Raynor Carey Johnson (5 April 1901 – 15 May 1987) was an English-born Australian parapsychologist,

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

and author.

Life and career

Johnson was born in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, England on 5 April 1901 and educated at Bradford Grammar School. He earned an MA at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

and, in 1922, a PhD in physics at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. He lectured in natural philosophy at the Queen's University, Belfast between 1923 and 1927.'Overseas Scholar Nominated: Dr. Raynor C. Johnson' Melbourne Age 9 December 1933 p.21 He published scientific works on

spectroscopy Spectroscopy is the field of study that measures and interprets electromagnetic spectra. In narrower contexts, spectroscopy is the precise study of color as generalized from visible light to all bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. Spectro ...

.Owen Parnaby. (2007)
"Johnson, Raynor Carey (1901–1987)"
Australian Dictionary of Biography. He became increasingly interested in parapsychology and became connected with the

Society for Psychical Research The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) is a nonprofit organisation in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal. It describes itself as the "first society to condu ...

in London. Johnson's religious background led to work in Australia, where he was master of the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

Queen's College at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

from 1934 to 1964. By this time he was married with two young daughters; his wife Mary held a Master of Science from the University of London. Johnson published several books on

mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute (philosophy), Absolute, but may refer to any kind of Religious ecstasy, ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or Spirituality, spiritual meani ...

and

psychical research Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception, telepathy, teleportation, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis (also called telekinesis), and psychometry) and other paranormal claims, for example, those r ...

during the 1950s and 1960s. His beliefs and writings eventually created concern within the Methodist Church and he retired from his university position in 1964. In the early 1960s Johnson visited India, where he met

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (; 5 September 188817 April 1975; natively Radhakrishna) was an Indian academician, philosopher and statesman who served as the President of India from 1962 to 1967. He previously served as the vice president of ...

and lectured on spirituality. He also met the Indian mystics

Vinoba Bhave Vinayak Narahar Bhave, also known as Vinoba Bhave (; 11 September 1895 – 15 November 1982), was an Indian advocate of nonviolence and human rights. Often called ''Acharya'' (Teacher in Sanskrit), he is best known for the Bhoodan Movement. He ...

and Swami Pratyagatmananda. Johnson was an advocate of Douglas Fawcett's philosophy of Imaginism which he believed could explain

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

and the purpose of human life. He owned a property called "''Santiniketan''" ("abode of peace") at Ferny Creek in the

Dandenong Ranges The Dandenong Ranges (commonly just the Dandenongs) are a set of low mountain ranges in Victoria, Australia, approximately east of the state capital Melbourne. A minor branch of the Great Dividing Range, the Dandenongs consist mostly of rol ...

outside Melbourne. There he hosted regular meetings of a religious and philosophical discussion group led by the

yoga Yoga (UK: , US: ; 'yoga' ; ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated with its own philosophy in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as pra ...

teacher Anne Hamilton-Byrne. This group became known as " The Family", a cult that adopted a large number of children and treated them cruelly until Victoria police rescued them on 14 August 1987. Hamilton-Byrne and her husband Bill were extradited from the United States six years later and faced criminal charges. Twenty years after his death, an authorised biography was published, ''Raynor Johnson – A Biographical Memoir'' (2007). Two further books authored by Johnson were published after his death – ''Mysticism and Life'' (2010) and a collection of miscellaneous writings, ''A Late Lark Singing'' (2012).

Reception

In his book ''Psychical Research'', Johnson endorsed psychical and

spiritualist Spiritualism may refer to: * Spiritual church movement, a group of Spiritualist churches and denominations historically based in the African-American community * Spiritualism (beliefs), a metaphysical belief that the world is made up of at least ...

phenomena and cited reports by the

. In a review for ''

The Quarterly Review of Biology ''The Quarterly Review of Biology'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering all aspects of biology. It was established in 1926 by Raymond Pearl. In the 1960s it was purchased by the Stony Brook Foundation when the editor H. Bentley Glass ...

