This book has a lot of information, so it is important for the reader to understand which chapters are most important. The most important chapters in order of importance are:

1. Meditation A daily practice of meditation that calms the mind and relaxes the body is the single most effective way to cultivate spiritual development. When your mind is calm you are less influenced by selfish or emotional reactions and will find it easier to remember and live according to spiritual values like tolerance, forgiveness, humility, love etc. When your mind is not constantly racing due to the turbulence of daily life, you are able to examine your life more objectively and learn from your experiences which is one of the important reasons we incarnate on earth. When you are calm and relaxed it is easier for your spirit guides to influence, help and guide you.

   It doesn't matter what you believe, you can be an atheist, you can be a materialist - if the only thing you do is a daily meditation practice that calms the mind and relaxes the body, you will be doing what is necessary to develop spiritually.

2. The Principles of Spiritualism This chapter will help you to understand the nature of the afterlife and the consequences of your actions while you are on earth.
3. Recommended Reading This chapter has many book recommendations and many links to free e-books and on-line libraries of free e-books.
4. Spiritual Unfoldment The healing meditation referred to in this chapter allows you to identify yourself as a spiritual worker and will attract spirit guides who will assist you in your spiritual work and who help you to develop as a spiritual worker.

What does it means to be spiritual or spiritually developed? There are three aspects to spiritual development: skills, beliefs, and evolution.

• Skills are things such as the ability to serve as a conduit for spiritual healing and the ability to perceive communications from spirits. However, having these abilities does not indicate that someone is very spiritually evolved.
• Beliefs are what you believe about the afterlife and the purpose of the earth life. That is also not related to how spiritually evolved a person is.
• Evolution can exist in the absence of spiritual belief and skills. The measure of spiritual evolution is a person's ability to love which, as you will see, is related to how fully that person has eliminated selfishness.

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Spiritual Evolution

Therefore, humility is the sign of a highly evolved soul. One should look for this characteristic when seeking a spiritual teacher.

For humans living on earth, spiritual evolution is the most important aspect of spiritual development. This is because in the afterlife you will have spiritual skills. In fact, spiritual skills will be the only skills you will have at that point. Also, in the afterlife, you will have the right beliefs because you will be able to see for yourself what the afterlife is like. However, unless you use your time on earth correctly and learn to love and to eliminate selfishness, you will not have that ability when you move into the afterlife.

While the great religions of the world teach that developing love for others is the primary objective of spiritual development, it is not enough to say this without some instruction on how to develop love. Our biological nature puts up many obstacles against love. People hear the beautiful words of the great teachers and then find that it is impossible to live according to their beliefs. This damages people psychologically and brings disrepute to preachers and followers alike.

Therefore it is important for humankind to have an explanation of how to develop love. Love arises spontaneously when hatred and anger and other forms of selfish and negative thought are absent.

The way to eliminate selfishness through meditation can be found in the page on meditation. If you practice meditation daily, then gradually over the years, without straining to be perfect, you will become less and less self centered and a natural love for others will arise within you. The chapter on Short Topics has more On The Purpose of Life.

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Beliefs

For more information on spiritual beliefs see the page on The Principles of Spiritualism .

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Spiritual Skills

A person's beliefs have a strong influence on his ability to develop spiritual skills. If he is skeptical and continually attributes anomalous experiences to coincidence and "natural explanations", he will weaken his abilities through negative reinforcement. This will also discourage spirit guides that may be trying to help him. Each person is born having spiritual skills, but our societal attitudes result, in this way, in most people losing awareness of their natural abilities as they mature. Therefore it is necessary to undo the effects of living in an unbelieving society.

To develop spiritual skills, a person must be accepting of the phenomena and must continually look for spiritual influence in his life in the form of coincidences, hunches, and other unusual phenomena. In this way he will increase his awareness of spiritual influence in his life and notice more and more the activity of his spiritual skills. This positive feedback will lead to improvement and enhancement of his spiritual skills. Therefore it is necessary to err on the side of credulity rather than skepticism.

There is the risk of incorrectly attributing coincidence to spiritual influence, however this risk must be borne. One must always maintain an awareness of this risk and never take rash or unwise actions based on supposed spiritual influence and never allow belief in infallibility to take hold.

The regular practice of meditation and relaxation is also helpful in the development of spiritual skills. These practices calm the mind and allow one to notice subtle thoughts, impressions, and sensations that may be associated with spiritual phenomena.

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Introduction

I thought it might interest you to read about some of my experiences learning mediumship at a Spiritualist church. Since I've learned through a systematic process, it seems to me that anyone could do the same thing. This is different from a lot of what has been written on the subject which is usually about people who are very psychic to begin with. I think it's important for people to understand that these abilities are natural and anyone can learn to develop their innate abilities.

Also, many people who are strongly psychic feel "different" from others. They might find it a relief to meet people with the same abilities and also rewarding to find meaning and a purpose in their gift by using it to help others through a Spiritualist church.

(I'm not trying to push religion or church attendance on anyone, I just have had some different types of experiences than what I've read about and I think other people might find them interesting and helpful to read.)

I should probably start with some odd coincidences I experienced which made me want to learn about psychic phenomena and eventually led me to a Spiritualist church for that reason...

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Preliminary Experiences

Once, when I was living in an apartment building, I was going downstairs to take the garbage out to the dumpster and I absentmindedly went all the way down to the basement instead of going outside. (I never did that before or after that one time.) As I realized my mistake, I looked up and saw someone come out of his basement apartment. He looked at me with a worried expression and asked if I knew how to turn off the water. His bathtub faucet was broken and would not shut off and the tub was about to overflow. I was able to show him an access panel with shut-off valves - all the apartments were similar and I knew from my own apartment where they would be in his.

Another time, when I was having problems with my job, I began to take long walks over to the next town. I like to take walks for exercise but these were unsually long and at the time I didn't know why I was going so far. After a few days of this I saw on a poster that the other town was going to have a fair with booths for community organizations to raise money. I had been living in that area for ten years and had not gone to any of the local events like that before (or after) but I decided to walk all the way over for that one. When the day came around and I went there, I wandered around for a while and then sat down on a bench. After a few minutes, I looked up and noticed a gap in the crowd on the sidewalk. Alone, in the middle of that gap was someone wearing a bright yellow sports coat. I thought to myself, "Who's that in the yellow jacket? Wait, that's ...." It was someone who I used to work for who was dressed like that because of the fair. I said, "Hi" as he got near and during the ensuing conversation I mentioned that I was thinking of changing jobs. He had an opening and I went to work for him shortly thereafter.

At one point, after many coincidences like those above, I started wondering what was going on and tried looking on the internet for information on psychic abilities. I saw a local psychic was having a book signing at a bookstore in my area. I�m mostly a homebody so I normally wouldn't have gone to the signing especially since it was in a town I'd never been to. However, when I checked the map, I saw it was right next to a town I was going to on the same day to have lunch with a friend. The bookstore was just down the road from the restaurant. That's an interesting coincidence but I also unexpectedly received a gift card for that bookstore a few days before the signing. I have never had a gift card for that store before or since. I went to the signing, bought the book with the gift card, and afterwards I asked the author how one can develop their psychic abilities. The author recommended a Spiritualist church near where I lived that had classes.

I started going to the Spiritualist church and I took classes there.

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Spiritualist Church

The first time I tried to do mediumship in class I was astonished with the results. I did exactly what the teacher said and it seemed to work. After a short period of meditation, I looked around the class (we were sitting with the chairs in a circle) and when I got to one particular person it seemed like I was looking at him through a zoom lens. He stood out from the other students in my field of vision. I tried looking around again and the same thing happened when I got to him. Then I closed my eyes and in my mind's eye there appeared a tall man in a uniform. When my turn came to describe my experiences, this person said that his grandfather had been tall and wore a uniform on his job. The teacher of the class encouraged me to try to get more information and I tried again and saw a scene of the sea shore. It turned out the grandfather had also lived near the water. I had never experienced anything like this before in my life. I was in shock for a couple of days afterwards.

As the classes continued I had many other experiences. Once I gave a reading to a woman in the class and I saw, in my mind's eye, her and another woman sitting drinking coffee. I described what I saw but she said there was more than one person who fit the description. Then I saw the other woman smoking a cigarette and there were very unusual little square framed pictures on the wall behind them. With that information the other student knew exactly who the spirit was.

Once, early in the morning I was lying in bed at home and the image of a woman popped into my head. I saw her in profile and she had a very distinctive profile because of the shape of her nose. I had never seen her before, but later that day, this woman (living, not a spirit this time) with the distinctive profile showed up at church for the first time. It was shortly after I had started going there and we ended up in many of the same classes and became good friends.

Another time I was at home lying in bed awake very early in the morning, and the image of a man appeared in my mind's eye. I somehow knew he had been a veteran. At the same time, I thought of something I had read the day before and understood it in a new way. It was the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend and that insight would have made a great Memorial Day talk at church. However, I wasn't planning to give a talk during the service. After the service, though, there was a mediumship class. When I took my turn in class I started to give a reading to a woman, and the image of the man came into my mind's eye again. I described him and she recognized him as her father who was also a veteran. I explained that I had a message from him for the group and I spoke about the insight I had already received from the spirit. The woman said that that it was characteristic of the type of messages her father gave through other mediums.

In another reading I brought through a family member of a woman in the class and I saw a church, a fishing pier, and a box truck. It turned out the spirit was a deacon at the church, they used to go fishing at the pier, and he drove one of those larger square shaped ambulances.

Sometimes the mistakes are the most convincing part of a reading. Once during a reading I saw a swimming pool and I said, "You went swimming together". The person said, "no that's not right." I went on and continued the reading with other evidence but the pool came back. When I asked, "Why do I keep seeing the swimming pool?", the person said, "Well, she [the spirit] had a swimming pool in her back yard, but we never swam in it together". Skeptics will say mediums get their information from the person getting the reading but in this case it seemed to me that I was contradicting what the person was saying and sticking with what I was perceiving, and the information was eventually validated.

In one reading, I saw buildings in a foreign country I have never been to. I was able to find the same buildings on the internet in a photograph of the city.

I have also heard amazingly accurate information from fellow students when getting readings in the mediumship classes. One student was able to tell that when I was a child, my grandmother used to wrap snacks in a plastic bag and drop them out of her apartment window to me while I would stand on the walkway below. Another student saw a vision of a snowy field when bringing through my uncle. He had lived in a town called White Plains.

One time in class, a student brought through one of my spirit guides. Since we usually have not met our spirit guides in life, we usually don't recognize them from a description of what they looked like. However, spirits can identify themselves as guides because they are around us in during the day and can tell the medium things about us that a stranger wouldn't know. During this class, while giving me a reading, the student saw a flashlight with a propeller on top. I had no idea what this was meant. Later, as the class ended, some other people in the building were also leaving and they turned out the lights without realizing they had left us in the dark. I automatically reached into my pocket and pulled out my key chain on which I have a small flashlight. This flashlight is turned on by twisting the top. It is amazing that the spirit was not only able to tell the student about a flashlight that I completely forgotten about, but that they were also able remind me about it by arranging to have us left sitting in the dark.

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Spiritual Healing

The Spiritualist church also teaches spiritual healing. This form of healing is commonly misunderstood by the public. In Spiritualist churches it is never advocated as a substitute for mainstream medicine - it is used in conjunction with mainstream medicine or when mainstream medicine is unable to help. Spiritualism does not promise specific results from healing, it is simply a way of praying for healing for the highest good of the recipient. Spiritual healing is not "faith healing" the recipient doesn't need faith, it is used on infants and animals who don't even know they are receiving healing.

I have had positive reports from people I've given healing to including healing while talking on the phone, and I've also had some success healing myself. When doing spiritual healing many people feel an odd tingling or numbness and often a lot of heat. I've tried many different types of meditation and the experience of giving healing is not like anything else I've tried. Most people can experience this for themselves and give healings to friends and family members even if they are not developing other psychic abilities.

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Concluding Remarks

Despite all of these experiences, I don't consider myself very psychic. I don't really feel that I have control over these events. I hypothesize that spirits are able to influence me when and if they want to. For this reason I don't consider that I am any different from anyone else and I think that this is a very important point. I think everyone can learn to experience the same things I have. If I am slightly more sensitive it might be because I practice meditation - which anyone can do. When the mind is calm and one is familiar with the normal activity of the mind through introspection, that person might be more aware of the faint influence of spirits.

I find the same types of exercises that help people to unleash creativity also help to access information communicated by spirits. I hypothesize that this is because spirit communication often isn't strong enough to reach consciousness but remains subliminal. Therefore anything that helps us to get in contact with subconscious thoughts also helps to get in contact with spirit influences.

It's sort of odd that in the mainstream culture of the US, psychic abilities are considered either non-existent or rare and unusual, while at the same time Spiritualists have been quietly going about their daily lives living with and experiencing psychic phenomena as a normal everyday thing as certain and natural as the sunrise or the changing seasons.

Spiritualist churches can be a good place to learn about practical aspects of psychic phenomena and to meet other psychics. However, one has to be careful because church politics can get heated at times. You'd think spiritual people were above that but, no, they are not much different from everyone else. Also psychic abilities do not indicate a person is an "advanced soul" or "holy", all types of people have these abilities. When you see a minister in front of a congregation or a teacher in front of a class, their pubic persona may give you the impression that they are extraordinary. Then when you find that, behind the scenes, they have the same combination of strengths and weaknesses that all people have, you can become disappointed (which is, actually, a bit unfair to them). So, I would encourage readers to investigate any Spiritualist churches in their area but not to be over awed at the same time.

Before going to a medium, or a spiritualist church, you should also read this book review that discusses fraud.

Another thing to be aware of if you decide to attend a Spiritualist church is that sometimes the sermons are not particularly spiritual. Some churches are more interested in bringing in entertaining speakers rather than spiritual teachers. Such speakers are often more interested in creating dramatic situations with themselves as the center of attention and this degrades their mediumship when they use a reading to attract attention to themselves rather than to the miracle of communication with spirits in the afterlife.

My philosophical leaning is towards the ideals of love, forgiveness, tolerance, selflessness, and humility as taught by Jesus and Buddha. I am far from perfect and would love to find a place to go to receive encouragement in the pursuit of those ideals. However the sermons preached at the few Spiritualist churches I've attended are more often about how to use the power of thought to get what you want. While this is not exactly unspiritual, there are many voices in our society that advocate the pursuit of materialistic ambitions and very few advocating more spiritual pursuits. One of the important roles of a church is to be a place to go once a week to be reminded of spiritual values and to be reminded that there are other people who share those values. In my experience, the Spiritualist churches I've been to could do more in this regard.

Another minor complaint I have is with some of the principles of the religion that many Spiritualist churches in the US read during the weekly service. One of these principles says, "... we make our own happiness or unhappiness as we obey or disobey Nature's physical and spiritual laws". There is a grain of truth in this. For example the law of karma states that good actions have good consequences and bad actions have bad consequences. Positive thinking as explained in the chapter on The Power of Thought can help you maintain a better outlook in life. Also, any effective principles of psychotherapy can be considered physical laws. However the principle as stated is misleading. Most people would interpret it to mean that if someone is unhappy it is their fault for being ignorant of or living out of harmony with natural law. This is not just absurd it is harmful. Many people are drawn to spiritualist churches because they are suffering from grief over the death of a loved one. They seek solace in the knowledge that they can be reunited with them in the afterlife and they may hope to receive messages from them through mediums. Psychologists will tell you that grief is necessary and healthy and failure to grieve is not a sign of someone living in harmony with natural law but a source of psychological problems. There are other people who may be suffering from depression due to biological causes or people suffering from difficult lives and experiences that are not their fault and not a result of any bad actions on their part. To make these people think that their unhappiness is due to ignorance of natural law is wrong. Psychologists have been pursuing their science for many years now and they don't have a magic solution for people with deep seated difficulties. When they do find an effective treatment it is generally not anything that can be learned by studying a simplistic statement of natural law. To blame unhappiness on living in discord with natural law is foolish.

Another principle many Spiritualist churches in the US read during the weekly service is the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." It can be helpful to put yourself in the place of the other person when trying to understand why people do what they do. It can also be helpful to ask yourself, "how would I like it if someone did that to me" before you do something that affects other people. However in the real world you find many different people from different cultures with different opinions on what is right and what is wrong and how people should be treated in different situations and therefore the golden rule isn't always the best guide. The golden rule also leads to various absurdities: If I made a mistake I would prefer it to go unpunished - does that mean I should do similarly unto others and not report a crime if I witness one? Just because I might like a certain person to be affectionate towards me does not necessarily mean they would like it if I was affectionate towards them.

The Spiritualist churches in England use a different set of principles which are superior to those use commonly used in the US and it is these principles which are explained in the chapter Principles of Spiritualism

However, on the whole, Spiritualist churches provide valuable services to the community. Many people with strong psychic abilities feel "different" from others, and have to keep quiet about their experiences for fear of being made fun of, being shunned, or being labeled "weird". They might find it a relief to meet people with the same interests, experiences and abilities at a Spiritualist church. They might also find it rewarding to find meaning and a purpose in their gift by using it to help others through spiritual healing and mediumship at the church. Mediumship is helpful for people suffering from grief, and to resolve any personal issues left unfinished by a death, and to prove that existence continues after the body dies.

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Most spiritualist organizations have several principles that define their religious beliefs. In many spiritualist churches the principles are read during the Sunday service to remind the congregation of what the religion stands for.

The principles of spiritualism define a rational universe created by a sane, rational, and loving God, and show how our life on earth affects our experience when we cross over to the spirit world.

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The Principles And Their Meaning

Originally, six principles were given by the spirit of Robert Owen through the mediumship of Mrs. Emma Hardinge Britten.

Spiritualist organizations have added to these principles and modified them for various reasons, but here the original six principles will be discussed.

These principles are the latest revelation in a series of revelations that are recorded in the old and new testaments. Each revelation in the series is a refinement of the Truth according to what people of the time are ready to hear and what misunderstandings need to be corrected.

The first three principles affirm three important tenets found in many religions.

1. The Fatherhood of God.
2. The Brotherhood of Man.
3. The immortality of the soul and its personal characteristics.

The second principle tells us that every person is equal in the sight of God and that we owe each other our love, respect and kindness, and that God our parent wants and expects his children to take care of each other.

