The mystery of sorcery puzzles scientists

The mystery of sorcery puzzles scientists

By T. Sima Gunawan

JAKARTA (JP): Seeing is believing, but there are things which are hard to believe even after you have seen them. Some things are also hard to explain. How can you explain voodoo, witchcraft, occultism or black magic?

Victims of black magic may suffer great pain in certain parts of their bodies. If they go to a physician, they are usually told that everything is all right as the medical doctors cannot detect any problem with their health.

But psychics, without any modern equipment, can find the source of the pain and heal them. In many cases, patients recover from their illnesses after the psychic removes strange objects from their bodies, mostly nails, needles or ijuk (palm fibers).

"It is easy to explain," Permadi Satrio Wiwoho, chairman of the Society of Indonesian Parapsychology, told The Jakarta Post.

He said that in practicing black magic to hurt people (in local term this is called santet), the dukun (witch) changes the objects into energy.

"This is called dematerialization. Once the needles are changed into energy, they can go through anything. They can enter the stomach and stay there," he said.

The needles are put in the stomach with the help of tenaga dalam (inner forces) or mahluk halus (spirits), he added.

But how can the needles become energy? There is no scientific explanation for this matter.

Prof. Parangtopo of the Physics Department, School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Indonesia, acknowledges the existence of supernatural power but admits he cannot explain the phenomenon.

"The facts are there, but we can't really analyze them. They are out of the reach of science," he said.

Metaphysics, the branch of philosophy that concerns the most abstract and general distinctions that one can draw between types of things, has been known since ancient times. The first book on metaphysics was written by Aristotle in the 4th century B.C. But, it was not until late in 19th century that scientists started to examine it systematically, according to Parangtopo.

Today, some countries afford serious attention to metaphysics. They learn a lot about the practice, but little about the theory. According to Parangtopo, Russia has what is called the kirelian camera which can catch the aura that sparks out of human beings. People with charisma have more aura, which can be seen in the pictures taken by the camera.

"You'll see bluish lights in the picture, but where do the lights come from? How does it happen? We don't know," he said.

Parangtopo believes in supernatural power and inner forces as he himself witnessed a man hit a person without even touching him. He also has had a dream that came true the next day. But he can't explain them scientifically.

There is great mystery in human beings, in animals, in nature and the universe. Things can't be entirely explained. For example, only 80 percent of medical science can be explained. Scientific understanding of metaphysics applies to less than 10 percent, according to Parangtopo.

In the period of between the end of the 19th and the 20th centuries there was rapid development in science and technology. Parangtopo expects that in the 21th century, scientists will be able to solve 25 percent of the mystery behind metaphysics. He predicts that the 21th century will see the emergence of new principles in science which might be able to help solve the mystery.

"Maybe we will be able to answer all questions in 200 to 500 years. But I'm not sure of it," he said.

In the past, making gold was out of the question. But late in the 1980s, alchemists showed the world that it was possible to make gold. People, however, do not make gold because of the extremely high costs, Parangtopo said. Thus, he believes that there is a possibility to reveal the mystery of metaphysics.

Unlike Parangtopo, many scholars and scientists are cynical about metaphysics. They do not believe in magic, mahluk halus, santet, and call witchcraft primitive and against religious teachings.

"They are allergic to occultism. As long as they remain arrogant, there will be a wide gap between scientists and metaphysics," Permadi said.

He criticizes scientists who are too Western-oriented and do not want to look to the East, which can on occasion be more sophisticated than the West.

"A thousand years ago, Javanese empu (kris makers) were able to fuse meteor and metal in the process of kris making. How did they do so? Don't we want to learn about that?" he said.

The irony is that the West is now turning to the East, where metaphysics is strong, as the East is aware of the unexplained power, he added.

Permadi, who prefers to be called a psychic observer instead of a psychic, told the Post that a number of foreign oil companies have hired a female paranormal from Wonogiri, Central Java, to locate oil sources.

"Even the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) is using psychics," he claimed.

Even though a lot of people have witnessed metaphysical power, metaphysics is not officially recognized in Indonesia.

Bambang Soegijono, head of the Physics Department, School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Indonesia, said there is no plan to include metaphysics in the curriculum.

"Even though the effects of metaphysics is real, the process is not real. It's better to learn about real things first," he argued.

He added that the University of Indonesia concentrates on physics because physics is more important than metaphysics.