some time" - Rene' Descartes (1993, p. 76), Meditation on First Philosophy: 45

 

ABSTRACT

I establish how a biochemist and psychiatrist, Ian Stevenson, MD, Chair of Psychiatry and Director of the Department of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia, rhetorically maintained his broader, Cartesian (Descartes, 1993) definition of the psychophore through arguing for research on apparitions, and phantom limbs, as essential to verify his definition of the psychophore. His logic is very simple, research is required to prove or disprove the psychophore, thus a proper definition must anticipate the functions, mechanisms, and products of the psychophore as an extended consciousness surviving even without the body (Descartes, 1993 & Stevenson, 1997). Cartesian dualism stipulates that the source of the Mind is separate from the physical body, thus a classical Mind and body split (Descartes, 1993). Stevenson's psychophore functions as a federation of fields, consisting of deceased personalities, among the present individual (Stevenson, 1997), thus indivisible. Arguably the function of the psychophore is similar to the Soul, bridging research goals between scientific fields and theological pursuits of study (John Paul, 2002). I am not writing that the psychophore is the same as the Soul, nor am I writing that the psychophore is different from the Soul, just that they seem to serve the same function. After an individual's death, or death of a limb (amputation), the body's federation of diachronic (across time) morphogenetic and synchronic (across space) morphostatic fields, together called the psychophore, remains intact and visible, as apparitions, and somatically experienced as phantom limb memory (Stevenson, 1997, pp. 2083-2093). Think of an amputation, the dead limb leaves the Soul, yet the Soul remains with the living body (Descartes, 1993, p. 102), the same at death, the dead body leaves the Soul (Descartes, 1993). Besides a useful field of study for scientists, this is also an area of interest for theologians (John Paul, 2002). The psychophore seems to function as a unique and identifiable shape shifting form (Stevenson, 1997), which is not similar to the Hindu concept of atman that does not have a form (Dreyfus & Thompson, 2007).

I.   INTRODUCTION

Scientific forensic research and academia, like religious institutions, are plagued by phallocentric or able-bodied narcissism biasing students, research, data gathering, and interpretation of findings (Bem, 1993, & Guba & Lincoln, 2000). Phallocentric able-bodied narcissism is based on the primacy of men as physically fit, and biological male bodily fluids as distributing sources of knowledge. This is often a practice based ideology to justify violence against children, adolescents, handicapped and women, as a biological insemination of knowledge held by men (Stein, 2002). I am in opposition to this point of view, and, I argue, so was Ian Stevenson. Stevenson actually attributed consciousness to a ghost like apparition that we are born with and that dwells in our physical body since before birth. Our ghost actually selects our parents and our form for birth (Stevenson, 1997, pp. 2041-2062). Of course if I or Stevenson began discussing the mechanism of the psychophore as a ghost you'd think us crazy; thus Stevenson begins with discussing the alternative phallocentric template model.

Stevenson (1997) posits that visual consciousness is diachronic and synchronic and inherited through the memory vehicle of holographic like ideographic images (Burke, 1969 & McGee, 1999) contained in the psychophore, which is fully conscious and stimulates the parts of the brain involved in cognitive visual process to inform the incarnate human person (Beijnon, 2016). This ghost model emphasizes introspection as part of obtaining consciousness through the image memory vehicle, the psychophore (Stevenson, 1997). Contrastingly, the phallocentric able-bodied rationale suggests that persons become dependent on, and would not otherwise know how to behave, nor know what to do, without a male or able-bodied person instructing them (Stein, 2002). Phallocentric or able-bodied narcissism relegates women and amputees as an inferior incarnation. Stevenson states that theapparition of the psychophore can move or move through a person, like a piece of "furniture" (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2090), to be adjusted by its higher consciousness. Persons who misread this statement will not understand that our ghost moves us, and instead use this "furniture" reference to mean that persons, women, the handicapped, and children, must be moved or adjusted often through physical abuse, or as without a Soul or consciousness. These persons will argue that "furniture" are unable to even be fully conscious of the abuse, like a dog (Bem, 1993, Gilligan, 1993, & Stein, 2002), Stevenson would argue otherwise; all sentient creatures, and their ghosts, retain memory and feelings (Stevenson, 1997).

Ian Stevenson, MD, maintained that an individual's human consciousness survives death, and is felt as phantom limb sensation, seen as an apparition, a quality he describes as belonging to the psychophore. Consciousness is not a bodily fluid nor a known bodily substance (Greyson, 2011, & Stevenson, 1997).

By rereading scientific literature, such as Stevenson’s, from a perspective other than phallocentric or able-bodied (Bem, 1993, & Gilligan, 1993), we can develop a combination of qualitative and quantitative methodologies insuring reliable triangulated research. Triangulated research methodologies are designed to provide a check-and-balance against inherent biases, and against data driven results. Data driven results are studies that are done to support an anticipated outcome. The first step to avoid a biased outcome is to test for no outcome, what is called the 'null hypothesis'. An example is, to prove that reincarnation is a possible answer for inherited personality traits, we first try to prove the 'null hypothesis; 'that reincarnation is not a possible answer for inherited personality traits. Besides testing for the 'null hypothesis', triangulated research functions best when literature and personnel from different sciences, including theology, develop an interdisciplinary approach in testing a theory (Guba & Lincoln, 2000).

An interdisciplinary approach differs from a multidisciplinary approach. An interdisciplinary approach is arbitrated by one primary faculty, while utilizing expertise and methodologies from other faculties, or areas of study. For example, I am performing a communication study on the issue of reincarnation by studying Stevenson's literature describing the psychophore and his rhetorical style in defending his description (Stevenson, 1997). Reincarnation is traditionally an area of study for psychologists, psychiatrists, and theologians (Wolffram, 2009), yet I am using communication strategies of rhetoric, content analysis, and photography to bridge the concerns of all these differing faculties plus the mass media. Reincarnation studies can be profitable if properly marketed through documentaries presented as news items in the mass media. A multidisciplinary approach is not interested in generating consensus among very different fields of research. I am interested in instructing a market with a forensic mass media self-help attitude so that persons can empower themselves, pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps (Villanueva, 1993).

A. Unified Consciousness as a Federation of Fields Separate from the Physical Body

In the face of systemic sexism, able-bodied narcissists, and publication editors, how does Ian Stevenson, MD, maintain that the function of the diachronically (across time) and synchronically (across space) enduring psychophore, and disembodied consciousness, survive? Negating bodily fluids or functions being the source of consciousness means that the sperm or egg do not contain the Soul at fertilization. How can consciousness transfer without the transfer of bodily fluids?

