José Silva (parapsychologist)
Encyclopedia
José Silva was an American self-taught parapsychologist
and author of the "Silva Method
" and the "Silva UltraMind ESP System", intended to help people increase their IQ
, develop psychic
skills, and to develop the ability to heal both themselves and others remotely, using forces unknown to science.
, Texas
. He and his older sister and younger brother were raised by their grandmother. Silva supported the family from a very young age by selling newspapers, shining shoes, and doing odd jobs. He never attended school, but learned to read and write by watching his sister and brother do their homework.
Silva was able to study a correspondence course on radio repair through an agreement with the town barber, under which the barber rented the lessons to Silva, and Silva earned the diploma in the barber's name.
At the age of fifteen, Silva began to repair radios and built a successful business which he maintained for the next 25 years, interrupted only by military service.
, Silva joined the Signal Corps. At his induction, he was examined by an Army psychiatrist named Dr. Paul Silva (1901-1977); the two were not related. Silva was intrigued by the psychiatrist's odd questions, and was inspired to begin to study psychology.
While in the Signal Corps, Silva studied advanced electronics and became an instructor.
When Silva was discharged, he resumed his radio repair business and took a part-time teaching job at Laredo Junior College, where he supervised three other teachers and was charged with creating the school's electronics laboratories.
Five years later, with the spread of television, his repair business began to flourish and Silva ended his teaching career.
s and the electrical activity in the human brain and theorized that the electrical impedance
of the brain could be lowered to improve efficiency.
Silva believed that the brain was more energetic when it was less active, and that at lower frequencies the brain received and stored more information. The crucial problem for Silva was to keep the mind alert at these frequencies, which are associated more with daydreaming and sleep than with practical activity.
Silva experimented with hypnosis
, but while hypnosis made the mind more receptive, he felt that more individual control was necessary for improving brain function. He experimented next with mental training exercises to quiet the brain yet keep it more independently alert than in hypnosis. This, he reasoned, would lead to improved memory
combined with understanding and hence to higher I.Q. scores.
The exercises from which Silva's techniques evolved called for relaxed concentration and vivid mental visualization and ways of reaching lower levels. He believed that these levels proved more effective in learning than the fully awake, or beta wave
, level. The proof for Silva was that in the three-year period that he worked with his children to develop his techniques, their grades in school sharply improved.
(normally standing for extrasensory perception, but Silva preferred to call it effective sensory projection) occurred one evening in 1953, while his daughter was in her "alpha level." Silva was questioning his daughter about her school work, and as she answered each question, he framed the next in his mind, before verbally asking the question. Silva reported that his daughter began to give the answers to the questions he was forming in his mind before he verbalized them.
In this period, ESP was becoming a subject of scientific inquiry, largely through the published work of Dr. J. B. Rhine
of Duke University
. Silva wrote to Rhine to report that he had trained his daughter to practice ESP
. In his response, Rhine pointed out that Silva's daughter may have been psychic
before the training, and that more rigorous proof was needed. Silva then worked to reproduce his results, and over the next ten years he trained thirty-nine Laredo children and continued to refine his process. He believed that he had developed a method to teach anyone to use ESP
.
training method took 40 to 48 hours to complete. The method as currently promoted has been reduced to 18 to 20 hours through an apparent refinement of technique. Contemporary reports suggest as little as 12 to 14 hours is required by especially able practitioners.
Silva wrote a book, You the Healer, on how to use the Silva Mind Control Method to heal yourself and others. He also started the Ecumenical Society to protect users from allegations of practicing medicine without a license.
A New York Times article on April 16, 1972 ("Can Man Control His Mind") reported that a Trinity University
study showed that students trained in Mind Control did attain a high degree of Alpha level production. It also noted that C. W. Post College and Canisius College
would offer courses in Silva's methods.
Silva died peacefully in February 1999, aged 84. The Silva UltraMind System was his final creation and was completed shortly before he died.
Parapsychology
The term parapsychology was coined in or around 1889 by philosopher Max Dessoir, and originates from para meaning "alongside", and psychology. The term was adopted by J.B. Rhine in the 1930s as a replacement for the term psychical research...
and author of the "Silva Method
Silva Method
The Silva Method is the name given to a self help program developed by José Silva, which claims to increase an individual's IQ and sense of personal well-being through relaxation and by developing their higher brain functions...
" and the "Silva UltraMind ESP System", intended to help people increase their IQ
Intelligence quotient
An intelligence quotient, or IQ, is a score derived from one of several different standardized tests designed to assess intelligence. When modern IQ tests are constructed, the mean score within an age group is set to 100 and the standard deviation to 15...
, develop psychic
Psychic
A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...
skills, and to develop the ability to heal both themselves and others remotely, using forces unknown to science.
Early life
Jose Silva was born in LaredoLaredo, Texas
Laredo is the county seat of Webb County, Texas, United States, located on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 236,091 making it the 3rd largest on the United States-Mexican border,...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. He and his older sister and younger brother were raised by their grandmother. Silva supported the family from a very young age by selling newspapers, shining shoes, and doing odd jobs. He never attended school, but learned to read and write by watching his sister and brother do their homework.
Silva was able to study a correspondence course on radio repair through an agreement with the town barber, under which the barber rented the lessons to Silva, and Silva earned the diploma in the barber's name.
At the age of fifteen, Silva began to repair radios and built a successful business which he maintained for the next 25 years, interrupted only by military service.
World War II service
During World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Silva joined the Signal Corps. At his induction, he was examined by an Army psychiatrist named Dr. Paul Silva (1901-1977); the two were not related. Silva was intrigued by the psychiatrist's odd questions, and was inspired to begin to study psychology.
