Stan Gooch

Infobox Writer
name = Stan Gooch


imagesize = 200px
caption = Stan Gooch
pseudonym =
birthname =
birthdate = Birth date and age|1932|6|13
birthplace = London
deathdate =
deathplace =
occupation = Author
nationality = English
period = 1972 to Present
genre = Non-fiction
movement =
notableworks = "The Paranormal"
influences = Carl Jung, Karen Horney, Jack Kerouac
influenced =
website = http://www.stangooch.gotaw.co.uk/

Stan Gooch (born 1932 in London, England), is a British psychologist and paranormal researcher who is probably best known as the proponent of the hybrid-origin theory.

Biography

Stan Gooch was born in Lewisham, London to a working class family of Polish descent. His father was a life-long private in the British army, and neither his mother or father had aspirations for either themselves or their three children, two of which suffered from debilitating genetic disease. Stan Gooch was a talented student from an early age, who read every book he could scavenge from war damaged buildings in what was then a derelict part of London. Due to a seemingly natural aptitude for speed reading he reportedly read up to three books a day at points throughout his life. One story details that upon returning read books which had been issued on the same morning, he was not allowed to borrow new books as the librarian did not believe he had read the returned ones. His grammar school education eventually led to him gaining qualifications in both Psychology and Modern Languages (from respectively Birbeck College and King's College, London). After a brief stint as a scrap metal worker and as both a gymnastics teacher and the head of the English department at a comprehensive school, he was assigned as senior research Psychologist at the National Children's Bureau, where, as well as publishing many articles and papers he co-wrote an authoritative book on child psychology, "Four Years On". During this time he was able to work with and study children from extremely varied social backgrounds, many with disturbing mental and physical disabilities that he believed help to formulate much off his early work.

Whilst studying for his psychology degree Stan Gooch partook in two years of Jungian psychoanalysis, which he also accredited to have had a huge effect on his future research.

When his co-author remarked that 'in a few years time we will know all there is to know about the human mind', and disillusioned in general with the beliefs of the scientific community in which he worked Stan Gooch was moved to resign his post, and after an offer from Penguin Books decided to pursue writing as a full time career.

From the earliest years of his education Stan Gooch had been a keen writer, winning awards throughout his schooling for poetry and short stories, some of which went on to be published in contemporary magazines and publications of the late 1960s and early 1970s, including some excellent Science-Fiction work, a genre he particularly admired. During these formative years he also experienced a number of paranormal events, which led to him developing his talent as a trance medium, the details of which were chronicled in his book "The Paranormal".

Stan Gooch asserts that all of his books have been written in a trance state, or automatically written (see automatic writing), something he attributes to his skill as a medium, although he does not believe this is in any way paranormal, but merely just a way of bypassing normal conscious thought to access the unconscious 'storehouse' (this is reminiscent of the way many authors have reported to work, including notably Jack Kerouac, whose work influenced Gooch). Part of this extraordinary talent also involves apparently never having to search for references or quotes, which are claimed to be remembered word for word whilst in the trance state.

Career

The publishing of his first book was beset with complications from the start. Having completed the book, some 540 pages, in just over three months Stan was stuck for a title, so he confided in a friend, the American Edward Luttwak, who suggested the title "Total Man", which Stan decided to use, having no better suggestion. The book was printed and ready to be distributed early in 1972 but was suddenly shelved by Penguin due to their rushed publishing of another book entitled "Total War". "Total Man" was instead scheduled to be released six months later. During this time a schism occurred at Penguin Books, when Oliver Caldicott resigned and co-founded his own publishing house 'Wildwood House'. Caldicott being the editor who signed Stan to Penguin took "Total Man" to Wildwood, and as agreed published it. Although it did not receive the sort of attention it would have if it had been published by Penguin it was still a critical success, drawing the attention of the noted author Colin Wilson and The Times' Jaquetta Hawkes.