Stevenson argues for a unified consciousness existing separately yet functioning with the biological human body. This memory transfer from the deceased does not end at the beginning of a new human life (Greyson, 2011, & Stevenson, 1997). The psychophore, personality and memory, remains indivisible in regards to a new female or male incarnation: "a body such as I [Stevenson] conceive the psychophore to be" (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2089), that after death or amputation, the psychophore's "body" is still intact and whole as a federation of diachronic morphogenetic and synchronic morphostatic fields of the psychophore, which are visible as apparitions, and somatically experienced as phantom limb memory (Stevenson, 1997, pp. 2083-2093). Thus in my research I essentially operationalize Stevenson's definition of the psychophore with the definition of Soul, and mind as consciousness, interchangeably. This does not balance with Hindu concepts of the Soul, in that Stevenson's psychophore has a visible form, a body, whereas the Soul in Hinduism does not. Stevenson does seem to borrow some reincarnation concepts from Hinduism, though he then changes these concepts to fit his description of the psychophore, as he sees it, with a definite body and form, like a ghost, an apparition. Stevenson's psychophore has extension of its mental images, a form of consciousness.

This essay is very complex, building step by step upon complex terms like diachronic, synchronic, morphogenetic, and morphostatic to explain what a psychophore is. It will take several re-readings of my essay to understand what I have synthesized from Stevenson's two volume book on the cases that establish the existence of the psychophore, as the mechanistic process in reincarnation processes. Its much easier and cheaper to read and re-read my essay than the 2268 pages of Stevenson's two volume book. In this essay I cite specifically the instances why we scholars need to broaden the traditional operational definition of psychophore by understanding Stevenson's explanation of the psychophore properly, and patiently (Stevenson, 1997). Stevenson was an astute rhetoritician in dealing with critics, as evidenced in this rhetorical analysis of his discussion of the recursive function of the psychophore. A recursive function in reincarnation means that memories remain through a field federation, yet the human life is reset to its birthing process.

Souls, like the psychophore, are unique, and Stevenson's work is applicable to theological study as well. This is a premise in critical exegesis (analysis of religious scripture) that I think should be scientifically provable, through research of the psychophore, to balance with the Roman Catholic Papal Encyclical "Fides et ratio" (John Paul, 2002), among other theological statements. What we know through intuition, or Faith (John Paul, 2002), should be scientifically verifiable, researched and tested. Faith and reason are two differently explained views to describing the same phenomena (John Paul. 2002). Oddly enough the 1998 Papal letter regarding spiritual matters (John Paul, 2002) and Stevenson's masterpiece on reincarnation and biology (Stevenson, 1997) were both released within the same period. At this time women and handicapped had made great advancements fighting for respect and their compensation rights in both religious institutions and academia. This era was soon followed by the post-Princess Diana 1997 pro-Muslim and pro-Christian fundamentalist repressive femminicidal and phallocentric backlash of the Bush era administration in research funding that favored the premise that knowledge originates from men, to women and handicapped, through a water-boarding style fluid transfer, 'communion'. Male based religious and political ideologies emphasized the male's perspective in theory and research, heavily biasing the interpretation of definitions, research paradigms, and ensuing results (Bem, 1993, & Gilligan, 1993). This is particularly an issue when we women and amputees are doing the work yet not recognized nor rewarded for our achievements. Male bias will even go so far as claim that the presence of a male's odor or bodily fluid is the "template", a vessel for 'his' knowledge and memory to be inseminated (Matlock, 2013, p. 254) in the woman; thus women and handicapped do not deserve the recognition for their work, since the knowledge originated fluidly from a man or an able-bodied person. Stevenson disagreed with this view, yet he had to write under the pressure of pleasing the able-bodied and phallocentric prejudices of his corporate and institutional funders.

Taking Stevenson's words out of context, specifically a ten-page context detailing the functions of the psychophore, to favor a "template" sound-bite (Matlock, 2013, p. 254), is wrong. Equating the psychophore to a mere sperm, sweat, or some other fluid "template" (Mattock, 2013), is wrong. Using Stevenson's words outside of their proper context is wrong, indicating either a lazy or malicious reading of Stevenson's work. The psychophore is much more than just a "vehicle for memories" (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2083), as we now read reviewing all the way from page 2083 through page 2093 Stevenson's 1997 publication, Reincarnation & Biology: a contribution to the etiology of birthmarks & birth defects. Volume II: birth defects & other anomalies.

B. Identifying Possible Inherent Bias

We can avoid inherent bias in reincarnation research, data gathering, and interpretation of results by studying carefully our definitions in reincarnation studies, such as the term psychophore. A thorough understanding of the term psychophore, as Stevenson intended, requires understanding Stevenson'srhetorical pattern and motive behind his evasive yet transformative rhetoric. Stevenson needed to get money for research, yet he did not want the federal or private funders' prejudice to be an obstacle. Stevenson had to circumvent skeptics of reincarnation, get their money, and use this money to get published and inform our research designs and methodologies with the accurate information. Stevenson believed that our past ghosts can speak through us, and testing includes variables such as physical indicators and nonverbal communication (Stevenson, 1997).

Communication study of verbal and non-verbal indicators is useful in reference to apparitions and phantom limbs. Communication study encompasses photography as an objective instrument for measurements of light, particularly documentation of apparitions, and phantom limbs. By taking a communication study approach,, combining rhetorical and literature content analysis, and photography. I try to propose an alternative to inherent phallocentric cultural bias in reading Stevenson’s discussion of the psychophore by emphasizing his use of photography as a way to test for reincarnation cases and to document apparitions (Bem, 1992, & Gilligan, 1993).

Preventing result driven data interpretation based on sexist expectations requires anticipating the expected result, and marginalizing it. I begin by identifying the inherent bias, which is the pro-phallocentric result our culture usually desires. A phallocentric, or femminicidal culture, protects males and others that abuse and perform violence against handicapped, children and women. Once the bias, phallocentrism, or able-bodiedness is identified, it is possible to make certain the literature informing research methodology, data collection techniques, and interpretation of data is designed to weed-out inherent bias that has plagued institutions.