It's interesting that in the book of Matthew, Jesus says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself."

The third principle tells us that our consciousness, continues to exist after the body dies and in the hereafter we will still have the same personality with the same good or bad traits that we had in the earth life.

The next three principles are:

4. Proven facts of communion between departed human spirits and mortals.
5. Personal responsibility. With compensation and retribution hereafter for all good or evil deeds done here.
6. A Path of eternal progress open to every human soul that wills to tread it by the path of eternal good.

The fourth principle implies that spirits are really alive right now. If we can communicate with them, the dead are not asleep in their graves waiting for a Messiah to resurrect them.

The fifth and six principles together tell us a lot about the afterlife. They tell us that neither the right faith, nor the sacrifice of someone else, nor forgiveness will get us into heaven. We have to choose to work our way up through the different levels in the spirit world, and we must accomplish that work by our own efforts. This work is usually some form of service to others.

These principles also tell us that no one is condemned to an eternity in hell if they lack the right faith during their life. Faith is not mentioned. At any time here or hereafter, anyone may choose to take the path of righteousness.

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Preparing Our Future Life

The fifth principle also tells us that in our brief life on earth we are preparing our eternal life in the hereafter.

The old adage, "You can't take it with you" applies to material things. Money, wealth, or power that you may have amassed while alive will not accompany you to the afterlife. However, from the third principle we know that the personality does continue in the afterlife. Therefore the most important spiritual rewards are not given like medals but are developed by each person during their life. Traits like forgiveness, tolerance, kindness, trustworthiness, reliability, and perseverance are the highest spiritual rewards, they have the most value in the afterlife. They are earned because they are developed by the effort of the individual during life, but they are not dispensed by a panel of judges.

Another way we prepare our future life is by our spiritual understanding. If you have a correct understanding of the facts of your spiritual nature your transition to the spirit life will be easier. Your expectations of the afterlife affect how you will interpret your perceptions of it. Correct expectations lead to correct perceptions when you cross over. Incorrect expectations lead to incorrect perceptions. If we have a correct understanding of our spiritual nature we will adapt more easily to the spirit world.

Lastly, if you are loving and unselfish in this life you will start out in the afterlife at a higher sphere. We know from what spirits have told us that each higher sphere is more beautiful and a greater pleasure to be in so it is both a compensation and reward to live in a higher sphere. If you are cruel and selfish in this life you will start out at a lower sphere, and you will probably be less happy there either because you will regret your mistakes from this life, and you may have tasks to do to atone, or you may suffer due to continued ignorance.

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The Meaning Of Retribution

This brings up an idea expressed in the fifth principle which should be clarified: that is the meaning of retribution for evil deeds.

Whatever suffering is experienced in the hereafter is caused by a person's own wrong actions.

This can be due to the fact that when one has passed into the spirit world and has a wider perspective, one often feels great remorse for misdeeds done while living.

Also, in the spirit world you will be drawn to people with tendencies like your own, like attracts like. For example, if a person is cruel he will find himself among cruel people and they will be cruel to each other. This will go on until the person realizes the characteristic of cruelty is causing him suffering and he desires to change. When his attitude changes, what he is attracted to will change, and his circumstances will change.

Here's another example: If you committed wrong actions due to greed, jealousy, or vengeance, in the hereafter you will not be able to satisfy your greed, jealousy, or desire for vengeance and that unsatisfied craving will be your suffering, the more intense the desire, the more intense will be the suffering - until you realize your wrong attitude is the cause of your own suffering.

If you don't want to change your ways in the hereafter your wrong actions will continue to cause you suffering. However at some point in time, every soul will realize that selfishness leads to suffering and unselfishness and service to others leads to joy and happiness. This is why everyone at some point will decide to tread the path of righteousness. You can make this decision in this life or in the hereafter. However if you do it in this life your experiences in the hereafter will be a lot nicer.

It is important to understand that there is no vindictive punishment. Suffering in the hereafter is a natural consequence of a person's wrong actions and the amount of suffering is exactly what is caused by those wrong actions.

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Other Implications

There are some other very important implications of the six principles.

Our expectation that God should be fair and rational is correct. No one is condemned to an eternal hell because they are ignorant. No one is condemned to eternal hell for believing in only what their senses tell them. No one is condemned to eternal hell for relying only on their own intellect to understand the reality they experience. If a person is led to misunderstandings by relying on their senses or intellect he can change his views in the hereafter when he has a broader perspective and can still work his way up through the spheres in the spirit world.

Conversely, no one gets a free ticket into heaven because of their faith or because of someone else's sacrifice. Everyone must work their way up through the different levels in the spirit world by their own efforts.

The principles of spiritualism, if understood, encourage a person to lead a loving and unselfish life. If everyone understood the principles, the world would be a much more heavenly place. Spirits often make this point to those who doubt the sincerity and sanctity of spirit communication.

It is very important for us to share our knowledge of spiritualism and the principles of spiritualism with other people. This knowledge leads people to live a better life and make this world a better place. Also, since we prepare our future life while we are on earth, knowledge of the principles of spiritualism while a person is living on earth will help them to have a better life in the hereafter as well.

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Conclusion

The principles of spiritualism are a revelation. They remind us of our relationship to God, our relationship to each other, and our immortality. They reveal to us that reality is a logical and fair system created by a loving God, to teach us that love, and unselfishness, and service to others, lead us to joy and happiness in the hereafter.

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Christians need not reject the phenomena of Spiritualism.

• The following passages show that Jesus was a medium and a healer who told his followers to surpass his own works:

  • Mathew 17:1-3 Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His face shown like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. (also Mark 9:1-3)

  • Mark: 32-34: At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to Him all who were sick and those who were demon-possessed. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. Then He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him.

  • John 14:12 says, �Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.�

• The biblical prohibitions against mediumship originate in Mosaic law. Anyone who believes that Mosaic law should apply to mediumship should also eat Kosher food, not buy anything on the Sabbath, not drive their car on the Sabbath, and otherwise obey all Mosaic law. If one does not believe that Mosaic law has to be obeyed in its entirety, one cannot argue that mediumship is proscribed by the bible.

  In fact, Mosaic law was only given to the Hebrews. But even for the Jews, Jesus makes an exception to Mosaic law. In Acts 10:10-15 (NKJ) he instructs Peter in a vision to partake of "unclean" foods, meaning that to proselytize the Gentiles one must live as the Gentiles. In John 14:11 (NKJ) Jesus indicates that the purpose of his works is to spread belief: "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves". Since Jesus called upon his followers to surpass his own works, this exception must include permission to perform mediumship.

• Spiritualism is not demonic or an end-times deception. Before Spiritualists do any healing or mediumship we always pray to God for assistance and protection. Demons would not propagate a religion that says you have to earn your way into heaven by good works and that you have to atone for evil deeds also by good works. Why would demons encourage people to do good works?

• According to the parable of A Tree and Its Fruit, Spiritualism cannot be evil since it yields good results. Spiritual healers are responsible for many physical cures and mediumship has helped many people suffering from grief. The parable of A Tree and Its Fruit beginning at Luke 6:43 (NIV) says, "No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart"

I thought it might interest you to hear about some of the darker aspects of my experiences learning mediumship. We say that learning mediumship is learning to communicate with spirits, but it is more aptly described as allowing spirits to learn to put thoughts in your mind. Many people don't realize how much control over you this gives spirits. Spirits can do more than just communicate with you, they can put impulses into your mind and put in ideas that you are likely to act upon because you think they are your own. This can be a positive thing when the spirits are working for the highest good, but it can also be dangerous if the spirits are undeveloped. In ordinary life you have to be wary of people who may intend to mislead you or harm you. The same is true in spiritual life.

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Overt Control

It was about a year after I began attending services and taking classes in mediumship at a Spiritualist church that I first realized how vulnerable I was to spirit control. I was invited to give a short talk during a service that was going to be given by the students taking classes at the church. The service was on the anniversary of the passing of an important member of the church who had died the previous year. I wrote my talk several days before the service, but after I finished, I had a strange feeling that there was something wrong with it. I read it over and thought to myself, "The talk's good, it's just what I wanted to say." but as soon as I put it down I had a nagging feeling that there was a problem. This went on for a day or two. I would think there might be some problem with the talk so I would re-read it and see that it was fine. Then, when I would put it down and do something else, I would get that nagging feeling again that something was wrong. By the day before I was to give the talk, it became intolerable. I was so overwhelmed with feelings of oppression and lassitude that I realized I would have to change the talk or stay in bed until after the service.

Once I decided to change my talk I felt better immediately. I renamed the original talk "The Forbidden Talk" and filed it away. I wrote a new talk about my experiences with the person whom the service was memorializing. Originally I didn't want to give a talk about this person, even though it would have been very appropriate for a memorial service, because I didn't know them while they were alive. However, I had met them after they became a spirit. During mediumship classes, I had brought the spirit through for her surviving spouse. I had seen visions of the spirit's childhood home, the area she grew up in, her wedding, and the home the newlyweds made. I felt the intense love the spirit still had for her spouse. In some ways I knew more intimate details about her life than I knew about some of my close friends. I knew this spirit was still involved in the church, still watching over the students, and still around her surviving spouse, because the spirit had helped me to learn mediumship in class by communicating through me to her spouse. I wrote my new talk about those things.

It went over quite well when I gave the talk. The surviving spouse was elated by it which pleased me immensely. I'm sure that more good was done by my giving that talk than giving "The Forbidden Talk" would have done, but I can't help but harbor a residual bit of resentment that I was used in that way. It wasn't like someone asked me. I was coerced. It was not like I was a puppet being controlled by strings. It was more like a subtle knowledge that my own will was too feeble and inconstant to resist a greater and unyielding power. No matter how hard I tried there was no other outcome possible than my submission to that greater power. As they say: resistance is futile.

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Undeveloped Spirits

No matter how experienced you are in psychic self-defense, there is always the risk that undeveloped spirits may try to harm you. A couple of times I was "attacked" by a disembodied voice. The attack involved giving me bad financial advice in the hopes I would act upon it and suffer a financial loss.

The first time, the voice advised me, "Sell all your stocks and buy them back in six months." Although I didn't know what the stock market would do or who the voice was, I knew it would be foolish to follow that type of advice so I didn't. It was the right decision. If I had followed that advice, I would have missed out on significant gains in the stock market that occurred in that time period.

The second "attack" occurred when I heard the voice tell me, "Refinance your house." This would also have been foolish since I had just paid off the mortgage. I ignored that advice too.

Having been unsuccessful attacking an area I am competent in, managing my finances, the disembodied force eventually found a different way to harm me. Changing its method of operation by communicating through a vision, it attacked me in an area of greater vulnerability. This attack was through a relationship with a friend. It is too personal to write about so I will just say I was fortunate to learn my lesson without suffering greater harm than I did. If you think you are receiving information and advice from spirits and it seems too good to be true, it very well might be.

Even if you know and trust the spirit, remember, just because they're dead, doesn't mean they're smart. That's what "The Forbidden Talk" was about. You can probably understand why some spirits might not think too highly of it.

It seems that this topic is still subject to suppression. In the last five days, as I was finishing up this article and getting ready to upload it to my web site using my dial-up internet service, I had to have the phone company out to my house to fix my phone line three times. Twice the repair men had to put my line on a new wire, and twice they also mistakenly put the line on a wire that was not going into my house. I spent an entire weekend without a dial tone. When I tried to call the phone company repair number on my cell phone, my otherwise properly working cell phone couldn't connect to that number. I've lived here for fifteen years and never had a similar problem.

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The Human Factor

The telephone linemen were not the only people I had 'spiritual' problems with. One time someone told me they were pressing criminal charges against me. At the time, I was in a church which had recently formed. An official of our new church referred to himself using a certain title and I had used that title when I mentioned him in a written document. The accuser, an important official in the Spiritualist community, felt that the use of the title by an official of our church was incorrect and we were therefore guilty of criminal fraud. The shock of the accusation put one of our group in the hospital. I had no money in my budget for legal advice. Luckily, I was able to find out from a reference librarian at a law library that in the United States, there are no legal definitions of, nor constraints on, the use of religious titles. The freedom of religion our constitution provides not only protects religions from oppressive governments but it protects religions from other oppressive religions. So, the accuser was the one perpetrating the fraud. The charges were entirely without merit and nothing ever came of the threat.

There was a funny side to this too. The accuser had a web site that mentioned the official in our church and used the same title they had threatened me for using. Their web site also contained other information about that official which, although flattering, was obsolete. We thought it rather amusing that all of this favorable but incorrect information continued to be displayed on their web site for more than a year after they tried to suppress us with charges of fraud.

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Subtle Manipulation

The action of spirits can be so subtle that you don't even realize they are influencing you. Before we started that new church I had been volunteering at another church and had a key to the building. For some reason, I didn't realize why at the time, I had cut back on my volunteering. One Sunday before the service, I decided to return my key since I no longer used it. Four or five times that day, before I went to church, I seemed to remind myself with unusual intensity and distinctness, "I have to return my key today". When I came to church, I returned my key to the proper official and went into the service. Later that same day, an event occurred that caused a schism that led to the formation of the new church. It seemed that a force unknown to me had led me to cut back on my volunteering weeks beforehand and then reminded me repeatedly on that day to return my keys. While it was happening, I didn't have any idea that there was a meaningful purpose behind it all.

The reminders to return my key were so strong and since I thought they were a result of my own thinking, I attributed a greater importance to them than if they were just faint impressions. This shows that spirits don't even have to have a strong will, they just have to communicate an idea distinctly, clearly, and frequently and the person will automatically and without questioning accept it as his own will.

At other times, while giving readings as a medium, I have made types of gestures that I don't usually make. At the time, I thought the gestures were my own, but I was told by the people getting the readings that those gestures were meaningful and helped identify the spirits communicating through me.

In one case the gesture involved clapping my hands with one palm slapping the back of the other hand and making a loud noise. It turned out I was bringing through a martial arts instructor and as part of the training in that form of combat they would make sounds by slapping their hands.

Another time the gesture was less mundane and actually somewhat morbid. I was giving a reading in class and I asked the spirit what caused his death. I felt a sensation between my neck and my heart. In order to explain this to the person getting the reading, I looked down and put my hand below my chin, made a fist, and said, "When I asked the spirit how he died, I felt a sensation in this area." I opened and closed my hand once or twice. The usual interpretation would be that the death involved a problem with breathing because the location indicated the lungs were affected. Chills went down my spine when the person told me that the spirit committed suicide by hanging himself. By closing my fist under my chin instead of just pointing with a finger, I was making the gesture of holding a noose around my neck. Fortunately, the spirit had enough tact not to influence me to move my head to one side while moving my fist upward in the other direction and sticking out my tongue to pantomime being hanged.

This ability of spirits to control a medium without the medium knowing can create serious difficulties for some people. Once you experience how subtly spirits can influence you, you can never be sure if a thought or impulse is your own or not. Some people will take this to an extreme and justify all sorts of foolish and selfish actions by convincing themselves they are being led by benevolent spirit guides. Other people may take it to the other extreme and develop irrational fears that they are influenced by undeveloped spirits. People who are unstable or prone to overindulge in their own fantasies should be very cautious about learning mediumship.

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Ouija Boards

My Experiences

I made a Ouija board once. It was a piece of cardboard with the letters of the alphabet written on it. I took a clear plastic drinking cup and sawed through it about an inch from the bottom and used the bottom part upside down as the pointer. After first praying for protection and asking for good and wise spirit guides to help me, I asked if this would be a good way to communicate with my spirit guides. I put my hands on the cup and it moved around and around and settled over two letters: "NO". I tried it again and the same thing happened. I thought that if the thing worked, it was telling me it wasn't a good means of communication and I shouldn't use it for that reason. However, if it wasn't working and that advice wasn't valid, then I still shouldn't use it because it didn't work.

However, a few months later I decided to buy a commercial Ouija board at the toy store. They had a very nice one with a pointer that glowed in the dark. Around that time, I had been going out for a walk every day and I usually kept aware of the weather and rarely got caught in the rain. The day I went to get the Ouija board, I walked to the toy store. When I left the toy store with my new Ouija board, it started pouring rain and in just a few minutes I was completely, totally, thoroughly, soaked through all my clothes even though I was wearing a supposedly waterproof jacket. The only thing that stayed dry was the Ouija board which was protected by the plastic bag from the toy store.

Attracting Undeveloped Spirits

There are many reports of people having problems with undeveloped and impersonating spirits when they use a Ouija board. Part of the problem with Ouija boards is that they are marketed as a game. When people approach spirit communication as a game, they will attract spirits that like to play games. They may find the "playful" spirits communicating with them are lying to them, trying to frighten them, and impersonating deceased loved ones.

Ease of Impersonation

Even trained mediums can run into problems using the Ouija board that they wouldn't have with mental mediumship. This is because with the Ouija board and other forms of physical mediumship, it is easier for the spirit to to be deceptive. With mental mediumship you have direct mind to mind contact and the medium can pick up the personality of the spirit just from that contact. If you are with an old friend, you have an idea of their presence and their personality when you are with them. When communicating by mental mediumship, it's just like that but it's with a spirit you just met.

For example, with mental mediumship, if I am giving a reading and an impersonating spirit comes through and I say, "I have a spirit who says he is your father. I sense that he liked to play practical jokes and used four letter words in every sentence." The sitter may say, "No, that's not my father". However with the Ouija board and physical mediumship, the medium is not necessarily in mental contact with the spirit, the spirit simply uses the medium as a tool to interact with the physical world and so he can disguise himself very easily.

Development of Mental Mediumship

Another reason the Ouija board is dangerous, is because it may start as physical mediumship but develop into mental mediumship. When this happens, it may give an undeveloped spirit a chance to learn to control the mind of the medium.

