Psi and the Long Body

Mind is embodied and the body is emplaced, which means that mind is also emplaced. Mind has conative, cognitive and executive functions originating respectively in the limbic system, the cerebral cortex, and the cerebellum. The first gives objects affective meaning, the second provides a map to reach or avoid objects, and the third contributes the means to do so. Cognition makes it possible to take measurements of object, such as size, weight, and location in time. A material object is local. The conative meaning of an object, on the other hand, may be apprehended in another place and at another time than its material form. Knowing the conative meaning of distant objects is important to humans and other higher animals. Meaning is often nonlocal. ESP is to perceive the meaning of another person or object whose material form is absent. While the material aspect of an object may remain the same in different places and at different times, its meaning may change. The same object can have different meanings to different people or to the same person at different times. The meaning with which an object has been endowed does not evaporate when the object is out of sight but may persist and may affect others who later come in contact with the object. ESP and PK involve meaningful objects. This constellation of objects extends beyond the reach of the familiar body. It has been called the long body, an Iroquois term that refers to the tribal body, and embraces living members of the tribe, ancestors, tribal lands and objects. ESP and PK occur mainly within the long body to which the person belongs. Place and time are relative to the observer. A giant, being tall, can see things that appear to be in the future or past to others, and may seem to have precognitive or postcognitive powers. Psychics are our giants. In dreams and other altered states, anyone may briefly become a psychic giant. A giant and a long body are the same.