Spiritual Practices and their Effectiveness

I recently made a post to an internet discussion forum where I described some of the spiritual practices I've tried and whether I found them to be effective. It may be of interest to readers of this blog. The post is this:

---

1. Why meditate? Is it effective in bringing about spiritual awareness?

Meditation calms the mind. This helps you live more mindfully, more in harmony with your spiritual values. When the mind is calm, and when you engage in relaxing concentration and mindfully notice when your mind wanders, you see that that poses, attitudes, and opinions are often just empty pretense. You see how distracting thoughts of attachments and aversions and selfishness are silly and you become less selfish, less egotistic. In the absence of selfishness, love arises naturally. Many, many NDEr's, mediums, and other teachers say the purpose of life is to learn to love. Meditation helps you to accomplish that purpose.

Quieting the mental noise helps you become more aware of faint mental impressions some of which might be psychic. In particular it calms the analytical mind letting you become more in touch with the intuitive mind. It makes you more receptive to contact from spirits such as departed loved ones and spirit guides.

2. What kind of spiritual practices have you been engaged in? Have they been effective or ineffective?

Turning off Stress - Learning to turn off the body's reaction to stress is helpful in spiritual development because when you are stressed, you are more likely to be thinking about yourself and your problems ie. being egocentric. But when you are relaxed, you are less likely to be thinking about yourself and more likely to be in harmony with spiritual values like love, kindness, forgiveness, tolerance etc.

The best way to turn off stress that I know of is to do exercises which involve gently moving or stretching your muscles while exhaling slowly as you count to ten. This technique is extremely effective because it combines four separate methods for activating the parasympathetic nervous system in one technique:

• Deep Breathing
  
• Muscle relaxation
  
• Body Awareness
  
• Meditation
  

Some other relaxation techniques such as guided meditations, visualizations, hypnotic inductions, etc. work by making you sleepy or putting you in an altered state of consciousness, and when you return to normal consciousness, the stress comes back. This technique works by turning off the body's stress response, and the effect stays with you long after you are done.

Meditation - this should be the primary practice for spiritual development. See above. Also I've had experiences of oneness, and higher planes of existence.

Some people don't like meditation for various reasons. One reason is that it may bring out buried emotions a person might not want to deal with. I've found relaxation exercises can be an effective alternative to meditation.

Other alternatives to meditation include practices that involve movement such as Tai Chi, Qi Gong, and yoga. There are many different forms of these exercises for different purposes. As an alternative to meditation, look for the simpler forms of Tai Chi (some times called tai chi for the mind, or energy tai chi), moving forms of Qi Gong, and yoga that involves positions that are not too strenuous. Other forms of these exercises are fine and they have valid but different uses. Anything that requires attention and is relaxing will help calm the mind and can yield benefits similar to meditation for spiritual development.

Spiritual Healing - besides for healing, this is a fundamental practice for development of mediumship because it involves healing guides and is a form of physical mediumship. I've used spiritual healing on myself with good results, and when I was studying for a certification in healing from my Spiritualist church I collected seven affidavits of healing by people who were helped. You don't have to be psychic to do this, anyone can learn to do spiritual healing.

Spirit Communication. I took classes in mediumship, and developed a method one can use if classes are not available. Classes were effective as described at the link. Working by myself has also been effective. I've used same technique successfully for remote viewing. (There are other techniques too, for people suffering from grief and connecting with your spirit guides. But I haven't tried all of these). (Also of interest: What is it like to communicate with spirits?)

Spirit communication is one of the easier forms of psychic perception - you don't have to rely entirely on your own power because the spirits make an effort to get through to you. The spirits influence you, you just need to learn to be open to and become aware of that influence. This is particularly true in a class where the spirits are well practiced in communicating and the teacher's guides help too. Everyone has spirit guides, everyone is influenced by their guides whether they are conscious of it or not. Therefore everyone is a medium. Many people can learn to become aware of the influence of spirits. Just like most people can learn to pick out a tune on the piano even if they will never be able to play in a concert hall, many people can have some perceptions of spirit communication even if they will never be able to be a working medium. The evidence for the afterlife is convincing, but when you interact what a spirit you know the afterlife is real in a way that leaves no room for doubt.

Qi Gong - to learn to feel different aspects of healing energy with your hands. You don't need to be psychic to do this.

Psychokinesis/Psi Wheel - Learn to measure the healing energy coming from your hands using a simple home made device. I have magnetized inanimate objects with healing energy and those objects have the ability to spin a psi-wheel.

You don't need to be psychic to use a psi wheel. It can be a way for many people to have a paranormal experience. Once you learn that ordinary people can know and experience things that Science denies it opens up a lot of possibilities. You realize there might be a lot more phenomena that are genuine but which materialists deny.

Spirit Rescue I give a sermon for earth bound spirits every morning and it has been effective in preventing annoying spirits from bothering me by encouraging them to complete their transition to the spirit planes. You don't have to be psychic to do this.

Precognition: When I started keeping a dream log, I noticed many precognitive dreams. According to J. W. Dunne author of An Experiment With Time most people will notice precognitive dreams if they keep a dream log. You don't have to be psychic to do this.

Chakra Meditation (sometimes called Kundalini meditation): This type of meditation is supposed to help with psychic development and releasing kundalini energy. I'm not sure if it has helped me in those areas but I use it as part of a system of relaxation (linked above) in which it is effective for attaining a deeply relaxed state.

Out of body experiences: From my own experiences and from Charles Tart's research I believe techniques to induce OBE's are not effective - they mostly produce dreams of OBE's. I think that spontaneous OBE's are closer to the "real thing".

Diet: I have found that a vegetarian diet is not effective except for making me sick. I do think the right diet is important in spiritual development.

Ouija Board: Not effective.

Reading about and discussing spiritual topics - including parapsychology and philosophy also can play a role. I think it can be extremely helpful. But I would like to encourage people to do more than just approach the issue of spirituality with their intellect. Click on some of the links in this post and try meditation, or relaxation exercises, or make a psi wheel, or do qi gong, or keep a dream log. Understanding through experience is different from understanding through intellect. Don't limit yourself, don't except self-limiting doubts about what you can experience. Try.

More on my web site about spiritual practices / spiritual experiences.

From my blog, articles on: spiritual healing, psychic development, psi wheel, meditation, qi gong.

---

Copyright © 3013, 2014, 2016, 2018 by ncu9nc All rights reserved. Texts quoted from other sources are Copyright © by their owners.

Top Five Problems with Current Origin-of-Life Theories by Casey Luskin

Below are some excerpts from Top Five Problems with Current Origin-of-Life Theories by Casey Luskin. In the article he explains that the chemical environment of the early earth was not conducive to the development of organic molecules nor was it conducive to forming long the polymers of organic molecules found in living cells. It is unlikely that a self-replicating molecule of RNA, a candidate for the first self-replicating molecule, could have arisen in that environment. It is also unlikely that the genetic code arose through the unguided action of natural laws because there is no way to explain how the system of producing proteins by decoding the DNA could arise from something simpler. For any of it to be useful you need the entire system. There is currently no valid scientific explanation for how life arose on earth.

In Casey Luskin's words, the problems are:

1. No Viable Mechanism to Generate a Primordial Soup.
   
2. Forming Polymers Requires Dehydration Synthesis
   
3. RNA World Hypothesis Lacks Confirming Evidence
   
4. Unguided Chemical Processes Cannot Explain the Origin of the Genetic Code.
   
5. No Workable Model for the Origin of Life
   

Problem 1: No Viable Mechanism to Generate a Primordial Soup.

This optimistic picture began to change in the late 1970s, when it became increasingly clear that the early atmosphere was probably volcanic in origin and composition, composed largely of carbon dioxide and nitrogen rather than the mixture of reducing gases assumed by the Miller-Urey model. Carbon dioxide does not support the rich array of synthetic pathways leading to possible monomers...3

Problem 2: Forming Polymers Requires Dehydration Synthesis

Chemically speaking, however, the last place you'd want to link amino acids into chains would be a vast water-based environment like the "primordial soup" or underwater near a hydrothermal vent. As the National Academy of Sciences acknowledges, "Two amino acids do not spontaneously join in water. Rather, the opposite reaction is thermodynamically favored."

Problem 3: RNA World Hypothesis Lacks Confirming Evidence

For one, the first RNA molecules would have to arise by unguided, non-biological chemical processes. But RNA is not known to assemble without the help of a skilled laboratory chemist intelligently guiding the process. New York University chemist Robert Shapiro critiqued the efforts of those who tried to make RNA in the lab, stating: "The flaw is in the logic -- that this experimental control by researchers in a modern laboratory could have been available on the early Earth."13

...