It is not uncommon for persistent Ouija board mediums to, after a time, develop a sense of what the letter will be before the pointer arrives at it. This is the beginning of mental mediumship. At this stage the user can do away with the Ouija board and just say the letter. If they continue to practice this way, they may eventually develop a sense of what the word will be before it is completely spelled out. At this stage, they can stop spelling the words and just say them. This can lead to a very accurate form of mental mediumship. "Our Unseen Guest" by Darby and Joan is a book about a woman who learned mediumship this way.
http://www.spiritwritings.com/ourunseenguest.pdf

However, if the Ouija board user is working with an undeveloped spirit, and they have allowed that spirit to learn to control their mind in this way, they may find that it is very difficult at that stage to ignore the influence of that spirit. This can be a problem even if the spirit is not malevolent. A well meaning spirit who simply has a controlling personality can be a problem if they try to exert undue influence on the medium.

There are a lot of reasons to be wary about using the Ouija board. If it is used as a game, the users will attract spirits that want to play games and they may find they are communicating with deceitful spirits. It is also very easy for undeveloped spirits to impersonate deceased loved ones of the users through the Ouija board. And, if the users persist in using the Ouija board, they may find themselves, much to their distress, under the influence of those undeveloped spirits.

I'm not totally against the Ouija board. In the right hands it can be a useful tool as it was in the book "Our Unseen Guest". Also, a lot of people find it is a way to personally experience the truth of the afterlife. But it would probably be better if it wasn't marketed as a game and if it came with instructions on how it should be used, who should use it, warnings about undeveloped and impersonating spirits, and how to ask for protection and guidance.

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Concluding Remarks

This is why it is so important for a developing medium to live in a way that will attract only the highest and best spirit guides. The medium starts off thinking he is going to learn to communicate with spirits, when in reality he is allowing the spirits to learn to control him. When the spirits are acting for the highest good it can be a privilege to be part of their team. But if the medium has become involved with less developed spirits, it may be too late when he discovers that what he has really done is to allow the spirit to learn to control him.

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It is almost always a mistake to commit suicide. Yet, many people exaggerate the negative consequences of suicide in the afterlife because they are afraid someone might kill themself if they were not afraid of being punnished for it. However, exaggerating the negative consequences of suicide is also a mistake because it increases the suffering of those who are grieving for suicide victims, and it causes confusion to suicide victims when they cross over.

• Someone who is contemplating suicide needs to understand that suicide won't solve anything because they are an immortal spirit and it is impossible to really kill yourself. Furthermore, you can't escape the consequences of your actions by killing yourself.

• Someone who is grieving for a suicide victim, or a suicide victim who has just crossed over, needs to understand there is no special punishment assigned to suicide victims in the afterlife.

In the vast majority of cases, people kill themselves due to abnormal brain chemistry. This was the subject of a radio program on NPR. The description of the program on the NPR web site explains....

What drives people to suicide? NPR's Michelle Trudeau reports that in laboratories around the country, neuro-scientists are trying to find out. They're studying the brains of people who've committed suicide and comparing them with people who died suddenly. People who commit suicide appear to have different brain chemistry than others.
http://www.npr.org/programs/death/980429.death.html

However, once the spirit is no longer under the influence of the physical body, they come back to their right mind. I've seen mediums bring through spirits who committed suicide on the John Edward show, and in Spiritualist churches, and I've even brought through one myself in a mediumship class and it is clear that no one is automatically condemned to the lowest spheres in the afterlife solely because they killed themself. There is no special punnishment in the afterlife for people who commit suicide.

Spirits who need healing or other types of help when they cross over get the help they need in the afterlife.

If their suicide causes problems for others, they will regret it, just like someone with cancer might regret the burden their illness caused other family members. Even if the suicide was due to mental illness or for, example, a brain tumor and there are no karmic consequences, they still might regret the suffering of their loved ones still on earth.

If you kill yourself to avoid karma (the consequences of your actions) that is a mistake because you can't hide from your karma. It will catch up with you in this life or the next. If you kill yourself to avoid regret over your actions in life you will still regret those actions in the afterlife.

For this reason people who learn about the afterlife are less likely to commit suicide. It was found that people who have a near death experience are less likely to commit suicide. Investigators then also observed that people who learned about the afterlife and the fact that suicide doesn't help in any way, are also less likely to commit suicide.

John Edward and George Anderson two higly respected mediums both say no one is punished in the afterlife.

John Edward in his book "One Last Time" in the chapter "Sneaking Peaks" has this to say about suicide:

We are not punished on the Other Side, except by ourselves. We ask ourselves why we did what we did, and seek to improve.

An example is suicide. I've had people come through who have ended their own lives, and in some cases they have given me the feeling that they have a spiritual type of therapy going on around them. Even though they are all right - they are not in any kind of limbo, as some might believe - they are trying to understand why they did what they did, and using it in learning their spiritual lessons. There is also a sense of sorrow for the people they left behind. This is not to say such feelings are unique to those who have committed suicide. I have had many spirits who passed from the physical state in "natural" ways, or in accidents, come through conveying to me that they are working on those same kinds of lessons. What matters is how they spent their time on this side. Someone with minimal human success - spiritual, not material, of course-will have to work on his lessons on the Other Side. Our physical lives are analogous to formal schooling. You're better off doing well in school - you'll have a leg up when you graduate - but even if you don't do well, or you drop out (suicide), you can still become a success story. It depends on what you do after you leave school."

George Anderson's "Lessons from the Light" in chapter six: "Suicide" has this to say

The issue of passing by one's own hand is a difficult one for us to understand, mainly because what the Other Side has told me with regard to suicide flies in the face of just about every religion. I am not sure why it would, though, because the hereafter's way makes perfect sense. As I stated before, nothing is beyond the understanding and wisdom of the Infinite Light, and no one is punished in the hereafter for their actions on the earth - they are simply shown the impact of their actions on those who love them, and the soul must take it from there.

Because of the volume of mail sent to me on this subject with the same question, which comes up again and again, I will state simply and emphatically that according to the souls in the hereafter, no one who commits suicide goes to Hell. I can say this without reservation because, according to the hereafter, there is no "Hell" as we have been conditioned to think about it. The wisdom of the Infinite Light understands the reasons behind every action taken against oneself or another. The souls in the hereafter who have passed by their own hand tell me time and time again that they were not in the correct frame of mind to consider the gravity of their actions. This in itself is a form of mental illness, which the hereafter would try to reconcile - not punish.

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Use The Law of Attraction Wisely

The law of attraction states that you attract into your life whatever you think about and by focusing your mind on something you want, you can bring it into your life. This law, in one form or another, is explained in many books including "The Power of Positive Thinking" by Norman Vincent Peale, "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill, and the Bible in Matthew 17:20. Some people pretend that this law is a secret in order to make it seem more interesting. They are either ignorant or deceptive and cannot be considered a reliable source of information.

The law of attraction should be considered an advanced law because it is very powerful and it can be easily misused in ways that will have undesirable consequences for the user. These undesirable consequences are predicted by the law of karma.

The Law of Karma

The law of karma states that actions have consequences and that good actions have good consequences and bad actions have bad consequences.

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There are a number of ways in which the law of attraction may be used inappropriately.

1. The most obvious inappropriate use of the law of attraction is that an unwise person may harm other people by using the law of attraction either selfishly or maliciously.

2. Another inappropriate use of the law of attraction involves a subtle factor about the law of attraction itself that can cause well intentioned people to veer in the wrong direction. The law of attraction promises success to people who become intensely focused on a goal. That intense focus can cause people to lose track of higher spiritual values.

   What happens when someone with a good intention, who is totally focused on their goal, finds someone standing in their way? One possible outcome is that they may decide to trample over whoever they find standing in their way.

3. It is also inappropriate to use the law of attraction to avoid developing character. We are incarnated on earth to learn. Our great teacher is the law of karma. We learn from the consequences of our actions. The things we learn while incarnated we can carry with us through all of future eternity. The law of attraction is very powerful and it is not in a person's best interest to use the law of attraction to temporarily avoid the consequences of their actions (their karma).
   • For example, if someone needs to learn how to develop relationships, and if, rather than trying to figure out why they may be having problems with relationships, they use the law of attraction to bring people into or keep people in their life, then they are harming themselves and possibly others by their use of the law of attraction.

   • If someone lacks self-discipline, they may find that they cannot keep their spending in line with their income. If they just attract money with the law of attraction, they will not learn self-discipline and they will always be short of money no matter how much they attract because they will continue to spend more than their income. Again they are hurting themselves and possibly those who might lend them money by their incorrect use of the law of attraction.

   The law of attraction is a poor substitute for character development. It can be used incorrectly as a temporary short cut to success without requiring the development of character traits, which having developed in this life, we could continue to enjoy in the afterlife, and upon which future successes could be built.

Therefore the law of attraction needs a warning label. That warning label is the law of Karma. You should never use the law of attraction unless you have first mastered the law of karma.

The law of attraction should be considered an advanced law because it is very easy to use incorrectly. It is not for beginners and it should not be dabbled with until you have understood some prerequisites, like the law of Karma.

The law of attraction is a powerful law and because of it's power, if you misuse it, you will generate an inordinate amount of bad karma and you may regret the consequences.

This does not mean you should avoid using the law of attraction. It means you should use it wisely.

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The Law of Proportional Assistance

The law of proportional assistance states that spiritual assistance is given in proportion to the effort one makes. You can read more about this in "The Betty Book" by Stewart White:

"In everything you do the amount of success depends on the amount of energy you put into it," said the Invisibles. "The force we bring into the world, let us call it inspirational force for the sake of giving it a name, comes from a combination of conditions created by the person himself. We can only take advantage of that combination. Once a person of his own force establishes it, we can act on it. The initial step is your work. This force is, roughly speaking, emanations from you which meet complementary forces from this side. We utilize what you unconsciously possess. You were born with wings: why prefer to crawl through life? You acquire exactly in proportion as you arouse yourself to take."

The most powerful prayer is "Oh God, please show me how to ..." It is much more effective than to simply ask that something be done for you.

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The Law of Craving

This law comes from Buddhism. People tend to want all sorts of things. Material things, as well as power and status. Most people find that once they get something, pretty soon it loses it's luster and they want something else. Eventually insightful people realize that getting what you want isn't all that wonderful after all. Then gradually, naturally, they begin to stop wanting things. This leads to a very spiritual type of peace and happiness.

It is important for people to understand that 'you can't take it with you'. We incarnate to develop character traits that we can benefit from throughout eternity. These traits include love, forgiveness, tolerance, perseverance, humility, cooperation, etc. This is important to keep in mind when you read about other natural laws that tell you that you can get a relationship and a big house if you focus your thoughts on them and pray for them and follow the spiritual guidance you receive. In our culture there are many, many voices encouraging people to learn to attain material things and so few voices urging more spiritual values. It is important not to lose sight of those spiritual values.

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Concentration Meditation

There are many different types of meditation used for many different purposes. One very common type of meditation is to sit quietly and concentrate on one thing like the natural rhythm of your breathing, the sensations in your body, or repeating a mantra possibly in rhythm with your breath. You focus your attention in one of these ways, and when you notice your mind wandering you bring it back to the focus of attention. In this type of meditation you do not expect any mystical experience or altered state of consciousness. The alternation between concentration and distraction is important and without distractions arising the meditation would be merely relaxation and not education.

Some people feel that because they have trouble concentrating, they can't meditate, or they aren't any good at it. In this situation, it may help them to change their understanding of what meditation is. It can be better to think of meditation not as an exercise where you hold the mind still, but as an exercise where the mind is given a chance to become still. Like a wild horse put in a pen, when you start a meditation session, the mind may run around and around in circles. But just as the horse will eventually calm down and stop running, so will the mind eventually slow down and become calm if you sit quietly and persist in meditation. The more turbulent your mind is, the longer it will take to calm down. (When the mind is very turbulent, it may help to combine meditation with relaxation exercises.)

In this view, a meditation session is a process of letting out and letting go which leads to a calmer and more relaxed state of being at the end of the session. As you concentrate, you make the effort to let go of thoughts and emotions by thinking of the object of the meditation (i.e. a mantra) to displace other thoughts from your mind. As you do this, you know that letting go is not the only important thing you are doing during meditation. When you notice you are distracted by a thought or emotion you also understand that this distraction is part of another important process - letting out. There is no need to feel any regret or annoyance that you have lost concentration. When you notice you have become distracted, you understand that these thoughts and emotions that arise are an equal part of meditation. Their arising is part of the process of letting out. After each distraction, the mind is a tiny bit calmer. It may help to think of it as if there are a finite number of times you will lose concentration before the mind becomes calm and you have to experience each of those distractions to get to the final state of being calm and relaxed. When the mind is very turbulent, distractions will come fast and furious. No matter. Just keep going back to concentration knowing that this is the natural way a turbulent mind becomes calm, and if you are patient and persistent you will find peace through this process of letting out and letting go.

While you meditate, as you notice distractions and go back to focusing the mind, there may be a tendency to suppress the intruding thoughts and feelings. This may lead to developing a habit of suppressing thoughts and emotions during other times. The way to avoid this pitfall is when you notice a distraction in meditation, if you find you are also experiencing an emotion, take a moment to notice the sensations of the emotion in your body and note to yourself what the thought that caused that emotion was. As you bring your mind back to the focus of meditation, you may also allow your awareness to linger on the sensations in your body that accompanied the emotion.

Meditation Is Not A Panacea

Many people are attracted to meditation because they hope it will help them cope with stress or calm mood swings. However, if they are suffering from an organic metabolic imbalance, neither meditation, nor other mental approaches such as cognitive therapy or self analysis may be the best solution.

For example:

• Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) can cause anxiety and/or depression. Sugar is the body's source of energy. If there isn't enough sugar in the blood, the brain may not get enough energy and the body may react by producing stress hormones which then causes the body to release sugar into the blood. These stress hormones produce the symptoms we call anxiety. Another symptom of hypoglycemia is caused when the brain does not get enough energy and is unable to produce sufficient quantities of neurotransmitters. In this case depression may result.

  No amount of meditation or any other mental exercise will cure such an underlying metabolic imbalance. Trying relaxation exercises to relieve anxiety will not supply the brain with more energy. (You might temporarily reduce the brain's need for energy and reduce the feelings of anxiety by entering a deeply relaxed state through relaxation exercises, but this is not really a solution because you can't function in daily life in a state where you are half asleep.) Trying positive thinking to relieve depression will not give the brain energy to produce neurotransmitters. Engaging in cognitive therapy or self analysis may result in a remarkably well adjusted person who still has anxiety and or depression. In the case of hypoglycemia, the best solution to anxiety or depression may be to try changing one's diet to avoid over indulging in refined sugar and refined carbohydrates (white bread, white rice) as well as avoiding caffeine, tobacco and alcohol and eating nutritionally balanced snacks to keep blood sugar level stable. This is explained in more detail at
  http://www.hypoglycemia.asn.au.

• Stress hormone levels are highest in the morning. This makes sense since we don't eat while sleeping at night and blood sugar levels can get low. Exercise increases blood sugar levels. Exercising a little, just enough to get you breathing faster and your heart beating faster, first thing in the morning, and then eating a balanced breakfast can have a calming effect that lasts for many hours.

• Magnesium deficiency can also cause anxiety. Two foods that are a good source of magnesium are peanuts and sunflower seeds.

The effects of diet on moods are numerous. If you are attracted to meditation for it's calming effects, you may also find it helpful to do further research on the effect of diet on moods and emotions. Each person is unique and you may have to experiment to find what works best for you.

The effect of diet and metabolism on moods and emotions has consequences for meditators and those interested in spiritual development. If one's nerves are on a hair trigger because of high levels of stress hormones, then any minor thing that might upset one can cause a stress reaction. One consequence of a stress reaction is that the mind can become fixated on the thing causing the stress reaction. (This fixation can result in symptoms such as obsessive compulsive disorder, misophonia (dislike of certain sounds), and phobias.) If you are trying to meditate but your mind is fixated on something that has caused a stress reaction, you may find it hard to concentrate correctly on the meditation and you may feel that meditation is too difficult. Also, if one is subject to strong emotions of anxiety or depression, those emotions can make meditation more difficult. In meditation one tries to reduce the influence of the ego by letting go of attachments and aversions. If those attachments and aversions are the result of this type of metabolism induced anxiety, depression, or fixation one may become easily confused and think they are being selfish or self centered and unable to let go and spiritually immature when in fact they are simply affected by their metabolism. Understanding why one is having a difficulty like this may help one work through it.

Meditation, as well as relaxation exercises, self analysis, cognitive therapy, and positive thinking have many benefits and may help one cope with symptoms of organic disorders causing anxiety, fixation, and depression, but you should understand mental approaches have their limits and realize meditation is not a cure-all as you read the rest of this chapter and especially the sections on "Insight Meditation", "Kundalini" and "Three Ways To Reduce The Ego". Furthermore, meditation will be easier and more effective if this type of organic mood disorder is under control.

Counting The Breath

An excellent meditation technique useful for beginners and experienced practitioners alike is counting the breath. Breathe normally and count the breaths up to ten. Say the numbers inwardly like a mantra in rhythm with your breathing. After ten, start over again counting from one. You can count both inhalations and exhalation or just exhalations. Try not to lapse in to the state where you count with half your mind and the other half is wandering off, try to devote your full attention and awareness to the counting. The difference is like being vaguely aware of background music as compared to listening intently to a piece of music interests you. If you find that meditation takes you into a deeply relaxed state where it seems to take a lot of effort just to say each number inwardly, you can stop counting and just observe each breath. If you find your mind wandering then go back to counting.

The How-To Mantra

Another good meditation technique is to repeat inwardly the following mantra in time with the natural rhythm of the breath. This form of meditation is helpful because the mantra helps you to remember what you should be doing during the meditation. Say the mantra in time with each inhalation / exhalation:

Sitting / still
Body / relaxed
Breathing / naturally
Mind / calm

Sitting still is helpful because movement tends to reduce the depth of relaxation that you can attain. However, it is not necessary to be too strict. If you feel like fidgeting or scratching an itch go ahead, just understand it is better to be still and avoid unnecessary movement. Once you start observing your breath it may seem awkward to breathe naturally without consciously influencing your breathing. Don't worry about this, just do the best you can, relaxing your abdominal muscles may help. If necessary, just try to breath gently and calmly, neither too shallow, rapid, deep or slow. Remember that the mind should not be wandering, and bring it back to the mantra if you find you have become distracted by stray thoughts.

