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A firewalker free of pain

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by controlling his mental state,

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a blind man
able to create maps in his mind

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by using the power of sound,

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and a plane crash
deep in the jungle,

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where a single survivor
was guided by an inner voice.

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The human mind.

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It is the home
of all our thoughts, hopes,

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dreams and memories.

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The organ we call the brain
not only keeps us alive,

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it allows us to interpret
and experience

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the incredible world we live in.

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But are there people
who are wired differently

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than most of us?

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Can unique circumstances
permit some

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to tap
into extrasensory abilities

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that defy nature?

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Or do we all have
extraordinary mental skills

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that can come to our rescue

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with a power
that we never knew we possessed?

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Well, that is what
we'll try and find out.

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Here, as they have
for centuries,

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villagers gather
for an evening festival

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to celebrate
the summer solstice.

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They engage in singing, dancing,

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wearing elaborate costumes.

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But for a select group
of villagers,

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the festivities
aren't so conventional

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because their evening
also includes something

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out of the ordinary--

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a dangerous walk over fire.

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Now, I've seen
many fire walking rituals

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in many different contexts
in a variety of countries,

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but I've never seen a fire as
fierce as the one in San Pedro.

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This is by far
the most important event

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in the life of this community.

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They have
this amphitheater around the,

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the place
where the actual fire is.

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Then these men walk
on the embers.

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It's five or six steps
from one side to the other,

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and they do it barefoot

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and usually carrying someone
on their shoulder.

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People often wonder,
is the firewalk really hot?

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And the answer is yes.

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Once the wood is first laid out,
the overall temperature

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is between 1,000
and 1,200 degrees.

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That's really hot--

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more than enough
to burn flesh, certainly.

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So, imagine a carpet that is

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20 feet across
and several inches deep

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and is burning at a temperature

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that is hot enough
to melt aluminum.

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If you look
at the temperatures involved,

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you're typically talking
temperatures

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over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit,

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and skin burns at 100,
160 degrees Fahrenheit.

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Walking on fire is very,
very dangerous.

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I mean, you're barefoot.

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Just one wrong move

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and you can be severely burned.

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People ask me all the time
whether firewalkers

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have any kind of special trick,

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whether they're on some kind
of special drug

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that prevents them from feeling
pain or getting burned.

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The answer to all these is no.

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There's no special trick.

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Walking on fire,

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and at temperatures hot enough
to turn metal into liquid.

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No one in their right mind
would do this

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and expect to emerge
unharmed, right?

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And yet the people
of San Pedro Manrique

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manage to do just that,
and on a yearly basis.

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But how?

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Walking across hot embers is one
of my favorite physics problems.

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The trick is making sure
the embers are hot enough

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that you actually get
a very thin but very real layer

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of water vapor between your skin
and the hot coals.

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Some of these same firewalkers--

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one day they walk across
unscathed.

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Another time they try it,

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they do burn their feet.

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My experience tells me,

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the difference is
in their mindset.

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So, at my firewalks, once we've
taken the group out to the fire

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and we're getting ready to walk,

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first I like to remind them
again about their intention,

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and this helps motivate them
and get them across.

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And then we raise
people's energy

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before a firewalk.

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Firewalkers around the world--

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regardless
of tradition, religion--

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they raise the group's energy
before they walk.

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So, this can be done
with meditation, chanting,

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singing, dancing.

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Whatever the case,
you want to get your group

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into an excited, pumped-up state

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before the firewalk.

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There is absolutely
something about being

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in an excited, uplifted state

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that helps you get
across safely.

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So, what actually happens

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there psychologically is,
there is this emotional buildup.

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There's this highly intense
arousal that's happening,

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and so you have cortisol and
other sort of endocrine hormones

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flooding the system,

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which will help to block
some of the pain receptors.

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Water vapor?

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Mind control?

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But can fire walking
without pain or injury

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really be just
a simple matter of willpower?

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Or does it require
something even more?

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We know we have the capability

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to redirect pain
or even to numb pain

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just by putting ourselves
in the right mindset,

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but many of these firewalkers
don't even have

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blisters or burns on their feet,
so when you look at physics,

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that's impossible.

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If you touch
something that's hot,

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you're going to get burned.

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So the question is,

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are we dealing
with a magical force

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that we have yet
to fully understand?

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So, in one study

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with the San Pedro
Spanish fire walking ritual,

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a team of anthropologists

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were curious what happens
to a person's heart rate

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for the individual
who's actually walking

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and for any individual
who is close to them,

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like a relative
or a family member.

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For this study my colleagues
and I went to San Pedro

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and used some devices
that collected heart rate data,

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and we placed those devices

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not only
on the firewalkers themselves

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but also members
of the audience.

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And what we found is
that the ritual itself

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created an astonishing level
of synchrony

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in the heart rates
of the participants.

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The surprising part is that

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you will still have
a state of physiology

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that's similar to the individual

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as if you are walking
over the coals,

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when, in fact,
of course you're not.

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It is so much more
than just an individual ritual.

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It is a community experience.

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Yes, it is technically possible

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to cross a coal bed
unharmed all by yourself,

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but it is much easier
to experience a firewalk

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surrounded by people
who are there to support you--

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your family, your community.

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Crossing barefoot
over 1,000-degree coals

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doesn't make
any practical sense,

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and even though
I've personally crossed

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hundreds and hundreds
of coal beds,

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I still don't
perfectly understand

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how and why it works
like it does.

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The ability to walk barefoot
over open flames

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and end up unharmed might be
a perfect example

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of mind over matter.

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While it's clear
that the human brain is capable

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of shielding us from pain
while under stress,

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can the same be said
if we lose one of our senses?

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Perhaps clues can be found

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in the story of a young boy

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who was born blind
and developed the ability to see

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using the power of sound.

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Two-year-old Daniel Kish,

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just one year after having
both eyes removed due to cancer,

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sneaks out of his crib to
explore his family's backyard.

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Far from being fearful
or afraid,

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Daniel is as confident
as he is curious

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because at just two years old,

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he has developed an ability
called echolocation,

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which allows him to see
by using his ears.

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For those of us
that study sensory systems,

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Daniel Kish is a rock star.

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He is clearly
the most studied human

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that actively echolocates.

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So, he will emit sounds himself.

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These sounds will go
and bounce off objects

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and come back to his own ears,

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and these noises
provide him information

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on distance to a target, what
that target might actually be,

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how dense it is,
how light it might be,

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its shape.

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I've been able to echolocate
for as long as I can remember,

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and for me
it was as natural as breathing.

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It was just my way of seeing.

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I didn't really know
it was echolocation per se.

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I just knew that I was aware
of my surroundings

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and that I could function
with that awareness.

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It was just sort of part of the
process of learning to see,

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which is very much
what sighted kids actually do

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as they begin
to calibrate their vision.

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After that,
it was just sort of normal.

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It was just a matter of course
to click and scan

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and find things and not really
be afraid of what was out there.

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For most of us,
if you've ever had

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any experience
with echolocation,

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it's probably
when you've been told

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about how bats work, right?

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Bats emit a sound.

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The sound bounces off objects
and then comes back to them,

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so they can actually determine
how far away an object is,

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what its size and shape may be,
and so forth.

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And what Daniel's done is,
he's taken this idea

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and basically turned it
into something

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that humans can actually use.