I begin by reviewing the writing on the psychophore by Ian Stevenson (1997, pp. 2083-2093) in Volume II of his two volume book set, Reincarnation & Biology: a contribution to the etiology of birthmarks & birth defects. Volume I: birthmarks & Volume II: birth defects & other anomalies. Stevenson's writings are read for social, scientific, and forensic research.

II.  RHETORICAL ANALYSIS OF STEVENSON'S TRANSFORMATIVE STRATEGY

Stevenson rhetorically entertained many dissenting notions regarding the indivisibility of the psychophore, while affirming the possibility of its unified form (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2074). This equates the psychophore to the function of the Soul. Most scientists do not wish to read discussions about the Soul, ghosts or spirits, and Stevenson was aware that he could be ridiculed if he did not appease critics with a very scientistic bait and hook description of the psychophore (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2089). Thus Stevenson first establishes the necessity for the psychophore by arguing: if there is a transmission of previous life memory, there must be a vehicle that functions for this purpose. After obtaining the reader's attention, based on the appeal to necessity, Stevenson reels in the reader to more difficult concepts, such as the psychophore not just as a template, but a federation of a diachronic morphogenetic field and a synchronic morphostatic field, that aids in explaining the retention of phantom sensations of limbs in amputees, congenital amputees, sexual arousal in homosexuals, and the transmission of vital information by apparitions, a personality, whose field is inhabited by a living human being, an individual, acting as a host for an apparition (Stevenson, 1997, pp. 2083-2093). Of course if Stevenson stated right away that he believed in ghosts or a "a spiritual self or person" (Dreyfus & Thompson, 2007, p. 91), and that he conceived of the psychophore as a multidirectional intrapersonal communication exchange among our past ghosts, that the individual human body occupies, most critics would not read his books nor articles. Stevenson actually believed that the physical body leaves the soul or ghost, not vice-versa: "at death our bodies leave us, while we continue to exist in our mental space" (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2074).

A. Establishing Necessity

Stevenson begins with a profound statement of necessity. "Conceptions for mental space have to include a capacity for interaction between a mind (in mental or phenomenal space) and a brain (or parts of a body) in our familiar physical space" (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2073). This statement sets the stage to describe what the functions, and parts, of the psychophore are providing a realm of multidirectional pathways for information exchange, and suppression, between discarnate personalities, and the individual terrestrial life, that occupies their mental space (Stevenson, 1997, pp. 2073 & 2074). The mind body gap provides for a temporary barrier so that information from our past is suppressed and we have a safety zone. Otherwise, unexplainably, previous lifetime memories would surface.

A repressive mechanism, regulated by the psychophore, must also be at work to suppress memories that could otherwise harm the individual's progress, under certain cultural conditions, and needs to be further researched to be properly explained. Stevenson establishes the need for an explanation of the continuity and suppression of memory, and later hints at the indestructible and self-organizing nature of the memory's vehicle. Explaining the continuity and suppression of memory from a previous life helps us understand how the past, and survival of its memory, informs, without overwhelming, our lives, and persists between and through lives (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2083). The memory's vehicle is therefore indestructible, it has the direction of survival; thus it has consciousness of its future lives and direction (Greyson, 2011, & Stevenson, 1997). This model of reincarnation is recursive, meaning that previous memories of personalities remain, yet the human life is reset to its individual birthing process. Stevenson's cases, particularly examining twins, established that consciousness of memory persists in the recursive process without the physical body of the deceased (Greyson, 2011, & Stevenson, 1997).

More documentation is needed, in the form of photography, proving Stevenson's full vision of the psychophore, in contrast to the narrow definition scholars such as James Matlock, PhD, (2013) use describing it as a mere "template". "The psychophore would act as a 'template' for some features of the new physical body, but it would transmit less than the totality of a person's personality" (Matlock, 2013, p.254). This conservative definition retains open the possibility of a broader application of the term "psychophore" in research, which I argue for, and Stevenson continued to pursue (Greyson, 2011, & Stevenson, 1997).

Matlock did not fully understand the difference that Stevenson articulated between "person" and "individual". Matlock uses the two terms interchangeably whereas Stevenson (1997, pp. 2073-2074) identified the current living subject as an "individual", and not a person; the word "person" is used by Stevenson in the Hindu Samskhya concept of "a spiritual self (atman) or person (purusa)" (Dreyfus & Thompson, 2007, p. 91) that survives death. Although a useful introductory concept, Matlock's template example does not explain repression of memories, nor does Matlock account how other elements of the psychophore, such as apparitions, phantom limb sensations, and congenital amputeeism are possible. Where Matlock feeds us a sound-byte, Stevenson strategically addresses our questions with a broader definition of psychophore (Stevenson, 1997, pp. 2089-2093).

B. Baiting the Readers: Matlock, Hammerman & Lenard

Between pages 2083 and 2090, Ian Stevenson, MD, rhetorically distracts the reader with many conjectures to transform a simple understanding of the psychophore, like Matlock's, to a fuller understanding, while tiring out lazy readers.

A bait and hook transformative technique, in rhetoric, tires out lazy readers while reeling in, for a fuller understanding, discerning readers (Burke, 1969). To obtain this effect, Stevenson, subtly, plays on the phallocentric bias of some readers (Bem, 1993, & Burke, 1969). Psychophore is at least serving as an "intermediate vehicle" (Stevenson, 1997, 2083), begins Stevenson, yet it is also described as having 'extension', like a telephone, throughout lives (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2087).

Why is Stevenson seemingly making a very conservative statement, when throughout the discussion of the psychophore, he maintains that it persists throughout the lifetime? I suspect this is a rhetorical strategy to attract the attention of critics who think of the psychophore like a memory capsule, maybe of bodily fluid, a "vehicle for memories" (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2083), a "template" (Matlock, 2013, p. 254), and do not think of the psychophore as a structure, a scaffolding able to conduct electrical signals, and as persisting throughout a lifetime, having extension into the next (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2094).

Stevenson's rhetorical style invites the male chauvinist, perhaps a phallus worshiper, to think that Stevenson agrees with their worldview. Having hooked the reader, Stevenson brings the patient reader to a fuller understanding of the function of the psychophore. Stevenson utilizes the human capacity to interpret a word differently, to bring the person in as part of a broader readership, while educating the audience, by refining his meaning. The psychophore's meaning is thus extended from just a "vehicle for memories", ending at birth, to a broader meaning that endures throughout the lifetime, and the next. In a sense, Stevenson seems to treat the individual reader as having multiple capacities of interpretation, as he helps each inner person, ghost, of the individual reader come to a higher level of learning, bringing about consensus on a broader operational definition of the psychophore (Dreyfus & Thompson, 2007, p. 91).

