Graham Nicholls (born 30 July 1975) is a British author, installation artist and specialist on out of body experiences. He speaks widely on parapsychology, ethics and art at institutions ranging from the London Science Museum, The Society for Psychical Research to the Cambridge Union Society.
Early life
Graham Nicholls was born in the Paddington district of central London into a working-class family. He states that during his early life he was surrounded by crime and social problems, but that the influence of literature, art, science and spiritual philosophies helped him to look beyond the limitations of this environment.
Art career
Since the early 1990s Nicholls has developed artistic works that explore subjects such as sensory deprivation, hypnosis, and psi abilities. Technology and science, such as that used in The Living Image project, take a central role in his artistic output, his virtual web projects being considered internationally recognised by the Handbook of the economics of art and culture.
Out-of-body experiences
Nicholls claims to have had out of body experiences (OBEs) since the age of approximately twelve years old. These experiences led him to study many aspects of parapsychology. In 2009 Nicholls outlined his experiences and ideas relating to OBEs in an article that appeared in Kindred Spirit magazine. In the article he makes it clear that he believes mainstream science will eventually fully embrace psi, or psychical perceptions as natural, rather than supernatural or paranormal.
As part of his inquiry into psi and human consciousness, in 2009 he began working on a series of telepathy experiments in a joint project with controversial scientist Rupert Sheldrake. The resulting data formed part of Rupert Sheldrake's research as director of the Perrott-Warrick project, administered by Trinity College, Cambridge.
Veridical cases
Nicholls also claims to have had several veridical out-of-body experiences. Skeptics would generally dispute such claims as unreliable and impossible by current understandings of science.
Skepticism
In the October 2012 issue of The Psychologist, the journal of the British Psychological Society, a review of Navigating the Out-of-Body Experience by Graham Nicholls, criticised him for failing "to take into account psychometric properties (e.g. reliability and validity)" in the questionnaire section of the book. The reviewer went on to state that the book "does not meet the standards required by professional psychologists".
Well known sceptic and critic of parapsychology James Randi also responded to an article about Nicholls that appeared in 2011 asking why those mentioned in the article, including Dean Radin, Rupert Sheldrake, Michael Persinger, and Graham Nicholls have not applied for the One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge. Nicholls penned a response to Randi expressing doubts towards Randi's honesty, scientific credibility, and the limits of a single test to explore issues such as the existence of OBEs.
Beyond poverty he is also interested in the various social justice issues. According to a 2012 book on polyamory, Nicholls supports LGBT issues, polyamory, and feminism.
In 2009 he founded www.polyamory.org.uk, the United Kingdom's first website about polyamory; at the time he was in a polyamorous triad with two female partners.
He is also an outspoken supporter of animal rights and veganism; in a recent interview he states that he has been vegetarian since 1992 and went vegan in 2005. He also states that "Veganism was the obvious next step in my ethical understanding and one that avoids supporting violent and exploitative practices."
Books
- Avenues of the Human Spirit (2011)
- Navigating the Out-of-Body Experience: Radical New Techniques (2012)
References
External links
- Extraordinary Out-of-Body Experience – A video detailing a witnessed OBE, 2013
- Interview with AfterlifeTV – A video interview with Bob Olson, 2012
- Avenues of the Human Spirit – Interview about Nicholls' first book, science and scepticism, 2011
- Out-of-Body Experiences: In Search of the Truth – Article by Graham Nicholls for Noetic Now, the journal of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, 2011
- Skeptical Investigations – A report on TAM London by Graham Nicholls, 2010