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Without ultrasonic hearing,

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without all of the advantages
that bats have evolved,

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humans are somehow able
to do this,

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and relatively easily.

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So, how? Why?

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I believe that we can do this
because we always have.

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We've been doing it since man
was prey and not predator,

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since we had to hide
in the dark.

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So we don't have to develop
these systems from scratch.

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All we have to do
is turn them on.

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By making clicking sounds

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and then listening
to how those sounds reverberate

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off what's around him,

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Daniel is able to create
a virtual picture

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of his surroundings
with astonishing accuracy.

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Neurobiologically,

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I think this speaks to something

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that we call
sensory substitution.

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That his visual cortex has
been appropriated, if you like,

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because it's not
receiving visual information.

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Daniel's rare ability

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has made him the world's
foremost echolocator,

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but there are some
in the scientific community

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who question the extraordinary
nature of Daniel's ability.

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They argue that
it's more likely that Daniel

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is simply making lucky guesses

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when he claims
to sense his environment.

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But for Daniel,
there's no question.

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He sees a map in his mind.

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And what's more...

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...he can prove it.

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Even though he's never seen,

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he's clearly using
his echolocation skills

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to construct some sort of map
of the visual world,

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although he doesn't have
any experience

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with the visual world the way
someone that's sighted does.

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When I visit a new place,

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I basically just look around,

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and for me
that involves, of course,

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using my sense of echolocation

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to scope out the environment.

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I start out with what's most
distinctive, what stands out,

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uh, what's most unique, uh,
what seems to define the space.

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Essentially,
it resolves into what I call

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"three-dimensional
fuzzy geometry,"

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so all of these features
sort of coalesce

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into an actual image.

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Mapping it
is part of the process.

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Drawing is a way of sharing

257
00:13:36,042 --> 00:13:38,375
what my relationship
with the environment is.

258
00:13:38,542 --> 00:13:43,833
It's a way of giving people
a peek into my head.

259
00:13:46,042 --> 00:13:47,083
So, you've got a house here--

260
00:13:47,292 --> 00:13:49,250
that's the most
relevant feature.

261
00:13:49,417 --> 00:13:51,625
There's a parked vehicle
of some kind there,

262
00:13:51,750 --> 00:13:53,667
and then trees.

263
00:13:53,833 --> 00:13:58,125
And then,
just as I got to about here,

264
00:13:58,292 --> 00:14:01,167
I was able immediately to tell,
"Okay, this has got to be

265
00:14:01,375 --> 00:14:04,417
some sort of a patio area
or maybe a grotto."

266
00:14:04,583 --> 00:14:07,167
And then, as I rounded the area,

267
00:14:07,292 --> 00:14:09,917
this tree line
became very obvious,

268
00:14:10,083 --> 00:14:13,500
that bounds
one edge of the garden.

269
00:14:13,667 --> 00:14:15,750
Daniel often says that,
you know,

270
00:14:15,917 --> 00:14:18,833
he can see these things
in his mind,

271
00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:21,000
and skeptics would say,
"Oh, that's impossible.

272
00:14:21,208 --> 00:14:22,625
"He must be hearing sounds

273
00:14:22,750 --> 00:14:24,458
"or just making
calculations and guesses

274
00:14:24,583 --> 00:14:25,792
that just happen to be true,"

275
00:14:25,958 --> 00:14:28,125
but he's actually able
to prove it.

276
00:14:28,333 --> 00:14:32,125
He's actually able to draw
what he sees in his mind...

277
00:14:33,583 --> 00:14:35,167
...and it's accurate.

278
00:14:37,542 --> 00:14:41,833
I am a person
who is naturally curious.

279
00:14:42,042 --> 00:14:44,833
I've been an explorer
since I got out of my crib

280
00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:46,833
and started wandering around.

281
00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:48,208
It didn't really occur
to me that,

282
00:14:48,375 --> 00:14:51,125
"Oh, but wait,
I no longer have eyes."

283
00:14:51,292 --> 00:14:55,708
My interest
is in understanding the world,

284
00:14:55,875 --> 00:14:57,292
knowing about the world,

285
00:14:57,458 --> 00:15:00,875
and sharing whatever it is
I think I've learned

286
00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:02,958
about the world with others

287
00:15:03,083 --> 00:15:06,333
to the extent that others
may benefit from that.

288
00:15:06,458 --> 00:15:08,833
It's not about seeing
or not seeing.

289
00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:11,500
It's about knowing.

290
00:15:11,625 --> 00:15:14,333
It's about understanding
and it's about sharing.

291
00:15:14,542 --> 00:15:16,708
Daniel's incredible ability

292
00:15:16,875 --> 00:15:18,542
to make his way
through the world

293
00:15:18,667 --> 00:15:21,208
is truly a "sight" to behold.

294
00:15:21,375 --> 00:15:24,500
But how did he unlock
such an unusual

295
00:15:24,667 --> 00:15:27,083
and powerful sensory ability?

296
00:15:27,250 --> 00:15:29,833
Perhaps clues can be found
in the stories

297
00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:32,249
of ordinary people...

298
00:15:32,250 --> 00:15:34,875
...who experienced traumatic
events and saved lives

299
00:15:35,042 --> 00:15:38,625
by tapping
into a superhuman strength.

300
00:15:47,208 --> 00:15:48,583
High above the city,

301
00:15:48,750 --> 00:15:50,333
22-year-old Brad Guy

302
00:15:50,500 --> 00:15:54,167
is excited to make
his first skydiving jump.

303
00:15:54,333 --> 00:15:56,749
The self-professed
adrenaline junkie

304
00:15:56,750 --> 00:15:59,250
wants to push the limits,

305
00:15:59,417 --> 00:16:02,125
but he'll soon find
that this is going to be

306
00:16:02,292 --> 00:16:04,750
the fall of his life.

307
00:16:05,875 --> 00:16:07,333
I was given the opportunity

308
00:16:07,458 --> 00:16:09,792
to choose which height
I wanted to jump from,

309
00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:12,042
and I decided to go
as high as possible,

310
00:16:12,208 --> 00:16:13,667
which was 15,000 feet.

311
00:16:13,875 --> 00:16:15,249
Very high.

312
00:16:15,250 --> 00:16:17,458
So, my tandem instructor
ran me through

313
00:16:17,667 --> 00:16:20,583
how it would feel to jump
and what I need to do

314
00:16:20,750 --> 00:16:22,875
to ensure maximum safety.

315
00:16:23,042 --> 00:16:25,000
Then he asked me
if I had any final questions.

316
00:16:25,125 --> 00:16:26,833
I think
because I was so nervous,

317
00:16:27,042 --> 00:16:29,125
I made the joke saying,

318
00:16:29,292 --> 00:16:31,167
"I hope my parachute opens."

319
00:16:33,708 --> 00:16:37,458
I remember when that rickety
door of the aircraft opened,

320
00:16:37,583 --> 00:16:39,625
and my instructor just
edging me closer and closer,

321
00:16:39,750 --> 00:16:42,042
I was so terrified.

322
00:16:42,208 --> 00:16:44,208
And eventually
my instructor said,

323
00:16:44,375 --> 00:16:49,042
"Three, two, one, jump,"
and he pushed us out.

324
00:16:53,208 --> 00:16:55,292
I was moving so fast
that I couldn't even comprehend.

325
00:16:56,542 --> 00:17:00,333
Just that four, five,
seven seconds of free fall.