Those that cannot keep up with Stevenson's bait and hook technique slowly reeling them in to a broader understanding can resort to jumping to an incomplete definition, such as what Matlock offers (2013), or others offer. For example the 2000 edition of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Reincarnation" (Hammerman & Lenard, 2000) provides a simplistic operational definition: "the psychophore as the vehicle for carrying memories from one lifetime to the next" (Hammerman & Lenard, 2000, p. 221).

At this point Hammerman and Lenard (2000) have broadened the function of the psychophore as separate from the living body, yet by borrowing Matlock's idea of the psychophore, as merely a "template" (Matlock, 2013), they have not accounted for how the memories remains separate, if not still in the psychophore which carries memory (Hammerman & Lenard, 2000). Again, if the psychophore carries memory, and memories are survivable separate from the body, then the psychophore is not just a "template", but a vehicle for memory survival separate from the body (Greyson, 2011, & Stevenson, 1997). Hammerman and Lenard (2000) seem to agree with Greyson (2011), and Stevenson (1997), in developing the definition of the psychophore beyond that of a mere "template", by listing what "totality of a person's personality" the psychophore does contain, that Matlock omits (Matlock, 2013): "carrying the memories - including physical ones - from a previous lifetime." "This vehicle carries physical, cognitive, and behavioral memories" (Hammerman & Lenard, 2000, p.221), thus the total foundations of the individual's personality prior to birth.

The psychophore's usefulness does not end with the birth of a baby, according to Hammerman and Lenard. Otherwise the psychophore would be functioning like a chicken laying eggs, a mere "template" (Matlock, 2013, p. 254), or a woman from whom eggs are harvested, then the chicken or woman, the template, is jettisoned away.

Hammerman and Lenard (2000) surpass Matlock's template evaluation of the psychophore (2013), yet do not account for the form that survives outside of the body, where Stevenson provides a description of it in the form of apparitions and phantom sensations (Stevenson, 1997). Hammerman and Lenard (2000) are cautious, as Stevenson (1997), at leaving the possibility open for a broader definition of the psychophore, as enduring throughout and beyond several lifetimes, as consciousness (Greyson, 2011, & Stevenson, 1997). Although Hammerman and Lenard do not address the Lamarckian RNA evolution of behavior, Stevenson does (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2076). Hammerman and Lenard are restricting themselves to a Darwinian model that does not account for behavioral evolution in reincarnation, whereas Stevenson's Lamarckian recursive model does account for behavioral evolution in reincarnation processes (Hammerman & Lenard, 2000, & Stevenson, 1997).

Hammerman and Lenard (2000, p.221) admit Stevenson's discussion on the psychophore seems "fairly limited regarding the mechanism of death and reincarnation because he tries to stay close as he can to a Western scientific model." Yet they do not imply that this was limiting Stevenson's concept of the psychophore. Stevenson perhaps did not censor himself, he, I argue, rhetorically spread his understanding of the mechanism of the psychophore across many pages, through his transformative rhetorical style (Burke, 1969). "According to his theory, the psychophore survives death and becomes part of the next life, but there is no further discussion of the mechanisms involved or any hint of the spiritual dimension" (Hammerman & Lenard, 2000), unless we tend to Stevenson's discussion on apparitions, phatasms, and phantom limb as part of the operations of the psychophore (Stevenson, 1997, p.2083-2093).

Matlock does leave open the possibility that the psycophore might be more than just a "template", though not to the extent Hammerman and Lenard do. The psychophore might encompass the deceased personality, and it is the survival of the personality's consciousness that pilots the psychophore: "Stevenson’s psychophore proposal also harmonizes with the model of the reincarnation process [...] that reincarnation be thought of in psychological rather than mechanical terms, with the dying and deceased given some (perhaps largely unconscious) control over the process. If the psychophore has a mind the control would reflect its operation" (Matlock, 2013, p. 254). We cannot completely dismiss James Matlock's statements, they do hold some, yet not all, elements of Stevenson's lengthy description of the psychophore (Stevenson, 1997, pp. 2083-2093). Perhaps Matlock has censored himself in describing the psychophore to optimize his research for the Western scientific model.

C. Understanding Complexity of the Psychophore or Sidelined by the Peddler's Bait & Switch 

Stevenson has brought the reader to a higher level of understanding, yet now the reader is aware that others around them are not capable of understanding what they now perceive, or do not want to understand because of their religious or other indoctrination against reincarnation. This is the limitation of the Western scientific model. The rhetorical strategy of readers like Matlock, Hammerman and Lenard is to only keep their statements very simple, with reference to a 'template' or an intermediary vehicle for memories between lives (Hammerman & Lenard, 2000, & Matlock, 2013). This serves two purposes, first to marginalize amateurs or adherents to some questionable Western values, while secondly, providing enough for serious scholars to continue reading Stevenson on their own.

The first purpose marginalizing amateurs and ideological sects, the audience, with an incomplete understanding that hungers for more knowledge, will pursue the accurate reader who withholds information and switches the hooked audience to another pursuit. In this case the reader with the knowledge is the predator preying upon the student followers. This bait and switch is useful forindividuals with greater knowledge to utilize the dependent audience to their agenda being advanced at the moment, perhaps money, selling religious salvation, co-dependency workshops and courses, as well as competition for slave labor as unpaid or unrecognized assistants in research and in researching articles. The predator, as 'teacher', develops their audience into a sect, a cult, idolizing the 'teacher'; a rhetorical bait and switch hooker selling, like a prostitute, distractions enslaving the clientele.

This bait and switch abuse does not benefit the pursuer of accurate and full knowledge.

The second purpose, advancing serious scholars, the effect is like the allegory of the cave, in "The Republic" (Plato, 1992), where the seeker of the entire definition of psychophore will challenge the bait and switch charade. The seeker of true knowledge will go past the bait and switch peddler and read, and re-read, Stevenson (1997), themselves.

