The Blue Island
by W.T. Stead Through the Mediumship of Pardoe Woodman and Estelle Stead.
http://www.attackingthedevil.co.uk/spiritualism/island1.php
In this short book, W.T. Stead describes his experiences in the spirit world after dying on the Titanic.
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People From the Other World
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by Henry S. Olcott
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http://survivalebooks.org/#People From the Other World
From survivalebooks.org:
Henry S. Olcott, cofounder of the Theosophical Society, was
a hardnosed investigative lawyer and agricultural scientist who accepted
the assignment of two New York newspapers to investigate the spirit
materializations being produced by the Eddy brothers of
Chittenden, Vermont in 1874. During his sixteen week investigation
Olcott witnessed the materialization of over 400 different entities from
the next realm of existence. His reports, together with Sir William
Crookes similar experiences, produced a sensation throughout the United
States and Europe.
In addition to investigating the Eddy brothers, Olcott describes two
other important investigations in this book. He investigates
accusations of fraud against the Holmes mediums of Philadelphia and
finds that those accusations were baseless. Olcott uncovers evidence
that opponents of Spiritualism had paid a woman to confess to helping to
fake the materialization of a spirit. The confession is discredited by
a letter written by the woman herself stating she was being tempted to
commit fraud by those who paid her, and by witnesses to materializations
of the same spirit when the woman was know to be elsewhere.
His third investigation involved a transfiguration medium. This medium
was transfigured into a spirit form weighing 77 pounds while the medium
in the normal state weighed 121 pounds. This is an important
observation because there have been cases when an attendee at a seance
has grabbed hold of a materialized spirit and found that they were
holding the medium. This investigation by Olcott explains why charges
of fraud are unfounded in these cases.
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The Psychic Mafia
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by Lamar Keene and Allen Spraggett
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This book should be read, but read with care and perspective. It is a
warning to those who are interested in investigating spiritualism and
mediums to be wary of frauds. However it is one sided and if the
reader is completely unfamiliar with spiritualism and mediums he will
get the incorrect impression that it is all fraud.
The book is about the experiences of Lamar Keene who started investigating spiritualism and deicded he
wanted to make money impersonating a medium. He sought out other frauds and became part of
their network, their mafia. I've been to a few spiritualist churches
and I've never seen anything like what he is writing about. I can only
conlude that there are two spiritualisms. One involves flamboyant
mediumship and physical phenomena that is rife with fraud, and another
with mostly mental mediumship that is sincere and mostly genuine if
unspactular. The clear give away to the fraudulient type is that they
are in it for the money and the "spirits" tell the sitters to give money
to the mediums and their churches. Mental mediumship by itself doesn't
draw in much money because it is not very spectacular and so the
con-artists don't use it.
This book has two distinct aspects to it. One part is the story of
Lamar Keene who for many years impersonated a medium and conned large
sums of money from people who believed in him. He had a change of heart
and regretted his misdeeds and wrote this book to expose the fraud
others are still perpetrating. This part is credible because it is the
first hand account of the personal experiences of one of the authors.
Another side to the book is by a co-author who gives a one sided and
negative account of the history of a number of mediums. He make many
assertions, accusations, and assumption without explaining how they are
known to be true or exploring other possible explanations. It must be
assumed that the veracity of this material is much lower than Lamar
Keene's description of his own experiences. One must be just as
skeptical with
accusations of fraud
as with claims of paranormal
phenomena. If you know nothing about spiritualism and mediumship, this
book will give you the absolutely wrong impression that it is all fraud.
However it is useful to read this book because if you don't know that
such fraud exists you may be vulnerable if you wind up in a situation
were someone is trying con you.
This book also demonstrates something that skeptics don't usually
mention which is that significant numbers of ordinary people (not just
flamboyant skeptics) are able to detect the frauds. The frauds exist not
because they are able to fool every one, but because they are able to
fool enough people (cronic believers) to stay in business. They don't
even need to fool most people, in a country with large cities,
even if they
fool just a small percentage of the total population - that can still be
a large enough number of gullible people to support their enterprise.