326
00:17:00,542 --> 00:17:03,833
It's totally euphoric.
It's indescribable.

327
00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:06,083
- It's kind of like magic.
-When a skydiver

328
00:17:06,250 --> 00:17:08,833
jumps out of a plane,
they're accelerated by gravity,

329
00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:11,375
at a rate of 32 feet per second,
per second.

330
00:17:11,542 --> 00:17:14,292
His speed would have been
upwards over 100 miles per hour.

331
00:17:14,458 --> 00:17:16,750
Brad's skydive
is an even greater thrill

332
00:17:16,917 --> 00:17:18,500
than he expected.

333
00:17:18,625 --> 00:17:21,792
But as he and his instructor
plunge toward the ground,

334
00:17:21,917 --> 00:17:25,000
something goes horribly awry.

335
00:17:25,208 --> 00:17:28,917
There just was this point
when, as we're falling,

336
00:17:29,125 --> 00:17:31,625
I was expecting a thrust
of a parachute to come

337
00:17:31,833 --> 00:17:35,333
as per the safety instructions,
and it never came.

338
00:17:37,542 --> 00:17:39,917
I felt a bit of a thrust,
uh, from a parachute,

339
00:17:40,083 --> 00:17:41,750
but it wasn't enough
to slow us down.

340
00:17:43,667 --> 00:17:46,000
And that's when I noticed
that the first parachute,

341
00:17:46,167 --> 00:17:48,875
it's been deployed
but it hasn't opened.

342
00:17:50,958 --> 00:17:53,083
And the emergency parachute
got stuck

343
00:17:53,250 --> 00:17:55,000
in the original parachute.

344
00:17:55,167 --> 00:17:56,333
And because
they're tangled together,

345
00:17:56,458 --> 00:17:57,625
we're not slowing down.

346
00:17:59,500 --> 00:18:03,292
We were tumbling toward
the ground from 15,000 feet.

347
00:18:03,458 --> 00:18:05,167
I start freaking out.
I'm really panicking.

348
00:18:05,333 --> 00:18:06,958
All I could really see
was the earth

349
00:18:07,125 --> 00:18:08,667
getting closer and closer.

350
00:18:08,875 --> 00:18:12,333
And I knew I was going
to hit the ground and die.

351
00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:20,667
The impact just smashed
through my body.

352
00:18:23,375 --> 00:18:25,042
It really didn't feel
like a fall.

353
00:18:25,208 --> 00:18:28,333
It almost felt like
the earth just came and hit me.

354
00:18:28,542 --> 00:18:29,917
And when I hit the ground,

355
00:18:30,083 --> 00:18:31,833
I'm still strapped
to my instructor.

356
00:18:31,958 --> 00:18:33,083
He's unconscious.

357
00:18:33,208 --> 00:18:35,833
Eventually, he did come to.

358
00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:38,292
We were just strapped
to each other, screaming.

359
00:18:38,458 --> 00:18:40,583
I remember I was
just hysterically crying,

360
00:18:40,708 --> 00:18:43,542
so confused, having no idea
what had happened.

361
00:18:43,667 --> 00:18:46,417
Partially still thinking
that I was actually dead.

362
00:18:48,042 --> 00:18:50,667
Against all odds,
the two men survive a fall

363
00:18:50,875 --> 00:18:52,500
of nearly three miles.

364
00:18:52,708 --> 00:18:56,458
Brad and his instructor
are rushed to the hospital,

365
00:18:56,583 --> 00:19:00,583
where they both begin
a long and miraculous recovery.

366
00:19:00,792 --> 00:19:04,292
My physical injuries--
I broke my upper spine,

367
00:19:04,458 --> 00:19:07,167
fractured my lower spine,
tore the ligaments in my neck,

368
00:19:07,333 --> 00:19:11,000
cracked and bruised ribs,
mild head concussion.

369
00:19:11,125 --> 00:19:15,333
I had suspected
that I was a quadriplegic.

370
00:19:15,542 --> 00:19:17,083
I was numb from the neck down.

371
00:19:17,250 --> 00:19:20,000
It took me a long time
to feel my body again.

372
00:19:20,167 --> 00:19:22,958
You would think that,
after all these years

373
00:19:23,125 --> 00:19:25,582
and all the time
I've had to reflect on it,

374
00:19:25,583 --> 00:19:28,167
that I would be able
to look at the situation

375
00:19:28,375 --> 00:19:30,250
and seriously ask myself,

376
00:19:30,417 --> 00:19:32,958
"Was this luck,
or is it just all the odds

377
00:19:33,167 --> 00:19:35,416
being in my favor
on a particular day?"

378
00:19:35,417 --> 00:19:39,333
I don't know. I don't know.

379
00:19:39,500 --> 00:19:40,792
I would love to know.

380
00:19:42,125 --> 00:19:45,208
Sometimes, when humans
face extreme danger,

381
00:19:45,375 --> 00:19:47,082
the normal parts
of our operating brain

382
00:19:47,083 --> 00:19:48,500
kind of get pushed aside,

383
00:19:48,708 --> 00:19:50,917
and the sympathetic
nervous system kicks in

384
00:19:51,042 --> 00:19:55,083
and can institute an adrenaline
rush into the body,

385
00:19:55,250 --> 00:19:58,500
which can do
some amazing things.

386
00:19:58,667 --> 00:20:00,917
It forces blood into the muscles

387
00:20:01,042 --> 00:20:02,875
and pumps them up
and becomes hard

388
00:20:03,042 --> 00:20:04,375
to strengthen and protect

389
00:20:04,542 --> 00:20:07,417
your skeletal system
and connective tissue.

390
00:20:07,583 --> 00:20:09,750
Was a surge of adrenaline

391
00:20:09,875 --> 00:20:12,208
responsible
for protecting Brad's body

392
00:20:12,375 --> 00:20:14,250
from the extreme impact?

393
00:20:14,375 --> 00:20:19,958
Or was there something
even more incredible going on?

394
00:20:20,083 --> 00:20:21,333
Perhaps an explanation
can be found

395
00:20:21,500 --> 00:20:25,167
by examining
another case of survival.

396
00:20:25,333 --> 00:20:28,000
One that involves
an extraordinary feat

397
00:20:28,208 --> 00:20:30,542
performed by an ordinary man.

398
00:20:37,375 --> 00:20:41,333
Tom Boyle, a supervisor
at a local aerospace company,

399
00:20:41,500 --> 00:20:44,083
is driving home with his wife.

400
00:20:44,208 --> 00:20:47,250
The couple are about
to exit a parking lot

401
00:20:47,375 --> 00:20:49,583
when another car
pulls alongside them.

402
00:20:49,708 --> 00:20:52,500
What happens next
actually changes Tom

403
00:20:52,667 --> 00:20:57,292
in ways that seem to defy
the very laws of nature.

404
00:21:00,125 --> 00:21:01,667
The driver,

405
00:21:01,875 --> 00:21:03,708
he had taken upon himself
to peel out

406
00:21:03,875 --> 00:21:05,917
out of the parking lot,
and as he did that,

407
00:21:06,083 --> 00:21:09,958
he sucked in, uh, a bicyclist
underneath the vehicle.

408
00:21:10,083 --> 00:21:13,292
I jump out of the car,
I go running after the Camaro.