RNA world advocates suggest that if the first self-replicating life was based upon RNA, it would have required a molecule between 200 and 300 nucleotides in length.15 However, there are no known chemical or physical laws that dictate the order of those nucleotides.16 To explain the ordering of nucleotides in the first self-replicating RNA molecule, materialists must rely on sheer chance. But the odds of specifying, say, 250 nucleotides in an RNA molecule by chance is about 1 in 10150 -- below the "universal probability bound," a term characterizing events whose occurrence is at least remotely possible within the history of the universe.1

Problem 4: Unguided Chemical Processes Cannot Explain the Origin of the Genetic Code.

The nucleotide sequence is also meaningless without a conceptual translative scheme and physical "hardware" capabilities. Ribosomes, tRNAs, aminoacyl tRNA synthetases, and amino acids are all hardware components of the Shannon message "receiver." But the instructions for this machinery is itself coded in DNA and executed by protein "workers" produced by that machinery. Without the machinery and protein workers, the message cannot be received and understood. And without genetic instruction, the machinery cannot be assembled.20

Problem 5: No Workable Model for the Origin of Life

Massimo Pigliucci states: "[I]t has to be true that we really don't have a clue how life originated on Earth by natural means."22 Or as science writer Gregg Easterbrook wrote in Wired, "What creates life out of the inanimate compounds that make up living things? No one knows. How were the first organisms assembled? Nature hasn't given us the slightest hint. If anything, the mystery has deepened over time."23

Likewise, the aforementioned article in Cell Biology International concludes: "New approaches to investigating the origin of the genetic code are required. The constraints of historical science are such that the origin of life may never be understood."24 That is, they may never be understood unless scientists are willing to consider goal-directed scientific explanations like intelligent design.

Copyright © 2013 by ncu9nc All rights reserved. Texts quoted from other sources are Copyright © by their owners.

Life did not Arise Through the Unguided Action of Natural Laws

The article, The Finely Tuned Genetic Code by Jonathan M. explains why it is unlikely that life arose through the unguided action of natural law. The article explains that the genetic code is finely tuned for efficiency (it is not random) and it is unlikely this efficiency could have arisen through evolution. It is impossible to explain how the genetic code could have evolved because a change in the code would affect every protein in the cell. For example, if you changed every letter "n" to the letter "p" in an entire book, it would cause many words to be spelled incorrectly. In a living cell, such a change in the genetic code would be catistrophic. This is strong evidence that the genetic code and therefore life itself did not arise through the unguided action of natural laws but is the result of intelligent design. (Read the the linked article for the full argument.)

How Is the Genetic Code Finely Tuned?

As previously stated, the genetic code is degenerate. This means that multiple codons will often signify the same amino acid. This degeneracy is largely caused by variation in the third position, which is recognized by the nucleotide at the 5' end of the anticodon (the so-called "wobble" position). The wobble hypothesis states that nucleotides that are present in this position can make interactions that aren't permitted in the other positions (though it still leaves some interactions that aren't allowed).

But this arrangement is far from arbitrary. Indeed, the genetic code found in nature is exquisitely tuned to protect the cell from the detrimental effects of substitution mutations. The system is so brilliantly set up that codons differing by only a single base either specify the same amino acid, or an amino acid that is a member of a related chemical group. In other words, the structure of the genetic code is set up to mitigate the effects of errors that might be incorporated during translation (which can occur when a codon is translated by an almost-complementary anti-codon).

...

The Non-Evolvability of the Genetic Code

Changes in codon assignments would be catastrophic to the cell because such a mutation would ultimately lead to changes to the amino acid sequence in every protein produced by the cell. This means that one cannot have a significantly evolving genetic code, though -- it may be granted -- there are one or two minor variations on the standard genetic code. Some have tried to argue around this by positing that the lesser-used codons can be redesignated to a different but related amino acid, thus allowing the genetic code to become optimized. There are, however, significant difficulties with this proposal. For one thing, it seems highly unlikely that by virtue of replacing some of the lesser-used amino acid assignments with a related amino acid that one could attain the level of optimization which we find in the conventional code.

Furthermore, the question is naturally raised as to what selective-utility would be exhibited by the new amino acids. Indeed, they would have no utility until incorporated into proteins. But that won't happen until they are incorporated into the genetic code. And thus they must be synthesized by enzymes that lack them. And let us not forget the necessity for the dedicated tRNAs and activating enzymes which are needed for including them in the code.

One related difficulty with standard evolutionary explanations is that a pool of biotic amino acids substantially less than 20 is liable to substantially reduce the variability of proteins synthesized by the ribosomes. And prebiotic selection is unlikely to sift the variational grist for this trait of amino-acid-optimality prior to the origin of self-replicative life (in many respects, "prebiotic selection" is somewhat oxymoronic).

There is also the added problem of the potential for codon mapping ambiguity. If, say, 80% of the time a particular codon specifies one amino acid and 20% of the time specifies another, this mapping ambiguity would lead to cellular chaos.

Copyright © 2013 by ncu9nc All rights reserved. Texts quoted from other sources are Copyright © by their owners.

Proof and Possibility

This post is based on
Four Errors Commonly Made by Professional Debunkers by Grossman.

As I have discussed on my web site, there are several independent forms of very strong evidence that demonstrate consciousness survives death.

However, a materialist may say the evidence does not prove survival of consciousness. Such a statement is trivially true because science does not deal with 100% proof. Only in logic and math do you find 100% proof. Science involves making observations and testing hypotheses from which evidence is accumulated. Additionally, as Karl Popper explained, a scientific theory can never be proved, it can only be falsified.

Furthermore, when the materialist explains why the evidence is not proof, he will suggest an alternative possible explanation of the evidence. This is usually a rhetorical trick based on different meanings of the world "possible". In this situation, "possible" has two meanings, a hypothesis may be logically possible, and a hypothesis may be empirically possible.

A hypothesis that is empirically possible is one for which there is evidence to support it. When the weather forecast predicts the possibility of rain, that is an empirical possibility because it is based on atmospheric data.

However, a hypothesis that is only logically possible does not have to be based on any evidence. For example, the hypothesis that there is a civilization of giant elephants that live underground on mars is a logical possibility. No one has been to Mars to check if there are any underground civilizations there, but no one would take such a hypothesis seriously without any evidence.

The significance of these two types of possibilities is that science only deals with empirical possibilities not logical possibilities. When materialists explain why certain evidence does not prove survival of consciousness after death or the existence of psychic phenomena, they often offer logical possibilities such as fraud, incompetence, or self-delusion. In the case of evidence for survival of consciousness after death, they may offer super-psi as a logically possible alternative explanation. Scientists are under no obligation to refute these or any other logical possibilities.

It is a mistake to acknowledge that such logical possibilities introduce uncertainty about a hypothesis that is supported by empirical evidence. Any scientific hypothesis can be contradicted by a logical possibility. In this case, the burden is on the materialist to provide evidence that their hypothesis is not merely a logical possibility but an empirical possibility.

Copyright © 2013 by ncu9nc All rights reserved. Texts quoted from other sources are Copyright © by their owners.

Materialism is not a Rational Philosophy

I recently noticed a thread on an internet forum discussing why more psychics don't agree to be tested. One of the reasons psychics are reluctant to be tested by materialists is because psychics don't trust materialists. It is quite a reasonable opinion.

Materialism is not a rational philosophy because it is self-refuting in a number of ways (see Notes below).

Another reason materialist's rationality is suspect is becuause, 21% of American atheists believe in God.

I think the materialists need to work on their own issues first. When they get their act together, maybe more psychics will trust them.

Notes (See the links below for the full arguments. Also, the most up-to-date version of this section can be found on my web site on the page on Skeptical Fallacies, in the section Materialism is not a Rational Philosophy.)

Who is Thomas Nagel and why are so many of his fellow academics condemning him? By ANDREW FERGUSON

Neo-Darwinism tells us that we have the power of reason because reason was adaptive; it must have helped us survive, back in the day. Yet reason often conflicts with our intuition or our emotion—capacities that must also have been adaptive and essential for survival. Why should we “privilege” one capacity over another when reason and intuition conflict? On its own terms, the scheme of neo-Darwinism gives us no standard by which we should choose one adaptive capacity over the other. And yet neo-Darwinists insist we embrace neo-Darwinism because it conforms to our reason, even though it runs against our intuition. Their defense of reason is unreasonable.

Edward Feser: Popper contra computationalism

4. So if materialism is true, then there is nothing about our thought processes that can make one thought a rational justification of another; for their physical and causal relations alone, and not their semantic and logical relations, determine which thought follows which.

5. So if materialism is true, none of our thoughts ever is rationally justified.

6. But this includes the thoughts of materialists themselves.

7. So if materialism is true, then it cannot be rationally justified; the theory undermines itself.

Why Darwinist Materialism is Wrong BY ALVIN PLANTINGA

Given materialist naturalism, the probability that my cognitive faculties are reliable with respect to metaphysical beliefs would be low. So take any metaphysical belief I have: the probability that it is true, given materialist naturalism, cannot be much above .5. But of course materialist naturalism is itself a metaphysical belief. So the materialistic naturalist should think the probability of materialist naturalism is about .5. But that means that she cannot sensibly believe her own doctrine. If she believes it, she shouldn’t believe it. In this way materialist naturalism is self-defeating.

