First presentation to a scientific panel

First presentation to a scientific panel

Meanwhile, while Silva was impressing students and artists with his findings, Dr. Hahn was arranging for a visit to the leading parapsychology laboratory in the world: The Mind Science Foundation Laboratory in Los Angeles, California.

It was here that Silva observed a scientific project with a plant that convinced him that the human mind could alter matter just by thinking.

Verified results

Silva continued teaching, and Dr. Hahn continued encouraging him. But not everyone believed that such trailblazing research and results were coming out of Laredo, Texas. Dr. Hahn needed to demonstrate to the Mind Science Foundation board of directors that Silva's program was valid, so he undertook a major survey.

Detailed, comprehensive survey forms were mailed to 10,000 Silva graduates. More than 1,100 of them took the time to fill out the forms and return them, an unusually high percentage. The graduates seemed eager to express their opinions.

The results were spectacular. Not only were people receiving all of the benefits they had sought when they first came to the course, they were benefiting in ways they had not expected. They were correcting problems that they had not even considered correcting with Jose Silva's techniques.

There was also a question about the graduates' overall opinion of the Silva course.

Only half a dozen had any complaint, while the rest - 99.6% of the graduates - were satisfied.

To validate the survey, Dr. Hahn conducted another survey. In this one, he got responses from every person who attended a Silva course in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The results in Albuquerque were the same as the results from the other survey, and every person was satisfied with the course.

Demonstrate control of brain waves

Armed with proof that Jose Silva's mind training system worked and that graduates were reporting outstanding benefits, Dr. Hahn now approached other scientists and encouraged them to investigate Silva's work. He helped arrange with clinical psychologist Dr. Puryear to hold a Silva class at the Trinity University campus in San Antonio.

Then Dr. Hahn approached the University of Texas Medical School in San Antonio. He arranged for Dr. Robert Barns, head of the Psychiatry Department, and Dr. Richard McKenzie, head of the Psychology Department, to invite Silva to present a lecture and demonstration of how to control brain waves consciously.

Students and professors were impressed, because at that time, scientists believed that brain waves were under autonomic control, and could not be altered by individuals. Later Dr. Hahn arranged with Dr. Fred Bremner, head of the Department of Psychology at Trinity University, to test Silva and some of the people that Silva had trained.

For the first time, scientists verified in a scientific laboratory that people could learn to control their brain waves.

They also conducted a scientific experiment that involved Silva teaching his system to 20 of the students at the university. As usual, the results were successful. They were reported in the British scientific journal Neuropsychologia, Vol. 10, pages 307-312 and pages 467-469.

New projects suggested

While visiting the Mind Science Foundation in Los Angeles, Dr. Hahn suggested three projects to Silva:

1. Investigate a Brazilian psychic surgeon by the name of Arrigo.

2. To bring Uri Geller to the U.S. to study the energy that he used to bend spoons.

3. To teach the Silva system to 49 Ph.D. geologists and petroleum engineers of the McCullough Oil Corp.

Before the project with Arrigo could be started, he died in an automobile accident.

Silva decided not to go to the expense of bringing Geller to the U.S. for research because he could not find any useful application for the spoon bending ability. "If he could straighten them out, it would be different," Silva explained. "Our goal is to correct problems, not to cause them."

The 49 Ph.D.s with the oil company were given special training to see if they could use their minds to locate undiscovered deposits of oil, using ESP. The oil company never released the results of their efforts. At this time Dr. Hahn decided to leave the Mind Science Foundation and join Silva in Laredo.

Two more scientists joined Silva: Dr. George DeSau, and Dr. Richard McKenzie from the University of Texas Medical School.

Presentation to leading scientists

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