Available online 15 October 2023

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The many well-documented cases of paranormal phenomena in the Philippines may be interpreted as manifestations of the intuitive and deeply empathic interpersonal dynamics of Filipinos and the seemingly transpersonal nature of their individual psyches. A heightened sense of cultural empathy may explain various telepathic or prophetic experiences that are very common to the point of being an ordinary experience. The spirits of folklore, which are said to have observable effects in the physical world, indicate a continuum from material to spiritual, and implies that the individual mind goes beyond the self and recognizes separate, sentient expressions of their own psyche in nature. This paper aims to be a general overview of Philippine parapsychology. A novel framework is suggested, and represented via the Sarili-Mundo model, which may be applied to future research on any variation of paranormal phenomena across the thousands of islands belonging to the multi-ethnic Philippine archipelago.

Section snippetsPhilippine Parapsychology

Paranormal phenomena are common in the Philippines. They are often accepted as part of the mysteries of local cultural reality, arousing curiosity and fear in casual conversations. In this paper, various phenomena are explored and interpreted, with a focus on how it is expressed and understood in the Philippine setting. Definitions and frameworks that emerged from international (especially western) research will not be immediately applied, except when they are directly related to the phenomenon

The Scope of Philippine Parapsychology

J.B. Rhine24 defined “parapsychology” as the scientific study of phenomena that appear to evade the assumed consistency of identified natural processes. Among those studied within the field of parapsychology include phenomena that are purely mental (e.g. telepathy, premonitions, “spirit” communication, etc.), those that affect the external physical world (e.g. telekinesis, levitation, etc.), those that are expressed through the human body (e.g. “materialization,” stigmata, etc.), and those that

Interpreting Kababalaghan

According to Demetrio,12 there are three ways of interpreting beliefs surrounding kababalaghan: sociologically (i.e. as it relates to social control), psychologically (i.e. as a projection of consciousness and/or manifestation of a mental condition), and phenomenologically (i.e. how it is experienced and understood by the common folk). Most of the local academic literature surrounding kababalaghan seems to have followed these ways of interpreting. Thus there is a general lack of empirical

Lived Realities

In contrast to the western mind, the mind of the Filipino is non-dualistic. That is, there seems to be no distinction between the self and everything else.20 The individual is always placed in the context of other people and the world. This also manifests in various beliefs about sickness and health, wherein health is seen simply as harmony with the world.29 It is said that a person who suddenly gets a mysterious illness might have been a victim of kulam. Kulam is popularly understood as a form

The Transpersonal Worldview

Filipino folk beliefs about spirits and magic imply a cultural worldview wherein the mind (or soul) is not limited to the bodily self. This is what the priest-psychologist Jaime Bulatao (1980/1992) called the “Filipino Transpersonal Worldview.” The more mainstream worldview can be called “materialistic.” Consciousness is limited to the physical body and is seen as an evolutionary adaptation, to help organisms find food and collaborate with others to ensure access to resources. Humans are unique

Consciousness

“Consciousness” in Filipino psychology is related to the concept of kaluluwa, or the soul.26 Some words associated with kaluluwa include ulirat and kamalayan (both referring to awareness) and bait (inherent goodness and reason). A person who loses their ulirat or malay (“Nawalan ng ulirat/malay”) becomes unconscious. The word kamalayan is also used to refer to awareness of social realities. A person who loses their bait, or who, through an overwhelming series of events “breaks” it, becomes

Alignment with Philippine Psychology

Research into Philippine psychology started in the 1960s, when local scholars realized that western interpretations of indigenous Filipino concepts tended to distort observable attitudes and behaviors to suit a colonial lens.22 For example, the tendency of many Filipinos to be indirect and non-confrontational in social settings might be interpreted as dishonest and untrustworthy. For those who come from societies where directness is encouraged, this attitude can be frustrating. From a

A Suggested Theoretical Framework

Bulatao's transpersonal worldview and its implications seem deeply philosophical in that the insights that arise from applying it are profound, existential, and spiritual. There is nothing wrong with that, but it seems that philosophical meaning-making is simply the next stop after spiritual belief. In other words, it still has a tendency to be quite vague. It is important to go further–or deeper–in order to uncover the skeletal framework underlying cultural meanings, symbols, and values. With

Conducting Research

Mainstream scientific research on psychic phenomena has the assumption that all humans are basically alike, and so, individually, each person has the potential to display psychic abilities. Focusing on one person, removed from context, allows the researcher to investigate ESP as it is, just as the properties of each part of the brain are identified by stimulating each one. Since all human beings presumably have brains, the properties observed in one brain are likely to be observed in another.

Summary and Conclusion

Kababalaghan implies an intricate web of interconnectivity; it implies that consciousness is not merely an emergent property of a self limited by body, space, and time. The world is run by unseen forces, and folk beliefs are keys to understanding cosmic processes. Parasikolohiya, being the study of kababalaghan, must embrace the interdisciplinary approach rather than limit itself to the sterile laboratory setting, stripped of context. That is not to say that kababalaghan cannot be studied using

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