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Research on the Nature of the Human Individual in Turkey

Although the socio-cultural structure of Turkish society has got parapsychic elements in abundance, approaching the subject scientifically and examining it from theoretical and practical points of view commenced only after the establishment of the Turkish Republic by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in October 1923.

Metapsychic research in modern Turkey can be categorized into two groups: Individual and Institutional. Dr.Bedri Ruhselman, who is not very well known abroad, has been the leading researcher dealing with both Institutional and Individual work. Though parapsychological research has not been started in any of the Turkish universities yet, theoretical and practical parapsychological work has been conducted at the Metapsychic Investigations and Scientific Research Society.

Dr.Bedri Ruhselman was born in Istanbul in 1898. He was interested in psychic phenomena since his childhood. However, due to his natural inclination towards music, he went to the Prague Conservatory without finishing his medical training at the university. To keep his interest in psychic phenomena alive while abroad, he examined and learned hypnotism there. He returned home as a violinist, and taught music at schools in different parts of Turkey. In the meantime, he also completed his medical training and became a doctor of medicine, specializing in internal diseases.

After embarking on his medical profession, Dr.Ruhselman began publishing a magazine titled ''FENER'' (meaning 'the torch'), covering psychic and survival-related phenomena, in March 1938. He then went to Afghanistan and became the head doctor of a sanatorium. He continued to conduct his experimental metapsychic research, and returned to Turkey in 1945.

In 1946, Dr. Ruhselman published 'RUH ve KAINAT' (meaning Spirit and Universe), his synthesis of theoretical and practical research, in three volumes of more than one thousand pages. By doing so, he established the foundations of 'Experimental New Spiritualism', which is quite different from the classical one of Allan Kardec. His second book, 'RUHLAR ARASINDA' (Among the Spirits), was published in 1948. In 1950, along with his four research fellows, he established the Metapsychic Investigations and Scientific Research Society.

Dr. Ruhselman spoke English, French and German, and contributed articles to a magazine called 'VARLIK' (Inner Entity), published in Ankara. He published his third book, 'ALLAH' (God), and then contributed a paper to the International Spiritualist Federation in September 1951. His paper, wherein he mainly explained channelling and related matters, was read at the Stockholm Convention of the aforementioned federation. The English version of his paper, titled 'Mediumship', was published in the same year.

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