Copyright © 2013 by ncu9nc All rights reserved. Texts quoted from other sources are Copyright © by their owners.

What to do about Unwanted Spirit Contact: How to Help Spirits Complete Their Transition to the Spirit World

I've been following the posts on the AskParanormal subreddit on reddit.com where there are many posts by people asking for help with unwanted contacts from spirits. This post is a summary of my advice on how to deal with unwanted spirit contact.

There are two main forms of unwanted spirit phenomena:

1. Objective phenomena - when the spirit causes phenomena that anyone can observe such as noises, moving furniture, or turning on and off electrical or electronic devices.
   

2. Subjective phenomena - when the spirit causes phenomena that only one person can observe, such as telepathic communications, visions of the spirit, or some cases of sleep paralysis.
   

The way to deal with the two types phenomena are very similar but not exactly alike.

One important difference is that subjective phenomenon may make the experiencer wonder if he is just imagining it or if he might be suffering from a mental illness. This is a serious and valid concern and is best answered by a psychologist who has experience helping people with spiritual problems. It may be possible to locate a such a psychologist by asking a local psychic in your town for a referral. You can often get such a referral through a Spiritualist church or a New Age book shop or gift shop. There is also a list of mental health professionals who specialize in spiritual and psychic issues.

Another difference is that objective phenomena may sometimes be caused by unintended psychokinesis (PK) from a living person. More about this is discussed in the links below What to do about Poltergeist and How to cope with being psychic.

In the most difficult cases it may be necessary to get help from a reputable psychic or medium who has experience dealing with troublesome spirits. However in many cases you can deal with the situation yourself.

If you want to try to stop the spirit activity yourself, tell the spirit:

1. That they are dead. (The spirit might be lingering on the earth plane because they do not realize they are dead).
   

2. You understand they are trying to communicate and you are aware of them. (If you think the spirit is a deceased friend or relative it may be important to them that you recognize their attempts at communication, they may be trying to say "hello" or "good bye" in the only way they can.)
   

3. But they must leave you alone.
   

4. (If the spirit is there when you move into a new home, tell them) the home is yours now, not theirs, and they have to leave.
   

5. They should complete their transition to the spirit world. If they linger, alone, around the earth plane where there is nothing for them to do they will just stagnate. They will be happier if they complete the transition because they will be with like minded spirits and will have things to do.
   

Be firm but friendly, try to express concern for the spirit's well being. Keep repeating the above when you sense the presence of the spirit if they don't leave right away.

Prayer is also an important component of dealing with these types of situations:

• Pray for angels or spirit guides to help the earthbound spirit complete their transition to the spirit world. There are advanced beings around that want to help us but they need a request from us before they can act. (See the link to Spirit Rescue below).
  

• Praying for protection may also be effective, particularly for subjective phenomena. You can pray for protection in this way: "Oh God please watch over me and protect me so that only the highest and best forces can influence me." Some people also visualize a shield of white light surrounding and protecting them.
  

An example of how to handle a troublesome spirit can be found in this post. A more elaborate method can be found at Spirit Rescue on my web site. You don't have to follow the script in Spirit Rescue exactly. If you are not comfortable with certain parts, you may adapt it to your particular situation.

"Evil Entities"

Most of the "evil entities" that are thought to cause hauntings and possessions and cause other mischief are not demons but the spirits of humans who have not made a full transition to the spirit world. Sometimes spirits do cause problems but much of the problem is our own fear. When a spirit frightens us or has a negative attitude that seems repellent, we may mistake our feelings of fear for a perception of evil. However, you are more likely to die of a heart attack from your own fear than from anything a ghost might actually do. Often the spirit is not really evil, but just grumpy or mischievous and our lack of understanding causes us to overreact. Spirits may try to communicate the only way they can, by flashing the lights, shutting a door, or raping on the walls, which frightens most people who are inexperienced in dealing with spirits. But, try to imagine what it is like for a spirit trying to reassure a grieving loved one they are still near by when the person reacts in horror. This is caused by the prejudice in our society against spirits which is caused by ghost stories and horror movies.

These links may also be helpful:

• What are Ghosts?
  

• What to do about Poltergeist Haunting phenomenon can sometimes be due to spirits and sometimes be due to unintended psychokinesis from a living person. This article explains some ways to tell which you may be experiencing.
  

• Hearing Voices? Talk Back Politely This article explains that whether the phenomenon is a hallucination or a genuine spirit phenomenon, the way to deal with it is the same.
  

• How to cope with being psychic People who develop psychic abilities may start experiencing spiritistic phenomena and this link discusses some of the issues involved in dealing with the phenomena.
  

• Treatment for Spirit Possession Medications for hallucinations are sometimes helpful for stopping genuine subjective spirit phenomena.
  

• Hallucinations
  

• Psychic Self Defense
  

Some books that may be helpful include:

• Books by Echo Bodine such as Relax It's Only a Ghost. Echo Bodine is a medium who clears haunted houses.
  

• The Unquiet Dead by Edith Fiori. Edith Fiori is a psychologist who helps patients experiencing subjective phenomena by talking to the spirit while the patient is hypnotized.
  

• Thirty Years Among the Dead by Dr. Carl Wickland. Dr. Carl Wickland worked with mental patients and found many of them were being influenced by spirits. (If this link doesn't work, try using google to find it elsewhere on the internet.)
  

Copyright © 2013, 2015 by ncu9nc All rights reserved. Texts quoted from other sources are Copyright © by their owners.

Interview with Near-Death Researcher Sam Parnia

On February 27, Dr. Sam Parnia was interviewed on the Coast to Coast AM radio program. Dr. Parnia is conducting the AWARE Study on near-death experiences (NDEs). As part of his research, he interviews patients who have suffered cardiac arrest. A summary of the interview was posted to a discussion forum by the member Wendybird.

During the interview, Dr. Parnia said the patients he has studied are not just having "near-death experiences", they are having "actual death experiences". They have been clinically dead for "minutes if not hours". The fact that some patients have memories of what was happening around them during that time is proof that consciouses survives death. Wendybird commented that at the outset of the research Parnia seemed skeptical but while conducting this research he became convinced that the afterlife is real.

...

Parnia refers to his cases in the AWARE study as “actual death experiences” (ADEs), because “they have objectively died for minutes if not hours”. He explains that these people “really were dead”, they were corpses, i.e., they had no heart beat, no brain function – they were actually dead, “not clinically dead, not nearly dead”, no playing around with the meaning of the words, as Parnia put it.

Regarding reversing death, Parnia explained that the medicine has progressed so far that now the dead can be resuscitated “many hours” after death. The decay of cells is a process that begins after death occurs (both heart and brain function cease). There’s a window of about 8 hours in which “brain cells are still viable, but not functioning.” That’s the key here – brain cells are NOT FUNCTIONING. After that window expires, they are so damaged they cannot be revived again. Parnia realizes that if we’d had the technology and knowledge we do today to reverse the death process, that when the Titanic sank in 1912, we’d have been able to revive many of the 1500 that died in the freezing waters of the North Atlantic – especially because the cold temperatures slow the decay of brain cells and keep them viable for hours (when the rescue ship Carpathia arrived, those people had only been in the water for two hours, within the 8-hour window to get the brain functioning again).

“We have millions and millions of people now who have essentially gone to the other side, beyond the threshold of death, they’ve entered what would have been considered the afterlife period, and they’re coming back and telling us what they experienced.” He compares it to our ability now to send men to the moon who can come back and tell us about it. We now routinely overcome death, and the people he’s studying are “like astronauts – we send them out to explore this other dimension” – they are going to the other side, and they’re able to tell us what they’ve experienced on the other side of death – “is there an afterlife and what shape does it take, and that’s a new science that’s evolving for us.”

...

In Parnia’s interview on Skeptiko a year or so ago, prior to the AWARE study, he seemed still to be on the fence, a bit skeptical of NDEs, even hinting he thought it was some effect of the brain. He even had proponents wondering if Parnia was setting up AWARE to fail... However, from hearing the NPR interview and this C2C interview, after reviewing in depth the ADE cases in his study, Parnia now clearly is convinced that consciousness continues to exist in some form after the heart and brain have ceased to function.

...

In addition to interviewing patients, the AWARE Study also involves placing some type of "target" in hospital rooms where they would not normally be seen, such as on the top of a high cabinet. The hope is that when interviewing the patients after cardiac arrest, they would have seen the target and could describe it, proving they had an out-of-body experience as part of their NDE. When I first heard this, I was concerned that people going through NDEs would not bother looking at pictures on top of file cabinets because they would be more concerned about what was happening down where their body was. I was afraid this was a poorly designed study that would lead to the false conclusion that NDE's were not genuine afterlife experiences. So, I am pleased to learn that Dr. Parnia has been whole-heartedly converted to belief in the afterlife from this work. I don't know if any of his patients have seen the targets, my impression is that his conversion has come from interviewing the patients about their experiences in the afterlife and their ability to describe what was happening around them while they were clinically dead.