'' M. Steinbach wrote that although Johnson was "quite earnest and certainly sincere in completely accepting the whole range of spiritualist phenomena", many of the cases he described could be easily explained by

coincidence A coincidence is a remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances that have no apparent causal connection with one another. The perception of remarkable coincidences may lead to supernatural, occult, or paranormal claims, or it may lead to b ...

, delusion,

hallucination A hallucination is a perception in the absence of an external stimulus that has the compelling sense of reality. They are distinguishable from several related phenomena, such as dreaming ( REM sleep), which does not involve wakefulness; pse ...

suggestion Suggestion is the psychological process by which a person guides their own or another person's desired thoughts, feelings, and behaviors by presenting stimuli that may elicit them as reflexes instead of relying on conscious effort. Nineteenth-cent ...

and that most of the mediums were exposed as fraudulent.M. Steinbach. (1957). ''Psychical Research. by R. C. Johnson''. ''

''. Vol. 32, No. 3. pp. 318-319. Johnson believed that the material world was a creation of the mind, and claimed paranormal phenomena such as discarnate minds,

mediumship Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or ghost, spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship or ...

, psi and

telepathy Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic ...

could be explained by a "psychic ether". On this, Steinbach wrote "but to do that is to leave this world of reality and the firm basis of scientific thought for a speculative journey in an imaginary vehicle to a never-never-land." Johnson's ''Nurslings of Immortality'' received a mixed review in ''

The Journal of Religion ''The Journal of Religion'' is an academic journal published by the University of Chicago Press founded in 1897 as ''The American Journal of Theology''. The journal "embraces all areas of theology (biblical, historical, ethical, and constructive) ...

'', wherein William Hamilton wrote that the book endorsed a "pretentious philosophical quasi-idealism" called Imaginism but contained some interesting material about

automatic writing Automatic writing, also called psychography, is a claimed psychic ability allowing a person to produce written words without consciously writing. Practitioners engage in automatic writing by holding a writing instrument and allowing alleged sp ...

and psychic phenomena.William Hamilton. (1959). ''Nurslings of Immortality by Raynor C. Johnson''. ''

''. Vol. 39, No. 4. p. 293.

Publications

* ''Spectra''. 1928 (Methuen: London) * ''Atomic Spectra''. 1946 (Methuen: London) * ''An introduction to Molecular Spectra''. 1949 (Methuen: London) * ''The Imprisoned Splendour. An approach to reality, based upon the significance of data drawn from the fields of natural science, psychical research and mystical experience''. 1953 (Hodder & Stoughton: London); new edition 1989 (Pelegrin Trust in association with Pilgrim Books: Tasburgh, Norwich) * ''Psychical Research''. 1955 (English Universities Press: London) * ''Nurslings of Immortality''. 1957 (Hodder & Stoughton: London); new edition 1989 (Pelegrin Trust in association with Pilgrim Books: Tasburgh, Norwich) * ''Watcher on the Hills''. 1959 (Hodder & Stoughton: London); new edition 1988 (Pelegrin Trust in association with Pilgrim Books: Tasburgh, Norwich) * ''A Religious Outlook for Modern Man''. 1963. (Hodder & Stoughton: London); new edition 1988 (Pelegrin Trust in association with Pilgrim Books: Tasburgh, Norwich) * ''The Light and the Gate''. 1964 (Hodder & Stoughton: London) * ''The Spiritual Path''. 1972 (Hodder & Stoughton: London) * ''A Pool of Reflections: for the refreshment of travellers on the spiritual path''. 1975 (Hodder & Stoughton: London) * ''Light of All Life: Thoughts towards a philosophy of life''. 1984 (Pilgrim Books: Tasburgh, Norwich) * ''Mysticism and Life''. 2010 (Lakeland Publications: Melbourne) * ''A Late Lark Singing''. 2012 (Lakeland Publications: Melbourne)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Raynor 1901 births 1987 deaths Alumni of the University of London English non-fiction writers English physicists Parapsychologists English spiritualists English male non-fiction writers 20th-century Australian non-fiction writers Australian physicists Australian spiritualists 20th-century English male writers People educated at Bradford Grammar School