409
00:21:13,417 --> 00:21:15,125
And as I approached the Camaro,

410
00:21:15,292 --> 00:21:17,333
there was a boy underneath
on a bicycle

411
00:21:17,542 --> 00:21:19,625
yelling for help
and asking people

412
00:21:19,792 --> 00:21:21,875
to please get the car off him.

413
00:21:22,042 --> 00:21:24,167
I just reacted.

414
00:21:24,375 --> 00:21:25,583
As the boy's cries ring out,

415
00:21:25,708 --> 00:21:27,625
Tom has no time to think.

416
00:21:27,792 --> 00:21:31,667
A powerful force
comes alive inside him.

417
00:21:31,833 --> 00:21:38,083
A force that allows Tom
to do the impossible.

418
00:21:38,250 --> 00:21:39,750
It just got me so...

419
00:21:39,958 --> 00:21:44,458
I guess, nervous,
and, uh, compelled to help

420
00:21:44,625 --> 00:21:47,000
that I just lifted
the side of the car.

421
00:21:47,125 --> 00:21:49,625
As I start lifting the car,
I can hear the bicyclist

422
00:21:49,792 --> 00:21:51,458
telling me,
"Higher, higher, mister,

423
00:21:51,667 --> 00:21:55,125
please, go higher," so I did.

424
00:21:55,292 --> 00:21:57,250
I just held it as long
as I possibly could,

425
00:21:57,417 --> 00:21:59,083
and I just thought,
"Don't let go."

426
00:21:59,250 --> 00:22:01,458
And fortunately, we got him out.

427
00:22:01,625 --> 00:22:06,667
I'm six-three. At that time,
I was 275 pounds and, uh,

428
00:22:06,875 --> 00:22:09,750
the most I've ever lifted,
I think, was...

429
00:22:11,125 --> 00:22:12,583
...800 pounds?

430
00:22:13,542 --> 00:22:14,833
As I lifted the car,

431
00:22:15,042 --> 00:22:16,500
I never thought about
how much it weighed.

432
00:22:16,708 --> 00:22:18,458
I just thought about
saving this kid.

433
00:22:18,625 --> 00:22:19,958
Now, Tom's a big guy.

434
00:22:20,125 --> 00:22:21,583
Solid guy.

435
00:22:21,708 --> 00:22:23,333
But we're talking about
a car, okay?

436
00:22:23,542 --> 00:22:25,958
This is a car that weighs
about 3,000 pounds,

437
00:22:26,125 --> 00:22:28,500
and yet he just jacks it up.

438
00:22:28,625 --> 00:22:30,208
Bare hands, lifts this thing up.

439
00:22:30,375 --> 00:22:33,125
Human beings can't
normally just lift cars.

440
00:22:34,125 --> 00:22:36,000
These situations where people
manage to do

441
00:22:36,167 --> 00:22:39,375
superhuman feats of strength,
like lift a car off someone,

442
00:22:39,583 --> 00:22:42,333
as often happens in science,
these are rare events.

443
00:22:42,542 --> 00:22:44,041
We don't have
detailed measurements.

444
00:22:44,042 --> 00:22:45,250
And so, really understanding

445
00:22:45,458 --> 00:22:47,333
the true biophysics
and physiology

446
00:22:47,500 --> 00:22:49,000
of all the details that go in

447
00:22:49,125 --> 00:22:51,167
remain a bit of a mystery
and an interesting area

448
00:22:51,375 --> 00:22:53,000
for us to explore going forward.

449
00:22:53,208 --> 00:22:55,250
We don't use most
of our muscles' capability

450
00:22:55,417 --> 00:22:56,375
throughout the day.

451
00:22:56,542 --> 00:22:58,167
It's capable of much more,

452
00:22:58,375 --> 00:23:01,292
but for some reason, only under
these extreme circumstances.

453
00:23:01,458 --> 00:23:04,167
If we can learn
how to control our minds

454
00:23:04,333 --> 00:23:06,542
and use it at will,

455
00:23:06,708 --> 00:23:09,958
that would be like being
a superhuman, a superhero.

456
00:23:10,958 --> 00:23:13,417
That will, that power,

457
00:23:13,583 --> 00:23:16,500
is being driven both
not only by the adrenaline

458
00:23:16,708 --> 00:23:18,750
but more importantly,
it's that energy.

459
00:23:18,917 --> 00:23:21,167
It's that type of thing in China
that's called <i>fa jin,</i>

460
00:23:21,375 --> 00:23:23,167
"animal explosive energy."

461
00:23:23,333 --> 00:23:28,750
It's a burst
of absolute decision.

462
00:23:28,917 --> 00:23:32,667
It's that unknown,
that unexplained,

463
00:23:32,792 --> 00:23:36,500
energetic place that we all
know about, we talk about it,

464
00:23:36,667 --> 00:23:39,542
we have feelings
and vibes about these things.

465
00:23:39,708 --> 00:23:42,667
So, this was a once-
in-a-lifetime moment for me.

466
00:23:42,833 --> 00:23:44,708
I've never done anything else
like this again.

467
00:23:44,875 --> 00:23:48,500
I think you can tap into
some amazing power.

468
00:23:48,708 --> 00:23:50,500
I truly do. It's there.

469
00:23:50,667 --> 00:23:53,000
We just have to have
a reason to use it.

470
00:23:57,375 --> 00:23:59,500
So, where does this sudden surge

471
00:23:59,708 --> 00:24:01,750
of incredible strength
come from?

472
00:24:01,917 --> 00:24:04,333
Is it something
special and rare?

473
00:24:04,542 --> 00:24:06,833
Or is it simply adrenaline

474
00:24:06,958 --> 00:24:11,625
and an untapped ability
that exists within all of us?

475
00:24:12,667 --> 00:24:14,750
Perhaps the answers lie
in the chaos

476
00:24:14,917 --> 00:24:17,667
surrounding another
life-and-death scenario,

477
00:24:17,875 --> 00:24:20,541
and the surprising circumstances

478
00:24:20,542 --> 00:24:23,500
of an extraordinary rescue.

479
00:24:35,167 --> 00:24:38,250
Banker Annette Herfkens,
her fiancé

480
00:24:38,417 --> 00:24:42,208
and 29 other passengers
board a small plane

481
00:24:42,375 --> 00:24:46,833
and head to the coastal town
of Nha Trang for a vacation.

482
00:24:47,875 --> 00:24:51,292
But what is supposed to be
a short, routine flight...

483
00:24:52,500 --> 00:24:56,167
...is about to turn
into a nightmare.

484
00:24:57,417 --> 00:24:59,042
When I saw the plane,

485
00:24:59,250 --> 00:25:02,375
I didn't want to enter it
because it was awfully small.

486
00:25:02,542 --> 00:25:04,167
I was-- I am
very claustrophobic,

487
00:25:04,375 --> 00:25:05,833
and-and it's... I said,

488
00:25:06,042 --> 00:25:07,250
"There's no way
I'm entering that plane."

489
00:25:07,417 --> 00:25:08,333
"I'm not gonna go in there.

490
00:25:08,500 --> 00:25:10,000
It looks old, but mostly small."

491
00:25:10,167 --> 00:25:13,167
And my fiancé said,
"Well, don't worry.