I recommend reading the whole summary.

Copyright © 2013 by ncu9nc All rights reserved. Texts quoted from other sources are Copyright © by their owners.

Interview with Chris Carter by Jime of Subversive Thinking

There is an excellent interview with Chris Carter, author of Science and the Afterlife at Subversive Thinking by the blogger Jime. The interview was on the subject of Carter's book, which is about survival of consciousness after death. In the interview, Jime, who believes in the survival, brought up one bogus criticism of survival after another and Chris Carter thoroughly rebutted each of them in turn. Carter has an advanced degree in philosophy and it showed in his explanations which were knowledgeable, well reasoned, and cut through to the core of the issues.

The interview covered three subjects that I have blogged about here and discussed on my web site:

• There are several independent forms of very strong evidence that prove the survival of consciousness after death is a fact.
  

• Criticisms of survival after death based on arguments that it is unscientific are flawed.
  

• Survival of consciousness after death is a much better explanation for the evidence than is super-ESP.
  

The key points made in the interview are:

• The strongest evidence for survival comes from mediumship because, in the best cases, the evidence is from the spirit's perspective, and it demonstrates more than just knowledge of the spirit but also characteristics like purpose, personality, and skills. Statements made by a medium and recorded are an objective form of evidence and not susceptible to "mistaken eye-witnesses testimony". However, there are additional very strong forms of evidence for survival including "near-death experiences, death-bed visions, children who claim to remember previous lives", and "reports of apparitions". Carter points out that these are independent forms of evidence. This is an important point since multiple independent forms of evidence provide a much stronger argument than a single form of evidence.
  

• Survival after death is a question of fact, it is not a theory. Therefore criticisms of theories such as unfalsifiability, inability to make predictions, or lack of explanatory power are not applicable to survival. However the survival hypothesis has been proved true by the evidence, it makes the prediction that consciousness survives death, and it is a very "simple", "straightforward" explanation for various paranormal phenomena.
  

• Occam's razor, which says, in Carter's words, "do not add unnecessary causal factors to explanations", should be understood as saying that factors added to protect the theory from contradictory evidence should not be added. Because of this, survival is a superior hypothesis to super-ESP. While survival requires the inclusion of spirits as causal factors, these are a direct inference from the data. However, super-ESP has been extended again and again as telepathy, and then ESP, were shown to be unable to explain the evidence for survival. It is these greater and greater capabilities attributed to super-ESP that are added as a causal factors to protect the theory from falsification. These capabilities are unnecessary because the survival hypothesis provides a simpler more straightforward explanation without them. Therefore survival is a superior explanation of the evidence than is super-ESP.
  

• Survival is a self-evident explanation for afterlife phenomena. Alternatives, when testable, (such as telepathy or ESP), have been shown to be false, and when not testable, (such as super-ESP or fraud), are "pseudo-scientific excuses for refusing to accept an otherwise straightforward inference from the evidence."
  

For ease of reference, I have included below a list of objections to survival that were discussed in the interview with links to the section of this post that explains how they were rebutted by Carter. It is not a complete table of contents so if you want to read the whole post you must scroll through it rather than jump ahead with just these links.

Flawed Criticisms of Survival as a Scientific Theory:

• The hypothesis that consciousness survives death is not falsifiable.
  

• The survival hypothesis does not make predictions or have explanatory force.
  

• The evidence for survival is only anomalous data.
  

  Flawed Criticisms of Survival in Comparison to Super-ESP:
  

• The Super-ESP hypothesis is equal in predictive power to Survival.
  

• Survival is equivalent to super-ESP in other ways.
  

• The evidence of survival is really evidence of super-ESP.
  

• Apparitions can be explained by collective hallucinations.
  

• There is no independent reason for believing in survival.
  

• Occam's Razor favors super-ESP over survival.
  

• If ESP cannot explain the evidence for survival, then it may mean the capabilities of ESP are greater than expected and super-ESP is a possible explanation for that evidence.
  

Below, I try to summarize what was said in the interview. However, I suggest you also read the full interview since it is probable that my summary and paraphrasing will be imperfect and I may inadvertently misrepresent some of what was said.

Evidence for the Afterlife

In the interview, Carter explains that the best evidence for the afterlife comes from mediumship and "near-death experiences, death-bed visions, children who claim to remember previous lives, and from reports of apparitions". He points out that these are independent forms of evidence. This is an important point since multiple independent forms of evidence provide a much stronger argument than a single form of evidence.

Carter also explains that mediumship is the strongest form of evidence for survival because in the best cases, such as trance mediumship, the evidence is direct evidence of the spirit, and it demonstrates the perspective, purposes, personality, and skills of the spirit. Statements made by a medium can be recorded so the evidence is also objective and not susceptible to "mistaken eye-witness testimony" as other form of evidence are.

Is Survival a Good Explanation of the Evidence?

Falsifiability

In the interview, Carter also discusses whether the afterlife is a falsifiable theory. Falsifiability of a theory was identified by Karl Popper as necessary for a theory to be scientific.

Carter explained that the question of the afterlife is not a theory, it is a question of fact. A theory is an expression of the relationship between facts or how facts "fit together". For example, gravity is a fact. If you drop a stone, it falls. However the theory of gravity is a mathematical formula that describes how the force of gravity depends on mass and distance.

You can prove a theory is false by finding evidence that contradicts the theory. But you can never prove a theory is true because there is always the possibility that some day you will find an exception to it. For example, Newton's theory of gravity was believed true, until observations showed that Einstein's theory of gravity could explain a phenomenon that was not consistent with Newton's theory.

However a hypothesis about a fact, such as the fact that consciousness can survive death, can be proved true with evidence. The evidence that proves consciousness survives death includes mediumship, near-death experiences, death-bed visions, children who remember past lives, and reports of apparitions. Therefore, whether or not survival is falsifiable is irrelevant.

Predictions and Explanatory Force

Carter also discussed the question of whether a theory must make predictions that give it explanatory force in order for the theory to be scientific. One criticism of survival is that it lacks predictive power so has little explanatory utility and is therefore not scientific. Critics claim survival invokes "spirits" to explain phenomena whenever there is no other known natural explanation. The criticism is that survival is an ad hoc assertion rather than a theory that makes predictions.

Carter pointed out that survival does make predictions, it predicts that consciousness survives death. He again pointed out that survival is a question of fact not theory. Carter also rejected the premise of the question, that scientific theories have to have "predictive power in order to have explanatory force". He explained that theories only have to be testable and that progress in science is made by testing hypotheses. What the hypothesis explains is a different issue he said. However, Carter asserted that survival does have explanatory force because it is a "simple and concise" explanation for mediumship, near-death experiences, death-bed visions, children who remember past lives, and reports of apparitions.

Anomalous Data

Carter rejected the assertion that survival only relies on anomalous data, he asserted that the evidence is much more than anomalous data. I believe he was alluding the several independent forms of very strong evidence for survival that he previously mentioned in the interview: mediumship, near-death experiences, death-bed visions, children who remember past lives, and reports of apparitions.

Survival After Death is a Much Better Explanation of the Evidence than is Super-ESP

Super-ESP is the hypothesis that the psychic powers of living persons are responsible for the evidence that is said to prove survival after death. For example, a medium might unconsciously use ESP to obtain information about a deceased individual and then simulate communications with the individual's spirit.

Predictive Power

Carter was asked if survival makes testable predictions that make it a better explanation of the evidence than super-ESP.

Carter rejected the premise, that survival is a theory that should make predictions. He pointed out that survival is a "straightforward inference from the data". It is an issue of fact not an issue of theory and the necessity of predictive power is not applicable to facts, only to theories.

Carter explained that survival has been consistently inferred from the evidence for thousands of years while super-ESP was proposed only in the late 19th century by those opposed to survival on ideological grounds. When proxy sittings proved mediumship could not be explained by telepathy, extra-sensory perception (ESP) was proposed as an alternative to telepathy as the explanation. When mediums demonstrated skills and personality of the spirit, which could not be explained by ESP, super-ESP was proposed as the explanation. This shows the lack of predictive power leading to the super-ESP hypothesis. Carter states that ESP or super-ESP cannot explain several features of evidence for survival. Carter then discusses experiments by Gary Schwartz which obtained results contrary to what super-ESP would predict.

Equivalence of Theories

The question of how to compare theories based on various characteristics was also discussed in relation to whether survival is a superior explanation of the evidence than super-ESP. Carter explained that when two theories make the same predictions, historically they have been equivalent theories. He stated that scientific theories must be testable so you should be able to distinguish a correct theory from an incorrect theory by falsifying the incorrect theory.

However, the question of survival is not a scientific theory. In order to evaluate an explanation of the evidence for survival, Carter said, you need to consider "1) Does it solve a problem", 2) "Does it do so" in a simple manner, and 3) "Is it consistent with other beliefs" for which there are "good reasons to consider true". Carter explained that for survival you can answer yes to all three, but for super-ESP you can only answer yes to the first item.