A How-It-Works Mantra

Concen- / trating
Calms / the mind
Distractions / are fine
Don't dwell / on them

This mantra helps to remind you how to balance letting out and letting go. Concentration helps to calm the mind. When distractions arise they are not a problem. They can be beneficial in that the my be thoughts that need to arise from the subconscious into the conscious to help you learn from the past or deal with emotional issues. However too much focus on negative thoughts and feelings can be counterproductive (this is discussed further in the section on Insight Meditation) so once you become aware of the distracting thought, don't dwell on it but go back to focusing your attention on the mantra.

Practicing Peace

Letting go / of thinking
Relaxing mind / and body
Practicing / peace

This mantra is another how to mantra. It reminds you of what to do during the meditation session. It can be used during sitting meditation, relaxing while lying down, or as mindfulness practice during daily activities such as cleaning the home or taking a walk.

• "Letting go of thinking" means that for the time you are meditating, you take break from worrying, planning or other types of thinking. Let your mind be entirely filled with and focused on the mantra to give it a rest from the other types of habitual mental activity. Notice how pleasant it is not to be worrying about the past or future.

• "Relaxing mind" means that if your mind is filled with an emotion, attitude, opinion, or pose, like hurriedness, annoyance, aversion, attachment, impatience, anger, sadness, anxiety, superiority, inferiority, pride, shame, or frustration, try to just drop it for the time you are meditating. Examine your state of mind. Is it neutral? These mental states can be so habitual that we don't even notice them or they can sneak up on us again after we dispel them, so look carefully. Let your mind be neutral. Notice how pleasant that is.

  If you find it difficult to let go of a state of mind, try to think of something that will fill you with pleasant feelings. You might imagine you have something you want. It's okay if it is something materialistic like a lot of money, or a nice house, or a special relationship with another person. It could be a memory of a time you felt good, maybe when you were with a cherished pet. It could be anything that happened that made you feel good. When you think a pleasant thought, notice how you feel. (See the section on Visualizing a Pleasant Situation in the chapter on Relaxation for more information on how to do this.)

• "and body" If you are sitting or lying down, relaxing the body may mean you let yourself go as if you were going to sleep. Notice if you are physically tense. Try to relax your muscles. If you are moving, try to move in a relaxed manner rather than with jerky or hurried movements. Notice how pleasant it is to be relaxed.

• "Practicing peace" means that you are trying, for a short time, to cultivate inner peace, or peace of mind. You can do this for a short time just by letting go of every-day worries and cares and annoyances and relaxing as if you were drifting off to sleep. Notice how peaceful you feel when you do this.

With practice, you will find that you can hold this attitude of peace for a longer and longer time and through more and more stressful situations.

This meditation can be especially helpful when used in combination with self healing meditation.

The Benefits of Concentration Meditation

The benefits of this type of meditation include, calming the mind, helping you to understand the nature of the mind because it can be understood better when it is calm and you can see what is happening. You gain understanding of the temporary nature of thoughts and emotions and other sensations which helps you to have more equanimity since you understand that ultimately thoughts and emotions are not reality they change and cannot be trusted. Observing the thoughts that arise to distract you is also useful since that helps you to understand what is bubbling up from your subconscious. Concentration in meditation interrupts the habitual patterns of the mind, of thought, tension, attitudes, poses, and negativity. The more these are interrupted the more their hold on you is weakened giving you the freedom to throw off unconscious ingrained habits, and to choose consciously how to use your mind.

The point of using meditation to calm the mind is not so that you can use it like a tranquilizer and and live according to spiritual values because meditation allows you to be calm all the time. It is also not so that you develop, by practicing daily, the habit of keeping the mind calm and focused and the body relaxed during daily activities. These two things may occur to some extent, but are not realistic goals for most people. Ultimately the great benefit is that when the mind is calmed by meditation, the practitioner will see from their own experience that selfishness and negative attitudes, attachments and aversion are undesirable and unpleasant. It helps the practitioner to become more aware of these undesirable qualities and allows them to notice those qualities when they arise. Because of this learning experience that comes from calming the mind with meditation, the practitioner naturally begins to change of his own volition and these undesirable qualities begin to diminish. Meditation is like a microscope used to identify an infection, not like a tranquilizer use to medicate away undesired psychological traits.

One of the important consequences of this type of meditation is that it reduces the strength and force of your ego. When you see how ephemeral the mind is, how flimsy are the attachments we hold on to so strongly, it makes you less selfish, less self-centered.

This is important because when selfishness is eliminated, love is what remains. This type of love is not selfish like romantic love, it is not controlling like parental love, it is not ambitious like the love of those trying to solve the great problems of the world.

It is a very simple type of love for other people. For example when you are on the highway and you see someone driving wildly, you wish for that person that they could have the same peace that you do and you remember how unpleasant it was when you were in a similar state of mind, rushing somewhere, feeling out of touch and at odds with other people. At the grocery store you see the other shoppers and hope they have a good dinner with their families and enjoy a pleasant evening. When you are in a crowd you see each person and realize each one is unique and has a unique experience in their life. All this diversity interests you and you want to understand and appreciate each person, their ideas, their values their difficulties and their successes.

When you notice the blessings in your life you are moved to sincerely pray that others may have similar blessings because the thought of others doing without causes you fear and anguish.

This is one of the most important aspects of spiritual development. It is seeing others through the eyes of God, a loving father. You start by looking at the activity of your own mind but you end up moving closer to God.

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Insight Meditation

Insight meditation is good for helping to increase awareness and understanding of emotions. While you meditate, observe the physical sensations in your body that accompany emotions. This is similar to what cognitive therapists call "defusion". This awareness helps to change your experience of emotions from a "reality" to just another temporary sensation. It also helps you to see how your thoughts create your emotions.

With each emotional state be on the lookout for its characteristic:

Spiritual healing as practiced in the religion of Spiritualism is never advocated as a substitute for mainstream medicine but is used in conjunction with mainstream medicine.† There is substantial empirical evidence, including scientific research, that demonstrates spiritual healing works (see the section below on recommended reading).

Here is a method of laying-on-of-hands spiritual healing:

Always advise your sitters to see a doctor if they have a serious condition.

The person receiving healing should sit in a chair.

The healer stands behind the chair and places his hands on the shoulders of the sitter.

The healer mentally repeats the following prayer:

I thought it might interest you to hear about a strange series of coincidences that taught me some important lessons about spiritual healing.

It started early one Sunday morning, near the end of May, when I went out to get groceries. I usually drive to the grocery store, but I also bring one of those folding shopping carts in the trunk of my car. My townhouse condominium is a bit far from my parking spot, so I bring the cart to take groceries from my car to my house. The cart was very old and battered and was already missing a few of the horizontal wires that form the sides of the cart. The cart also wobbled when it rolled because the wheels were so off kilter. It worked well enough from my parking spot to my house, but I wouldn't want to have to use it if I walked to the store and had to bring the groceries home on foot.

When I got to the grocery store, I noticed that new shopping carts like mine were on display in a prominent location where they hadn't been before. In fact, I had never noticed a prominent display of carts like that at any grocery store ever. I didn't think anything unusual of it at the time. I finished my shopping and took my groceries home. As I was wheeling the cart full of groceries from my car to my house, I heard the tinkling sound of one of the metal wires that form the sides of the cart bouncing on the ground. The wire had fallen out. None of the wires had fallen out for years. I didn't think anything unusual of it, but I put the wire securely back in place with my leatherman pocket tool and brought the groceries into my house.

The next week, as I was going out to my car to go to the grocery store, I heard the same tinkling sound as the week before. The same wire fell out again. The cart was completely empty, there was no reason whatsoever for that to happen. "Okay," I thought to whomever was listening, "I understand. It's time for a new cart. No problem." At the grocery store I bought a new cart, it was the last one left on display.

This was an interesting coincidence, my old cart started falling apart just when the grocery store has a prominent display of new ones. The next step in this strange series of coincidences was when things started to go wrong.

Later that week, while doing my usual three times a week workout of calisthenics and weight training, my shoulder began to hurt. I had had an occasional slight ache on and off there for many months but I just avoided the exercise that seemed to cause it. The other exercises never seemed to make it worse. Until now. Over the next two days the pain got worse and worse. I tried ibuprofen but it didn't seem to help. I had some pain killers left over from my last root canal four and a half years ago. Fortunately they kept me going until I was able to go to the doctor the next day. Otherwise, I would have gone to the emergency room in the middle of the night. It hurt that much.

The doctor told me I was doing pretty much the right thing, rest the shoulder and continue using the sling I had been using. He gave me a new prescription for the same pain killers. He also told me to keep taking the ibuprofen even if I didn't notice it working. The injury was too severe for the ibuprofen to eliminate the pain like it might on a simple sore muscle, but it would reduce the inflammation and the recovery would be faster. Even if the pain seemed to be getting worse, it would still be less than without taking the ibuprofen.

This lesson about how ibuprofen works taught me something important about spiritual healing.

In addition to the ibuprofen and pain killers, I had been using a spiritual healing technique that I had learned at a Spiritualist church. Spiritualist do not believe spiritual healing is a substitute for mainstream medicine. We believe in using it in conjunction with mainstream medicine. I've been told by people whom I've given healing to that it has helped with various conditions including depression, cold symptoms, breathing difficulty, and others. I had used it successfully on myself before for sore muscles. However in this case it seemed that just like with the ibuprofen, it didn't miraculously cure the injury. I knew that a miracle was unlikely but one always hopes and when hopes are not realized, disappointment inevitably follows.

However, just like with the ibuprofen, spiritual healing treatments should be continued even if they don't seem to work right away. While it is impossible to predict the outcome for any particular case, spiritual healing is believed to be able to decrease the severity of symptoms and reduce the amount of time needed for healing. I knew all of these things from the classes I had taken at church, but now that I had had this experience myself, and I realized that it was also true with mainstream medicines like ibuprofen, I really understood it in a much deeper way.

A few hours after the doctor's appointment, I felt much better. I didn't need the pain killers any more. This totally astonished me since I had been so uncomfortable previously. I wondered if the pain went away so suddenly because of the cumulative effect of the spiritual healing I had done.

There was also another possibility. Some people believe that sometimes an illness is intended to teach the sufferer a lesson. There are even healing techniques that use psychology based on the belief that once the lesson is learned, there is no longer a need for the disease and healing will then occur spontaneously. I never really believed this before, but now I wondered if that was why the pain went away so soon after I understood this lesson.

There was one more thing I understood more clearly from this experience. During the most painful period of the injury, after a session of self healing, while I did not necessarily feel relief from pain, I did experience some relief from suffering. Pain is a sensation. Suffering is an attitude. Constant pain can really wear you down, but after a session of self healing I had a much more positive attitude even though I was disappointed that the pain remained. I was interested in doing things rather than lying in bed feeling sorry for myself.

A person's psychological outlook can help or hinder healing. Stress can cause disease. A positive attitude can help in recovery. I knew all of this from the classes I took at church but now I really experienced how spiritual healing can improve one's psychological outlook when suffering from pain and in that way facilitate healing. I had a much deeper understanding of this phenomena from the experience.

This effect also helped me when I used spiritual healing during the long wait in the doctor's office and at the pharmacy getting my prescription filled. There are many trials associated with medical conditions and spiritual healing helped me to get through them with a better attitude.

What does all this have to do with the shopping cart? Well, a couple of days later it was grocery day again. My arm didn't hurt if I was careful about how I used it, and I was gradually regaining a full range of motion. However, I still couldn't drive my car because it had a manual transmission. I walked to the grocery store and took my new shopping cart.

As I walked to the store I wondered about these coincidences. How come my old cart started falling apart just when the store had a display of new ones? How come I got the new cart just before a minor ache I'd had for months turned into a serious injury and I couldn't drive and really needed a properly working cart? I thought it must be a sign telling me to look deeper into the meaning of this injury. Was the injury planned? Were there more lessons in it I needed to learn? Was there anything else unusual about the injury? I realized there was one more thing that was coincidental. About a year earlier I had started going to the Spiritualist church that I currently attended. Since then, I had been going to the class in spiritual healing at the church. On the same Sunday that my old cart started falling apart, I was asked, if starting a few weeks later, I would like to be one of the healers who does laying-on-of-hands during the Sunday services. I agreed to do it.

Here was another coincidence: just before I was going to be a healer in the church services, I was given this "advanced course" that taught me so much about spiritual healing by experiencing those things for myself.

Relaxation
• Relaxing The Muscles
  • Yoga and Stretching
  • Progressive Muscular Relaxation
  • (Self) Hypnotic Induction
• Calming Respiration
  • Rhythmic Breathing
• Calming The Mind
  • Concentration Meditation
  • Visualization
• Calming Emotions
  • Working With Chakras
  • Visualizing A Pleasant Situation
Combining Relaxation Exercises
Recommended Reading

Relaxation is helpful for spiritual development because it can help you to maintain a calm and unhurried attitude that will help you live according to the spiritual values you develop through meditation.

Different relaxation exercises have effects on different systems in the body. In this chapter, relaxation exercises are provided for relaxing or calming the muscles, respiration, the mind, and emotions. By using these relaxation exercises in combination, all of these mind/body systems can be relaxed or calmed at the same time. This results in faster, deeper relaxation than can be achieved by using only one exercise by itself.

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Relaxing the Muscles

Yoga and Stretching

The jaw can, for some people be particularly difficult to relax. It can be helpful in relaxing the jaw to repeat the sequence of 1) clenching the teeth with moderate but not too much pressure while pulling the lips back in a grimace and scrunching up the eyes, 2) then open the jaw as wide as possible (and optionally sticking out the tongue), 3) and then forming the lips into an "o" as if you were blowing out a candle. Repeating this several times will help relax the muscles of the jaw.

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Progressive Muscular Relaxation

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(Self) Hypnotic Induction

A very detailed list of the parts of the body includes: the toes, insteps, soles of the feet, the ankles, the heels, the Achilles' tendons, the calves, the shins, the knees, the hamstrings (back of the thighs), the quadriceps (the front of the thighs), the groin, the lower abdomen, the belly, the chest, the buttocks, the lower back, the mid back, the upper back, the shoulders, the fingers, the palms of the hands, the back of the hands, the wrists, the forearms, the elbows, the biceps (the front of the upper arm), the triceps (the back of the upper arm), the Adam's apple, the gullet, the nape of the neck, the forehead, the eye brows, the eyelids, the eyes, the cheeks, the nostrils, the nose, the lips, the teeth and gums, the tongue, the chin, under the chin, the jaws, the ears, the temples and the crown of the head. Remember to focus on both right and left arms and legs.

It can also be helpful to imagine a white healing light shining on each part of the body. If you do this say something like, "A healing light shines on my toes making them feel relaxed and heavy ..." etc.

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Calming Respiration

If you find your heart rate is high, use a longer count so that you maintain a slow rate of breathing. As the heart rate slows you may find that you need to use a lower count to keep the breath rate from getting too slow. Also, if you are trying to relax after some physical activity and are short of breath, you should use a lower count. You should not strain to slow the rate of breathing when doing this exercise.

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Calming the Mind

Concentration meditation will help relax the mind. See the chapter on Meditation for more information on concentration meditation and how to do it.

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Visualization

• One way to use visualization is to visualize a location that you would find relaxing or pleasant, a natural scene, or your dream home, anything that would be calming.
• Another way to use visualization is to visualize each color of the spectrum (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, and white). You can visualize either the pure colors or an object of each color - fruits or flowers are good objects.

Notice how deeply relaxed you get while visualizing. Notice that dreamy state that is so different from ordinary waking consciousness. You may feel waves of relaxation spreading through yourself as you visualize.

Visualization has been found to increase the amount of theta waves the brain produces. Theta waves also have been found to be co-incident with psychic experiences. This may help explain why in chakra mediation the successive visualization of each chakra and its corresponding color have been found by many psychics to be helpful in psychic development.

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Calming Emotions

There are various philosophies about the chakras. The discussion here is a practical approach that has been found to be useful for relaxation. Focusing your attention on the chakras and observing any sensations you feel in them can be used as a relaxation exercise because you have to be relaxed to feel the sensations in the chakras. In this view, the chakras are just another part of the body to relax, as well as an indicator of relaxation.

The chakras are located at the base of the spine, in the abdomen, the solar plexus, the heart, the base of the throat, the brow, and the crown of the head. These are regions where you feel sensations that accompany strong emotions. A lump in the throat, a broken heart, a sinking feeling in the pit of the stomach, a stress headache, soiling your self when frightened, etc.

Since the chakras are areas where the physical effects of emotions are expressed, relaxing the chakras can help in letting go of emotions.

If you notice an unusual sensation or tension in a chakra it may indicate you are experiencing an emotion. If you are not conscious of this emotion it may help to focus your attention on that sensation in the chakra to help you bring that emotion into consciousness. This may help you in letting go of that emotion since being conscious of an emotion is helpful in letting go of it.

Working with the chakras is believed to be associated with psychic development, and raising the Kundalini. If you do not want to develop psychic abilities, or experience Kundalini energy you may want to avoid this work.

Place your finger a short distance in front of your forehead just above the bridge of your nose. Do you feel an odd sensation? This is your brow chakra.

Focus your attention on the other chakras one at a time. Try to notice any sensations you may feel in them. If you don't feel anything, you can try touching a chakra and then observing the sensation that lingers after the touch. Sometimes focusing your attention (or imagining a point or light) a short distance above the crown chakra or in front of the other chakras will help too.

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Visualizing a Pleasant Situation

Your emotional state can be thought of as a bodily system that can be addressed directly with a specific type of relaxation exercise. One way to do this is to imagine or remember a pleasant situation. This differs from the visualization section above because here you are selecting the situation for the emotional reaction it will induce in you. Try to imagine you are in a place or situation that fills you with good feelings. You might imagine you have something you want. It's okay if it is something materialistic like a lot of money. Or, it could be relaxing in the backyard of your dream house, or having a special relationship with someone you love. Or, it could be a memory of a time you felt good, maybe when you were with a cherished pet, on a wonderful vacation or when you were with someone you love. It could be anything that happened that made you feel good. Whatever would make you feel at peace and content. When you think of a pleasant situation, notice how good you feel. Notice how you are able to replace whatever emotions you were feeling previously with the good feelings that you generate with your memory or imagination.