D. Psychophore as a Conscious Mind Interacting with the Physical Body

Stevenson (1997, pp. 2086-2088) introduces the morphogenetic field theory, from early twentieth century biology, to explain how human cells know to grow into forming a nose, limbs, and previous lifetime scar tissues that evolve as birth marks. Stevenson adopts the notion of the psychophore as morphogenetic fields, that "seem to require some feature not included in our present concept of matter", consisting of a magnetic, or electrically conducting, thin one or two dimensional substance (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2090), such as graphene, and psychic forces that pilot the psychophore and render it conscious (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2086). This morphogenetic field function of the psychophore would behave, in some ways, like Matlock articulated, with a "psychological rather than mechanical terms, with the dying and deceased given some (perhaps largely unconscious) control over the process. If the psychophore has a mind the control would reflect its operation" (Matlock, 2013, p. 254).

1. Stevenson's Morphogenetic Field Theory & Extension of Mental Images

In biology a morphogenetic field can be considered like a mirror or shadow of the original corporeal body of the deceased, from whom its physical counterpart separates, such as in an out of body experience (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2074). Stevenson's concept is not that the body is abandoned by the conscious entity, it's the other way around, the body abandons or liberates the conscious entity.

The morphogenetic field maintains a memory like a film negative, a mental image that has diachronic extension across time (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2073), of the contours of the original body that died, permitting a kind of mold for the cells growing into that part of the morphogenetic hollowness, of the mold, a mental image, left by the body. The morphogenic field acts as a magnetic attractor pulling the cell formation into the sheaths of the field or mold walls so that the new material for the human body grows according to the sheath of the morphogenic field, or form. Other particularities are negotiated through genetic DNA inheritance, and the particular changes that evolve due to cultural and social forces (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2076).

A visual example is pouring clay into a mold so that the clay hardens into the form, with some peculiarities, so that the product is not exactly the same in every incarnation. When particular forces, such as to produce wounds or trauma, impact the vase, the body, this effect is similarly mirrored by the morphogenic field, or mold, which might be able to resist being affected. Thus, if a handle is broken off of the clay vase, like an arm is amputated from the human, the psychic mold of the morphogenic field, or psychophore, still retains the form of the handle or arm. The mold retains this vacuum around the amputee so that the amputee feels that their arm is still there; this is called 'phantom limb syndrome'. If the subject does not retrain their thinking about the arm as gone, or a phallus, and instead maintains anattitude that the arm, or other limb, at least in phantom form, is still there, their psychic attitude will be that of a two armed person, or as a person with a phallus; like a the spirit world completing the individual. While everyone else just sees an arm amputee or a woman, the amputee or woman psychically sees their self as whole and intact. Thus Stevenson's statement, that the physical body, even if just an amputated limb, leaves the Soul, and not vice-versa.

A positive application of Stevenson's argument, in regards to extension of mental images and effect, is the psychic retention of the phantom limb sensation. The holistic self-image as able, and not that of an amputee or otherwise lacking, might strengthen the individual's spiritual self-image. Perhaps the person will more than likely reincarnate with two arms, rather than as a congenital amputee. Their mental image extension of self is intact and so it should also be into the next lifetime. In this sense, the "mental images have extension" through the morphogenic field, or mold, of the psychophore, and as part of an inner psychic visualization process maintaining the concept of self, intact (Ayers & Hopf, 1987, & Stevenson, 1997, p. 2083).

Another application of Stevenson's mental image extension argument is the formation of scars similar to injuries suffered in a previous lifetime, the formation of an anomaly after birth as a result of trauma, rather than a congenital birth defect. The prior occurs when the mental image has extension, from a previous lifetime of a deceased body into this lifetime, due to a severe emotional trauma, so that the mind imprint is emotionally reawakened under similar physical conditions, from which a re-occurring scar emerges (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2076). The body then occupies the mind's image, due to the associated emotional stress (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2074). The mind imprint, such as in the case of the scarring "YEsuA" that healed naturally on my left thigh in 1993, after a drunk automobile driver hit me on my bicycle, is called a diathanatic mark produced by incurring during the healing process a similar emotional trauma to a previous life (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2078). The same etched name in the same location is the same as was etched into the left thigh of a historically crucified person, Yesua, among many, during Roman occupation of the Mediterranean region (World Bible Publishing, 2011, Revelations, 19:16).

In total there are three kinds of diathanatic inheritances according to Stevenson, behaviors, mental images, and physical marks, and it's possible for all three to converge in a body (Stevenson, 1997, pp. 2077-2078).

2. Application of Morphogenetic Field Theory to Perceived Homosexual Behavior: the case for the invisible man or woman

Stevenson's description of the extension of mental image helps us understand how an individual with an amputation perceives themselves intact, with the mental image of a phantom limb. If we apply the same logical analysis to homosexuals, then we can reason how a man's mental image of self has extension into the next lifetime even if born a woman. Likewise, if a woman is reborn a man. Stevenson did not directly address this issue, although the phantom limb and form model, I suggest, is applicable to cases where the deceased is one biological sex, and reincarnates biologically as the opposite sex. If the basic behavior and attractions remain consistent, then the performance with a phantom limb prosthetic will also remain the same.

Their mental image of their spiritual body, or morphogenic field and form, a psychophore, still maintains the male form of a phallus, or female form of breasts and vagina, yet the DNA genetic inheritance is that of the opposite biological sex. Thus the deceased man reincarnates as a phenomena of a woman, or vice-versa, who when wearing a prosthetic dildo or false breasts, or such, much like an amputee wearing a prosthetic arm, moves and acts as able with the phantom limb.

In this manner what appears to be homosexual or handicapped behavior between two women, or two men, is merely heterosexual behavior between an invisible man and a woman, two apparitions, or an invisible woman and a man, via a morphogenetic field, consisting of a phantom limb realized through a prosthetic. Thus previous life sexual orientation behavior traits persist, through a morphogenetic field, in spite of the DNA nature of the new biological body of the opposite sex. It's as if "cells at the edges of these anatomical absences 'knew' to duplicate themselves in ways that would fill up the empty space and make the defective part resume its normal form. These phenomena suggest to me that morphogenetic fields have a nonmaterial component and also that they persist throughout life (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2087)." In this analogy of self-preservation, and maintenance of the previous personality, and memory in the new body, it is logical for the morphogenetic field to include behaviors affirming themselves in a new body of the opposite biological sex. According to this logic, the term 'homosexual' does not account for behaviors between individuals of the same biological sex, yet of opposite morphogenetic fields, from which they inherit their sexual orientation and gender identity, or identities.

