Inner Experience – Direct Access to Reality: A Complementarist Ontology and Dual Aspect Monism Support a Broader Epistemology

Foundational theory paper for the library's philosophical framework. Provides ontological justification for taking psi phenomena seriously by arguing materialism fails to explain consciousness itself. Synthesizes philosophy of mind, consciousness studies, and parapsychology meta-analyses. Important for Controversy 10 (meta-debate about psi research validity). Cited by Tressoldi's umbrella review. Walach is a prominent figure in parapsychology and has published extensively on generalized quantum theory approaches to psi (walach_2014_parapsychological phenomena — not in catalog).

This theoretical paper argues for a complementarist dual-aspect monism ontology where consciousness and matter are coprimary aspects of an underlying reality, not reducible to either. Walach traces how 'experience' historically narrowed from Roger Bacon's bimodal conception (inner spiritual and outer sense experience) to modern empiricism's exclusive outer focus. The materialist ontology cannot explain consciousness itself or anomalous cognition (telepathy, precognition, psychokinesis), which have robust meta-analytic support but defy locality assumptions. A complementarist model (inspired by Bohr, Pauli-Jung unus mundus) permits epistemological access through both outer sense experience and inner contemplative experience. The paper proposes 'contemplative science' where scientists trained in contemplative practices systematically explore inner experience as complementary to third-person neuroscience, potentially accessing deep reality structures including mathematical intuition and ethical values.