492
00:25:13,292 --> 00:25:15,792
"Don't-- you have to,
it's only 55 minutes,

493
00:25:15,958 --> 00:25:18,792
"and do it for us, 'cause I have
this beautiful vacation planned

494
00:25:18,917 --> 00:25:21,292
"and I knew you were
gonna speak up about it,

495
00:25:21,417 --> 00:25:23,042
but please, please do it."

496
00:25:24,875 --> 00:25:28,083
And then we entered
from the back of the plane.

497
00:25:28,250 --> 00:25:30,333
So, we sat down,

498
00:25:30,542 --> 00:25:32,874
um, we were told
to buckle our seat belts,

499
00:25:32,875 --> 00:25:34,625
and they were going across.

500
00:25:34,792 --> 00:25:36,583
And then, I was restrained
enough as it is,

501
00:25:36,750 --> 00:25:38,958
and I did not buckle
my seat belt.

502
00:25:40,125 --> 00:25:41,958
And the flight took off.

503
00:25:43,375 --> 00:25:44,542
For the next 30 minutes,

504
00:25:44,708 --> 00:25:46,500
I just kept counting
the minutes,

505
00:25:46,667 --> 00:25:49,083
and the 50th minute,
there was a...

506
00:25:49,250 --> 00:25:51,167
gigantic drop.

507
00:25:51,375 --> 00:25:53,333
And people were screaming,

508
00:25:53,500 --> 00:25:56,250
and my fiancé
looked at me and said,

509
00:25:56,375 --> 00:25:57,833
"Well, this I don't like."

510
00:26:01,458 --> 00:26:03,833
And then, another drop.

511
00:26:07,875 --> 00:26:10,917
More people screaming.
And he reached for my hand

512
00:26:11,083 --> 00:26:15,000
and I reached for his,
and then everything went black.

513
00:26:16,917 --> 00:26:20,583
I woke up to this eerie sound
of the jungle.

514
00:26:24,083 --> 00:26:26,542
The plane broke
in three pieces: the wings,

515
00:26:26,708 --> 00:26:30,167
the fuselage and the cockpit.

516
00:26:30,333 --> 00:26:32,667
Then I looked at my left
and there I saw my fiancé

517
00:26:32,833 --> 00:26:35,375
still strapped in his seat.

518
00:26:37,375 --> 00:26:39,167
He was dead.

519
00:26:43,542 --> 00:26:45,000
In shock,

520
00:26:45,125 --> 00:26:48,083
grief-stricken and with
her legs and hips broken,

521
00:26:48,250 --> 00:26:51,292
Annette painfully pulls herself
out of the wreckage...

522
00:26:53,333 --> 00:26:56,375
...only to find that
every passenger on board

523
00:26:56,542 --> 00:27:00,542
has perished, except her.

524
00:27:00,708 --> 00:27:03,667
It all seems impossible.

525
00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:09,417
In this plane crash,
Annette was the only survivor.

526
00:27:11,208 --> 00:27:14,125
Of 31 people, she's the only one
that survived.

527
00:27:14,292 --> 00:27:16,500
Did it have to do with
just the randomness

528
00:27:16,625 --> 00:27:18,208
of her being in the right seat

529
00:27:18,333 --> 00:27:21,125
that hit the ground
in just the right place

530
00:27:21,292 --> 00:27:24,375
that had just the right
structural integrity

531
00:27:24,542 --> 00:27:26,208
based on how they crashed?

532
00:27:26,375 --> 00:27:28,208
Or could it be something else?

533
00:27:32,167 --> 00:27:35,750
Miles from civilization,
injured and alone,

534
00:27:35,917 --> 00:27:38,583
Annette finds herself
in an unbearable predicament.

535
00:27:38,750 --> 00:27:42,500
But somehow, from somewhere
deep inside her,

536
00:27:42,625 --> 00:27:46,958
she finds a way to survive.

537
00:27:47,167 --> 00:27:49,208
I would just be quiet...

538
00:27:52,125 --> 00:27:53,833
...and listen to my instinct.

539
00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:56,958
I just listened to that voice
and I acted on it.

540
00:27:57,875 --> 00:27:59,333
And it said, "Make a plan,

541
00:27:59,542 --> 00:28:01,250
"divide it in achievable steps.

542
00:28:01,417 --> 00:28:03,667
"And when you achieve
one of those steps,

543
00:28:03,875 --> 00:28:05,208
congratulate yourself."

544
00:28:05,375 --> 00:28:07,083
That's exactly what I did.

545
00:28:07,250 --> 00:28:09,708
I realized that I was
gonna need some water.

546
00:28:09,875 --> 00:28:12,625
So, I looked
at the wing of the plane.

547
00:28:12,792 --> 00:28:15,042
Insulation material
was some kind of foam.

548
00:28:15,208 --> 00:28:17,083
So, I figured
that could work as a sponge.

549
00:28:18,875 --> 00:28:22,792
And then, I made
seven little bowls

550
00:28:22,958 --> 00:28:25,250
and I lined them up
for it to rain.

551
00:28:27,750 --> 00:28:29,750
And then it rained,
and it poured.

552
00:28:33,125 --> 00:28:35,125
Then I was very happy to see

553
00:28:35,250 --> 00:28:38,375
these little bowls
filling up with water.

554
00:28:38,542 --> 00:28:40,875
Tasted like the best champagne
that you can imagine.

555
00:28:44,583 --> 00:28:46,167
She was able to survive
the plane crash,

556
00:28:46,292 --> 00:28:48,167
but maybe what was even
more remarkable

557
00:28:48,333 --> 00:28:51,375
is that she was able to survive
eight days in the jungle...

558
00:28:53,083 --> 00:28:57,625
...with no prior jungle training
or experience

559
00:28:57,750 --> 00:29:01,042
and no conditioning
to be in the jungle.

560
00:29:02,875 --> 00:29:05,917
On the afternoon on the
eighth day, out of nowhere...

561
00:29:07,917 --> 00:29:09,542
...men came up the mountain...

562
00:29:09,708 --> 00:29:12,000
Hey, hey, hey!

563
00:29:12,208 --> 00:29:15,667
...and they showed me
a passenger list,

564
00:29:15,875 --> 00:29:19,000
and I had to point out my name.

565
00:29:19,167 --> 00:29:21,417
I just realized
how amazing it was

566
00:29:21,542 --> 00:29:22,792
that they actually found me.

567
00:29:24,375 --> 00:29:26,292
It may have been random chance

568
00:29:26,458 --> 00:29:29,458
that allowed Annette to live
through the horrific crash...

569
00:29:30,667 --> 00:29:33,208
...but what was
the so-called "voice"

570
00:29:33,375 --> 00:29:36,917
that gave her the guidance
she needed to survive?

571
00:29:38,458 --> 00:29:40,667
Is it some kind of deep-seated

572
00:29:40,833 --> 00:29:44,583
electro-biochemical, uh, force

573
00:29:44,750 --> 00:29:46,458
that's-that's innate
in the brain

574
00:29:46,625 --> 00:29:47,958
that suddenly gets activated?

575
00:29:48,125 --> 00:29:51,833
Or is it something
that comes from outside?

576
00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:54,208
Is it faith
from an outside power

577
00:29:54,375 --> 00:29:56,500
that brings that energy
to the person

578
00:29:56,667 --> 00:29:58,750
who's in desperate need?