This book should be read with the understanding that fraud exists but also that genuine and sincere mediums also exist.
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Entangled Minds
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by Dean Radin
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Entangled Minds was a very interesting book. It reviewed the
evidence for psi phenomena and then explored differnt theories to
account for that evidence. It was particularly impressive to read
that experimenters are able to identify subjects and conditions that
give a higher effect size such as the ganzfeld experiments with creative
arts students. This is a very practical result of knowledge obtained
through experiments and nicely illustrates that parapsychology is
yielding more than proof of phenomena but also knowledge that can be
applied in predictable ways.
However, I do have a different outlook on theories of psi.
I would not start developing a theory of psi by trying to explain how
the brain could be a detector of quantum effects. That approach seems
to me to assume that psi and consciousness are phenomena that come from
the brain. That may not be a correct assumption.
I would start by assuming the spirit has psi abilities, that they are
the natural means by which spirits communicate and interact with their
environment, and then try to identify the role the brain and body play
in the consciousness of a spirit incarnated in a human body.
It may be that the spirit communicates with the body through quantum
effects on the brain, or that in an incarnated person, the brain really
is responsible for psi, so modeling brain as quantum event
detector/actuator may be useful but I don't think it is the most direct
way to the truth about consciousness and psi.
The author seems open to the possibility of survival of
consciousness after death but does not discuss it much in the book.
In fact, there are a lot of good reasons for
believing the evidence for survival is really due to spirits and not
just ordinary psi phenomena from living persons. The best recognized
evidence for this widely held to be the cross-correspondence
experiments. Also, very pronounced psi effects are reported to occur
with some mental and physical mediums. One might consider this strength
of effect as an indication that spirits are behind those phenomena and
not just living persons who otherwise generally show weak psi abilites.
In my own experience, I have taken classes in mediumship, and on one
occasion, in a class, I felt a certain spirit I knew well come to me to
give a message. It wasn't my turn yet, so I didn't say anything about
it, and the spirit moved off. A few seconds later someone with less compunction interrupted to
give the same message from the same impatient spirit. It seemed to me
that when I refused to give the message, the spirit went off and found
someone more cooperative. Because of this experience, while I can think
up a convoluted way it might be psi from a living person, to me it seems
obvious that spirits are real, independent, purpose driven, and
intelligent beings. Given my belief in spirits I approach theories of
psi from that perspective.
It was also interesting to read in the book that in experiments
where group consciousness was measured, psi effects were correlated with
positive and cooperative conditions among the group. These conditions
are also believed to be helpful in conducting successful seances.
One of the reasons for the decline effects that occur in individual test
subjects mentioned in the book, may be due to the fact that doubt can
become a self fulfilling prophesy. If a subject has a low score in one
trial that might cause doubt which results in negative expectations that
affect his ability to succeed in the experiments. At one time I had a
personal experience like this in studying mediumship. I knew it was
happening and that it was purely psychological but I couldn't do
anything about it. I suspect it is possible that others might be
effected the same way. If self fulfilling doubt is found to be a factor
in the decline effect then psychological techniques might be found to
reverse this type of decline or even to enhance the abilities of test
subjects.
A question I have about the possibility of developing the technology for
a psi based switching device relates to the independence or dependence
of psi through time and space. If psi were independent of time and
space then anyone anywhere anywhen in the universe from the beginning of
time to the end of time could flip that switch. There might even be a
lot of noise from billions and billions of psychic beings that may have
existed or will exist that could cause the switch to flip accidentally
or could prevent the switch from being flipped by the intended operator.