Survival solves the problem of how to explain mediumship and near-death experiences etc. Survival is a simple inference from the data. And there are several independent forms of evidence for survival so it is consistent with other beliefs for which there are good reasons to consider true. However super-ESP is a contrived explanation, it is not simple, and there is no independent evidence for it (see the next section below), so there is no good reason to believe it. Therefore, survival is a better explanation of the evidence than super-ESP.

Is The Evidence for Survival is really Evidence for Super-ESP?

Carter argued there is no independent evidence for super-ESP except where it is asserted to occur as evidence for the afterlife. If super-ESP was correct, there should be evidence of super-ESP doing more important things, like protecting people from actual harm, rather than just simulating evidence for the afterlife. Therefore there is no good reason to believe in super-ESP.

Collective Hallucination

Carter discussed the claim that collective hallucination could explain multiple witness apparitions. He pointed out there is no actual evidence of collective hallucination occurring among healthy people except for the cases of multiple witness apparitions.

Independent Evidence

Another criticism discussed was that the survival hypothesis does not rely on any independent reasons for believing in survival beyond the evidence for survival itself, just as super-ESP does not have any independent means of support beyond afterlife phenomenon. Carter pointed out that the different forms of evidence for survival, mediumship, near-death experiences, death-bed visions, children who remember past lives, and reports of apparitions, are independent reasons for believing in it.

Carter then explained that the best evidence for survival is different in kind not in degree of ESP and therefore something different from ESP must be required to explain it. I believe he was alluding to the cases of mediumship, where the evidence demonstrates the spirits perspective, purposes, personality, and skills.

Occam's Razor

Next, Carter dealt with Occam's Razor as applied to survival and super-ESP. Occam's razor, which says, in Carter's words, "do not add unnecessary causal factors to explanations", should be understood as saying that factors added to protect the theory from contradictory evidence should not be added. If both survival and super-ESP involve ESP, then is super-ESP superior because it does not invoke spirits and so involves fewer causative factors? While survival requires the inclusion of spirits as causal factors, these are a direct inference from the data. However, super-ESP has been extended again and again as telepathy, and then ESP, were shown to be unable to explain the evidence for survival. It is these greater and greater capabilities leading to super-ESP that are added as a causal factors to protect the theory from falsification. These capabilities are unnecessary because the survival hypothesis provides a simpler more straightforward explanation without them. Therefore survival is a superior explanation of the evidence than super-ESP.

Super-ESP

Another criticism Carter dealt with is that if ESP cannot explain the evidence for survival it might mean that the capabilities of super-ESP are greater than currently understood and not that survival is true.

I'll end my post with how Carter responded to this criticism:

In my work I present the evidence that provides a prima facie case for survival; demonstrate that alternative explanations, to the extent that they are testable, have been proven false; and then argue that to the extent these alternative explanations are not testable (such as elaborate fraud scenarios, or super-ESP) they are pseudo-scientific excuses for refusing to accept an otherwise straightforward inference from the evidence.

I highly recommend reading the whole interview.

Copyright © 2013 by ncu9nc All rights reserved. Texts quoted from other sources are Copyright © by their owners.

How to Communicate with Spirits

This post is about methods you can use to communicate with spirits by yourself without the help of a psychic medium. The techniques include methods for:

• Communicating with recently departed loved ones.
  
• Easy techniques for communicating with your spirit guides.
  
• Techniques to develop a general ability to communicate with spirits.
  

Summary of techniques:

• Techniques to communicate with a recently departed loved one. If you have recently lost a loved one and want to hear from them, these techniques might be of help.
  
  • Do-it-yourself Techniques
    
    • Self-guided Afterlife Connections.
      
    • Asking a spirit to come to you in a dream.
      
    • After Death Communication (ADC) includes a number of ways a spirit might contact you including signs, and various other types of direct and indirect communication.
      
  • Techniques that involve a facilitator.
    
    • Guided Afterlife Connections
      

• Easy Methods for communicating with your spirit guides.
  
  • Meditating on a question for your spirit guides.
    
  • Ask your guides to answer your questions while you sleep.
    
  • Audio programs such as those produced by John Edward.
    

• Techniques for the development of a general ability to communicate with spirits. If you want to increase your sensitivity to spirit communications and/or if you want to communicate with many different spirits, try these techniques. However, be aware that they require a long term commitment of time and effort to achieve results.
  
  • Take classes in mediumship.
    
  • Communicating in the hypnogogic state.
    
  • Practice spiritual healing.
    
  • Stream of consciousness writing.
    
  • Tune in to universal love to raise your vibrational rate.
    

The techniques are described in more detail below but keep in mind these points which apply to all techniques:

• It will be easier to connect with spirits if you approach communication in a cheerful, loving manner.
  
• When you are trying to communicate with spirits, don't just wait for them to communicate with you. That is like dialing the phone and only listening. You have to participate in the conversation. When communicating with spirits, you should ask them questions as well as listen for answers.
  
• If possible try to obtain veridical information, that is information that you don't know but can verify. That will help you validate that the information is not coming from your own wishful thinking. When you try to obtain veridical information ask open ended questions rather than yes/no or multiple choice type questions. With open ended questions that you have no preconceived ideas about, there will be less possibility of your own thoughts interfering with any communications that may be coming from a spirit.
  

Methods for communicating with a recently departed loved one.

On a couple of discussion forums that I read, I recently noticed posts about two new methods for communicating with spirits. One is a do-it-yourself technique, Self-guided Afterlife Connections, and another makes use of a therapist to perform a Guided Afterlife Connection. Both of these methods are being promoted by Craig Hogan who was a co-author of Induced After-death Communications, a book he wrote with Allan Bodkin. Craig also wrote Your Eternal Self which is about evidence for the afterlife.

Guided Afterlife Connections seem to be an out growth of induced after-death communication (IADC) which is a therapy developed by Allan Bodkin, a Veteran's Administration psychologist, that helps patients with post traumatic stress syndrome. The therapy allows the patient to communicate with the spirits of those who's death was involved in the traumatic experience of the patient.

The Self-guided Afterlife Connection web site describes that method of communicating with spirits. It seems to be a guided meditation / hypnotic induction to connect with a lost loved one. The Self-guided Afterlife Connection method also prepares the student with information on what to expect during communication and that is very helpful - many people don't recognize spirit communications because they don't know what to expect.

This type of communication can work well if you want confirmation that your loved one is not really dead but still continuing to exist in the afterlife. It can also be helpful if you need to settle any unfinished business like apologies or something like that.

Another technique you use can try to establish a connection with a recently departed loved one is to ask them to come to you in a dream. Do this as you are falling asleep and they may connect with you in a dream.

After Death Communication (ADC) includes a number of ways a spirit might spontaneously contact you. This includes signs, and various other types of direct and indirect communication. More information about this is available at after-death.com

However, keep in mind that you can't guarantee that any particular spirit will be willing to communicate with you. Some spirits have other things to do and higher levels to move on to. Some spirits will not want you to be too attached to their memory because it might prevent you from moving past your grief, or it might prevent you from forming new relationships. John Edward wrote in one of his books that he had to wait for a long time before his deceased mother came through to him, and she did it through another medium, not to him directly. One of the forum posters discussing the self-guided afterlife connection also explained elsewhere on that forum that even though they had some success with that technique, they still wanted more communication with the deceased and were not getting it. If you try any of these techniques, have realistic expectations.

Quick Techniques for Communicating with Your Spirit Guides

You can ask your spirit guides to communicate with you when you are asleep and then when you wake up you may find the answers to your questions. This method was described by the user Anderw at afterlifeforums.com:

Now, onto your question: The type of beings that you are most likely to communicate with are your spirit guides. But you won't communicate with them through visual or auditory means most likely. It will be a subtle type of mental communication - essentially telepathy. You should have a good reason to contact them. Just doing it to do it probably will not yield much result. If you want to contact them, then think about whatever it is wish to ask them, and meditate/think on it a bit right before bed. Then, pay attention to the first thoughts you have when you wake up the next morning. You may not get/remember anything right away, but you'll get advice if it is beneficial to you!

The reason why it is most effective to do this at night is because we actually seem to travel (astrally) to the afterlife levels during sleep most nights. Therefore we consult with our guides, as well as relax and learn. For this reason, it is actually best to sleep on any major decisions, and see how you feel in the morning.

Meditate on a question for your spirit guides by repeating the question to like a mantra.

One very simple way of communicating with your spirit guides is to sit in meditation and try to concentrate on a question addressed to your spirit guides and notice the thoughts and impressions that occur when your mind wanders from concentrating on the question. This technique can become particularly effective if you develop your sensitivity by using some of the techniques in the following section.

Techniques for the development of a general ability to communicate with spirits.

If you are serious about developing a general ability to perceive communications from spirits you have to 1) have spirits who are willing to communicate with you over the long term, and 2) develop your sensitivity to faint mental impressions and sensations.

