Koestler's ESP on the Rock

When researching the story of Sir Peter Chalmers Mitchell and his involvement with Arthur Koestler during the Spanish Civil War I came across the letter's claim of his extra sensory communication with the writer Thomas Mann,

From the time of his arrest in Malaga until his release at Gibral tar, Koestler spent four months in prison at La Linea. While a pris oner of war, expecting death at any moment, Koostler meditated upon a passage he recalled from a book, Buddenbrooks, by Thomas Mann (1875-1955). The passage brought him such great spiritual comfort that on the day after his release from prison in May 1937, he wrote to Mann to offer his pro found thanks. Koestler was in Gi braltar at the time and Mann was in Zurich-Kusnacht.

The passage which inspired and comforted Koestler con cerned an essay by Eric Schopenaurer (German philoso pher 1788-1860). Koestler men tioned this in his letter but was startled by Mann's return letter which related the extraordinary coincidence. The original reply was lost but it was burned on Koestler's brain and he para phrased it thus:

"Your[Koestler'sJ letter arrived in May... On the afternoon of that day, I was sitting in my garden in Kusnacht. I had read Schopenauer's essay in 1897 or 1898, while I was writing

Buddenhrooks and had never read it again, as I did not want to weaken its strong impact on me.On that af ternoon, however, I felt a sudden impulse to re-read the essay after nearly forty years. I went indoors to my library to fetch the volume.

At that moment the postman rang and brought me your letter. Sceptics will say that it was pure happenstance or that Koestler, having lost the original letter, took liberties in his para phrasing.

But Mann's diary for the day the letter arrived verifies Koestler's claim.

The Oxford Book of the Super natural provides excerpts from what Mann recorded in his diary on 22nd May 1937.

"...Stirring letter from the jour nalist Koestler, writing from Gi braltar. Sentenced to death and only saved at the last moment,he claims he was able to endure the ordeal with the help of my writ ings, especially the Schopenauer chapter in Buddetibrooks. When his letter arrived I was reading that very chapter."

Koestler (1905-1983) was a be liever i n and an exponent of para psychology. He and his wife were active members of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society and, after he developed a terminal illness,they committed suicide.

He endowed a chair of para psychology at Edinburgh Urtiversity.

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