The ASP Project arose out of David Ritchey's experience as a clinical hypnotherapist. His clients came to him
to explore the use of hypnosis for dealing with a variety of issues including childhood abuse, Attention Deficit
Disorder (ADD), autoimmune disorders, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), depression, environmental sensitivity,
fibromyalgia, learning disorders, and trauma. Many of these clients, while in an altered state of consciousness,
experienced (or reported having experienced at another time) such things as alien encounters, Extra-Sensory
Perception (ESP), Out-Of-Body Experiences (OOBE), past lives, Psychokinesis (PK), and trance channeling.
He observed, on a purely anecdotal basis, that those who reported having such Transpersonal Experiences (TPE)
seemed to have a higher than expected incidence of multiple births (twins/triplets/etc.), hypopigmentation
(red/blond hair, blue/gray eyes), non-right-handedness (left-handed or ambidextrous), introverted
(versus extraverted) social orientation, and intuitive (versus sensate) mode of perception.
His curiosity piqued, he developed a questionnaire, later known as the "Holistic Inventory of Stimulus
Sensitivities (HISS)" to determine if those people who report Transpersonal Experiences are truly
different (in other ways) from those who don't. Several years (and hundreds of completed questionnaires) later,
he had his answer - they are. These people are more sensitive in almost every way imaginable, and a variety of factors
- biological ("nature"), historical ("nurture"), and temperamental ("personality")
- predispose them to those sensitivities.
"The H.I.S.S. of the A.S.P." is his book about these "Anomalously Sensitive Persons (ASPs)."
In addition to exploring the pitfalls and possibilities inherent in one's being an Anomalously Sensitive Person, the book suggests that anomalous
sensitivity may offer tantalizing clues to one of today's greatest scientific mysteries, the connection between
mind and matter. The research reported establishes a realistic framework within which Transpersonal Experiences
can be viewed as normal, if infrequently utilized, elements of the human repertoire. Ritchey proposes a single
mechanism, based on established principles of neurology, quantum physics and holography, by which all such
experiences can be explained, thus bridging the chasm between the scientific and the spiritual worldviews. He
then leads the reader to the provocative conclusion, the essence, perhaps, of the next scientific revolution,
that, in the realm where mind and matter meet, what is traditionally spoken of as "reality" may be only
one aspect of a much larger spectrum of possibilities.
The ASP Project, as its name implies, is an ongoing vehicle for further exploration in this fascinating field.
Those who are interested in determining their own HISS scores are invited to download
The HISS Questionnaire from this web site.
Serious researchers are invited to contact The ASP Project with proposals.