Ways to develop a general ability to communicate with spirits include:

• Take classes in mediumship.
  
• Communicating with spirits in the hypnogogic state.
  
• Practice spiritual healing.
  
• Stream of consciousness writing.
  
• Tune in to universal love to raise your vibrational rate.
  

Whichever methods you use, this will be a long term project. It will involve developing your awareness of and increasing your sensitivity to faint mental impressions. You will work with spirits by asking questions and and listening for their answers.

Take classes in mediumship.

One option for developing your ability to communicate with spirits is to take classes in mediumship where you can practice giving readings to your classmates. An advantage of classes is that obtaining veridical information is built in to the process. When you give your classmates a reading they will tell you if they recognize the spirit. I've described my experiences taking classes in mediumship at a Spiritualist church here and I provided more details here. I also include information on taking classes in mediumship on my web site on the page I link to in the next section that describes how to communicate with spirits from the hyponogogic state.

If you can't find mediumship classes in your area, or if they are too expensive, or if you prefer to learn by yourself, you can also learn to communicate with spirits on your own.

Practice communicating in the hypnogogic state.

I have described a technique I use for learning on my own on my web site. In this method, you learn to enter the hypnogogic state in which the mind is naturally receptive to psychic phenomena.

Practice spiritual healing.

The technique I use for learning on my own (linked above) includes a method of developing spiritual healing abilities because spiritual healing is a form of physical mediumship that involves the participation of spirit healing guides.

Practice stream of consciousness writing.

Anything that helps you get in touch with faint mental impressions or that helps unconscious thoughts to rise into your conscious awareness can be used to develop your sensitivity to spirit communication because, for most people, that type of communication is naturally subliminal. Most people do not consciously recognize the influence of their spirit guides but that influence exists nonetheless and influences their conscious mind. This is why the technique above, communicating from the hypnogogic state works. In the hypnogogic state, your normal waking mind is subdued and you become aware of mental activity that you would not ordinarily perceive. Another technique to get in touch with your unconscious thoughts is described on my web page Communicating With Spirit Guides Through Writing. When you practice this technique, you write whatever comes to your mind. The objective is to let your thoughts flow without inhibiting them, analyzing them or judging them. The purpose is to practice letting thoughts flow from your unconscious mind to your conscious mind freely.

Tune in to universal love to raise your vibrational rate.

Positive emotions like happiness and love, particularly love for the spirit, will make it easier for the spirit to get through to you. My web page on meditation includes a method of Tapping into Universal Love which can help you raise your vibrational rate and improve your communications with spirits.

Copyright © 2013 by ncu9nc All rights reserved. Texts quoted from other sources are Copyright © by their owners.

Why are Most Scientists Skeptics?

Someone in an internet discussion forum asked why most scientists are physicalists. A physicalist is someone who believes that all things can be explained in terms known to physics such as matter and forces of nature. Physicalists do not believe in psychic phenomena or the afterlife or that consciousness is not produced by the brain. None of these things can be explained by modern physics. I replied to that question with five reasons that most scientists are physicalists:

1. Habitual reductionist thinking prevents scientists from accepting anything that they can't explain in terms of simpler phenomena, such as non-physical consciousness, qualia, and psychic phenomena.
   
2. Indoctrination into philosophical naturalism during science education.
   
3. Psychological attachment to the status quo scientific world view because it is the source of their status and livelihood.
   
4. Fear of alternative means of obtaining knowledge about the universe that might supplant science as the most important source of knowledge. If you can ask a psychic or a spirit, why would you need scientists?
   
5. Persecution of heretics. If Nobel prize winning physicist Brian Josephson is ostracized because of his interest in psi, what chance does an ordinary scientist have?
   

References:

1. Habitual reductionist thinking prevents scientists from accepting anything that they can't explain in terms of simpler phenomena, such as non-physical consciousness, qualia, and psychic phenomena.
   

   Causes of skepticism
   

   Research has shown that people who think analytically rather than intuitively tend to be atheists. People who analyze problems using logic, because of their education, career, or innate characteristics, may become habituated to reductionist analysis. Reductionism is the belief that something complex can be understood by the interaction of simpler components. This way of thinking works well in many branches of science. Psychology can be explained in terms of biology, which can be explained in terms of chemistry, which can be explained in terms of physics. However, some scientists, engineers, philosophers, and other intellectuals, may become so habituated to reductionist thinking that they are unable to conceive that some phenomena cannot be explained in terms of simpler phenomena. For example, the subjective experience of consciousness, what pain feels like, or what red looks like, cannot be understood through reductionism. Psychic phenomena that cannot be explained by current scientific theories such as telepathy, clairvoyance, psychokinesis, and precognition cannot be understood through reductionism. This is why some people who are habituated to reductionist thinking simply cannot conceive that psychic phenomena could be real or consciousness might be nonphysical and survive bodily death. Reductionists suggest consciousness is an epiphenomenon even though that is a poor explanation of consciousness, because it is the best they can conceive of within their reductionist prison.
   

2. Indoctrination into philosophical naturalism during science education.
   

   T. H. Huxley: Accidental Founder of Modern Pseudo-skepticism
   

   Why are so many scientist skeptics? Because naturalism is an implicit part of the culture of science and science students are indoctrinated in that philosophy during their education. Naturalism is the belief that science should only study natural processes and consider natural explanations for phenomena. This is a mistake. Science should be the search for the truth where ever it leads. This flaw in the culture of science is due to a large extent to T. H. Huxley and the X club. The X Club was founded by T. H. Huxley and played an important role in making naturalism a fundamental tenet of modern science.

3. Psychological attachment to the status quo scientific world view because it is the source of their status and livelihood.
   

   Suppressed Parapsychology
   

   Dean Radin, in his book "The Conscious Universe" in the chapter "Seeing Psi" proposes that some scientists may have too much self interest in preserving the materialist status quo to be objective about psychic phenomena.
   

   ...
   

   It should be understood that Radin is not saying NAS members are deliberately dishonest about the existence of psychic phenomena. He is saying they are so caught up in the scientific world view, (for example, because they get a lot of personal status from it, or because they spend their careers defining that world view) that they are unconsciously unable to accept that the scientific world view might be so seriously flawed, that it could have such big gaps in it, that psychic phenomena could be real.
   

4. Fear of alternative means of obtaining knowledge about the universe that might supplant science as the most important source of knowledge. If you can ask a psychic or a spirit, why would you need scientists?
   

   Causes of skepticism
   

   Genuine psychic phenomena have been produced by ordinary people throughout the history of humankind. However, these phenomena were rejected by science for "political" reasons, not empirical reasons, when the scientific revolution deposed religion as the ultimate source of knowledge. Besides being seen as allied with religion, psychic phenomena are a competitor to science as a means of obtaining information about the universe. Therefore, some modern scientists have a lot of cultural baggage that prevent them from seeing the otherwise obvious evidence that some paranormal phenomena are real.
   

5. Persecution of heretics. If Nobel prize winning physicist Brian Josephson is ostracized for interest in psi, what chance does an ordinary scientist have?
   

   How to Run a Conference
   

   Certain invitees to a workshop on the Foundations of Physics received from the organisers letters withdrawing their invitations. The letter to Brian Josephson asserted:
   

   It has come to my attention that one of your principal research interests is the paranormal ... in my view, it would not be appropriate for someone with such research interests to attend a scientific conference.
   

   while a similar letter to David Peat asserted:
   

   "It has come to my attention that you are the author of books on Jungian synchronicity and quantum physics, and on connections between Native American Indian thought and modern physics ... in my view, it is not appropriate for an author of such books to attend a scientific conference."

   These letters illustrate well the defensive, paranoid attitudes of members of the scientific community such as those who pressed for this action to be taken; for such people, science equates to 'closed minded enquiry', in the light of which their action is in no way surprising.
   

Copyright © 2013 by ncu9nc All rights reserved. Texts quoted from other sources are Copyright © by their owners.

Reports of Paranormal Experiences

If you like reading about paranormal experiences, you might be interested in the Reddit paranormal community. The column on the right margin has other reddit links on similar topics. I've started reading the rss feed.

I posted about this on an internet discussion forum and someone replied with a link to a thread in a discussion forum for nurses about their on the job paranormal experiences. It's a huge thread, as I write this there are over 281 pages with over 2177 posts. Below is my favorite, so far, because it shows a practical application of spiritual knowledge. It's on page 3:

Jun 13, '05 by ZASHAGALKA

We had a patient, chronic CHFer, always on the call button, hated being on fluid restrictions. you know the type: the nurses have to take turns during the shift answering the call button so the primary can actually do other work.

And this was a frequent flier cause he was very chronic, very borderline, and the hospital was the only place he wouldn't fluid overload.

I work 7p-7a. He died about 8pm. Oh the look on his face, like, "how could you let me die!" - Like it was our fault.

Anyway, family came and gone by 9pm, funeral home gone at 930pm.

