"I would venture a guess," said Thelma Moss, Ph.D. (1918-1997), "that nearly every parapsychologist is drawn to the field because at some time in his life, he has had at least one experience, mysterious and powerful, which he cannot deny, bury, or explain away."

She is absolutely right! In my case, however, I have had not only one, but hundreds of such incredible and undeniable experiences during the last 40 years, which could fill a volume. My attempt to find a rational explanation for such experiences has led me to a lifelong study and research into the shaky field of paranormal phenomena.

One such unbelievable but undeniable experience happened on 21 August 1983, the day Ninoy Aquino was assassinated at the former Manila International Airport.

This happened in a small cave in mystic Mount Banahaw in Dolores, Quezon. I was with an attractive American woman whom I had just met a few days before, and two local guides. We were supposed to meditate and then spend the night in a small cave called Koronang Bato (Crown of Stone).

The Koronang Bato was the cave in which our guide, Waway (a psychic and clairvoyant), was directed by the spirits to meditate. Because the cave was not large enough for all four of us to enter, we decided to take turns meditating there.

The first batch to go inside the cave were my American companion and me. Because it rained that day, the cave's stony ground was wet and water was slightly leaking from the top.

We tried to avoid the dripping water while laying side by side. It was getting late and we tried to sleep but could not. My back was aching because of the uneven stones I was lying on. I tried to squeeze myself beside my companion which we did not mind, knowing why I had to do it.

I could not sleep. I kept changing my position as my back hurt. But my companion did not seem to mind. She lay on her side facing the wall of the cave. Shortly afterwards, when I stopped struggling to avoid the protruding stones, I noticed I was getting into a trance-like state. Soon after, I felt the stones suddenly turn soft, as if I was lying on a foam mattress.

I could not make sense out of it but since it was so comfortable, I stopped analyzing and fell comfortably asleep.

I thought I was only imagining those stones becoming soft. But many years later, I found a similar experience happened to another person — Thelma Moss, Ph.D.

Dr. Moss, in her book, The Body Electric: A Personal Journey Into the Mysteries of Parapsychology and Kirlian Photography, had exactly the same experience I had in the cave in Mount Banahaw.

Dr. Moss related her extraordinary experience in a seminar in New York. The lecturer asked the participants "to lie down and let the foam support you… give to the floor." I began to feel how my body kept resisting the floor, rather than sinking into it… The more I tried to 'give to the floor,' the more tension I felt traveling and sticking through my arms, legs, feet, and toes.

"Then, one day, somehow all at once, the tensions in my spine, neck, and stomach all seemed to melt away, and I felt as if I were dissolving… and I became one with the floor and with the studio… and with Manhattan and the world and somewhere… within… 'Is there another space?' I was in another dimension, another reality, a timeless yet familiar space. Only gradually did I drift back to the world, and to the class, with which I had lost contact."

In those moments in a cave in Mount Banahaw, I realized the teaching of the great mystics of the East and the theories of quantum physics seemed to coincide (i.e., This physical world is an illusion. It is our mental creation. Everything outside the mind is "maya," or illusion. Could what these mystics and quantum physicists were saying be true?

Note: For inquiries about online seminars, available books, consultancy, and suggestions, text 0998-988-6292 or email jaimetlicauco@yahoo.com.