The Mind at Large – Clairvoyance, Psychics, Police and Life after Death: A Polish Perspective

This is a fascinating and unusual book, emanating as it does in Poland and focusing on the well-documented contribution of Polish clairvoyant Krzysztof Jackowski to police detective work on over 1,000 cases over more than 20 years – the majority of these involve locating missing persons. Due to the scientifically materialistic ethos along with the authority of the Church, the police attitude to Jackowski is ambivalent, despite his extraordinary record of accurate and even startling predictions, often using a form of psychometry through items associated with the victims – and there is highly suggestive evidence that deceased people provide some of the key information as if he is hearing their voices. The accuracy of details is so specific as to rule out guesswork, and Jackowski describes how he sometimes becomes the person in question, while in other instances he obtains a bird's eye view. Given the strength of these cases, the onus is on philosophers to come up with a plausible explanatory framework.

The book sets the whole topic within a larger context of history and research related to the nature of consciousness, and the authors adopt an approach of parapsychological naturalists, exploring the brain as a filter in William James, Frederic Myers and Iain McGilchrist as well as the notion of mind at large, postulating clairvoyance as a fundamental form of awareness operating constantly at an unconscious level. The most original material in the book relates to Jackowski, but the authors also make comparisons with Joe McMoneagle and Stefan Ossowiecki. The circumstantial evidence provided by 10 detailed case histories establishes beyond any reasonable doubt the outstanding capacities of Jackowski, and they need to be read in full for maximum impact, especially in relation to unknown background details. Rather than reaching any firm conclusions, the authors call for further exploration of the interfaces between consciousness, intention and information. A hugely valuable contribution.