About 10pm, the call button starts going off. I was there - call button going off every 5 minutes.

One of the nurses was a very spiritual girl. At about 2am, after like 4 HOURS OF THIS, nurse Mary snaps, 'Enough!'

She walks down to the room, and, practically screams into the empty room, "Mr X, you have died. You can't be in here bothering us anymore. Move along. In the name of Jesus, I'm exorcising you from this plane of existence. Go to the light and be happy!"

And I kid you not, the call button stopped going off then and there.

~faith,
Timothy.

For more information on how to handle troublesome spirits, see How to help earthbound spirits complete their transition to the spirit world. Also of interest: What are ghosts?

Copyright © 2013 by ncu9nc All rights reserved. Texts quoted from other sources are Copyright © by their owners.

Spiritual Questions Answered by Carol and Mikey

Here is a video and two part audio interview (part 1 part 2) of a medium, Carol, who combines mental mediumship with physical mediumship. She communicates with the spirit of her son, Mikey, who died in a car accident. Some of the communication is through mental mediumship but they also use a pendulum to spell out words. The communications are mostly on spiritual topics, they don't give readings. However, you can read many questions and answers and even ask Carol and Mikey your own spiritual questions at afterlifeforums.com.

Here's a sample. In this post, Carol discuss prayer, and why prayer might not help with some of life's hardships:

This is Mikey's take on prayer:

Prayer is good and helpful to all. With prayer, there can be much power. But do know, that if you ask for something that would interfere with a life lesson you chose or someone else chose, it will not be answered. ... If you are thankful, and asking for something that is not related to a life lesson, often it will be answered. Mikey also says that prayer is as powerful "individually" as it is in a "group". (Such as in church.) Mikey also says that God is not a bad "parent". God is trying to teach us how to be loving and forgiving in all situations. In Heaven, we "choose these situations" we often are praying for here on earth. Therefore, God is actually helping us to achieve our goals!

Do all of you remember the movie "Young Frankenstein" where Gene Wildler tells the help when he is going into the room with Frankenstein, "No matter what I say, how I beg, or how loud I scream to let me out of the room, DO NOT OPEN THIS DOOR!" So he goes into the room, and Frankenstein starts getting out of control. Gene Wilder immediately starts begging his help to OPEN THE DOOR! And of course they wouldn't because of what he said earlier. This is a similar scenario. Funny movie, but anyway do you see the point? Prayer won't change the plan we previously agreed to. Prayer is powerful, but it cannot interfere with a plan.

Carol and Mikey "in Spirit"

Copyright © 2013 by ncu9nc All rights reserved. Texts quoted from other sources are Copyright © by their owners.

A Synthesis of Spiritual Healing and Qi Gong

Here is a way to practice self healing, distant healing, and healing for the world that combines elements of spiritual healing and qi gong. The purpose of the exercise is to develop the ability to bring healing energy through you for healing for yourself and others, and also to develop the ability to feel the healing energy. Before doing this exercise you should read my web page on Spiritual Healing. For more information on qi gong you may read Spiritual Healing Development with Qi Gong,
Sensing the Qualities of Qi, and
Sensing the Qualities of Qi (part 2).

The "Sending Out" and "Bringing In" Positions

• Stand comfortably in a natural posture with your arms at your sides. Your weight should be balanced between the balls of your feet and your heels. Your weight should not be too far forward toward your toes or too far backward on your heels. Don't worry getting it exactly right but it should be balanced so you require the least effort in the muscles of your ankles to remain upright. Your feet can be approximately shoulder width apart. A little less is okay but they should not be too close together. The knees may be slightly bent or straight. Keeping the knees straight will put less strain on them. Bending them slightly will help loosen and straighten the spine.
  

• Bend your elbows so that the back of your hands come up to your shoulders. Then move your hands away from you and down by relaxing your elbows to about 45 degrees (or whatever feels comfortable) with your palms turned away from you. Your fingers should be straight but you don't have to strain to make them perfectly straight. The fingers should spread naturally, don't force them apart or together. This is the "sending out" position.
  

• Turn your hands so that the palms are facing toward you. This is the "bringing in" position.
  

• As you do the exercise below, you may feel your posture improving. If you tend to slump your shoulders, you may find your back straightening. This is nothing to be concerned about, let it happen naturally. Don't force it or strain or maintain an unnatural or uncomfortable posture.
  

• This exercise can also be done sitting down, moving the arms and hands as described for the standing posture.
  

The stick figure below depicts both the "sending out" and "bringing in" positions.

The Exercise

1. Stand in the "bringing in" position (with palms facing you), and pray silently, "Oh God, please may I have healing energy to give me healing for the highest good". Say this two or three times so it is clearly impressed in your mind as you say it. While you are doing that, imagine healing energy coming down into you from above into your head and hands.
   

2. Next, bring your hands in front of your chest so that the palms are facing each other. Slowly move your palms together until they are as close as you can get them without them touching. Your finger tips might be as close as one millimeter apart. Then, slowly move your right hand away while leaving the left hand stationary. When you have moved your right hand about eight inches, pause. Then slowly return the right hand to where it was so it is close to the left hand, palms facing each other. Pause. Repeat this a few times noticing any sensations in your finger tips or the palms of your hands. Repeat this moving the left hand and keeping the right hand stationary. Pay close attention to the sensation in the stationary hand.
   

3. Cup both hands as if you were holding a ball approximately four inches in diameter or whatever size feels comfortable. If you have large hands it might be bigger, if you have small hands it might be smaller. Now turn your hands, still "holding the ball" so one is on top and the other is on the bottom. Notice any sensations in the bottom hand. Turn your hands so the other is on top and the other is on the bottom and notice any sensations in the bottom hand. You can do this once or twice or more if you want to.
   

4. Throughout the following steps, hold your hands an inch or two or slightly more away from your body without actually touching it. Notice any sensations in your hands or your body where you move your hands near it. In particular, pay attention to these sensations as your hands pass over the top of the head, the forehead, the face, temples, the nape of the neck, the shoulders, the front of the throat, the heart, the solar plexus, the abdomen below the navel, and the root chakra.
   

5. Move your hands to the top of your head with the palms facing the top of your head. Notice any sensations in your hands or the top of your head. This step and the following steps can all be done in one continuous flowing motion, there is no need to stop in between steps.
   

6. Slowly move your hands down in front of your face, noticing any sensations.
   

7. Move your hands to the sides of your head so your palms are facing your ears.
   

8. Move your hands back so your palms are facing the back of your neck where the neck and shoulders meet. As you notice any sensations, also imagine energy flowing from your hands down your spine to the base of the spine.
   

9. Move your hands outward along your shoulders with your palms facing downward (horizontally).
   

10. Move your hands with the palms facing toward you vertically so they are in front of your throat. As in the other steps in the exercise, notice any sensation in your hands or the part of the body the hands are facing.
    

11. Move your hands downward so that the palms pass over your breasts, and continue down past the solar plexus and the lower abdomen.
    

12. Move your hands downward across the pelvis, and down the thighs until your hands are in front of your thighs and your elbows are straight. As your hands pass down your thighs point the palms toward your knees and feet and imagine healing energy flowing from your hands down your legs and to your knees and feet.
    

13. Bend your elbows to bring your hands up to the "sending out" position. Imagine healing energy coming down into your head and hand and pray silently, "Oh God, please move healing energy through me to where it's needed for the highest good." If there are any people you would like to send healing to, continue praying, "And please move healing energy to [name the people you would like to receive distant healing] to give them healing for their highest good."
    

14. Turn your palms back toward yourself in the "bringing in" position and repeat the entire exercise as many times as you like. Continuing for ten minutes is a suggestion.
    

When you do this exercise you may feel a lot of energy coming into you when you are in the "bringing in" position. You might also feel warmth coming from your hands as you move them close to your skin, particularly when they are in front of your face and in back of your neck. As your hands pass over some of the chakras you may feel sensations in the chakras.

If you are interested in psychic development, after doing this exercise you can do Exercise 3 or Exercise 4 on my web page A Natural Method for Learning To Communicate with Spirits. Substitute this exercise for the meditation portions of those exercises. After you finish this exercise, lie down and try to go into the hypnogogic state as described in those exercises. You should read the entire page, if you haven't already done so, before you start exercise 3 or 4.

When you are in the beginning stages of learning this technique, you may spend more time on steps 1, 2, and 3 in order to concentrate on learning to feel the healing energy.

You can customize this technique for self healing, by eliminating step 13 or by doing only step 1 for the entire session.

Another form of mental healing involves visualizing your immune cells winning a fight against harmful viruses, bacteria, or cancer cells. One way to do this is to visualize your immune cells engulfing and destroying, for example, any harmful virus particles in your body. You can combine this with the self-healing techniques described above, for example, in step 1. You can even visualize the healing energy adding power to your immune cells to help them in their fight.

There is quite a lot of similarity between qi gong and spiritual healing. Qi gong is usually done standing up as is spiritual healing. The sending out position is similar to a qi gong posture and is also similar to the way spiritual healing is given where the hands placed on the shoulders of the recipient.