Stevenson (1997, p. 2087) has subtly introduced a logical argument that we can further apply to opposite sex behaviors in individuals identified by their biological sex. Stevenson accomplishes this elevation of the reader's conscious awareness by introducing the reader, initially hooked by his rhetoric of the psychophore as a "vehicle for conveying memories" (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2083), by discussing the issue of the morphogenetic field. With the reader understanding the concept of the morphogenetic field, Stevenson then brings the reader to an even higher awareness of its function by discussing its application to behaviors regarding phantom limbs such as arms, legs, or a penis and absences, like a vagina (Stevenson, 1997, pp. 2086-2087). This discussion on the presence of phantom limb behaviors can be applied to all kinds of "limbs", particularly the behaviors associated with absent limbs.

This life transcendent relation between visible and not visible mobility behavior patterns, and anatomical patterns, is re-enforced rhetorically with Stevenson's statement: "I [Ian Stevenson] conceive of the psychophore as itself having fields that act on the material morphogenetic fields of the developing organism and as maintaining nonmaterial morphogenetic fields throughout a individual's life and afterward" (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2087). The morphogenetic field's primary purpose is to provide for the formation of the human physiology, limbs and organs. Upon completion of the organs and limbs, another field, which is part of the psychophore's federation of fields come into play. "The field that succeeds the morphogenetic one, after the organs have been formed, should properly be called morphostatic. It does not generate structure, but maintains or replaces it" (Stevenson, 1997, p.2087). This latter morphostatic field might have a role in the surfacing of scar patterns due to serious emotional trauma related to a previous lifetime injury.

Rhetorically, at this point, Stevenson is preparing the reader for the next discussion on transcendent nature of the survivability of the psychophore, and body memory, through the interplay of a "federation of fields" (Stevenson, 1997, pp.2086-2087), implying in his statement, the psychophore's and memory's mechanism of survivability throughout the lifetime and into the next. Stevenson has thus succeeded in bringing the reader along with the bait of presenting the psychophore as a "vehicle", which the reader may out of ignorance interpret as disposable. Hooked with the notion of thinking of the psychophore, and thus humans or certain humans, such as minority group members, amputees and handicapped, or women, disposable, the reader who remains with Stevenson's argument then learns of the possibility that the psychophore is not merely disposable, and that it is very adaptable, conscious, and persists through the management of a federation of fields. In other words you just cannot kill 'it' or cut 'it' off. The phantom remains. In this manner Stevenson is setting up a scientific discussion of the psychophore that is correlational with religious discussions of the Soul, that must balance with one another, to bridge the understanding and verification of the same phenomena researched by both scientists and theologians (John Paul, 2002).

E. Birth Defects as Field Effects

Introducing the subject of birth defects, and psychophore role, Stevenson uses the simple word "template" to then broaden our understanding that the psychophore is not just a template. "In the cases of subjects with birth defects, or unusual physiques related to previous lives, the psychophore would [...] then act as a kind of template affecting the form of the developing embryo or fetus" (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2084). After the initial embryonic or fetal stage and the template function, the next function of the psychophore is as a morphogenetic field. The morphogenetic field guides the growth through a system of attracting cell growth according to the corresponding form in the federation of fields.

This is where Stevenson's psychophore diverges with the Hindu concept of Soul or with sperm as life-giving. The Hindu concept of Soul does not have a particular shape, thus it cannot act as a template for shape (Dreyfuss & Thompson, 2007). Similarly, the genetic content of either the sperm or egg does not account for the transference of personality traits of the reincarnated that are not at all genetically related to the biological parents. The best argument to affirm that inheritance is transferred from the parents, and that the sperm or egg is the source of the Soul, and to deny deny reincarnation, is that twins from one sperm and one egg, monozygotic twins, are genetically identical. A single fertilized egg, fertilized by one sperm, splits into two identical fetuses. Stevenson, studying identical monozygotic twins, and their different personalities, and birthmark differences, "found no evidence that these differences derived from parental influence [nor sperm nor egg]. They may have derived, instead, from the different previous lives, that the twins remembered" (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2060).

The psychophore does not end at the beginning of a new life; its federation of fields has a unified substance quality that persists diachronically, across time, and synchronically, across space (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2090). It is a kind of corporeal body, thus indivisible. After the morphogenetic attraction field is completed with the full growth of the human organs, and limbs, the organism is then sustained through the third step, which is the morphostatic field, which explains the persistence of memory and phantom limb sensations in amputees (Stevenson, 1997, pp. 2086-2087). In this sense a birth defect is identified as a "field effect". A "field effect" is the result of a wound in a previous lifetime which has an effect upon the morphogenetic (growth control) field of the psychophore, containing Memory for the future human body (Stevenson, 1997, pp. 2087-2088). This field effect might also hinder personality traits and their development (Stevenson, 1990). The best visual example is a dent or bump in a mold that is used to form clay vases. If the mold is damaged, then so is the ensuing clay vase formed according to the damage, a field effect, of the mold.

F. Two Sources of Independent Evidence Sustaining Survivability of the Psychophore after Death of the Body or Death of a Limb 

Most of Stevenson's research, informing his theory on the nature and function of the psychophore, is grounded in decades of interviews with children who remember their past lives in detail, and adults who continue since childhood the memory of their past lives (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2089). Important is that the adults avoid socialization processes, such as Catholicism and other personality cults, which deny reincarnation (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2044) or stress heterosexual conformity. Besides childhood and adult testimonies and rigorous testing methodologies, Stevenson affirms that he has additional empirical evidence from the study of apparitions and amputee cases to support "a body such as I conceive the psychophore to be" (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2089).

1. Informative Function & Nature of Apparitions: evidence of a deceased's consciousness

Stevenson operationally defines an apparition, in regards to the psychophore, as the body he "conceives the psychophore to be" (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2089). Like a refined rhetoritician Stevenson subtly hints to the haunting image of an apparition, that he perceives. In other words he's seeing ghosts. Then he further explains that the apparition firmly occupies visually the space of a real material object, or individual. An apparition is of "a person not physically present to the percipient", yet visible. The apparition cannot, or does not, "furnish any evidence that the person perceived is embodied" (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2089), while hinting that perhaps the apparition, a personality, is around or passing through another individual body. Later he affirms this on page 2090. The apparition of a deceased person seems to function visually informing the observer of new, or relevant, information by making a telepathic connection as a disembodied consciousness (Greyson, 2011 & Stevenson, 1997), movement, or gesture (Dreyfus & Thompson, 2007, p. 91).