579
00:29:58,917 --> 00:30:02,833
Whether or not you view yourself
as strong and capable,

580
00:30:03,042 --> 00:30:06,167
you have the potential
to tap into these things

581
00:30:06,292 --> 00:30:08,208
and get in tune
with these strengths,

582
00:30:08,375 --> 00:30:11,000
with these capabilities,
whether you know it or not.

583
00:30:11,167 --> 00:30:13,458
We all have that voice
inside of us

584
00:30:13,667 --> 00:30:16,125
that we can listen to,

585
00:30:16,292 --> 00:30:20,375
and in extreme situations,
it's always there to help you.

586
00:30:20,583 --> 00:30:22,375
Just listen to that voice.

587
00:30:22,583 --> 00:30:24,833
Be silent.
It's there, it's there.

588
00:30:34,792 --> 00:30:36,500
38-year-old Steven Pete

589
00:30:36,667 --> 00:30:40,542
attends to his Sunday chores,
like yard work and cooking

590
00:30:40,708 --> 00:30:44,333
and tinkering with several
projects in his basement.

591
00:30:44,458 --> 00:30:47,416
All the same things that any
person might do on a weekend.

592
00:30:47,417 --> 00:30:49,208
But for Steven,

593
00:30:49,375 --> 00:30:52,042
he has to do all this
far more carefully

594
00:30:52,208 --> 00:30:54,667
than the average person,
because for him,

595
00:30:54,875 --> 00:30:56,500
doing household chores

596
00:30:56,708 --> 00:30:59,375
is more than just
a series of tasks.

597
00:30:59,542 --> 00:31:01,167
It's actually dangerous.

598
00:31:02,792 --> 00:31:03,917
I was born
with a rare genetic condition

599
00:31:04,083 --> 00:31:06,042
called congenital analgesia.

600
00:31:06,208 --> 00:31:08,500
At the time, that was
the name given to it.

601
00:31:08,708 --> 00:31:11,417
Uh, now it's called congenital
insensitivity to pain.

602
00:31:12,375 --> 00:31:15,583
So, uh, I can't feel
any pain at all.

603
00:31:17,292 --> 00:31:19,208
A life free of pain?

604
00:31:19,375 --> 00:31:22,000
Sounds like something many of us
would pay dearly for.

605
00:31:22,167 --> 00:31:25,042
But for people like Steven,

606
00:31:25,208 --> 00:31:29,583
death or severe injury
lurks around every corner.

607
00:31:31,708 --> 00:31:33,875
My parents first noticed
something was different

608
00:31:34,042 --> 00:31:36,708
when I was teething
and I chewed off half my tongue.

609
00:31:37,708 --> 00:31:41,083
That definitely alarmed them to,
uh, something serious going on,

610
00:31:41,250 --> 00:31:43,167
so they took me
to my pediatrician,

611
00:31:43,333 --> 00:31:46,792
who, uh, did a couple of tests
and determined that,

612
00:31:46,958 --> 00:31:49,874
more than likely,
I didn't feel pain.

613
00:31:49,875 --> 00:31:51,792
They ran needles
up and down my spine,

614
00:31:51,958 --> 00:31:54,083
uh, poked my feet
a couple places.

615
00:31:54,292 --> 00:31:56,500
I still didn't elicit
a negative response,

616
00:31:56,625 --> 00:31:58,208
a painful response.

617
00:31:59,875 --> 00:32:02,417
Steven's gruesome injury
provides a stark reminder

618
00:32:02,542 --> 00:32:06,000
that while most people probably
don't think of pain as a sense,

619
00:32:06,208 --> 00:32:10,292
it may actually be
the most important sense of all.

620
00:32:11,542 --> 00:32:14,667
Congenital analgesia
is an inherited form

621
00:32:14,875 --> 00:32:16,833
of insensitivity to pain.

622
00:32:17,042 --> 00:32:18,458
"Congenital" means
it runs in the family,

623
00:32:18,667 --> 00:32:20,833
and "analgesia" means
that you don't feel pain.

624
00:32:21,042 --> 00:32:23,917
You have no feeling
of pain whatsoever.

625
00:32:24,083 --> 00:32:26,208
It's some form
of mutation in a gene

626
00:32:26,375 --> 00:32:29,000
that's essential
for pain perception.

627
00:32:29,208 --> 00:32:32,000
When people first hear
that I don't feel pain,

628
00:32:32,167 --> 00:32:33,792
they think it is the greatest
thing in the whole world.

629
00:32:33,917 --> 00:32:35,500
They're like,
"Wow, you got a superpower."

630
00:32:35,667 --> 00:32:37,875
But my childhood was spending

631
00:32:38,042 --> 00:32:40,042
good chunks of time
in the hospital.

632
00:32:40,250 --> 00:32:43,292
I'd stay anywhere between,
like, four months

633
00:32:43,458 --> 00:32:47,625
to maybe a year and a half,
which isn't normal.

634
00:32:48,667 --> 00:32:51,208
It's an extremely
problematic condition.

635
00:32:51,333 --> 00:32:53,417
Pain protects us from self-harm,

636
00:32:53,583 --> 00:32:55,917
and it's often
the first sign of disease.

637
00:32:56,083 --> 00:32:58,250
So people who are pain-free
often die very young.

638
00:32:58,417 --> 00:33:01,667
It's actually rather amazing

639
00:33:01,833 --> 00:33:04,625
that he's made it through life
as far as he has.

640
00:33:04,792 --> 00:33:07,000
I mean, the classic example
we would always hear about

641
00:33:07,125 --> 00:33:10,000
is learning not
to touch things that are hot.

642
00:33:10,167 --> 00:33:11,333
Pain alerts us
when we're doing something

643
00:33:11,542 --> 00:33:12,917
in the external world

644
00:33:13,083 --> 00:33:14,667
that doesn't make sense
and we should stop.

645
00:33:17,125 --> 00:33:19,500
The one thing that
I really have to keep an eye on

646
00:33:19,667 --> 00:33:23,000
is probably whenever I'm engaged
in, like, a physical activity

647
00:33:23,208 --> 00:33:26,167
that's a little bit strenuous,
like doing yard work.

648
00:33:26,333 --> 00:33:29,125
It's stuff like that
where I can injure myself

649
00:33:29,292 --> 00:33:31,583
and not immediately realize it,

650
00:33:31,708 --> 00:33:35,292
that can cause serious
repercussions down the road.

651
00:33:36,292 --> 00:33:37,542
When we think about senses,

652
00:33:37,750 --> 00:33:40,167
we always think about
the classic five senses.

653
00:33:40,375 --> 00:33:43,208
Sight, touch, smell,
taste and hearing.

654
00:33:43,375 --> 00:33:45,292
One thing that's
really interesting, though,

655
00:33:45,458 --> 00:33:48,042
is we basically
have another sense,

656
00:33:48,208 --> 00:33:50,333
which is our pain,
our sense of pain.

657
00:33:50,542 --> 00:33:53,250
We often just reject that as,
"Well, that's just touch,"

658
00:33:53,458 --> 00:33:55,875
but that negates
or doesn't think about

659
00:33:56,042 --> 00:33:57,500
the internal pains
we often feel,

660
00:33:57,708 --> 00:33:59,500
whether it's headaches
or stomachaches

661
00:33:59,667 --> 00:34:03,000
or sore muscles,
which really isn't quite touch.

662
00:34:03,208 --> 00:34:04,917
Pain is another sense.

