7 Things We Learnt About Remote Viewing From This Forgotten Book

Remote viewing is the idea that a person can "see" distant locations or hidden objects using only their mind. One of the most detailed studies of this phenomenon comes from René Warcollier, a French chemical engineer and parapsychologist, who spent decades researching telepathic communication. His book 'Mind To Mind' explores how people might pick up on images in their minds sent by others, an idea closely linked to remote viewing.

René approached his work with an open but critical mind. He didn't claim to have proven telepathy, but he documented patterns that might offer insight into how remote viewing - or any form of extrasensory perception - could work. His experiments suggest that even if the mind can pick up on distant information, what it receives is rarely crystal clear. Instead, it arrives distorted, influenced by emotions, and shaped by the receiver's own mind.

Unlike grand claims of military-grade psychic spies, René's work was methodical and experimental, focusing on how the mind receives and distorts information in ways that might explain why remote viewing, if real, isn't always clear or consistent. Here are seven key takeaways from his research.

One of the biggest findings from René's work is that telepathic images rarely appear in a person's mind as a perfect picture. Instead, they are often broken into fragments, distorted, or reassembled into something new. He found that drawings sent between test subjects often arrived jumbled - lines might be separated from shapes, angles detached from their original form. This suggests that if remote viewing works, the brain isn't receiving a straightforward image but rather bits and pieces that need to be reconstructed.

René's experiments suggest that emotions have a greater influence on telepathic perception than logic. While abstract symbols, such as squares and circles, often arrived incomplete or scattered, emotionally charged images - like fire or threatening animals - seemed to be received more clearly. This might explain why remote viewing reports often describe dramatic or alarming visions rather than mundane details. If emotions enhance reception, then an event with a strong emotional charge may be easier to "see" than, say, a random office building.

Another challenge René noted is that telepathic impressions don't always arrive instantly. Sometimes, his test subjects reported images hours or even days after an experiment had ended. He referred to this as "latency" - the idea that the mind might process and reveal the information at its own pace, rather than on demand. This could be why remote viewers sometimes report seeing things from the past or future rather than a real-time feed of a target location.

Static images didn't always transmit well in René's experiments. He found that when drawings contained movement - such as a spinning wheel or a falling object - participants were more likely to perceive something meaningful. This suggests that motion, or the suggestion of motion, might make it easier for the mind to grasp a telepathic impression. If this applies to remote viewing, it could mean that active, dynamic locations like a battlefield or a moving vehicle are easier to perceive than still, featureless landscapes.

Another of René's observations was that the receiver's mind often altered the image based on their own memories and experiences. For example, if the target image was a camel, a participant might perceive something completely different - like a hunched figure - because their mind tried to match the unknown impression to something familiar. This could explain why remote viewers sometimes report symbolic or dreamlike imagery rather than literal descriptions of a target.

While René found that strangers could successfully exchange telepathic impressions, he noted that close emotional bonds seemed to improve the results. This aligns with later remote viewing studies that suggested people who had strong connections - like twins or long-time colleagues - produced better results. If true, it might suggest that remote viewing works best between individuals who are naturally in sync.

Ultimately, René's findings suggest that if telepathy or remote viewing exists, it doesn't function like an instant transmission of a photo. Instead, it's more like a dream - where symbols, emotions, and fragments of reality mix together in unpredictable ways. His work highlights the difficulty of proving remote viewing scientifically, but it also provides an intriguing explanation for why reports are so varied.