On page 2090 Stevenson writes that the body of the psychophore, the apparition that is seen, like a personality (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2074), has the quality of being of some substance. The psychophore's one or two dimensional nature, with no measureable depth in our dimension of existence, appears like an image, or shadow, reflected on a surface by manipulating light and mirrors. "Some other features of apparitions suggest that some of them have a substantial quality [...] they are sometimes reflected in mirrors, sometimes intercept light or cast a shadow, sometimes walk around objects, such as furniture that happens to be in their way, and sometimes can themselves be walked around" (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2090).

As if it's not enough that the substancial body, made of some substance thus substancial, as Stevenson conceives the psychophore to be, moves on its own, the body of the psychophore also speaks to the perceiver and recognizes that real living humans perceive it. The body of the psychophore controls its own movements, aware that it may occupy another's living body, feeling that the living body, the individual, occupies the apparition's sphere of personality influence(Dreyfus & Thompson, 2007, p. 91): "the appearing person may feel himself or herself to be somehow embodied at the place where he or she is seen" (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2091).

The physical human body that occupies the sphere of the psychophore's apparitional nature is the vehicle for the psychophore's memory and display of consciousness. In this system of logic, the human is the television set, and the psychophore's apparition is the source of consciousness, transmitting through the human what information the perceiver, or "reader" (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2062), needs, as if the human before us is a mere tool for the consciousness that survives from a previous lifetime (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2091).

From this perspective we can maintain an attitude that our present state of consciousness survives to inform, and guide, the direction and priorities for our future lives to accomplish, using our future body to communicate with others, perhaps familiars, even without it being aware of our consciousness. It is this sensitivity to the present conscious mind before him, unbeknownest to the apparition occupied human body before him, that Stevenson seems to want us to become sensitive to, to "read", in his carefully, and rhetorically, reeling us into his broader application of the function of the psychophore (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2062). We have to believe in ghosts, and that a ghost occupies the human body before us, and that the body leaves the ghost, not vice-versa (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2074). Most people do not believe in ghosts, or so they claim. To fully appreciate Stevenson's broadest description of the psychophore we must share in his apparition belief system, read, and photography helps us verify what we read. For someone who does not believe in a ghost, apparition, being consciousness in the human body, it's much easier for Stevenson to just describe the psychophore as a template, a vehicle for memories, while using photography to establish otherwise. Stevenson avoided, in his writing, anyone ridiculing his belief system, perhaps, because he could "read" through them (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2062).

"I am not daunted by knowing that the psychophore is, at this stage,

a largely immaginary construction intended to satisfy for the time

being a need to conceive of a vehicle that would convey memories

from one terrestrial life to another.  The history of science offers many

examples of successful concepts that preceded observations directly

confirming them. Sometimes the concept lead to the search for such

direct evidence. [...] Genes, photons, atoms and viruses were all

assumed to exist long before anyone found substantial evidence that

they do exist" (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2089).

"The memories of the previous personality must be conveyed in the interval between death and birth in or on something" as if the ghost views human bodies as a something. Some might refer to this substance of the apparition, ghost, as a piece of "furniture" (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2090) yet this is not so. Stevenson (1997) clarifies this point on page 2090 specifically to the case of apparitions: "some of them have a substantial quality, a something that is present where they are seen to be." By being seen they co-exist with us. Our recognition of them is what in a sense returns them to life, so that the current incarnation has a consciousness raising experience which is its own reward, for both the subject and the apparition that occupies the subject, unifying the mind even further with the subject's brain; a process referred to as 'enlightment'. Perhaps the individual who embodies the apparition, like a piece of "furniture", wearing Billie Holiday's apparition like a dress, is rewarded with the feeling here photographed of their phantasm being captured by a onlooker's gaze, and recognized (see photograph below).

"For example, they [apparitions] are sometimes reflected in mirrors,

sometimes intercept light or cast a shadow, sometimes walk around objects, such as furniture", yet are not reducible to, nor limited by, the material substance of a piece of "furniture" or individual (Dreyfus & Thompson, 2007, p. 91, & Stevenson, 1997, p. 2090). If the apparition, or personality, is conscious, as Stevenson hints, then as an extension of a conscious mind, perhaps deep in the subconscious, it is part of the conscious individual before us, and the subconscious motivation of the conscious individual, or "furniture", it seems to protect, like an armor or a scaffolding. The substance may be one or two dimensional, thus an atom or less thick and able to conduct electricity much like the thinnest material used, carbon graphene, to restore neural signals for spinal injuries, like a scaffolding around its construction (Colapinto, 2014, p. 56, & Stevenson, 1997, p. 2094).

2. Death of Limbs & Amputees

Individuals born with a missing extremity, or absence, such as an arm or leg, are described as congenital amputees. Stevenson studied cases of congenital amputees that were suspected of having lost their limb in a previous lifetime. Some of these cases had the sensation of the limb or absence being fully intact and attached, thus they were born with and have a phantom limb, or absence. Stevenson hints that the congenital amputee with phantom limb or absence sensations offers some, yet not strong, "evidence of an intermediate corporeal vehicle, such as I conceive the psychophore to be" (Descartes, 1993, p. 102 & Stevenson, 1997, p. 2092).

In contrast to many postnatal amputees who "experienced their phantoms in some abnormal position", congenital amputees have the experience of their phantom limb or absence as extended in a normal position (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2092). The improved sensation of normalcy by congenital amputees, in contrast to persons suffering an amputation (postnatal) in this lifetime, might indicate a period of morphogenetic readjustment and repair of the morphostatic field of the psychophore's federation of fields, in contrast to the disturbed status and sensation of postnatal amputees. Further study, and especially photography, of the phantom limb nature of congenital and postnatal amputees, or persons born male without their vaginal absences, could provide useful documentation supporting the phantom sensation claims of amputees, and homosexual men with the phantom vagina, and how the phantom limb sensation supports Stevenson's theory of the psychophore.

Stevenson refers to children who made reference to having a kind of phantom memory of a taller adult body from a previous lifetime. "They seemed to have, as it were, phantom adult bodies" (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2093). Stevenson describes children moving and acting physically with the diathanatic skill memory, of a full grown adult, which is a behavioral issue that may be easily documented photographically to support his argument for the existence of the psychophore. An unexplained, yet visibly measureable improvisational ability, is labeled diathanatic intelligence and skill that "pass across the barrier of death" (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2074).