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Combining Relaxation Exercises

Don't just do these techniques mechanically, you must use them consciously, and see to it that they are working and that you are relaxing as you do them.

Using these different exercises in combination produces an extremely deep state of relaxation very quickly. One can also alternate and repeat techniques during the same session. For example, start with progressive muscular relaxation, then repeat a sequence of hypnotic induction, relaxing your emotional state, visualization, rhythmic breathing, and concentration meditation, until the desired depth of relaxation is attained. When you combine techniques in this way, spend a short period of time on each technique and repeat the sequence rather than using one technique for the entire session.

There are quite a lot of things you can do when you are in a deep state of relaxation.

• A deeply relaxed state is a great time to do self healing or healing of those not present.
• Sending healing to "where it's needed for the highest good" is a practice that leads to spiritual unfoldment.
• You might try using affirmations.
• You can also try asking questions of God, your higher-self, or spirit guides when you are in a deeply relaxed state. After you ask a question, notice the activity of your mind and see if any relevant thoughts or symbolic images arise that pertain to the question. Notice if the thought is the first thing that pops into your mind, if it is a train of associations, or if it is something that you only recognize after you notice you have been lost in thought for a few seconds. For more information on communicating with spirit guides see the page on Communicating With Spirit Guides

After a relaxation session, take a few seconds to notice how relaxed you feel. Try to maintain this state rather than immediately going back to "normal" out of habit. It can also be helpful to note your emotional state before you start these exercises and compare that to how you feel when in a deep state of relaxation and how you feel afterwards. If you feel that an emotional disturbance is lessened when in a deep state of relaxation, try to notice if and when the upset returns after the exercises.

Relaxation exercises do not just help you to relax at the time you do the exercises. They help you to develop the ability to relax as a skill, as a habit, that you carry with you throughout out the day. Then, over time, when you find yourself experiencing tension due to stress or strong emotional reactions, you will develop the skills and know how to relax and let go of the tension and emotions as they occur throughout the day.

Don't drive your car or operate dangerous equipment if you are not fully alert!

However you can take breaks during the day and spend a few minutes to become deeply relaxed. Use these breaks to help you maintain a calm, relaxed and unhurried attitude all day long. You may also start and/or end a meditation session by doing these relaxation exercises.

If you are especially anxious, nervous, or overly enthusiastic about something, you can use these techniques help calm yourself.

Start with rhythmic breathing and notice your heart rate. Your goal for the session will be to lower your heart rate. Use all the exercises and repeat the cycle of induction, visualization, and rhythmic breathing a few times until your heart rate goes down. At this point you should feel much more relaxed although you may still feel the effects of adrenalin.

The advantage to this system is that there is an objective measure of when you are relaxed: the heart rate. This is more reliable than just setting a fixed amount of time for doing a certain technique.

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Recommended Reading

More information on relaxation can be found in meditation section of the Recommended Reading chapter.

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The Verses

I have the habit of being relaxed
Through meditation and mindfulness relaxation and more
I use these verses to unlock that door

Breathing naturally gently in time
With stillness and focus I calm my mind
Observing emotions I relax and let go
Attachments and aversions are delusions I know

I remind myself throughout the day
That I do what I plan in a relaxing way
Mindfully watching to see if I'm tense
I relax whenever the need presents
If a thought arises that causes alarm
I think it again and see myself calm
Whenever something's not going my way
By reacting calmly I make it okay
But if I'm upset and can't explain why
I give self-analysis another try

No matter how ignorant people may act
I consider my karma before I react
Putting myself in the place of the other
I remember my errors and forgive my sisters and brothers
By thinking and speaking with charity so nice
I avoid being petty and many a vice

Doing all day relaxed and unhurried
I put into practice these verses unworried
They displace negativity while calming my mind
And leave my thoughts positive unselfish and kind.

Everyday can be a relaxing day
Today is a relaxing day
Everything I do I do relaxed
I'm having a relaxing day now as I ____
I will have a relaxing day later as I ____
Everyday can be a relaxing day
Because I have the habit of being relaxed...

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About the Verses

Life can be stressful. A little bit of stress makes it harder to deal with other stressful situations - it makes us irritable. We can get caught in a negative feedback loop, a downward spiral. Over the years we may become so accustomed to stress that we automatically react negatively whenever we are in a situation that conflicts with our desires. We may react negatively out of habit. This article is intended to show you how to break that habit and to replace it with a new habit - the habit of being relaxed.

People turn to meditation for various reasons and different types of meditation are suited to different purposes. In the practice described in this article, the objective is to develop equanimity by learning to be relaxed. Meditation by itself can have the effect of relaxing the practitioner. However there are also other types of relaxation exercises that allow the practitioner to relax. Different relaxation exercises have effects on different systems of the body. Some relax the muscles, some relax the respiratory system, some relax the mind. In this context, meditation is understood to be a relaxation exercise where the mind concentrates on saying a mantra in time with the natural rhythm of the breathing. This has the effect of calming both respiration and the mind. The verses explain the correct method of meditation and therefore help the practitioner to maintain a correct practice.

The verses may be repeated inwardly or aloud. When saying them inwardly, it can be helpful to say them in time with the natural rhythm of the breathing, but that is not necessary if it is found to be too difficult. The lines should be recited in a rhythm with four beats per line. This can accommodate one or two complete breaths (inhalation and exhalation) per line. The verses should be recited calmly and in a relaxed manner so that the tempo and rhythm has a calming effect.

This practice helps the practitioner to develop the habit of being relaxed at two levels. First, by using this practice in meditation, relaxation exercises, during daily activities at various times during the day, and especially when you notice you are becoming tense or upset, you train yourself to be more relaxed. Secondly, during a practice session, if you notice you have become distracted and lose track of saying the mantra, you may also notice that some of the distracting thoughts make you tense or upset to one extent or another. As you go back to saying the mantra, and you relax away that reaction, you practice changing how you react to those types of thoughts. This also helps you to develop the habit of being relaxed.

These verses are phrased as an affirmation. The desired result is stated as if it is already achieved. If that result has not already been achieved, using the affirmation may create a conflict in the mind of the practitioner. That conflict is desirable. It forces the practitioner to recognize the difference between his behavior and his beliefs and leads him to look for ways to resolve the conflict. If the practitioner is resolute in maintaining his beliefs through the use of the affirmation, then he will have to modify his behavior and comply with the affirmation to resolve the conflict.

Be aware that this practice will take time to have an effect. Have realistic expectations. At first just try to notice if it helps you to relax. You may not be able to stay calm in every situation, but this practice can be used to regain a calm state if something happens that upsets you. Also, don't over use the verses by trying to blot out every negative thought. Give yourself time to think through the events in your life. Balance letting emotions out with letting them go. The practice in this article should help you to let go of emotions. But both letting out and letting go are necessary. Therefore it must be understood that in addition to this practice you may want to also use other practices that assist in letting out emotions. More information on "letting out" can be found in the chapter on Meditation in the section on Insight Meditation. Briefly, "letting out" involves understanding your emotions through self-analysis and through observing the physical sensations that accompany emotions and allowing them to be expressed.

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How to Use the Verses

• Meditation (sitting, lying down, or walking)
  • During a morning meditation practice
  • As a walking meditation when you go out for a walk.
  • If you can't sleep at night and would like to give your mind something to do while lying in bed rather then just lie there and fret or worry.

  Used as a mantra to concentrate on during meditation, the verses will keep you mindful of how to meditate correctly.

• Mindfulness
  • During daily activities and chores.
  • If you feel hurried or you're rushing around and you want to do things with a more relaxed frame of mind.
  • To give your mind something better to think about than negative self talk, or past problems and worries about the future that you've already thoroughly thought through.

  Use the verses as a mantra during daily activities. It will help you remember to do all your daily activities in a relaxed, unhurried, and detached way and will fill your mind with positive and wholesome thoughts.

• Relaxation
  • If you feel worried, angry or otherwise emotionally upset.
  • After a busy day or a stressful event.

  Use the verses sitting or lying down as part of a system of relaxation exercises that may be done at various times throughout the day to keep the body relaxed and the mind calm. One possible series of exercises could be:

  • Start with a brief session of stretching or yoga.
  • Then, while sitting or lying down, repeat a sequence of relaxation exercises:
    • Go through the verses described in this article once.
    • Focus your attention on each chakra for a few seconds each.
    • Use hypnotic induction to relax further. Mentally focus your attention on each part of the body from the toes to the top of the head and say to yourself, "my toes are relaxed and heavy, my feet are relaxed and heavy", and continue working your way through all parts of the body. Notice if each part of your body actually starts to feel more relaxed, and heavy.
    • Visualize each of the colors of the spectrum (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, white). It can be helpful to visualize an object such as a fruit or flower of each color. Notice how visualizing the colors takes you into a very deep relaxed dreamy state.
  • After visualizing colors repeat the series of relaxation exercises starting from the verses and continue for as long as you like.
  • If you reach a deep state of relaxation where the mind starts to wander wildly and you can't concentrate on the verses for more than a few seconds, it is okay to just stop and lay quietly until the mind wakes up a bit and then you can restart the relaxation exercises.

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Commentary

I have the habit of being relaxed

Through persistent and correct use of these verses, one can develop the habit of being relaxed. This is necessary because over a lifetime, one, may develop habits of worrying and negative self talk. We were not born with these negative habits, but since they were learned, we can also learn new mental habits. Using these verses correctly will help you to replace old mental habits with new ones.

Purpose of the verses:

Through meditation and mindfulness relaxation and more

Use the verses in meditation, during daily activities, and in relaxation exercises. The more you use the verses the stronger the habit of being relaxed will become. "More" refers to not just reciting the verses but trying to apply what they say, such as speaking with charity, and trying to understand things from the other person's point of view in order to be able to forgive. Doing these things will help you to develop a more relaxed attitude towards life.

I use these verses to unlock that door

The "door" is the door to the state of being relaxed as well as to the higher realms of the spirit world. As you develop your mind and develop positive mental habits you will become fit for higher realms in the afterlife.

How to meditate / relax:

Breathing naturally gently in time

When saying the verses inwardly, try to say the verses in time with the natural rhythm of the breathing. If you find that too awkward, try to breathe calmly and gently without taking inordinately deep and slow breaths, or inordinately rapid breaths. If you say the verses too rapidly or do not breathe comfortably, that can cause tension or excitement rather than relaxation. The idea is to coordinate saying the verses and breathing in a way that is calming and relaxing so that using these verses is relaxing.

With stillness and focus I calm my mind

Stillness refers to remaining physically still during meditation, and relaxation exercises. During daily activities try to move in a relaxed deliberate manner rather than making rapid and jerky movements. Focus refers to concentrating the mind on the verses. If you find yourself distracted just go back to saying the verses. Distractions are normal and to be expected. They are not something to try to overcome, or an indication of any lack of ability. Living a normal busy life will cause the mind to be somewhat "hyperactive" and that is just they way it is.

Observing emotions I relax and let go

Balance observing the physical sensations that accompany emotions with focusing your mind on something else and relaxing to let go of the emotions. Don't repress anything but also don't train yourself to be over emotional by obsessively trying to let out emotions.

Attachments and aversions are delusions I know

When you observe the activity of the mind in meditation, you see how emotions come and go, how opinions, likes and dislikes, poses, and attitudes are ephemeral and not reality, but arbitrary, temporary, delusions.

How to stay calm and handle situations

I remind myself throughout the day
That I do what I plan in a relaxing way

Take time during the day to review your plans for the day and remind yourself that you will be relaxed as you do each thing you plan.

Mindfully watching to see if I'm tense
I relax whenever the need presents

Through out the day try to notice if you are tense or upset, and if so try to find a few minutes to relax using these verses.

If a thought arises that causes alarm
I think it again and see myself calm

When you find yourself worrying or thinking about something that upsets you, remind yourself that you can be calm and relaxed even if it happens. Try to visualize yourself being calm when the thing occurs. This can be difficult so it is usually a good idea to start applying this with relatively minor situations. As you become more comfortable doing this you can apply it to more difficult situations. It's like skiing, you don't start learning to ski on the expert's slopes, you learn on the beginner's slopes. This is true for many of the other lines in these verses too - start trying to apply them on the minor things and you will see the truth in them.

Whenever something's not going my way
By reacting calmly I make it okay

If you don't have a negative reaction to something it is not a problem. We don't really worry about something happening, we worry about how we will feel if something happens. If there is something you tend to worry about but you learn you can experience it with out becoming upset you will stop worrying about it. By not giving in to the habit of reacting negatively to a situation we defuse it and we abstain from making it a problem. This can be difficult to learn. Like in the previous couplet, start applying it on the minor things.

But if I'm upset and can't explain why
I give self-analysis another try

Self-analysis involves trying to explore what emotions you are feeling and why you are feeling them. It is a cognitive approach which involves considering your thoughts and experiences and your emotional responses to them.

How to interact with other people

No matter how ignorant people may act

Everyone will eventually advance to the highest levels of the spirit world. However before people become so highly evolved they are more or less ignorant and that ignorance can be responsible for what we call "bad" or "evil" actions. Also, sometimes it is our own ignorance that causes us judge other people or their actions incorrectly.

I consider my karma before I react

The law of karma says that good actions have good consequences and bad actions have bad consequences. If you feel compelled to react to something someone does, consider very carefully how you react because if you are reckless in your reactions you may create bad consequences for yourself. Whenever possible try to teach by example. Try not to act maliciously. Try to do what is best for everyone, for the highest good, do not just seek revenge. If you need help trying to figure out what to do, try prayer.

Putting myself in the place of the other

Try to see things from the other person's point of view. Trying to understand why other people do what they do, can help you to forgive them.

I remember my errors and forgive my sisters and brothers

Remembering your own mistakes can also help you to forgive others.

By thinking and speaking with charity so nice

Thinking and speaking with charity means you don't judge or condemn others. Rather than focusing solely on the negative, you try to see the positive - the good in others.

I avoid being petty and many a vice

The habit of being relaxed is not just being physically relaxed and having a calm mind. It also includes avoiding thinking in ways that make us tense, such as angry or hateful thinking. The way we think about things is something we learned in the past and it is possible to learn different ways of thinking about things.

Summary

Doing all day relaxed and unhurried

Try to do your daily activities in a relaxed and unhurried manner.

I put into practice these verses unworried

Use the verses at various times throughout the day to help you keep relaxed, but in addition to saying the verses, also try to do what they advise you to do.

They displace negativity while calming my mind
And leave my thoughts positive unselfish and kind

When you use these verses, they fill your mind and will replace any negative self talk, worrying, and other undesirable mental activity that you habitually may engage in. By replacing negative thinking with something wholesome and positive, those negative habits may atrophy and be replaced with new healthier habits.

A Relaxing Day

The affirmations in the last stanza are intended to put into practice the first and second lines of the third stanza:

I remind myself throughout the day
That I do what I plan in a relaxing way

Everyday can be a relaxing day

Imagine what an ideal relaxing day would be. Imagine how you would feel if you were experiencing such a day. For example, you might think of a day of summer vacation back in the care free days when you were a young child.

Today is a relaxing day

As you say this line, remember what it is like to have a relaxing day. As you remember what a relaxing day is like, you recreate that state in your mind - you create that reality with your mind.

Everything I do I do relaxed
I'm having a relaxing day now as I ____

Fill in the blank with what you are doing at the moment. Try to relax as you say these lines. Notice how you feel.

I will have a relaxing day later as I ____

Fill in the blank with what you will be doing later in the day. Say this line with the intention that you will be relaxed as you do the other things you have planned for the day.

Everyday can be a relaxing day
Because I have the habit of being relaxed...

The last line leads in to a repetition of the verses from the beginning.

The last stanza can also be used by itself as a mantra for daily activities when the full verses are too much. It can also be used at any time during the day when you find yourself feeling hurried or you find yourself worrying about various items on your schedule for the day. Always use this stanza or the full verses, in a calm and relaxed manner. Never rush through them or alter your breathing in uncomfortable ways to accommodate them.

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Distracted States of Mind

When you first start this practice, learning the verses will probably take so much attention that you should be able to concentrate very well. Once the practice becomes familiar to you, you may find it harder to concentrate. There are two types of distracted states you should be aware of. One type is when your mind keeps being drawn into thinking about something in your past, present, or future. If this occurs it will usually happen at the outset of a practice session. In extreme cases you may find it helpful to stop practicing and write about what is on your mind. Then try practicing again. If necessary write more etc. It can often take a long time to quiet the mind when something in particular is bothering us.

The other type of distracted state is the hypnogogic state. In this state you mind wanders wildly, dreamily, on thoughts, visions, and/or words that do seem to be related to your life. This state does not usually occur at the beginning of a session. If it occurs it usually happens after a session has gone on for some number of minutes and you are very relaxed. If you find you reach this state during the practice you have succeeded in attaining a very deep state of relaxation and you can simply stop the practice and just abide in that state until you find yourself coming back to a more normal waking state of consciousness and then you can resume the practice.

If you feel sleepy during a practice session, depending on your own judgment of what you need most and what practical, you may decide to take a nap, or try a more active form of the practice. If you are doing the practice lying down and feel sleepy, you can try it sitting up. If you are sitting you can try repeating the verses while taking a short walk.

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Spirit guides are non-physical beings, whose experiences qualify them to be of assistance to you, and who try to guide you through life to help you fulfill the purposes for which you are living.

An important consequence of the existence of these guardians is that it implies that every person can receive communications from spirits. Why would people have spirit guides if they couldn't be guided? If spirit guides can influence you, how do they do it? Usually, your guardians don't appear and talk to you face to face, so they must influence you through your mind.

Spirit guides don't force us to follow their advice. Some people are so attached to their own ideas, desires, and ego that they are unwilling to consider anything that contradicts their attachments. In these cases people can ignore guidance but that doesn't mean that they are not receiving it.

Most of the time you perceive guidance as an idea that comes to your mind but you don't recognize that it is from outside yourself. However it is sometimes possible to learn to recognize these communications and to improve your receptivity:

To learn to do this, try this exercise every day at the same time of day:

Sit down with the intention of writing about important issues or questions in your life or issues or questions of spirituality that you have an interest in. These are the types of topics that spirit guides try to help you with. One would expect that they would try to guide your thinking as you write about these subjects whether or not you are intentionally trying to communicate with them. Begin with a short prayer asking God to watch over you, protect you, and guide you. The Lord's Prayer is excellent for this purpose. Then start writing, on paper or at a keyboard. Continue for twenty minutes or so. Do not practice more than an hour a day.

