Home » Mind & Soul » New Age » Exceptional Human Experiences (EHEs)

Exceptional Human Experiences (EHEs)

© Donna L. Quesinberry

Rhea A. White, founded the Parapsychology Source of Information Center, and coined the term Exceptional Human Experience (EHE) in 1990. She studied a broad range of paranormal experiences that focussed on abnormal human events and their triggers (e.g., physiological, physical, psychological, and spiritual developments) after experiencing some EHEs of her own.

Exceptional Experiences (EEs) turned out to have similarities, while their manifestations varied. The human transformation that resulted from EEs and EHES were common characteristics necessary to define an EHE. Ms. White realized that an EHE moved an individual from a concept of their individual self-reality to that of a shared, universal, or "all-self" reality. She concluded that both the individual self-reality and the all-self reality necessitate a fullness of human potential. She postures that an individual should be aware of both realities and not identify exclusively with either one. Generally, this is a well-accepted point of view on human nature and is similar to self-actualization.

1. What denotes an abnormal and/or anomalous experience?
   
   It is when someone experiences an unexpected event that doesn't commit to typical life explanations and may be perceptual, cognitive, or behavioral in nature originating outside the mainstream of ordinary consciousness, awareness, and/or self-concept-it is considered to be abnormal and/or anomalous. In this first stage, the individual experience is only an abnormal and/or anomalous experience. Often it goes without further notation and is simply dismissed.
   
   
2. What may happen then to the EHE experiencer?
   
   Individuals who experience abnormal and/or anomalous experiences sometimes feel singled out. They feel the experience is special, meaningful, and personal. This is where the abnormal and/or anomalous experience becomes an Exceptional Experience (EE) and/or a precursor to an EHE. This is the phase where the individual may inquire, "why did this happen to me?" They may desire and/or need to find ways to deny their experience. They might exclude it from their lives except as a curiosity they can't forget totally. They'll bring the topic up in light conversation, around campfires, at personal gatherings-when the ominous life event topics arise-in safe encounters. Or, they may be comforted by the feeling of being singled out and continue including their EE in their own life stories. As referenced by Rhea White, In Frontiers of the Soul, Grosso (Quest, 1992) wrote, An extraordinary experience can be an ally or an enemy. ...Whether we advance or retreat...depends on an act of our imagination, on the way we see the pattern, on the meaning we take from the experience (p. 224). The individual determines their level of acceptance, but...this doesn't necessarily conclude the EE individual from experiencing future EE events.
   
   

The copyright of the article Exceptional Human Experiences (EHEs) in New Age is owned by Donna L. Quesinberry. Permission to republish Exceptional Human Experiences (EHEs) in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.