"Total Man" was an attempt to examine all fields of interest relevant to man today, and from them to draw a picture of our position in the universe as it stands at the current point in time, and further to possibly gain some sort of understanding of where we should be headed for in the future. On the back cover of the American print of "Total Man" Stan Gooch states:

"Essentially, the view i have taken of other 'theories of personality', such as those of Marx, Christianity, Freud, Pavlov, Nietzsche and many others, is not that all, or all but one, are wrong, but on the contrary that all are correct. I was, and am still, unable to escape the implications of the fact that each of the theorists in question was, after all, concerned with one and the same human being. Instead of rejecting all such views, I found myself essentially rejecting none. This shift of emphasis is, I believe, crucial. The task is changed from one of selection to one of assembly."

In various chapters of "Total Man" Gooch outlined what would become the basis of his theories when he showed that phenomena can be divided into two columns, which he titled System A and System B. These could be roughly equated to Freud's Ego and Id, and in some ways Carl Jung's Male and Female principles.

On some levels it is an extremely academic book, one that sits well amongst those listed in the extensive bibliography, but also one which in some ways isolates the academic from its subject, for its open-minded approach and criticism of scientific methods. It is in "Total Man" that Stan Gooch first gives an outline of what will become known as the Hybrid-Origin theory, as well as radical theories on the structure and development of the nervous system, the nature of consciousness and Psychology, all of which are expanded upon in the next two books of his trilogy, "Personality and Evolution" and "The Neanderthal Question".

In "The Neanderthal Question" Stan Gooch elaborated on his most controversial idea (for which he was branded a heretic by many in the scientific establishment), that modern man was the result of interbreeding between at least two types of archaic human species. This complicated, yet simple idea was drawn from the years of research he had undertaken as a professional, an academic and a psychic. What he had discovered and subsequently sought to reveal in his work was an explanation of why we have an apparently anomalous hidden world, the paranormal world of a-causal events, occurring alongside the material world of cause and effect. His conclusion was that Neanderthal man had evolved in a world governed by his enlarged cerebellum, Gooch's proposed System B, whilst Cro-Magnon, had a highly evolved cerebrum, Gooch's proposed System A.

His next book "The Paranormal" dealt almost exclusively in attempting to discover what is truly paranormal, by examining the claims of psychics, mediums and fellow researchers he believed he would be able to discern who and what can be trusted in the field of paranormal research. The book upset many in the paranormal research circles for its no-nonsense approach to the subject, its dismissal of formerly popular phenomena and Gooch's critical mauling of such luminaries as Uri Gellar, Andrija Puharich, and Lyall Watson. Gooch's exemplary research and thought provoking ideas led to his best sales to date and the much critical appraisal from his peers, one of whom, Peter Redgrave described it as 'One of the very few useful books on the subject'.

Stan Gooch's next two books can be seen as a break away from his academic style, an evolution of sorts into the type of book that could be more easily understood by the layman. The first of these "Guardians of the Ancient Wisdom" was more of his research into the origins of man, and in particular the hidden Neanderthal culture that modern man inherited, and must learn to master in order, Stan believes, to reach the next step of evolution. His research, again remarkably well thought out, comes to some startling conclusions about the origins of religion, mythology and culture that show Stan has great hopes for the future of humanity, providing we can come to terms with our dual nature. The second of these books "The Double Helix of the Mind" took a much more academic approach to much the same subject as "Guardians of the Ancient Wisdom" instead appealing to the scientific community - in their own language - one last time to recognise these two sides of man, and to help to unite them. In particular "The Double Helix of the Mind" included a detailed argument against Roger Sperry's split-brain theory (for which Sperry had just received the Nobel prize), and which was finally dismissed by the academic establishment in 2000.

Stan Gooch's next book "The Secret Life of Humans" saw him take a slightly more light-hearted approach to the paranormal, as a collection of authenticated accounts of mind over body, including examples such as a woman experiencing appendicitis who under hypnosis removed a piece of bone from her appendix, passed it through her intestines, and excreted it; a sufferer from multiple disseminated tuberculosis and on the point of death, who totally recovered in a few hours at the shrine of Lourdes; a policeman who following a cycling accident, developed paralysis, blindness, and many other physical defects, all of which were duplicated by his dog lying under the bed (as confirmed by a veterinarian) with both dying at the same moment.