The changes that will occur in your experience of this will occur over a time period measured in years. Do not expect astounding results immediately. Do not do anything suggested by this writing that you would not do under ordinary circumstances. Do not get carried away and consider every idea that comes into your head a divine revelation making you infallible. If you like what is written and it makes obvious sense then accept it at face value. If you disagree with it then reject it.

As you write try to maintain a detached state of mind. Don't judge what you write while you are writing it. You can judge it later when you are done. Resistance or doubt interferes with your receptivity. Just write whatever comes. Accept silly stuff you think you might be making up - remember you are looking for gradual changes over a period of years so in the beginning don't expect profundity or expertise. Also, the communication may come in the form of ideas not a series of words, in this case it is your own mind that puts the ideas into words, so there may be a very good reason why it might seem like the writing is coming from your own mind. The important point is to maintain a receptive / meditative state of mind so that you and your guides can gradually build a rapport. It takes time.

Sometimes you may start off with something that seems silly but as you go on it winds around to something profound. If nothing comes to mind then sit and meditate until thoughts begin to arise. Don't put pressure on yourself to perform. If you really don't like what is coming through then don't write it.

If you do this practice daily over a period of years you may gradually become more aware of when you are being guided. It is possible that rather than sensing a presence, you may just notice subtle changes in the characteristics of the style or mechanics of writing that indicate you are being influenced. Even if you don't notice anything different, you may find that what you write is useful and meaningful to you so that you may continue this practice for that reason alone. It is important that your intentions be pure and that you do this because you desire to know more clearly the divine plan so that you may be able to play an appropriate part in it. If you look inside yourself and see that your motives are purely for amusement or to attain power then you should not do it.

Related Reading

• Learning Their Language by Marta Williams. Check the index for "automatic writing". This book is about communicating with animals but the instructions for automatic writing are applicable.
• Light From The Spirit World by C. Hammond http://www.spiritwritings.com/SpiritWorldHammond.pdf
• Rebecca Rosen http://www.rebeccarosen.com/howitallbegan.html
• The Seven Purposes by Margaret Cameron http://www.spiritwritings.com/sevenpurposes.pdf

Everyone has spirit guides, therefore everyone can be influenced by spirits. Why would people have spirit guides if they couldn't be guided by them? But, can everyone learn to recognize the influence of spirits in their own lives? The answer is yes, and this chapter will explain how.*

There is a natural method for learning to communicate with spirits. It makes use of the fact that spontaneous communications with spirits can occur when a person is in the deeply relaxed state that occurs just before falling asleep which psychologists call the hypnogogic state. Not all mental activity that occurs in the hypnogogic state is spirit communication, but by observing the activity of their mind in the hypnogogic state, a person can also practice recognizing faint mental impressions that are similar to those that occur during spirit communication.

Throughout my life, I have often seen people in my mind's eye just before falling asleep. I often wondered if they might be spirits because the people I saw were of every race, type, and age. I am not around many different people during the day so I didn't think I was just remembering or dreaming about what happened during the day. After I began to take classes in mediumship at a Spiritualist church, I tried to communicate with these people. I found that some of the people I saw were recognized by my classmates as deceased relatives and that the information conveyed by these people seemed to be characteristic of those relatives. I concluded that seeing these people is a natural and spontaneous form of spirit communication. I also found that preparing to do mediumship by doing a meditation that causes a person to become deeply relaxed and to enter the hypnogogic state helps them to do better mediumship.

Everyone goes through the hypnogogic state every time they fall asleep and anyone can learn how to cultivate that state through relaxation exercises. Therefore if one is interested in learning to communicate with spirits they can make use of this natural ability to become highly receptive to spirit communications.

* The section Everyone is a Medium in the chapter on Short Topics expands on the discussion of why everyone can perceive communications from spirits.

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Other Types of Psychic Perceptions

This chapter is primarily about learning to communicate with spirits, however you can also use the method described here if you are interested in developing other types of psychic perceptions. Precognition, remote viewing, and astral projection* have all been experienced using this method. To use this method for these or other types of psychic perceptions, it is recommended that you still perform Exercise 3 daily (below). In Exercise 4, once in the hypnogogic state, you can simply observe your hypnogogic visions and other perceptions. Keep a log and see if any are precognitive (happen in the future). You also can ask your spirit guides to help you develop other psychic abilities that interest you. For example, you can ask about distant locations or help visiting the astral or spirit planes.

*The terms remote viewing, and astral projection are used in different ways by different authors. Here, remote viewing is used to refer to perceiving distant locations in the physical universe and astral projection is use to mean perceiving the astral or spirit planes. Astral projection is meant to refer having only mental perceptions. The experience of leaving the body, traveling to another location, and seeming to actually be there is a separate phenomena and would be referred to using the term out-of-body-experience.

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Theta waves and the Hypnogogic State

Scientists have found that theta brain waves are associated with reports of psychic experiences and that visualization exercises induce theta waves (See "Leaving The Body" by Scott Rogo). The types of psychic phenomena reported from various sources include remote viewing, out-of-body experiences, spirit communication, precognition, and possibly others. Scientists have also found that theta waves are produced during the hypnogogic state - the state between sleeping and waking. This is important because the hypnogogic state is recognizable by the person experiencing it. A person can use it to identify when a he is generating theta waves and thus in a psychically receptive state without the need for expensive EEG equipment.

Exercise 1 will show you how to learn to recognize the hypnogogic state by watching yourself as you fall asleep. You will recognize that the hypnogogic state is occurring when you are very relaxed, your mind starts wandering wildly, and you see frequent images in your mind's eye.

Exercise 2 will show you how to induce the hypnogogic state by using a combination of relaxation exercises including visualization exercises. (These relaxation exercises are described in the chapter "Relaxation". ) You can learn to get into the hypnogogic state at times other than bed time by performing a combination of relaxation exercises. If each exercise in the combination relaxes a different system in the body, then using them in combination will relax you faster and to a deeper state than one relaxation exercise by itself. A good way to combine relaxation exercises for this purpose is to start with ten to twenty minutes of meditation using The How-To Mantra as described in the chapter on Meditation while sitting, then, lying down, repeat a sequence of: chakra work, hypnotic induction, visualization of colors, and repeating a mantra or prayer in rhythm with the breathing as in the chapter Develop the Habit of Being Relaxed .

Exercise 3 will help you to learn to recognize the hypnogogic state by trying to repeat a mantra or a prayer as you are performing a relaxing type of healing meditation. A healing prayer is used in Exercise 3, but the Lord's Prayer, the rosary or any mantra that is several sentences long would work as well. (You can also learn to recognize the hypnogogic state this way by repeating the mantra as you fall asleep at bed time rather than during a meditation or relaxation exercise). When you find you are so deeply relaxed that you cannot concentrate for more than a few words at a time without becoming distracted and it feels like it just takes too much energy to keep saying the mantra, you are in the hypnogogic state.

You can use these exercises to learn to get into the hypnogogic state in successively less restful postures. Initially you should start lying down with your eyes closed. Once you are able to enter the hypnogogic state when lying down, try doing it sitting up with your eyes closed, then lying down with your eyes open, then sitting up with your eyes open. There are also numerous health and psychological benefits associated with cultivating the theta state.

The hypnogogic state can be used to enhance creativity. Thomas Edison, one of the greatest inventors of all time, used the hypnogogic state to get ideas for his work. He would hold a fist full of ball bearings and when he began to doze off, his hand would relax and the bearings would fall on the floor. The noise of the falling bearings would alert him to his state.

Some readers may think that these hypnogogic visions are merely dreams or that they are simply a window into the unconscious mind. These views are entirely consistent with the contention that many hypnogogic visions are psychic perceptions. Many psychic perceptions are too faint to reach consciousness and remain subliminal. Any activity that accesses the unconscious mind will help to make psychic perceptions conscious. When a person is dreaming, theta brain waves are predominant. In the book "An Experiment With Time" by J. W. Dunne, the author shows that many dreams are precognitive. He gives an explanation of how anyone can learn to remember their own dreams and prove this for themselves. Another book, "The G.O.D. Experiment" by Gary Schwartz explores this phenomenon too. Lastly, there are a great number of anecdotal reports of spirit communication during dreams. Many such reports can be easily found found by searching on the internet.

Doing the exercises explained below should allow most people to learn to communicate with spirits very easily. It will still take time (years) and consistent practice to develop this ability, this is not an instant short cut. It is a way for people to use a natural capability of the mind (the hypnogogic state) as a stepping stone to develop the ability to communicate with spirits. It takes the mystery out of mediumship.

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A Word of Warning

One should be very careful before undertaking these exercises. You should read the chapter Further Adventures of a Student Medium and the books "Confessions of a Psychic" by Susy Smith and "Thirty Years Among the Dead" (http://www.spiritwritings.com/ThirtyYearsAmongTheDead.html) by Carl Wickland first to learn about some of the risks involved. These books should scare you. After a while the fear will subside and rational caution will remain.

You should not undertake the study of mediumship if you abuse addictive drugs or alcohol, or if you are involved in activities that are harmful to other people, or if you are suffering from emotional or mental illnesses. You should only undertake the study of mediumship if your intention is to act in the service of God and humankind. You should understand that the purpose of psychic development is to advance the spiritual development of yourself and others. Like attracts like, and any type of selfish behavior or selfish motivation for gain or renown you have in learning to communicate with spirits will attract spirits that are also selfish. You can never gain any benefit to yourself by interacting with selfish spirits. Such spirits may promise you some benefit, but being selfish, they will not deliver on their promise though they will use you for their own purposes which may leave you permanently under their influence doing things that are harmful to yourself and other people.

If you are certain that your motivation is pure, you may begin these exercises.

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Exercises

Exercise 1A Observe the Hypnogogic State.

As you fall asleep at night, notice your mental state. When you find your mind wandering wildly and you see dream like images in your minds eye, you are in the hypnogogic state. Watch yourself whenever you go to sleep and learn to recognize this state.

These hypnogogic experiences are very similar to what many mediums experiences when communicating with spirits. If you have done this exercise you now know what it is like to communicate with spirits. It is not mysterious, it is not extraordinary, and it does not require any special ability at all. This exercise gives you practice recognizing the faint mental impressions that occur during spirit communication. it will help you learn to do mediumship even though there may be no spirits communicating while you practice it.

Exercise 1B

The point of exercise 1 is to give you an idea of what you will experience when you are communicating with spirits so that you will be able to recognize spirit communications. Exercise 1A is more realistic because you are passive, the experiences seem to happen spontaneously and you just observe them. However if you have trouble observing the hypnogogic state there is another way to have these same experiences.

Visions and words are most often (but not always) communicated by spirits subjectively, that is, you experience them in your mind. To get an idea of what this is like:

• Visualize something in your minds eye. It could be a person or an object. Concentrate for a few seconds on this image. This is often the way a spirit shows you something - it appears in your minds eye.
• Say a word or two to yourself. This is very similar to what you will experience when a spirit gives you a word or two during a communication.

Smells and physical sensations are often communicated objectively. When a spirit communicates a smell or physical sensation it is often experienced exactly the same as when it is really happening.

• Smell a flower. This is what it is like when a spirit communicates an odor to you.
• The next time you feel a sensation in your body, notice that. This is often what it is like when a spirit wants to identify a part of the body. Frequently a spirit will do this to indicate what part of their body was diseased and caused their death.

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Exercise 2 - Relaxation Techniques - Preparation for communicating with spirits.

In order to communicate with spirits when you want to, it helps to be able to enter the hypnogogic state at will. These relaxations techniques will help you learn to do so.

Try a variety of relaxation techniques and see which ones can help you get into the hypnogogic state at will. Often a combination of techniques will work best. The details of the various relaxation techniques are explained in the chapter on relaxation.

• Muscular relaxation:
  • Physical:
    • Yoga, or other stretches will help you prepare for other types of relaxation exercises.
    • Progressive Muscular Relaxation
  • Mental:
    • Hypnotic Induction (mentally relax each part of the body)
    • Autogenic training.
• Breathing exercises : relax the respiratory system. Breathe gently, focus your attention on your breathing, possibly synchronize your breathing with some number of heart beats.
• Chakra meditation. Focus your attention on each chakra, notice any sensation in that area, visualize the corresponding color of each chakra.
• Visualization: Visualizing colors, or some pleasant imaginary location, deeply relaxes the mind, puts you into a dreamy mental state, and cultivates a type of brain wave that has been associated with psychic experiences (See "Leaving The Body" by D. Scott Rogo)

After doing relaxation exercises for ten or so minutes, stop but continue to lie still and let your mind wander freely, notice if it goes into the hypnogogic state.

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Exercise 3 - Healing Meditation - Long Term Development

Two distinct groups of advanced spirit guides working through different mediums have both given similar instructions on how to meditate to cultivate spiritual development. This meditation involves moving healing energy from a higher source through you and into the world with the intention that it be used for the highest good. When you do this type of meditation you identify yourself as a spiritual worker and you attract spirit guides who desire to work with you and who will help you develop into a better spiritual worker. This includes the development of spirit communication. These two groups of spirits guides are those who communicated through Grace Cooke (See "Meditation" by Grace Cooke) and those who communicated through Betty White (See "Anchors to Windward" by Stewart Edward White)

The following is a suitable application of these instructions:

• Choose a time and do the meditation at the same time every day. This is a courtesy to your guides who have to come to you to help you and provide protection. This can involve more than one spirit and if you want them to work with you, you should make it easier for them by being consistent and predictable.
• Lie down comfortably.
• Begin with this opening prayer for protection: "Oh God, please watch over me and protect me so that only the highest and best forces can influence me." Repeat this once or twice if necessary to ensure it is clearly impressed in your mind.
• Visualize a beam of white healing light shining down from heaven onto the top of your head. While you do this try to notice the feeling in your crown chakra. Imagining a point a couple of inches above your crown or lightly touching yourself on the top of your head may help you to feel the crown chakra.
• At the same time, calmly repeat one of the following prayers inwardly for five or ten minutes:
  • "Oh God, please may I have healing energy to give me healing for my highest good. Please may any surplus be guided to where it's needed for the highest good ."
  • "Oh God, please move healing energy through me to where it's needed for the highest good.
  • "Oh God, please move healing energy through me to where it's needed for the highest good, and to [name one or more people you would like to send healing to] to give them healing for their highest good.
• When you practice this meditation every day, after a period of time you may find yourself spontaneously entering the hypnogogic state at the end of the meditation. If you do not spontaneously enter the hypnogogic state at the end of the meditation, use the sequence of relaxations exercises you used while lying down in exercise 2 to enter the hypnogogic state. Try to maintain the hypnogogic state for five or ten minutes. Pay close attention to your experiences. At first, most of your impressions may just be random activity of the mind. However, try to notice if you sense the presence of anyone. Are they male or female? Do you have any sense of what they look like? If you see a face or a whole person flash in your mind's eye, mentally ask them, "tell me about yourself" and then observe your mental impressions. If you see images in your mind's eye, try to describe them to yourself in as much detail as possible. If there are words that seem to be on the tip of your tongue notice that. Finally, ask the spirits, "do you have any message for me?"
• Try to notice how your mental perceptions arise and try to notice the different qualities of mental activity you perceive. Are you just thinking about daily life, the past or the future like you do in ordinary wakeful consciousness? Are mental images visualizations of what you are thinking about or do they seem to come spontaneously? Are your thoughts a series of associations, one thought leading to another and another and another or do some arise completely unrelated to anything in your life and unrelated to previous thoughts?
• Spirits are attracted to us when we think of them. Therefore, if you believe you are communicating with a spirit during the meditation, you can try to strengthen the mental connection by thinking of them. For example, if you see a spirit in your mind's eye, try to hold that vision while you are communicating. This should help you maintain a stronger mental connection with them.

Generally spirits in the spirit world do not have any physical disabilities that they may have had on earth. If you see a spirit that is deformed or you perceive an angry, malevolent, confused, or unhappy spirit, you may be encountering an earth bound spirit. In the beginning it is wise to avoid contact with such spirits. If you encounter such spirits you should repeat the prayer for protection until you feel comfortable again, and imagine a barrier of white light surrounding you that only the highest and best forces can penetrate. When you become more experienced communicating with spirits, you may want to try to help earth bound spirits by encouraging them to complete their transition into the spirit world and to look for loved ones who may be trying to help them. Details on how to do this are explained on the Spirit Rescue page. The book "Thirty Years Among the Dead" by Carl Wickland is also a good reference on how to do this.

• If you find that your experiences during the communication sessions are not very meaningful, asking questions of your spirit guides is a good way to make the sessions more relevant. One way to do this when you are in the hypnogogic state is to repeat a question over and over in your mind as if you were meditating and the question was a mantra. Then, just like in meditation, after a short time, you may find that you have become distracted by stray thoughts, a mental image, a few words appearing in your mind, or other types of mental impression. When this happens, examine that mental activity see if it could be an answer to your question. Sometimes the answers will be given symbolically and you will have to interpret them.
• It is a good practice to write down your experiences afterwards. Often you may find a message becomes clearer or elaborated when you write it.

Never do anything because you think a spirit told you to that you would not otherwise do without spirit influence. In the beginning you may have difficulty distinguishing spirit communications from your own wishful thinking or your own fears. In any case, a spirit guide's role is to help you consider all options before you make a decision and not to make a decision for you.

Sometimes when you are doing the above meditation, you may feel sensations around your head or in other parts of your body. This can be an indication of spirit guides working with the healing energy to give you healing or working on you to help you become more sensitive to communications. (See "How To Develop Your ESP" by Susy Smith who calls this "changing your chemicals" in her chapter on "The Development Class")

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Exercise 4 - Communicating When You Want To.

In addition to the healing meditation in exercise 3 you can also have a dedicated practice session for communicating with your spirit guides. If you do this you should still continue doing exercise 3 every day too.