While in the Signal Corps, Silva studied advanced electronics and became an instructor.
When Silva was discharged, he resumed his radio repair business and took a part-time teaching job at Laredo Junior College, where he supervised three other teachers and was charged with creating the school's electronics laboratories.
Five years later, with the spread of television, his repair business began to flourish and Silva ended his teaching career.
Mind experiments
Silva's mind experiments were based on his background in electronics and study of psychology. He had read about alpha waveAlpha wave
Alpha waves are neural oscillations in the frequency range of 8–12 Hz arising from synchronous and coherent electrical activity of thalamic pacemaker cells in humans...
s and the electrical activity in the human brain and theorized that the electrical impedance
Electrical impedance
Electrical impedance, or simply impedance, is the measure of the opposition that an electrical circuit presents to the passage of a current when a voltage is applied. In quantitative terms, it is the complex ratio of the voltage to the current in an alternating current circuit...
of the brain could be lowered to improve efficiency.
Silva believed that the brain was more energetic when it was less active, and that at lower frequencies the brain received and stored more information. The crucial problem for Silva was to keep the mind alert at these frequencies, which are associated more with daydreaming and sleep than with practical activity.
Silva experimented with hypnosis
Hypnosis
Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...
, but while hypnosis made the mind more receptive, he felt that more individual control was necessary for improving brain function. He experimented next with mental training exercises to quiet the brain yet keep it more independently alert than in hypnosis. This, he reasoned, would lead to improved memory
Memory
In psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store, retain, and recall information and experiences. Traditional studies of memory began in the fields of philosophy, including techniques of artificially enhancing memory....
combined with understanding and hence to higher I.Q. scores.
The exercises from which Silva's techniques evolved called for relaxed concentration and vivid mental visualization and ways of reaching lower levels. He believed that these levels proved more effective in learning than the fully awake, or beta wave
Beta wave
Beta wave, or beta rhythm, is the term used to designate the frequency range of human brain activity between 12 and 30 Hz . Beta waves are split into three sections: High Beta Waves ; Beta Waves ; and Low Beta Waves...
, level. The proof for Silva was that in the three-year period that he worked with his children to develop his techniques, their grades in school sharply improved.
ESP experience
Silva's first reported experience with ESPExtra-sensory perception
Extrasensory perception involves reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses but sensed with the mind. The term was coined by Frederic Myers, and adopted by Duke University psychologist J. B. Rhine to denote psychic abilities such as telepathy, clairaudience, and...
(normally standing for extrasensory perception, but Silva preferred to call it effective sensory projection) occurred one evening in 1953, while his daughter was in her "alpha level." Silva was questioning his daughter about her school work, and as she answered each question, he framed the next in his mind, before verbally asking the question. Silva reported that his daughter began to give the answers to the questions he was forming in his mind before he verbalized them.
In this period, ESP was becoming a subject of scientific inquiry, largely through the published work of Dr. J. B. Rhine
Joseph Banks Rhine
Joseph Banks Rhine was a botanist who later developed an interest in parapsychology and psychology. Rhine founded the parapsychology lab at Duke University, the Journal of Parapsychology, and the Foundation for Research on the Nature of Man...
of Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
. Silva wrote to Rhine to report that he had trained his daughter to practice ESP
Extra-sensory perception
Extrasensory perception involves reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses but sensed with the mind. The term was coined by Frederic Myers, and adopted by Duke University psychologist J. B. Rhine to denote psychic abilities such as telepathy, clairaudience, and...
. In his response, Rhine pointed out that Silva's daughter may have been psychic
Psychic
A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...
before the training, and that more rigorous proof was needed. Silva then worked to reproduce his results, and over the next ten years he trained thirty-nine Laredo children and continued to refine his process. He believed that he had developed a method to teach anyone to use ESP
Extra-sensory perception
Extrasensory perception involves reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses but sensed with the mind. The term was coined by Frederic Myers, and adopted by Duke University psychologist J. B. Rhine to denote psychic abilities such as telepathy, clairaudience, and...
.
Silva's methods
Silva's original ESPExtra-sensory perception
Extrasensory perception involves reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses but sensed with the mind. The term was coined by Frederic Myers, and adopted by Duke University psychologist J. B. Rhine to denote psychic abilities such as telepathy, clairaudience, and...
training method took 40 to 48 hours to complete. The method as currently promoted has been reduced to 18 to 20 hours through an apparent refinement of technique. Contemporary reports suggest as little as 12 to 14 hours is required by especially able practitioners.
Silva wrote a book, You the Healer, on how to use the Silva Mind Control Method to heal yourself and others. He also started the Ecumenical Society to protect users from allegations of practicing medicine without a license.
A New York Times article on April 16, 1972 ("Can Man Control His Mind") reported that a Trinity University
Trinity University
Trinity University may refer to:* Trinity University , San Antonio, Texas, US* Trinity University of Asia, formerly known as Trinity College of Quezon City, Quezon City, Philippines* Trinity International University, Deerfield, Illinois, US...
study showed that students trained in Mind Control did attain a high degree of Alpha level production. It also noted that C. W. Post College and Canisius College
Canisius College
Canisius College is a private Roman Catholic college in Buffalo, New York, United States. The college was founded in 1870 by members of the Society of Jesus from Germany and is named after St. Peter Canisius. The college is one of 28 institutions in the Association of Jesuit Colleges and...
would offer courses in Silva's methods.
Silva died peacefully in February 1999, aged 84. The Silva UltraMind System was his final creation and was completed shortly before he died.