Stevenson closes the discussion of the psychophore with reference to future studies focusing on the issue of phantom limb memory in amputees. "Future investigators might learn something of value by putting questions about phantom limbs to such subjects" (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2092). From my re-reading of Stevenson's discussion of the role of apparitions and phantom limbs, if the phantom limb sensation persists after amputation, it should be photographable. Proper lighting and priming conditions are required, as in the halo effect of my left phantom arm in the photograph of me, below, facilitated through the conductancy nature of graphene, or carbon based material. Apparitions are also photographable, as the previous photograph I staged to elicit and photograph Billie Holiday, above, whose psychophore is occupied by the body of her reincarnation.

Pursuing more study and photography of apparitions, and phantom limb fields, is of necessity in establishing fully Stevenson's concept of the psychophore, proving that a recursion reincarnation process is involved regarding the psychophore (Stevenson, 1997).

III. DISCUSSION OF PHOTOGRAPHIC RESULTS & FUTURE DIRECTIONS

Apparitions of a personality, that we perceive as brief, persist across space and time, have a persistent nature, and are studied as part of the human personality matrix (Dreyfus & Thompson, 2007, p. 91, & Stevenson, 1997, p. 2074). Photography, as in the photos above of Billie Holiday's apparition and my left amputated limb in the next bicycle photograph, is an effective means to quickly capture in fractions of a second what the naked eye perceives (Stevenson, 1997, p. 2092). Establishing, photographically, the reality of diachronic (across time) and synchronic (across space) field federation of the psychophore’s unity is essential. This is achieved through further study of phantom limb sensations as a persistent diachronic and synchronic memory, and, again, documenting it with photography. If the phantom limb sensation persists after amputation, it should be photographable under proper lighting and priming conditions, just like an apparition, proving that a recursion process is involved regarding the psychophore and reincarnation.

Somatic memory, or phantom limb sensation, is subjective until it is measurably visible and objectively documented as in the photograph below(Descartes, 1993, p. 102). The morphogenetic field can be stimulated through participation in activities encompassing the dead limb, as in the photograph below, where the apparition of the dead limb appears like a fine phantom substance.

My mother, Gigliola Maria Addini, made this photograph of me, the author, on my carbon fibre bicycle. A mother's view is important, she remembers and sees me as I was, and photographs me as she and I feel that I still am, whole, even with a dead arm in the spirit world.

The bicycle I pedal is a carbon compound, which has some natural electrical conduction extension properties (Colapinto, 2014), like the human psychophore, whereas aluminum has less conduction potential. The aluminum rod supporting my left shoulder replaces the left arm sensation around which the dead phantom limb seems to extend itself as somatic memory between my amputation and the carbon fiber bicycle handle bar.

A skeptic could just state that the blurred effect is from movement or from the camera being out of focus, although what is more out of focus (the Kirlian aura effect from electrical conduction) is that which contains more carbon such as the carbon fiber bicycle frame, the carbon fiber shoe soles, and the human skin whereas, the front wheel aluminum bicycle spokes that are actually in motion are photographed withgreat detail as if still, while the front wheel rim that is made of carbon fiber is itself projecting a Kirlian aura of energy effect extension (Colapinto, 2014). A Kirlian effect is also produced of the energy point of the extended left arm form in contrast to the aluminum prosthetic device. Thus the flesh at the point of amputation and the carbon fiber handlebar material have a combined Kirlian aura effect between which the electrical signal of the phantom limb, a mental image extension, is visibly extended (Stevenson, 1997).

Through photography and other studies, Ian Stevenson, MD established it's possible to understand the psychophore. Stevenson's transformative rhetorical strategy sets the stage for us to understand the recursive nature of the psychophore, where memories and phantoms remain yet the human life is reset to its birthing process. Photography is required, to document the one or two dimensional scaffoliding of the apparition, proving the recursive nature of the psychophore. There is reason to apply this broader definition of psychophore, and operationalize it, to research phenomena labelled medically, as well as in criminal justice, forensic sciences and stigma (Goffman, 1963, & Lifton, 1988). Studying forensically post-mortem reincarnation cases can indicate the solution of criminal deeds (Stevenson, 1997, pp. 1940-1970). Studying post-humously these cases as forensic cases in resolving unresolved crimes, it is possible to establish the recursive nature, photographically, of the psychophore, comparing the photograph of the deceased to the present reincarnation, while piecing together what actually transpired, to hold reincarnated criminals responsible and accountable.

Effectively applying the recursive model of the psychophore can improve and promote self-visualization for health wellbeing strategies for victims of criminals, amputees, congenital amputees, and victims of stroke, as I demonstrated in the article.

Informing cultures of the function of the disembodied consciousness, psychophore, prevents attribution of negative stigma (Greyson, 2011, & Stevenson, 1997). Thus even further research applications of the operationalization of the term psychophore include genocide studies, the role of German language and imagery, and the activation of stigmatizing and genocidal predispositions (Goffman, 1963, Goldhagen, 1996, & Lifton, 1988) dormant in the disembodied consciousness of the human subject (Greyson, 2011, & Stevenson, 1988). In researching these and other issues we can then see how Stevenson's writings (1997) are informed by a Cartesian view of dualism; an intrinsic separation between the sources of mental and bodily functions (Descartes, 1993).  Rene' Descartes, in the 17th century, stated that the body occupies the Soul, which informs the body (Descartes, 1963). The extended consciousness, with its personality evolution and memory, "is of a nature wholly independent of the body, and that consequequently it is not liable to die with the latter; and finally, because no other causes are observed capable of destroying it, we are naturally led thence to judge that it is immortal" (Descartes, 1963, p. 18).  Even in regards to amputees, Stevenson, as I noted in the discussion of phantom limbs, and Descartes share a vision of their psychophore or Soul remaining intact, a shared vision that might indicate a shared past life, perhaps even suggesting that Ian Stevenson was the reincarnation of Rene' Descartes.  Both pursued the same questioning of the Mind as an extended consciousness separate from and surviving the body (Stevenson, 1997).

Meditations on First Philosophy: 86

"Although the entire mind seems to be united to the entire body, nevertheless, were a foot or an arm or any other bodily part to be amputated, I know that nothing has been taken away from the mind on that account.  [...] This consideration alone would suffice to teach me that the mind is wholly diverse from the body, had I not yet known it well enough in any other way" (Descartes, 1993, p.102).



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