(Could all this noise from all those beings explain why there is such a
small effect size for psi?) For a switch to be useful, it would seem
that psi must be limited by distance and as indicated in the book there is
some evidence that it may. But if psi is limited by distance than it
would also seem that for practical purposes it must also be limited by
time since the earth is moving through space. Is this why presentiment
experiments show a presentiment of only a few seconds? Does the earth
move so quickly in a few seconds into the future, the earth is beyond the distance
range of psi? A related question is how, when psi is working across
time does it also find the right place to act or retrieve information
given that the earth is moving through space?
Another possibility, relevant to the theory of psi, is that psi and
entanglement share similarities not because psi is based on entanglement
but that they both occur because of the same underlying phenomena
whatever that feature of space time might be (a holographic model of the universe is one possible explanation). For example, wireless
telegraph and AM radio both work through radio waves, but AM radio
doesn't require a wireless telegraph sending the information using morse
code which is then somehow converted into music and voices.
There seems to be an assumption that the global effects on random number
generators (RNGs) are caused by the human mind and or human
presentiment. Might not other forces be responsible for those effects
in some cases? If there is a collective consciousness that has it's own
individuality and therefore it's own will, might not it influence RNGs?
In particular, I'm thinking of the 2 hour presentiment for 9/11. What
if cosmic forces beyond our comprehension were involved in that event or
even struggling amongst each other over that event? Might not those
forces working in the world have an effect on the RNGs. The RNGs might
be able to detect the "hand of God", or intelligent designers at work if
such entities work through psi.
Lastly, it may be that the observation that introverts are more likely
to experience psi can partly explain the slow pace at which psi is
accepted by society. It seems possible that the greatest skeptics who
are obsticles to the acceptance of psi are skeptical because they are
extroverts whom it is found tend to have weaker psi abilities. Because
of their extroverted nature they may be particularly enthusiastic about
in influencing others to believe the way they do. On the other hand,
believers in psi may be believers because they are introverts who are
found to have greater psi abilities and who therefore may have psi
experiences that lead them to belive in psi. However, because of their
introverted nature they may have little enthusiasm for influencing
others to believe the way they do.
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The God Experiments
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by Gary Schwartz
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This book discuses evidence that there is a Guiding, Organizing,
Designing (G.O.D.) process in the universe. The most convincing
evidence in the book for G.O.D. is the discussion of the author's experiences of
synchronicity. He also tries to demonstrate that a G.O.D. process is
the only reasonable explanation for order in the universe but does not
make a very strong case for that inference.
The book says that self-organization cannot explain the order we find
around us (including ourselves) and that this provides compelling
evidence for G.O.D.. The author starts this line of reasoning with long
explanation of why random chance cannot create order. He gives as an
example the fact that you can make a sand painting with different
colored sand but if you put colored sand in a pot and shake it, you won't
get a sand painting out.
The book says:
However, if interdependence is the rule, not the exception, in the
universe, then the conditions necessary to produce a normal distribution
are not present in the universe. It logically follows that we cannot,
with integrity, use chance or randomness as an explanation for the
origin and evolution of order in the universe if the conditions
necessary to produce randomness are not present in the first place.
If chance cannot be an explanation for order, then the existence of some
sort of Guiding-Organizing-Designing process must be hypothesized.
However, saying that chance cannot occur because events are not truly
independent does not provide evidence that there is a G.O.D.. Just
because one event depends on another does not mean they are controlled
by an intelligence.
Also, the probabilities of random combinations are not entirely
relevant. Grains of sand don't interact. Atoms and molecules do. Self
reproducing molecules may self assemble under early earth conditions and
then natural selection can come into play after that. Self assembly and
natural selection are different from random combination. As indicated
in the book, self-organization seems to be an obvious alternative to
G.O.D..
The chance argument is therfore a strawman argument. The term "chance"
is just a convenient short hand many people use, but saying order in the
universe is a result of chance" is not representing the scientific view.
The scientific view would be that the fine structure constants that give
us natural laws arose by chance. Complexity in the universe is a result
of natural laws. In this view, since life will only develop where it is
possible, we don't know how many universes there are without us in
them, and we don't know that the the fine structure constants occuring
the way they did is beyond chance.
