PERSINGERS LAB

British journalist Ian Cotton, who had visited Persinger’s lab in order to find explanations for the growth of Pentecostal Christianity in recent decades, admitted, “The truth is, I was scared. . . . God knows what might be down at the bottom of my mind.”28 In the first session, Cotton recalled only his childhood home. In the second session, however: A little background sound was added, some vaguely New Age, Eastern temple bell sounds. Appropriately suggestible, my mind began a whole new mental tour, this time with a distinctly Eastern, Tibetan feel. It gradually increased in intensity and conviction, until suddenly, with a kind of booster rocket of realism, I was actually in a temple, in a line of solemn, Tibetan monks. Cotton was sure that that he too was a Tibetan monk.