663
00:34:05,083 --> 00:34:07,458
It's a sense.
We call it nociception.

664
00:34:08,708 --> 00:34:11,042
It's conveyed
by specific kinds of nerves

665
00:34:11,208 --> 00:34:13,083
that get activated
when, for instance,

666
00:34:13,208 --> 00:34:16,333
we might touch a hot stove
or cut ourselves.

667
00:34:17,292 --> 00:34:18,500
What's interesting is,

668
00:34:18,708 --> 00:34:21,792
the brain can regulate pain
dramatically,

669
00:34:21,917 --> 00:34:23,958
but the basic drive
that causes pain

670
00:34:24,125 --> 00:34:25,750
is from the peripheral nerves.

671
00:34:25,917 --> 00:34:29,000
The nerves that send information
into the brain don't work

672
00:34:29,167 --> 00:34:31,708
in congenital analgesia
patients.

673
00:34:31,875 --> 00:34:35,750
This loss of pain is caused
by malfunctions

674
00:34:35,875 --> 00:34:38,750
in a very small number of genes
that are extremely rare.

675
00:34:38,875 --> 00:34:40,542
One of them is involved
in signaling

676
00:34:40,708 --> 00:34:41,875
in the peripheral nerves.

677
00:34:42,042 --> 00:34:43,582
It's called Nav1.7.

678
00:34:43,583 --> 00:34:45,582
It's a protein
that's called a sodium channel.

679
00:34:45,583 --> 00:34:47,250
It's like
an electrical switch.

680
00:34:47,417 --> 00:34:49,333
And if that protein
doesn't function properly,

681
00:34:49,500 --> 00:34:51,500
then you can become pain-free.

682
00:34:54,500 --> 00:34:56,375
Since Steven doesn't feel pain,

683
00:34:56,542 --> 00:35:00,333
it begs the question,
what does he feel instead?

684
00:35:00,500 --> 00:35:02,583
It's difficult
for me to try to explain,

685
00:35:02,792 --> 00:35:05,042
but even though
I don't feel physical pain,

686
00:35:05,167 --> 00:35:07,583
what I can feel is heat,

687
00:35:07,750 --> 00:35:10,667
cold, touch,
just like every other person.

688
00:35:10,833 --> 00:35:15,833
What I do feel is
probably a byproduct of pain,

689
00:35:15,958 --> 00:35:19,833
is, like, these impulses,
almost like a nerve firing.

690
00:35:20,042 --> 00:35:21,750
Since 2012,

691
00:35:21,917 --> 00:35:24,083
I've had the opportunity
of being able to participate

692
00:35:24,250 --> 00:35:26,583
in a couple of studies
with different universities.

693
00:35:26,750 --> 00:35:30,292
I spent a good portion
of my childhood in the hospital,

694
00:35:30,458 --> 00:35:32,333
and during those stays,

695
00:35:32,500 --> 00:35:35,042
it was usually
with people who felt pain,

696
00:35:35,208 --> 00:35:38,333
and seeing people,
especially that young,

697
00:35:38,500 --> 00:35:41,333
who are going through
such painful experiences,

698
00:35:41,500 --> 00:35:43,000
that's really what prompted me

699
00:35:43,167 --> 00:35:44,333
to sign up
for a lot of these studies

700
00:35:44,500 --> 00:35:46,208
when I was approached.

701
00:35:46,333 --> 00:35:50,250
And the overall goal
in a lot of these studies is

702
00:35:50,417 --> 00:35:52,250
to try and create
a non-narcotic painkiller,

703
00:35:52,458 --> 00:35:54,417
because the opioid crisis

704
00:35:54,583 --> 00:35:56,542
that our country is facing
is one

705
00:35:56,708 --> 00:35:59,333
that other nations
are facing, as well.

706
00:35:59,542 --> 00:36:01,083
So, I've been asked quite a lot,

707
00:36:01,250 --> 00:36:03,333
with all these studies
I've been participating in,

708
00:36:03,500 --> 00:36:05,250
if I had the chance
to feel pain,

709
00:36:05,417 --> 00:36:07,167
if they could figure out
what activates

710
00:36:07,333 --> 00:36:08,875
or deactivates that switch,

711
00:36:09,042 --> 00:36:10,958
would I myself want
to feel pain?

712
00:36:11,167 --> 00:36:13,583
Um, and my answer is just "no."

713
00:36:13,708 --> 00:36:16,417
And that's only because
I've damaged my body so much

714
00:36:16,583 --> 00:36:18,083
throughout my entire life

715
00:36:18,250 --> 00:36:20,167
that if I were
to feel pain right now,

716
00:36:20,333 --> 00:36:22,333
I'd just be in a constant state
of pain all the time.

717
00:36:22,500 --> 00:36:24,500
Not only do I have a bad knee,

718
00:36:24,667 --> 00:36:27,083
but my back is
a little bit messed up,

719
00:36:27,250 --> 00:36:30,167
so, my quality of life
would just be low,

720
00:36:30,333 --> 00:36:32,500
and there's no way
I could live like that.

721
00:36:33,833 --> 00:36:36,708
The ability
to feel pain is essential

722
00:36:36,875 --> 00:36:38,625
to our very survival.

723
00:36:38,792 --> 00:36:42,333
But are there other senses
in addition to familiar ones--

724
00:36:42,542 --> 00:36:44,208
like touch or sight--

725
00:36:44,417 --> 00:36:47,333
that go beyond
our common understanding

726
00:36:47,458 --> 00:36:49,917
of what humans are capable of?

727
00:36:51,042 --> 00:36:54,167
Do we all possess

728
00:36:54,292 --> 00:36:56,625
an extrasensory perception?

729
00:37:02,458 --> 00:37:04,208
As we continue
to study the human mind,

730
00:37:04,375 --> 00:37:06,125
will we one day be able

731
00:37:06,292 --> 00:37:09,167
to reveal certain
extrasensory abilities?

732
00:37:09,375 --> 00:37:12,207
For millennia,
there have been people

733
00:37:12,208 --> 00:37:15,000
who could sense
an invisible presence,

734
00:37:15,125 --> 00:37:16,875
whether it be
a deceased loved one,

735
00:37:17,042 --> 00:37:21,375
a spiritual energy,
or even something more sinister.

736
00:37:21,542 --> 00:37:23,792
While it may sound
a bit "ooga booga,"

737
00:37:23,917 --> 00:37:28,583
a study published by scientists
from Caltech in 2019 suggests

738
00:37:28,708 --> 00:37:31,833
that humans can not only
detect energy fields.

739
00:37:32,042 --> 00:37:36,958
They can also sense
the magnetic field of the Earth.

740
00:37:37,167 --> 00:37:39,125
The human brain has a lot

741
00:37:39,250 --> 00:37:41,000
of phenomenon going on inside it

742
00:37:41,125 --> 00:37:44,500
that uses electromagnetic
charges and electric fields.

743
00:37:44,667 --> 00:37:48,000
And if you change the magnetic
field around your brain,

744
00:37:48,125 --> 00:37:51,917
it will impact what's going on
inside your brain.

745
00:37:52,083 --> 00:37:57,292
So, small magnetic fields
are most certainly detectable.

746
00:37:57,417 --> 00:37:59,875
We just may not realize
we're detecting them.