1. Choose a time to do this exercise and practice it at that time every day. Practicing at a the same time every day allows your guides to know in advance when you will need them to assist and protect you.
2. Start with a period of concentration meditation as described in the chapter on Meditation. Use The How-To Mantra . When using meditation as a preparation for communicating with spirits, try to put more emphasis on keeping your mind focused than otherwise indicated in that chapter. Do the meditation sitting comfortably. The amount of time you meditate during this step should be between ten and twenty minutes. The purpose is to calm the mind and body as a preparation for the relaxation exercises in the following steps. You can try different lengths of time and see which is most helpful in entering into the hypnogogic state in the relaxation exercises that follow. As you become experienced you will notice how you feel when you are ready to start the relaxation exercises and then you can gauge how long to meditate by your mental state. When you are ready to go on to the relaxation exercises, you will be in a deeply relaxed state where you begin to have trouble concentrating because you are so relaxed (not because your mind is hyper-active and busy. The distinction between these two states is discussed in more detail in the section on Distracted States of Mind in the chapter on Develop the Habit of Being Relaxed ).
3. Do this step and the following steps lying down. Say a prayer for protection, guidance and assistance in the following manner:

   Oh God, please watch over me and protect me so that only the highest and best forces can influence me. Please send good and wise spirit guides to help me learn to perceive accurate, precise, and detailed communications from spirits and show me how to distinguish those communications from my own thoughts. Please guide me to use the ability to communicate with spirits for the highest good.

4. Tell your guides your intentions for the practice session. Use the following as an example:

   Hello spirit guides. I'm going to do the relaxation exercises now and try to get into the hypnogogic state. Then I'll ask for sign from you that you are present and then I'll ask some questions.

5. Use the relaxation exercises you learned in exercise 2 to get into the hypnogogic state.
6. Ask for a sign from your guides and then ask them questions or simply ask them to help a spirit to come through as a way to practice mediumship.

   When you ask a question or request a sign from your guides always start by addressing your guides and then ask the question. For example you might ask, "Oh spirit guides, please give me a sign that you are here". Repeat your request over and over in your mind as if you were meditating and the question was a mantra. Then, just like in meditation, after a short time, you may find that you have become distracted by stray thoughts, a mental image, a few words appearing in your mind, or other types of mental impression. When this happens, examine that mental activity see if it could be an answer to your question. Sometimes the answers will be given symbolically and you will have to interpret them.

   It is very important to address your guides and repeat the request until you get an answer. This is because doing so will use the law of attraction to create a stronger link with your spirit guides. The law of attraction says that you attract what you think about. When people are going for a reading with a medium, it is often suggested that if there is a certain spirit they want to come through during the reading, they should think about that spirit during the day they have the reading. This is the same principle. If you concentrate on your guides when you are asking the question it will help create a stronger link.

Sometimes it may seem like your guides are not available to work with you. One reason for this may be that your guides want you to learn to recognize when there are no spirits communicating with you. This is an important part of learning to communicate - knowing when spirits are present and when they are not.

The following set of questions is an example of how you might structure a communication session:

• Spirit guides, please give me a sign that you are here.
• Spirit guides, do you have any messages for me?

You can then ask any personal or spiritual questions you might have. However, don't become dependent on spirits for every little triviality in your life. It is not the responsibility of spirit guides to run your life for you. You are incarnated to learn from your own experiences and decisions.

If you would like to hear from any friends or relatives in the spirit world you can try these questions:

• Spirit guides, are there any friends or relatives of mine in the spirit world who would like to communicate?
• Spirit guides, do they have any messages for me?

It is not a good idea to strongly insist on hearing from a particular person in the spirit world. If you want to hear from them they will know about it. If they are unable to come to you, you can be sure there is a good reason for it. It may be better for them to avoid the earth plane for a period of time after their passing, or they may be involved in important work that keeps them from visiting you.

If you want to give readings to other people, it is probably a good idea for you to take classes from an experienced medium. However if you are in a class and want to practice giving readings you can add these questions to your communication sessions:

• Spirit guides, is there a spirit here who can help us practice mediumship now?
• Spirit guides, what were some of the things they did in their earth life?
• Spirit guides, is there any other evidence they can give to identify themselves?
• Spirit guides, do they have any messages they want to give?

An important point about the way this exercise is designed is that you are controlling the process. Spirits are allowed to help us in proportion to the effort we make. By taking the initiative instead of just lying around waiting for the spirits to do something, you earn a much higher level of assistance.

When you find you are able to enter the hypnogogic state easily when lying down, you may want to try this exercise sitting in a chair. In that case the following points may be helpful:

• Let the head tilt forward slightly as if you were going to try to sleep.
• Be sure to do the relaxation exercises in a relaxed way. Don't rush through them or that will keep you from becoming deeply relaxed.
• Try to notice a sensation of floating for a few seconds between each relaxation exercise.
• Try adding a brief period of rhythmic breathing to the end of the sequence of relaxation exercises you are using. Rhythmic breathing is described in the chapter on Relaxation.

If you find you have trouble entering the hypnogogic state sitting up, don't worry about it, just go back to doing the practice lying down. You can always try again in the future.

If you are able to notice your mental impressions in the hypnogogic state then you have a pretty good idea of what it is like to communicate with spirits even if you are not yet doing so. Spirits influence the mind by using its natural capabilities, and communicating with spirits seems very natural and very similar to what one experiences in the hypnogogic state. (In fact many of the thoughts that come to us are inspired by spirit guides but we don't recognize it.) This is the cause of one of the biggest difficulties in learning mediumship: that people don't recognize they are being influenced by spirits because it seems like the normal activity of their mind.

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Doing a Reading for Another Person

A "reading" is the term used to described a session in which a medium helps spirits to communicate with a living person. Learning to give readings is a serious endeavor and the many details and complexities of giving readings to other people are more than can be covered in this short chapter. When giving a reading you may be dealing with people who are suffering from intense grief or you may have to communicate sensitive personal information. Proper training is needed learn to handle these situations correctly. If you would like to learn to give readings to other people you should study with a authentic and experienced medium. Spiritualist churches often have inexpensive classes.

How to Find a Good Medium

The best way to determine if a medium is good is to watch them give readings to others first and then try a reading from them yourself. This is possible at Spiritualist churches where messages from spirits are given during the weekly service. You can attend church services for a few weeks and watch the mediums that work at the church. If you do not get a reading during the services, you may be able to schedule a private reading with the medium. Spiritualist churches often have fairs or "mediums day" events where you can schedule a reading with the medium of your choice.

During a reading, if all the medium tells you is that the spirit "is an old lady with gray hair", or "was a father figure" that is usually not enough to tell you who the spirit is. A medium should be able to provide information about a spirit which would normally be unknown to the medium, and which uniquely identifies who the spirit was when they were living on earth. This information may be a description of the appearance of the spirit while they were alive, things the spirit liked to do, things they did with the person getting the reading, the cause of their death, their personality, their relationship to the person, etc. All mediums work differently so the types of information may vary from medium to medium.

When giving the reading, the only questions the medium should ask are if the person getting the reading recognizes the spirit and if the information about the spirit is correct. The person getting the reading should only answer yes or no. The purpose of a public demonstration of mediumship is to show the continuation of the personality after the death of the physical body. In order for everyone present at the demonstration to see that a spirit is communicating with the medium, the medium must ask the recipient of the reading to say whether or not they recognize the spirit and if the information coming through is correct. It is also necessary for the medium to receive this type of feedback in order to maintain their skills (This is explained in more detail in the subsection "Feedback" of the section "The Traditional Method of Learning Mediumship below).

Some mediums may allow the person to ask other types of questions at the end of the reading. However you should be very suspicious if the medium asks you any questions about yourself or the spirit. This could provide the medium with information that they could use to make educated guesses about the spirit. Questioning by the medium occurs sometimes and is not necessarily an indication of deliberate fraud, it may simply be due to inadequate training. However the medium's job is to tell you what the spirit wants to say. The telephone doesn't need to know anything about you or the person you are speaking to, and a medium shouldn't either.

You should also be aware of a technique that stage mentalists use called cold reading. Someone using these techniques can create the impression that they are psychic when they are not. Before you go to a medium, you should understand how this works. If you intend to learn to give readings to other people you also need to understand how this works so that you can avoid using these techniques inadvertently.

An overview of cold reading can be found on the internet at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_reading

An example of a cold reading is explained at:
http://michaelprescott.typepad.com/michael_prescotts_blog/2006/11/i_feel_a_cold_r.html

Before going to a medium, or a spiritualist church, you should also read this book review that discusses fraud.

Another Warning

Be very careful in selecting a teacher. Being a good medium is not the only characteristic you should look for in a teacher.

• The most advanced teachers are the most humble, and will be uninterested in titles, hierarchy, or financial gain.
• Observe their actions not just their words.
• Avoid anyone who believes they are infallible, or who justifies their actions by saying they are guided by spirits.
• The ability to do mediumship is not an indication that a person is a highly evolved soul, nor is it an indication that they will be a good teacher.
• A medium is not a priest that intervenes between you and God, nor a guru, nor an avatar, nor some type of enlightened being. A teacher of mediumship is an ordinary person of average spirituality, who is trained to teach you a skill that is inherent in most people.
• You should not entrust your spiritual development to someone who cannot manage their own personal affairs.
• Watch out for mediums who use a charismatic personality to misdirect attention away from their mediocre talent.
• Avoid anyone who tells people they have some type of spiritual problem (a curse, a black aura, evil spirits around them etc.) and then charges fees to fix the problem. Do not believe them, study with them, or associate with them in any way.
• Some churches and organizations offer certification to mediums who take a series of classes and pass a certification test. Certification is not a guarantee of excellence nor is lack of certification a problem. Many excellent mediums are not certified.
• Learning to communicate with spirits requires an environment where you feel comfortable describing the faint mental impressions in your mind. This requires the teacher be gentle and encouraging and non-judgmental. Avoid anyone who is critical or negative or creates unnecessarily stressful situations in their efforts to teach you.
• Everyone is different, every mind is different, everyone communicates with spirits in a slightly different way. Your development is something that is determined by your spirit guides. For this reason you should avoid teachers who insist that "their way is the right way", or insist that you try to bring through certain types of information.
• Be on your guard for any group where one or more persons exercise inordinate influence on others. Often cult leaders seem beneficent at first and it is not until they have abused their status, often in subtle ways, that one realizes their selfish, egotistical nature.

On the other hand, when you see a teacher in front of a class, their pubic persona may give you the impression that they are extraordinary. Then when you find that, behind the scenes, they have the same combination of strengths and weaknesses that all people have, you can become disappointed - which is a bit unfair to them.

If you are unable to find a teacher or are not interested in becoming a medium, there are still many benefits to continuing the healing meditation daily. It will give healing to yourself and others, it will bring the highest and best spiritual influences into your life and it will help you to grow spiritually.

Outline of a Reading

The example below involves only one spirit. During a real reading, several spirits may come through, either one after another or at the same time.

A reading starts with the medium giving evidence of the spirit. Evidence is any information that will help the person recognize the spirit. This can be information about the appearance of the spirit while they were alive, things the spirit liked to do, things they did with the person getting the reading, the cause of their death, their personality, their relationship to the person, etc. Sometimes additional evidence is provided if needed to distinguish between more than one spirit who fit the initial description.

If the person recognizes the spirit from the evidence, then the medium can move on to the message. The message is whatever the spirit may want to say to the person. It may be something as simple as an expression of love for the person or that the spirit is truly alive and well in the spirit world. The message may also be something more complicated such as advice about a personal problem the person is facing. In this case, the message will often be some type of encouragement rather than a specific solution to a problem. We are incarnated to learn from our experiences and decisions and spirits will not lightly take away that learning experience by giving away the answers to life's problems.

If the evidence is not recognized, the spirit may be a guide. The person getting the reading may have never known the guide while the guide was on earth, so the person will not recognize the description of the spirit. In this case, the spirit can identify themself as a guide by showing that they are around the person. This is done by giving information about the activities the person has been involved in. For example, if the spirit is a guide that is helping them in their career the spirit may give information about what the person does on their job. If the spirit is determined to be a guide, the medium may then move on to give the message.

If the spirit does not give evidence that they are around the person then the spirit may have a message for another person present. Sometimes a medium will not be able to correctly ascertain who the reading is for. In this case, the medium may try an indirect reading. In an indirect reading, the medium describes the spirit and then asks if anyone present recognizes the spirit. If another person present recognizes the spirit, the medium may provide more evidence to confirm the identification before moving on to give the message.

If no one in the group recognizes the spirit then a message may be given for the group or an anonymous person.

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The Traditional Method of Learning Mediumship

The traditional method of learning mediumship usually consists of going to a class that meets once a week. In class, students either communicate with spirits during a meditation session and discuss their impressions afterwards, or they meditate as a preparatory exercise and then give each other readings afterwards. There is no reason why someone who is practicing the method of communicating with spirits described in this chapter cannot also take such classes. If students desire to give readings to other people, it is recommended that they take classes with an experienced medium. Anyone considering taking classes will find it helpful to understand the differences between the traditional way of teaching mediumship and the method described here.

The State of Wakefulness

Most mediumship classes teach students to communicate with spirits in a more wakeful state than the theta/hypnogogic state used here. When giving readings to other people it is preferable to do it in either normal waking consciousness or the slightly relaxed state of mind associated with alpha brain waves. The alpha state is usually achieved through meditation done immediately before communicating with spirits.

A High Dropout Rate with the Traditional Method

As a practical matter, the traditional method of teaching mediumship doesn't work for many people. Students who are already somewhat psychic may find the classes a good way to develop and hone their skills. However, if someone is not aware of their psychic abilities at all, that type of class may not be much help. The dropout rate for mediumship classes is very high, and this is because many people do not get any positive results in the beginning which leads to discouragement. This is especially pronounced in classes where beginning students are mixed in with more advanced students. People who are already somewhat psychic are often drawn to classes, so even a "beginners" class may have students with a wide range of abilities. It can be extremely discouraging for a true beginner in these classes and that is one of the reasons the method described here is so important. Anyone can get started in the privacy of their own home without worrying about how they compare to other students.

Working Alone when Necessary

The method of communication described here can be used by anyone working alone. This is an advantage because taking classes in the traditional method may be impractical for a number of reasons:

• In some locations, classes are not available.

• Some teachers charge an unreasonable fee.

  The typical cost of a mediumship class at a Spiritualist church at the time this is being written is around $10 per session. In some locations it is less, in other locations it is more. This is a nominal amount required to prevent people who are not serious from crowding out students who are. In some cases the fee may be greater out of necessity, for example, the rent for the classroom may require a higher fee. The teachers of classes offered at Spiritualist churches usually do not receive any monetary compensation - the fees collected go to the church.

  In our society, people must have money to survive so there is nothing morally wrong with spiritual workers (teachers, mediums, and healers) who are devoted full time to their work charging a fee for their services. However, they must guard themselves against the incentive to contrive their teachings to maximize financial gain.

• Some people may not be able to afford classes even if they are reasonably priced.

• Sometimes a student and teacher may not have compatible personalities.

Teaching Non-psychics

Often a person who is very psychic is not the best person to teach those who are of average psychic ability. This is because a strongly psychic person who has been communicating with guides or spirits since childhood will probably not understand what a non-psychic experiences when beginning to learn to communicate with spirits. While most classes are taught by people who are strongly psychic, the method described here is designed for any person but especially those who do not yet realize they are psychic.

Daily Practice

Learning mediumship is in some ways similar to learning to play a musical instrument. It would be absurd to think that anyone could become proficient at a musical instrument if the only time they could get their hands on the instrument was during a weekly lesson. While the traditional method of learning communication with spirits involves classes that meet once a week, the method described here permits practicing everyday.

Uncertainty

Giving a reading to another person involves a large amount of uncertainty. The medium does not know if a spirit will be available, if the spirit will be good at communicating, or if the spirit will be recognized by the person receiving the reading. Reducing this uncertainty can help the medium to work with the assurance needed to act with complete integrity. It can also help the medium to be more relaxed during a communication session which leads to more accurate, precise and detailed communication. The method discussed here helps to reduce uncertainty by providing the student with a large body of experiences from daily practice and by teaching the student to perceive the presence of spirit guides before commencing a communication session.

Psychometry

Many teachers include other types of psychic skills in their classes. This may be attractive to some students. Other students, however, may want to avoid developing the psychic skill called psychometry. In psychometry, a person obtains information about an object and the person who owns it simply by touching the object. When developed, this skill can be used by a psychic to obtain information about a spirit other than through true mind to mind communication. Some people feel that a medium's job is solely to help the spirit to communicate with the person receiving the reading. According to this view, information obtained by psychometry is misleading and out of place since it is not communicated intentionally by the spirit. This can be complicated by the fact that some students may not know whether the information they are receiving is coming from the spirit or through psychometry. For this reason some mediums prefer not to develop psychometry.

Asking Questions

In the traditional method, mediums are taught not to ask questions that are too specific because of the danger of filling in the answer with whatever might come from the activity of their own mind rather than what comes from the spirit.

Passive vs. Active Mediumship

Many teachers of the traditional method of learning mediumship tell students that in order to get started, the should "just start talking" whether or not they realize they have any information about a spirit. This is intended to retrieve subliminal information that the spirits may have communicated but which has not reached the conscious mind of the medium. However this type of "active mediumship" may lead to "creative readings" that come from the mind of the medium. This reduces the accuracy of a reading. The method described here is entirely passive. The medium asks questions of his spirit guides and then observes the mental activity arising in his mind. This method is not completely accurate either, however it avoids this source of invalid information.

A similar problem with the traditional classes is that students are often taught to say everything that comes into their mind without thinking about it in order to prevent the analytical part of their mind from keeping back something the spirit may be trying to communicate. This can be helpful for beginners who may have trouble recognizing that they are receiving communications from spirits and who need to learn which types of mental activity are caused by spirit influence and which are not. Unfortunately, in an experienced medium it can also result in various associations, memories, and inferences that are come from the mind of the medium being incorrectly attributed to the spirit.