In 1984, the book "Creatures from Inner Space" was a continuation into Gooch's perceived powers of the cerebellum, in which he attempted to prove categorically that all alternative experiences arise from this little known area of the brain, the cerebellum; poltergeists, incubus and succubus assaults, memories of past lives, multiple personality, split personality, alien visitations and abductions, hypnosis, dreaming, the unconscious mind, automatic writing, mediumistic possession, miracle cures, precognition and post-cognition, hypnotic regression, telepathy, clairvoyance, clinical neurosis, are all, in Gooch's opinion the cerebellum's domain and proof of its potential.

"Cities of Dreams" saw Gooch undertake an expert study into the biology, physiology and culture of Neanderthal man, his Mr. Hyde to modern man's Dr. Jekyll. Proving himself an undisputed expert on prehistoric cultures, and specifically Neanderthal culture, "Cities of Dreams" concluded that far from being the knuckle-dragging, grunting caveman of orthodox history, he was in fact a sensitive and enlightened hominid, capable of highly symbolic communication and expression, with a deeper understanding of the world and universe around us than we could possibly ever imagine.

In the late 1980s Stan was asked by Orbis Publishing to write a monthly column on his chosen topic for their "Unexplained" series. He agreed and was paid to write the first few articles, whilst Orbis set about making adverts with the famous horror genre actor Christopher Lee to promote the magazine. It was a big budget, big circulation partwork magazine that would finally give Stan the forum he needed in which to express his unique views. Only weeks before the first edition was due to be released a child abuse scandal broke out in England involving alleged satanic rituals, and a media blackout of all advertising featuring paranormal subjects was announced. The whole project was shelved and never saw the light of day, Stan lost his job.

Disillusioned with the response that his life's work received, which had seen him rejected by the disciplines he sought to enlighten and enrich, and fed up with the bad luck that had frequently visited him in life, Stan Gooch decided to retire from writing and went into self-exile in Wales, where he currently lives.

In 2007 he was persuaded by long-time friend and publisher David Percy to write another book, which has been released by Inner Traditions, who are currently republishing Stan's work. The book is entitled "The Neanderthal Legacy", and attempts to show what Stan believes are many unexplained aspects of mankind that belong to our Neanderthal heritage. As Stan sees it, this latest book is aimed at students who can ask of their lecturers why these facts have not been investigated or answered by orthodox science. Amongst other subjects it discusses left handedness, disparity in toe size of humans and the effect of the moon on female menstrual cycles.

Bibliography

* "Four Years On" co-authored with M.L. Kellmer-Pringle (1970)
* "Total Man: An Evolutionary Theory of Personality" (1972)
* "Personality and Evolution: The Biology of the Divided Self" (1973)
* "The Neanderthal Question" (1977)
* "The Paranormal" (1978)
* "Alternative Persons: Entities of Science-fiction and Myth" (1979)
* "Guardians of the Ancient Wisdom" (1980), re-published as "The Dream culture of the Neanderthals" (2006)
* "The Double Helix of the Mind: The Secrets of Mental Evolution and Advance" (1980)
* "The Secret Life of Humans" (1981)
* "Science-Fiction as Religion" co-authored with Christopher Evans (1981)
* "Creatures from Inner Space" (1984), Re-published as "The Origin of Psychic Phenomena" (2007)
* "The Child With Asthma" co-authored with Rosemary Dinnage (1986)
* "Cities of Dreams" (1989)
* "The Neanderthal Legacy" (2008)

External links

* [http://www.stangooch.gotaw.co.uk] official website.
* [http://www.kheper.net/topics/intelligence/Gooch.html] A discussion on Stan Gooch's theory of brain polarity.
* [http://www.aulis.com/twothirds_colin_wilson.htm] A short essay by Colin Wilson on Stan Gooch.
* [http://www.gotaw.co.uk] Web page for Guardians of the Ancient Wisdom who are currently collaborating with Stan Gooch.