Answers to FAQs Part I IN connection with an article she is writing for Katipunan ent publication of the Ateneo de Manila

University, Julian of questions concerning my life and work.Since many of the ere also often asked by other people, I thought it best to olumn.

Magazine, an independ Qua sent in a number questions she asked w answer them in this c

Personal questions: When did you first realize you wanted to pursue this kind of career ? Why? You are right in putting the term career in quotation marks, for I do not consider what I do to be a career. It really started as a hobby. I was interested in tho se areas that science considered to be out of its scope, thereby completely igno ring them.Events that cannot be explained scientifically are considered to be ano malous phenomena or paranormal. I believe, however, that such events are normal and natural. And so I sought to prove this theory. In time, my hobby or avocation became a vocation. I have now written 15 books on the subject over a period of 25 years. I also have three more manuscripts under preparation. Who is the most interesting person you ve met? Why? There are several persons I ve personally met whom I consider to be most interesti ng. One was Pope John Paul II. I met him at the Vatican in 1986 in a special aud ience. I spoke with him for less than two minutes, but it was a most memorable m eeting with the head of the Catholic Church who would later be nominated for sai nthood.Imagine meeting personally a would-be saint? It s not every day you meet on e, you know. The other most interesting persons I d met were: Uri Geller, the Israeli psychic who became famous for bending spoons through tel ekinesis. I met him in Dsseldorf, Germany, in 1994. Luis Gasparetto, the amazing mediumistic painter from Brazil. He can paint a gre at masterpiece in less than 10 minutes while in a trance. I met him in Argentina in the 1990s. Olof Jonsson of Sweden, probably one of the greatest psychics of modern times. I met him in the Philippines during the administration of President Cory Aquino. He helped Marcos find the Yamashita treasure. He died several years ago in Las V egas. Dr. Russell Targ, who led the scientific experiments on remote viewing at Stanfo rd Research Institute (now called SRI International) in Menlo Park, California. He studied for 20 years and scientifically proved the existence of this mental a bility. There are others I consider very interesting personalities that I ve met, like Tom Johanson, famous spiritual healer from England; Deepak Chopra of the United Sta tes; Dr. Hiroshi Motoyoma of Japan; Dr. Hans Naegeli of Switzerland; Dr. Alfred Stelter of Germany; and Dr. Karl Pribram, a neuroscientist from the US. Who is the person you admire the most? Aside from the above mentioned individuals, I would say I admire most Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Epictetus, Homer and Shakespeare. What is your most out-of-this world experience so far? When I spontaneously went out of my physical body in 1975 and saw my body from t he ceiling. I was looking down at my physical body while suspended or floating n ear the ceiling. That was the strangest thing that ever happened to me, my first

conscious out-of-body experience or astral projection. It was this experience that proved to me the existence of the astral plane and o ur ability to travel in that realm. If you could have any kind of power, what would it be and why? To run faster than a speeding bullet, stop a train with my bare hands, jump a bu ilding in a single leap, and have X-ray vision. Ooops! That sounds like Superman ! No, seriously, I am happy with whatever I have right now. They are not much, b ut they are above-average abilities.I think it is wrong to pursue power for the sake of power alone. Power should only be used as a stepping stone toward a high er purpose. Next week: More questions about psychic gifts and how to develop them will be an swered and discussed