747
00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:01,833
It wouldn't surprise me
in any way

748
00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:04,500
if there aren't aspects
of brain function

749
00:38:04,667 --> 00:38:08,000
that we are completely
unaware of at the moment,

750
00:38:08,167 --> 00:38:09,917
that we'll become aware of later

751
00:38:10,083 --> 00:38:13,333
when we understand more about
how the brain actually works.

752
00:38:14,333 --> 00:38:15,583
Since it's already been proven

753
00:38:15,750 --> 00:38:18,541
that humans have more
than five senses,

754
00:38:18,542 --> 00:38:21,167
could there really be something
to the notion

755
00:38:21,375 --> 00:38:23,167
that we have the potential

756
00:38:23,333 --> 00:38:24,958
to sense the world around us

757
00:38:25,125 --> 00:38:29,500
in what some would consider
bizarre or even mystical ways?

758
00:38:29,667 --> 00:38:33,292
According to some researchers,
the answer is yes,

759
00:38:33,417 --> 00:38:35,000
and as evidence, they point

760
00:38:35,125 --> 00:38:39,417
to an incredible phenomenon
known as paroptic vision.

761
00:38:39,625 --> 00:38:42,625
Paroptic vision was
first proposed

762
00:38:42,792 --> 00:38:45,458
by a surrealist writer
called René Daumal,

763
00:38:45,583 --> 00:38:47,958
who, as a teenager,
practiced seeing color

764
00:38:48,125 --> 00:38:49,708
through his fingertips.

765
00:38:49,875 --> 00:38:52,874
So he'd put different colored
handkerchiefs inside a box,

766
00:38:52,875 --> 00:38:54,417
and then he'd test

767
00:38:54,583 --> 00:38:57,417
to see if he could tell
what color the handkerchief was.

768
00:38:57,542 --> 00:39:00,875
That sounds quite fringe,
but I've done some experiments.

769
00:39:01,083 --> 00:39:03,375
It's a rare ability,
but I did find one person

770
00:39:03,542 --> 00:39:05,833
who was able
to detect the colors

771
00:39:06,042 --> 00:39:07,500
through the fingertips.

772
00:39:07,667 --> 00:39:09,542
I can't explain it,
but she could detect color,

773
00:39:09,708 --> 00:39:13,167
with 80% reliability,
through her fingertips.

774
00:39:13,292 --> 00:39:15,375
It's been discovered

775
00:39:15,542 --> 00:39:17,833
that the skin has opsins
embedded in them,

776
00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:20,750
and opsins help
the body calibrate

777
00:39:20,875 --> 00:39:23,458
to circadian rhythms,
to 24-hour rhythms.

778
00:39:23,583 --> 00:39:25,792
So it's not too much
of a stretch

779
00:39:25,958 --> 00:39:28,250
to think how opsins
could not just detect light,

780
00:39:28,375 --> 00:39:30,083
but they could also
detect color.

781
00:39:30,250 --> 00:39:31,958
Many people believe

782
00:39:32,125 --> 00:39:34,708
that there are mysterious ways
of sensing things

783
00:39:34,875 --> 00:39:36,667
that don't involve
the traditional senses.

784
00:39:36,833 --> 00:39:40,500
And I believe that there's a
perfectly reasonable expectation

785
00:39:40,708 --> 00:39:42,917
that may perhaps be true.

786
00:39:43,125 --> 00:39:45,792
We don't really understand
how the brain works at all.

787
00:39:47,208 --> 00:39:50,958
As incredible as it is
to discover new senses,

788
00:39:51,125 --> 00:39:53,542
it's also a little unsettling.

789
00:39:53,750 --> 00:39:57,000
Because if our brain
is just using our senses

790
00:39:57,167 --> 00:40:00,333
to constantly try
and guess what reality is,

791
00:40:00,542 --> 00:40:02,458
then how are we to know

792
00:40:02,667 --> 00:40:05,916
when it guesses wrong
instead of right?

793
00:40:05,917 --> 00:40:07,333
I like to think of perception

794
00:40:07,542 --> 00:40:09,125
as a kind of
controlled hallucination,

795
00:40:09,250 --> 00:40:11,375
because there's no light
in the skull,

796
00:40:11,542 --> 00:40:12,750
there's no sound in the skull.

797
00:40:12,917 --> 00:40:14,500
All you've got
to go on as a brain

798
00:40:14,667 --> 00:40:18,167
are these noisy
and ambiguous sensory signals.

799
00:40:18,375 --> 00:40:19,708
Signals don't come with labels--

800
00:40:19,875 --> 00:40:22,583
"I'm from a coffee cup,"
or "I'm from a cat."

801
00:40:22,708 --> 00:40:25,792
This is why, for instance,
if you look up at the sky,

802
00:40:25,958 --> 00:40:29,458
and there's some fluffy clouds,
sometimes you might see faces.

803
00:40:31,292 --> 00:40:35,625
Reality is not quite as real
as people think.

804
00:40:35,833 --> 00:40:38,082
We are often told
that something looks red

805
00:40:38,083 --> 00:40:40,667
because it reflects
more red wavelengths.

806
00:40:40,875 --> 00:40:42,917
But there's no such thing
as red wavelengths.

807
00:40:43,042 --> 00:40:46,167
Color is not a property
of objects.

808
00:40:46,375 --> 00:40:48,833
It's a property of brains.

809
00:40:49,042 --> 00:40:50,708
It's simply the wonder

810
00:40:50,875 --> 00:40:53,458
that our brain is creating
all of this,

811
00:40:53,625 --> 00:40:56,708
and that we can agree
on so much.

812
00:40:56,875 --> 00:40:59,500
Perception is
about representing the world

813
00:40:59,625 --> 00:41:01,167
and the body and the self

814
00:41:01,333 --> 00:41:03,542
in the way that's most useful
for the organism.

815
00:41:03,708 --> 00:41:07,833
So if you see a color,
that's not right or wrong.

816
00:41:08,042 --> 00:41:10,333
Color is where the brain
meets the universe

817
00:41:10,458 --> 00:41:13,417
in a way that's useful for us.

818
00:41:13,583 --> 00:41:15,875
I think we can all agree,
reality exists.

819
00:41:16,042 --> 00:41:18,249
We think,
therefore, something exists.

820
00:41:18,250 --> 00:41:19,833
But what it is

821
00:41:20,000 --> 00:41:24,500
and how we will know what it is,
is fun to explore.

822
00:41:24,708 --> 00:41:26,333
It's thrilling to think

823
00:41:26,500 --> 00:41:28,583
that we may, one day,
witness the next step

824
00:41:28,750 --> 00:41:30,542
in human evolution

825
00:41:30,708 --> 00:41:34,458
by unlocking our so-called
extrasensory abilities.

826
00:41:34,625 --> 00:41:36,708
Could things
like pain management,

827
00:41:36,875 --> 00:41:39,667
physical strength
and even the potential

828
00:41:39,833 --> 00:41:44,917
to heal ourselves be functions
that already exist within us?

829
00:41:45,125 --> 00:41:48,500
As we learn more about the power
of mind over matter,

830
00:41:48,625 --> 00:41:51,417
perhaps the answers
will become second nature.

831
00:41:51,542 --> 00:41:55,458
But for now,
the extraordinary capabilities

832
00:41:55,583 --> 00:41:58,333
of the human brain remain...

833
00:41:58,500 --> 00:42:00,500
unexplained.

834
00:42:00,625 --> 00:42:02,792
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