Copyright © 2013 by ncu9nc All rights reserved. Texts quoted from other sources are Copyright © by their owners.

The Physical Mediumship of Einer Nielsen

Last May I posted some links to photographs of seances where physical mediumship was demonstrated.

This link and this one have photos of ectoplasm and materialized spirits produced by the medium Einer Nielsen.

Recently Zerdini has posted some information about Einer in a discussion forum:

The Mediumship of Einer Nielsen

This tribute comes from a pastor of the Swedish State Church:

“On, January 2nd, 1938, I attended a séance for the first time. It was a materialisation séance with Einer Nielsen in Copenhagen. It was peculiar to have such an experience, but by and by I became used to it and got on friendly terms with the different spirits.

“Einer Nielsen is an excellent medium, and is able to produce nearly all kinds of phenomena. Furthermore, he is a kind and interesting personality with an inclination to humour.

“During all the years since my first experience, I have attended about a hundred and fifty séances with Einer Nielsen and met about four hundred different spirits, among them many of my relatives. I have met my wife at several other séances, too. It is delightful to meet her and to talk with her. She also caresses my cheeks. “

As Nielsen may, at the present time, be the only real materialisation medium in Europe, scientists ought to study the different phenomena before it is too late. Many thousands of people have, through him, become convinced of the after-life. Thus he has performed a great mission in the service of God. I am greatly indebted to him for all that I have personally had through him and through his séances.

“Twice I have sat in the cabinet and kept hold of the medium’s hands. The ectoplasm came directly through his clothes. One figure that of Rita, rose up from the ectoplasm grasped my arm, and we went out together to the sitters and talked with them. Once I asked her to go to the artist Ernst Norlind and take hold of his beard, because he did not believe in her. She did so, and again took my arm. Twice Rita has kissed me. The first time she kissed my cheek. The second time she touched my upper lip with her upper lip. At the same time I felt her breathing. I told her that it was very interesting. ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘how could you live without breathing?’

“At another séance, Knud, one of the controls, took a railway ticket out of the pocket of one of the twenty coats which hung in the hall and put it in the mouth of its owner. After a moment he took it away and put it between my fingers, where it stayed until the séance was over.

“When Queen Astrid materialised and came out of the cabinet, I asked if she would allow us to take a photograph of her. ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘you will get a good photograph of me.’ **

A week later she again materialised. I grasped her hand and thanked her for the beautiful photograph. She laid her hand upon my head and blessed me. Some Danish people asked if they were allowed to send the photograph to one of the princes who was interested in the cause. ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘give my love to him.’

“Once, on a Good Friday, the Bishop Kingo came and delivered a beautiful talk. He said, among other things, ‘We have also celebrated as a festive occasion the remembrance of Jesus’ birth to the heavenly life.’

“My wife, who passed on February, 4th, 1946 has since materialised seven times and talked with me and caressed my cheeks. We are both very happy to meet. In the beginning my wife was very much against my Spiritualistic work.

She thought that we were hypnotised. It was also rather difficult to get her to attend séances. At last it succeeded in a peculiar way. She got the great chance to meet her first husband, and then she did not oppose me anymore. Now she is helping me in many ways and appears at different séances.

“At one of my first séances Pastor Christensen appeared, and said that he was working in the dark spheres and that the work was very hard. At another séance I was photographed together with him.

“Many people have met their relatives, and kissed and embraced them. It is a great experience when relatives meet each other in that way. At one séance a cousin of mine came and put her bare arm upon my hand and stood there for some minutes, but she did not talk, On another occasion she turned round, as if she had intended to approach us, and laughed. Probably some spirit told her something jolly.

“It is impossible to remember all the different séances I have attended with Einer Nielsen. I regret to say that I have not kept notes. However, what I have related may give an idea how interesting and abundantly fruitful these séances are.

“Martin Liljeblad, Pastor of the Swedish State Church.”
“Halsingborg, February 18th, 1949.”

**Liljeblad set up three cameras in different positions, arranging for them to take simultaneous pictures using a white flash. All three cameras secured photographs.

Copyright © 2012 by ncu9nc All rights reserved. Texts quoted from other sources are Copyright © by their owners.

Everything you need to know about spiritual development in three links.

The three excerpts below explain the essence of spiritual development. We incarnate for the purpose of learning to love. We are supposed to make mistakes because that is how we learn. Meditation can help us to develop the spiritual qualities that will make us fit for the higher levels in the spirit world:

Mary Jo Rapini's near-death experience from the side bar on nhe-nde.org:

“I went into this tunnel, and I came into this room that was just beautiful. God held me, He called me by name, and He told me, ‘Mary Jo, you can’t stay.’ And I wanted to stay. I protested. I said, ‘I can’t stay? Why not?’ And I started talking about all the reasons; I was a good wife, I was a good mother, I did 24-hour care with cancer patients. And He said, ‘Let me ask you one thing -- have you ever loved another the way you’ve been loved here?’ And I said, ‘No, it’s impossible. I’m a human.’ And then He just held me and said, ‘You can do better.’ ” -- Mary Jo Rapini, describing her near-death experience

From Near-death.com

Howard Storm was given the following insights after his life review when he was afraid of returning to Earth life because he feared he would make the same mistakes again:

Mistakes are an acceptable part of being human. We are here to make all the mistakes we want because it is through our mistakes that we learn. As long as we try to do what we know to be right, we will be on the right path. If we make a mistake, we should fully recognize it as a mistake, then put it behind us and simply try not to make the same mistake again. The important thing is to try our best, keep our standards of goodness and truth, and not compromise them to win people's approval. God loves us just the way we are, mistakes and all. When we make a mistake, we should ask for forgiveness. After that, it would be an insult if we don't accept that we are forgiven. We shouldn't continue going around with a sense of guilt, and we should try not to repeat our mistakes. We should learn from our mistakes. God wants us to do what we want to do. That means making choices - and there isn't necessarily any right choice. There are a spectrum of possibilities, and we should make the best choice from those possibilities. If we do that, we will receive help from the Other Side. (Rev. Howard Storm)

Marines expanding use of meditation training at the Washington Times:

That benefit is the impetus behind Mindfulness-based Mind Fitness Training (“M-Fit”), a fledgling military initiative that teaches service members the secular meditative practice of mindfulness in order to bolster their emotional health and improve their mental performance under the stress and strain of war.

...

studies have shown that habitual meditation:

• Changes the way blood and oxygen flow through the brain;
  

• Strengthens the neural circuits responsible for concentration and empathy;
  

• Shrinks the amygdala, an area of the brain that controls the fear response;
  

Copyright © 2012 by ncu9nc All rights reserved. Texts quoted from other sources are Copyright © by their owners.

What it is like in the afterlife.

Here is an excerpt about the afterlife from The New Revelation by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Mr. Wales is a cautious and rather sceptical inquirer who had put away his results with incredulity (he had received them through his own automatic writing). On reading my account of the conditions described in the beyond, he hunted up his own old script which had commended itself so little to him when he first produced it. He says:

At any rate I obtained, at various times, statements (as my contemporary notes show) to the effect that, in this persisting state of existence, they have bodies which, though imperceptible by our senses, are as solid to them as ours to us, that these bodies are based on the general characteristics of our present bodies but beautified; that they have no age, no pain, no rich and poor; that they wear clothes and take nourishment; that they do not sleep (though they spoke of passing occasionally into a semiconscious state which they called 'lying asleep'--a condition, it just occurs to me, which seems to correspond roughly with the 'Hypnoidal' state); that, after a period which is usually shorter than the average life-time here, they pass to some further state of existence; that people of similar thoughts, tastes and feelings, gravitate together; that married couples do not necessarily reunite, but that the love of man and woman continues and is freed of elements which with us often militate against its perfect realization; that immediately after death people pass into a semi-conscious rest-state lasting various periods, that they are unable to experience bodily pain, but are susceptible at times to some mental anxiety; that a painful death is 'absolutely unknown,' that religious beliefs make no difference whatever in the after-state, and that their life altogether is intensely happy, and no one having ever realised it could wish to return here.

I got no reference to 'work' by that word, but much to the various interests that were said to occupy them. That is probably only another way of saying the same thing. 'Work' with us has come usually to mean 'work to live,' and that, I was emphatically informed, was not the case with them--that all the requirements of life were somehow mysteriously 'provided.' Neither did I get any reference to a definite 'temporary penal state,' but I gathered that people begin there at the point of intellectual and moral development where they leave off here; and since their state of happiness was based mainly upon sympathy, those who came over in a low moral condition, failed at first for various lengths of time to have the capacity to appreciate and enjoy it.

More free e-books about the afterlife can be found at SpiritWritings.com and SurvivalEBooks.com.

More links to free e-book libraries can be found on my web site.

Copyright © 2012 by ncu9nc All rights reserved. Texts quoted from other sources are Copyright © by their owners.