Dowsing and Science: Reasons for Non-Recognition, Ethics and Looking to the Future
For centuries, the relationship between official science and dowsing has been marked by doubt, caution, and a lack of solid material evidence. Despite the impressive field results of top practitioners, crossing the border and entering the auspices of recognized academic disciplines requires the fulfillment of strict conditions.
Why does science still reject dowsing?
The reasons why dowsing has never been recognized by the official scientific community as an official scientific discipline are quite clear and logical. As far back as 1531, university professor Kirchner conducted pioneering experiments to determine whether the forks are moved due to invisible sympathy, that is, attraction to the desired object. On that occasion, he proved that the instruments remain completely still if they are placed on a stable support without contact with the body, and they rotate exclusively in the hands of the operator himself. Even then, the suspicion was raised that the movement of tools is actually caused by the person holding them, regardless of whether he possesses special abilities.
Until today, the pitchfork and the plumb bob have been tested with a wide variety of laboratory apparatus, but no instrument has been able to record and explain the physical cause of their movement. An additional problem is the accumulation of non-professionals without any real inclinations, whose failed field results have further strengthened the skepticism of scientists. Although numerous tests have been carried out in the past with ingenious and extremely successful dowsers (such as Aymar, Bleton, Mermet and others) whose accuracy was astonishing, science cannot rely solely on statistical success without verification through standard measuring devices and the establishment of strictly controlled conditions. In addition, the fact that instruments behave differently in the hands of even the most recognized experts makes its standardization even more difficult.
Problematic approach, charlatanism and ethics in work
A large part of the resistance of the scientific public lies in the way individual dowsers perform. One can often hear statements in which self-confident practitioners categorically claim: "In that place exactly there is so-and-so!" Instead of such an exclusive and pseudo-scientific tone, a more appropriate approach would be: "It would be advisable to carry out detailed investigations at that location to verify the existence of certain resources."
Health diagnostics is a particularly sensitive area. It often happens that a self-proclaimed expert with a high coefficient of dowsing sensitivity claims that the patient has a diseased spleen, without knowing where exactly that organ is located in the human body, nor does he know the basic anatomy. This type of action causes enormous damage to the profession, endangers people and borders on quackery. The dowser has no right to make diagnoses; its role can be reduced exclusively to registering disturbances in the energy field and referring the client to an examination by a specialist doctor, given that modern medicine has modern and reliable diagnostic devices.
Engineering modesty and realistic expectations
Experienced and conscientious researchers never proceed with the assumption of absolute infallibility. There are countless unpredictable factors in the atmosphere and soil that can affect the results, so the success rate in practice is realistically between 80 and 90 percent. Each terrain requires maximum vigilance, awareness of one's own limitations and constant checking of data.
The perspective and future of dowsing
In more developed countries, there are already specialized institutes that deal with the study of these phenomena, in which, in addition to physical laws, complex psychological factors play a dominant role. The theory of resonance and vibrating circles seems to be the closest logical explanation, but science is still waiting for the invention of measuring devices that will precisely quantify the strength of dowsing radiation and thus cross the threshold that opens the doors of academic institutions.
Nevertheless, dowsing has survived the dark eras of persecution and prohibitions throughout its turbulent history, to be stronger and more widespread today than ever before. Like acupuncture, which needed a huge period of time to win its place in the auspices of official medicine, dowsing is slowly but surely getting closer to its final scientific recognition every day.