The book says:
It is a fact that some systems appear as if they self-organize; it is
also a fact that the earth appears to be flat. The key term in both
cases is �appear.� One approach is to posit that there are two classes
of phenomena in nature, one class or set of evidence that requires
some sort of an external Guiding-Organizing-Designing process (e.g.,
sand paintings), another class or set of evidence that seems not to
(e.g., clouds). A second approach is to include and integrate all of
the evidence�including the existence of invisible fields that
interconnect everything that exists in the universe�and posit that a
single explanation, the G.O.D. process explanation, accounts for both
classes of phenomena. This is the approach of Ockham�s Razor.
Before you can logically apply Ockham's razor and G.O.D. to rule out
self organization as a viable alternative to G.O.D. you have to give
evidence for G.O.D. in the first place. But the whole purpose of this
paragraph seems to be to give evidence for the existence of G.O.D.
by ruling out self organization as an alternative explanation to G.O.D..
This is circular reasoning.
The book also says:
The conventional explanation offered by skeptics, is that the existence
of natural laws, plus randomness, can account for both creativity and
evolution of orders in the universe. However, these scientists do not
address the question about where the laws and their essential
organization and compatibility come from (chance is not a viable
explanation), nor how random sampling�which requires independence� could
exist to foster creative orders in an interconnected universe.
This can be interpreted in two ways. It means that either that natural
laws are the direct action of G.O.D., or G.O.D. created the universe
with applicable natural laws.
If it means that the action of natural laws are really due to the
direct action of G.O.D. then that is the same as saying that
there are no natural laws at all and G.O.D. controls everything,
including us, like puppets. I don't think this is this what is meant.
If it means that the self organization model doesn't explain how
the natural laws and matter came into being in the first place and this
requires a G.O.D. to create those natural laws, this is a completely
different theory from G.O.D. Is G.O.D. responsible for the design, and
creation, and evolution of life, or is God responsible for creating a
universe in which life can self organize? Hypothesizing God created a
universe where self organization is inevitable doesn't help demonstrate
that G.O.D. plays a active, continuing role in the design, creation, and
evolution of life.
Furthermore, this line of reasoning doesn't get one anywhere. If you ask
how did the universe come into existence? (implying it must have been
created), the skeptic will just ask where did the creator come from?
Using the logic that complex things must have been created, there
must be an infinite regression of creators. This line of
reasoning is not really useful for either side since we don't really
know which came first: matter or consciousness, and we don't know how
the first of them came into being.
(On the other hand scientists who want to study questions
such as: "If something such as a flint arrowhead, the universe, or life
on earth, were the result of intelligent action could we detect it?" and
"Is there evidence that what are usually considered unintelligent
phenomena are actually the result of intelligent design?" are reasonable
questions and such scientists who want to study them do not deserve to
be persecuted.)
One thing that wasn't discussed which relates to the author's work
described in another book written by him, "The Afterlife
Experiments", is the role of spirit guides. It seems likely that the
tasks assigned to the job description for God: creator of the universe,
the creator of life on earth, and the answerer of our prayers are
carried out by different entities or groups of entities. We have spirit
guides and our guides have guides and the hierarchy goes up and up -
what is at the top is probably beyond human comprehension but I call it
God. It is highly probable that what the author calls the G.O.D.
process is really this celestial bureaucracy. When one asks a question
of God, it is probable that the request gets routed to the appropriate
department in the bureaucracy which most of the time probably means
one's spirit guides.
The recommended reading for "The Afterlife Experiments" includes a book
titled "Mediumship and Survival" which is about the history of
scientific research on mediumship. Therefore it is probable that the
author knows that many reputable investigators have asked spirits
through reliable mediums about the afterlife, God, and humankind's role
in the scheme of things. The theory of the G.O.D. process does not seem
to include this type of information and it would seem that that
the author has not considered this information
when forming his views on these subjects.
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