Harold Van Colle.
A SHORT BIOGRAPHY:
Harold Van Colle was a retired British
pharmacist turned philosopher, therapist and writer,
(February 1915- July 2007 [we understand]) who contributed creatively to scientific network groups on the Internet.
It was through these means that Dr.
Vernon Neppe interacted with this remarkable thinker,
and he felt that Harold's ideas should exist on the
Internet for all to see (though, of course, not necessarily
agreeing with them.)
Harold was modest and it has been with
some difficulty that we have extracted out the following
from his writings:
"The fact is that, during my
whole life (except perhaps when I studied pharmacy,
calling for little more
than memorising anyway at that time, over 60 years
ago), I read very few
books. I learnt nearly everything by becoming involved
and having
experiences, and learning by a process of making
mistakes and analysing
them. I am well aware that that last statement will
give rise to a lot of
eyebrow raising, and I will be the first one to agree
that I should not
like to be operated upon by anyone whose sole basis
for learning was the
method I have stated !! " ( Reasonable assumption
#23).
"The subtleties of life for me
included, in addition, my wandering into all kinds
of activities including
chiropody, pharmacy, commerce, shipping, manufacturing,
banking,
collecting, auctions, music, art, archaeology and
three years experimental
research into "paranormal" phenomena followed
by 30 years of psychotherapy
practice , still continuing. I certainly had no leaning
towards
mathematics. It all started with an unexpected experience
with a twig.
During the first couple of days of experiments after
the "twig"
experience (dowsing) I quickly discovered that by
reading any book on
dowsing, I was getting results that were mostly misleading,
and giving rise
to false results. That was because my brain was absorbing
the "facts" from
the books which recorded in my brain, and led to expectations
based upon
those recorded "facts". So I immediately
abandoned all reading so as to be
able to proceed with an open mind, not pre-conditioned."
"I think I would describe myself
as an "explorer/adventurer" (metaphorically)
being more interested in
people than in things and places. Am probably the
worst- read person you
have ever known, but found that to be an advantage
especially where
parapsychology is concerned, because I approached
it with an open mind, not
pre-conditioned by reading. In fact I have found that
the best subjects for
experiments in parapsychological experiments are those
who are "naive" and
not having their activities interfered with by a strong
critical faculty.
The latter in action blocks off access to psychic
ability.
To know more of me you will find some
relevant information in my short book "The Twig
of Revelation". This book is closely linked to
the
"Reasonable Assumptions" and will serve
to explain how I reached the various
conclusions. I have been engaged in many activities
in my life , all leading ultimately to my practising
psychotherapy
(a label I dislike.....I'm really a teacher, but try
to avoid all labels).
I still see a few patients, and had a long session
yesterday with an
alcoholic. Most sessions are long, but one-off. The
one person who gave me
initial encouragement, and participated in some experiments,
is Dr. Peter
Fenwick who I have known for over 30 years."
Contact "Harold
Van Colle" at hvc@dircon.co.uk