Prejudice Against Education

In his book "After Life : Answers From The Other Side" the medium John Edward has written about a mediumship demonstration he gave with another medium that proves that education does not interfere with spirituality or mediumship. John Edward had worked in the medical field as a phlebotomist. His partner in the demonstration had studied geography extensively. During the demonstration, John amazed his partner with his knowledge of cardiac and blood disease. Likewise, his partner gave a reading where her detailed knowledge of geography allowed her to discuss a small town in Prussia, a country that no longer existed, that was relevant to the deceased relative of a member of the audience. This shows that education does not interfere with spirituality or mediumship but that the opposite is true. Education makes possible feats of mediumship that would be impossible without it.

Spiritualists formed churches so that their beliefs and practices would be considered as valid as any other religion in the eyes of society. This was needed to protect them from persecution. It is profoundly ignorant and hypocritical for a spiritualist to publicly make any group of people the butt of jokes and snide comments about perceived handicaps. Anyone claiming to be a spiritual teacher would be embarrassed to be found out making jokes about ethnic or religious groups or about people with handicaps. Yet slurs against educated individuals continue at Spiritualist churches.

Spiritualism claims to be compatible with other religions and welcomes everyone to its services. It is extremely hurtful to single out certain individuals as second class citizens because they are well educated. This is nowhere more true, and nowhere more hypocritical, than in a church which claims to provide a haven where people can express their interests in spirituality without fear of persecution.

This prejudice is not just hurtful. The prejudice itself can interfere with a person's ability to learn mediumship. In a mediumship class, the teacher will most likely be an experienced medium who is seen to have access to information that most people do not have. If the teacher seems to believe a student will not be able to learn mediumship because of their education, it can be very damaging to the student's belief in their potential. Belief in one's own potential is crucial to success in most endeavors but none more so than in mediumship.

Feedback

In traditional mediumship classes, feedback is provided to a student by the other students in the class. When a student perceives a spirit, they describe the spirit and the information they obtain from the spirit. When another student in the class recognizes the spirit they say so and that provides the feedback. In the case of spirit guides or distant relatives, a person may not recognize the spirit because they never met them in life. This can cause a problem for the student because the lack of feedback will be ambiguous. The student will not be able to tell if the information in the reading came from a spirit or from his own imagination.

When working with the method described here, you use a different type of feedback. You use the feedback of your own senses. A child learning to walk does not need a critical review of their gait. They learn from the feedback of their own senses. They know if they fall to the floor. They know if they are remaining upright. When you use the method described here, you observe the mental impressions in your mind and that provides the feedback.

This is somewhat like learning to ski without poles. Using ski poles when learning to turn can cause the student skiers' attention to become focused on their hands instead of on their balance and their feet. By taking away their ski poles, a distraction is removed and they naturally focus their attention where it should be - on their sense of balance and the position of their feet. When learning mediumship with the method described here, by working alone, the student is able to focus on the activity of the mind and over time learn to recognize different types of mental impressions. In the traditional method there are many distractions which make it difficult for the student to pay attention to their internal experience. Worrying about whether or not someone in class recognizes the spirit is one distraction, the next section describes other types of distractions that are problematical with the traditional method.

There is also another type of feedback that can occur with the method described here. Sometimes the mental impressions that occur during practice will be precognitive. For example you may be reading a book and realize that you saw the scene from the book you are reading that morning during a practice session. Or, an acquaintance may be showing you some photographs when you see something in a picture that you saw in your last practice session.

Distractions

There are other distractions that are avoided by working alone. These include repetitious or irrelevant advice from the teacher which can distract the student from observing the activity in their mind and can result is losing the connection with the spirit. It is hard to describe how frustrating and discouraging it can be for a student who only has a few minutes a week to practice, to have the teacher continually interrupting, harassing, nagging and otherwise distracting them from trying to observe what is going on in their mind during spirit communication.

Some teachers overestimate their psychic ability and claim to know what the student is experiencing internally and then give irrelevant advice based on their own fantasies. Other times a teacher may have a strong opinion about how students should communicate with spirits and will keep interrupting a student to remind them of what to do while all along the student is trying to do what the teacher is suggesting. Other teachers like to show off their abilities by interrupting the student with information the teacher is obtaining from the spirit. Sometimes a teacher will ask the student to obtain specific information from a spirit which distracts the student from bringing through what the spirit is trying to communicate.

Putting on a Good Show

Another source of distraction occurs when teachers (often those associated with Spiritualist churches) put a great emphasis on teaching their students to make a good impression while giving a reading. The focus is on presenting a confident image to the people present at the demonstration. These teachers are training their students to give readings during the church services where a confident medium helps to give the members congregation confidence in the truth of survival after death. Sometimes this emphasis is made too early in the training and it can distract students from focusing their attention on the main objective of the class which is learning to communicate with spirits. It can significantly retard their development which is especially serious when the students' only practice time is their weekly class.

Some teachers will tell their students to end a session if they do not have a good connection with a spirit. This is often the correct thing to do for an experienced medium who is giving a public demonstration. However it is completely wrong advice for a beginner. If a beginner is having difficulty connecting with a spirit the most likely explanation is that the student needs to improve their skills. Instead of being told to give up, the student needs to be encouraged to keep trying in order to learn to connect with spirits. If beginning students are told to give up when they encounter difficulty, they will wonder whether the teacher believes that they can ever learn. The teacher will most likely be an experienced medium who is seen to have access to information that most people do not have. If the teacher seems to lack confidence in the student's ability, it can be very damaging to the student's belief in their potential. This can be disastrous for a student by destroying the confidence they have so slowly attained by patient and diligent attendance at weekly classes. Belief in one's own potential is crucial to success in most endeavors but none more so than in mediumship.

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Basis in Natural Law

Everyone Can Be Influenced By Spirits

Everyone has spirit guides and therefore everyone can be influenced by spirits.

Everyone Has The Ability To Perceive Psychic Impressions

Everyone goes through the hypnogogic state when they fall asleep and generates theta brain waves which are associated with psychic experiences. By learning to induce the hypnogogic state when you want to (exercise 2), you are able to become psychically receptive at a time of your own choosing.

Spiritual Assistance

In exercise 4, you learn how to correctly pray for assistance in learning to communicate with spirits. When you pray for spiritual assistance, assistance is given in proportion to the effort you make. Through daily practice and asking questions your effort will be substantial and will allow your guides to give you substantial assistance.

Free Will

Everyone has free will. This means that anyone who has a sincere desire to learn to communicate with spirits has the right to pursue it. The method described in this chapter is open to anyone who has the sincere desire to learn. You do not need the approval of a teacher. The method will work for anyone whether or not they are already in touch with their psychic abilities.

Law of Attraction

• By working as a healer (exercise 3) you attract the right types of spirit guides.

• Thinking of a spirit will draw them to you.

  Thinking of your guides when asking questions and concentrating on what you learn about a spirit as you communicate with them helps to bring them close and strengthen the connection.

  This principle is also used in the methods of communication described by Dr. Raymond Moody in his book "Reunions" and by Veterans Administration psychologist Bodkin in his book "Induced After Death Communications".

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Related Reading

Spiritual unfoldment is the process by which a person may become more aware of their spiritual nature - more aware of the spirit within themselves. Two groups of advanced spirit guides have independently given remarkably similar practices to those seeking spiritual unfoldment. The practices combine meditation , relaxation , spiritual healing , and spirit communication. These practices are described in the following books:

• "Meditation" by Grace Cooke.
• "The New Mediumship" also by Grace Cooke provides interesting background information.
• "With Folded Wings" by Stewart Edward White (See the chapter on Meditation and references there to Anchors to Windward.)
• "Anchors To Windward" by Stewart Edward White.

The similarity between these practices is that in them, the practitioner acts as a conduit for "healing light" or "flow-through from the Source" with the intention that it be used for the highest good. When you do this, you identify yourself as someone who desires to be a spiritual worker. This attracts spirit guides who will become your co-workers and who will help you develop in ways that will make you a better spiritual worker.

To try this yourself you should first read the pages on spiritual healing and relaxation. Then read Exercise 3 on the Communicating with Spirits page. (You don't have to communicate with spirits to do this healing meditation.)

This type of anonymous healing may seem somewhat theoretical and abstract at first. But, consider the fact that there are many cases of spontaneous remissions and other unexplained healings that have been observed to occur. Any healing that results from this practice could make a world of difference to the person that receives it. Remembering that the healing is intended for an actual person somewhere in the world will help you to remain focused and maintain the intensity of your intention as you do this practice.

There are many things you can do in this life that will lead you to experience better conditions in the hereafter. However these are not always well known or often thought of. In general the more you can do for others and the more effort you make to develop yourself spiritually, the better will be the conditions you find yourself in in the hereafter. Since these things may be important for your future state, it cannot hurt to ask for help and guidance with them. The prayers listed here are suggestions that relate to helping others or developing yourself.

An important principle of prayer is that you will receive help in proportion to the effort you make. Therefore it is wisest to ask for guidance to show you how to do something, when appropriate, rather than to ask that something be done for you.

Oh God,

Spirit rescue is the process of helping earth bound or undeveloped spirits complete their transition into the spirit world and get them started on the path of eternal progress. You don't have to be psychic to do this sort of work.

The simplest way to help earth bound spirits is to pray for them. If you suspect an earth bound spirit at a certain location, the following prayer may help them:

"Oh God, please send angels or spirit guides to help any earth bound spirits at [name the location here] to cross over to the spirit planes."

You can modify this prayer according to whatever information you have about the identity or location of the earth bound spirit.

If you want to try communicating with earth bound spirits, that can be done too. Author and psychic Susy Smith, in her book "Confessions of a Psychic", explains that spirits can hear you when you speak aloud, and you can help troubled spirits by speaking or reading aloud and explaining the facts of the afterlife to them. Before you begin rescue work you should read "Confessions of a Psychic" and also "Thirty Years Among the Dead" by Carl Wickland. The latter book is available free on the Internet. To begin helping troubled spirits, you should set aside a certain time every day and read aloud the "sermon" below.

One of the topics that spirits often speak about through mediums is the power of thought. Reality is subjective in many ways, and you have control over these subjective areas by the way you think.

Positive Thinking

Using positive thinking to develop a positive attitude towards other people.

Much of what has been written on the subject of positive thinking has been about how to use it to accomplish material goals. However, positive thinking is an important technique (in addition to meditation ) that you can use to develop a positive attitude towards other people and in doing so, reduce the unpleasantness of negative feelings such as anger and hate. This helps one to developing love for other people which is an important step in spiritual evolution and is an important purpose for which spirits incarnate on earth.

"The Power of Positive Thinking" by Norman Vincent Peale is a good general reference on positive thinking. The discussion here which you are now reading focuses on the specific application of how to use positive thinking to help develop a positive attitude towards other people.

Positive thinking is simply the process of creating a positive thought whenever you notice a negative thought occurring in your mind. This practice has been advocated by spirits in "Confessions of a Psychic" and "The Book of James" by Susy Smith and in "The Betty Book" by Stewart White. Ways of thinking are to a large extent determined by habit and by what has been learned and practiced over a lifetime. You can use positive thinking to learn a new way of thinking about other people. With practice, positive thinking becomes automatic.

To use positive thinking in this way, you must first notice when you are thinking unloving thoughts about other people. Insight meditation can help you increase your awareness of unloving thoughts like anger or hate because it helps you become more aware of emotions. When you find yourself thinking an unloving thought, you need a way to create a positive thought in a way that will help you break the habit of negative thinking.

A practical solution to this is to simply say a prayer for the benefit of another person when you find yourself thinking an unloving thought about them. You might think it would be difficult or insincere to say a prayer for the benefit of someone you dislike or are angry at. However if you pray, for example, that the person be protected so that only the highest and best forces can influence them, then the prayer is not only an unselfish request for the benefit of the other person, it is also a prayer for the benefit of humanity and for yourself. Another characteristic of a prayer like this is that it can help you keep in mind that every one is a child of God and that all are evolving on the same path of development even if some are further along than others. In addition to replacing a negative thought with something positive, it should also help you to forgive the other person. You can say the prayer for a person or a group of people.

Such a prayer can be something like:

• Prologue
• Introduction
  • About the Evidence
  • A Definition of Scientific Proof
• Detailed Overviews

• The Evidence

  • Individual Cases
  • Reincarnation
  • Death Bed Visions
  • Near Death Experiences
  • Crisis Apparitions
  • Book and Newspaper Tests
  • Cross Correspondences
  • Drop-in Communicators
  • Proxy Sittings
  • Instrumental Trans Communication (ITC)
  • The Scole Experiments
  • Twenty Cases Suggestive of Survival
• Early Research
• Eminent Researchers
• On Line Classics in Psychical Research
• More Articles at "Life in B Flat"

Many scientists have conducted their own research into the afterlife and found the phenomena are real. Some of the scientists who have conducted or believe in afterlife and psychical research are Nobe Prize winners (see below: Eminent Researchers). These scientists were not fooled by magic tricks. Highly skilled stage magicians have investigated many mediums and have found them to be genuine (see the chapter on Skeptical Fallacies for more information and links). Studies have shown people with more education are more likely to believe in the afterlife, and most medical doctors believe in the afterlife (see the chapter on Skeptical Fallacies for more information and links). These highly educated and intelligent people are right, there is no death. Departed loved ones are not gone, they continue to live in a higher realm.

Not many people are aware of how much evidence for the afterlife there is. If you read through this chapter, you will be one of the few people who can fully appreciate how many different types of evidence there are. This chapter outlines the different types of evidence for the afterlife and has links to web based sources of information including links to free e-book versions of important studies on the afterlife. If you look into those linked sources of information, you will be able to see the rigor and substantiveness of the evidence for the afterlife. Do you want to learn more about this life affirming subject? If so, read on ...

Some of the best evidence for the afterlife is:

• People on their death beds see spirits who come to help them make the transition. These experiences have been confirmed in various ways and shown to be objective phenomena and not hallucinations. Sometimes other people attending the dying also see the same spirits at the same time. In one case a spirit communicating through a medium told of how she assisted a dying man. A relative of the man was sought out and the information the man related to the relative confirmed what came through the medium. (see below: Death Bed Visions)

• Near the time of their death the spirits of the dead have appeared to friends or relatives at distant locations where more than one person present at the location sees the spirit. (see below: Crisis Apparitions)

• Mediums sometimes receive communications from spirits who are unrelated to and unknown by the sitters and the medium. These spirits come through to communicate for purposes important only to themselves. They give verifiable information about their identity and cause of death. (see below: Drop-in Communicators)

• Mediums can receive communications from spirits even when the person getting the reading is not present in the room with the medium. In these cases, the medium may not know who the sitter is and cannot get any type of feedback from the sitter yet the medium can bring through specialized knowledge known by the spirit. (see below: Proxy Sittings)

• When people are unconscious and near death, they sometimes experience leaving their body and when revived, bring back information that they could not have obtained with their normal senses even if they had been conscious and that information is later verified as correct. "Scientific" explanations cannot explain this and other aspects of the phenomena. (see below: Near Death Experiences)

• Children have been studied who remember past lives. They can speak languages they have never heard. They remember geography, faces, and names of people in locations they have never been to. They have birthmarks on their body where they had sustained injuries in the previous life. An investigator interviews everyone involved, the children, the current families, surviving members of the families from the previous life and everything checks out. (see below: Reincarnation)

• Spirits have communicated parts of messages through different mediums. When combined, these partial messages produce a complete message. The messages contained very specialized knowledge known to the spirit and were communicated spontaneously, not at the request of any living person. These messages show that the spirit lives on after the death of the body, retains knowledge from its earth life, and continues to have the ability to initiate, organize, and carry out complex activities. (see below: Cross Correspondences)

• Experiments attended by scientists and a stage magician have been conducted under controlled conditions where voices of spirits were heard, objects were materialized, and images imprinted on photographic film. (see below: The Scole Experiments)

• Other individual cases include:

  • The spirit of a grand master chess player plays through a medium at the grand master level in a style characteristic of the time of his life on earth. (see below: Individual Cases)

  • A scholar of Asian languages speaks in an ancient Chinese dialect with a spirit who successfully explains an ancient Chinese poem that modern scholars did not understand. (see below: Individual Cases)

  • Spirits of crew members of a crashed dirigible, R-101, "provided technical details about its design and construction, recollections of test flights, discussions of political pressures and unrealistic deadlines that plagued the project, and a description of the crash itself and its causes" † and "the personalities of the dead airmen also came through in recognizable detail" †. (see below: Individual Cases)

I can tell you the evidence for the afterlife is overwhelming and it is extraordinary. This evidence supports the conclusion that the afterlife is real, it has withstood the test of time and the collection of new data. However, I can't make you read about it. You have to do that yourself....

Start of Chapter

Introduction

About the Evidence

This chapter summarizes some of the scientific evidence for the afterlife and, wherever possible, includes links to on-line references and additional sources of information. In many cases, the links include references to the actual reports and writings those who conducted the investigations which you can look up to more fully understand this evidence. The purpose of this chapter is to acquaint readers with the wide variety and compelling nature of this evidence which is not well known to the general public. The evidence goes beyond proving paranormal phenomena are real, it proves the existence of spirits and therefore the afterlife. The definition of scientific proof that skeptics use to assert that evolution by natural selection is proved is discussed and that same definition holds for the existence of spirits and the afterlife.

A quick glance through this chapter will show that there are many different independent forms of evidence and that the evidence is not limited to mediumship. There is objective evidence obtained through electronic instruments as well as evidence obtained through collecting reports directly from people who have witnessed afterlife phenomena and who otherwise have no involvement with the field of afterlife research or mediumship. Some people feel that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. The evidence for the afterlife is so extensive and varied that it is, in fact, extraordinary evidence.

The chapter Skeptical Fallacies examines objections to this evidence and shows those objections are not valid. The possibility that these phenomena are the result of psychic powers of living people are disproved in the sections on Super-Psi and Where Do Mediums Get Information From? in the chapter on Short Topics.

If you follow the links and look further into the evidence you will see that besides a variety of types of evidence, there is also a large cumulative amount of evidence. Theoretically, one solid case is sufficient to prove the assertion that a thing exists. However, for the afterlife, there are many, many solid cases from many types of evidence.

Start of Chapter

A Definition of Scientific Proof

The following passages are taken from "29+ Evidences for Macroevolution: Scientific "Proof", scientific evidence, and the scientific method" by Douglas Theobald, Ph.D. This is part of the FAQ for one of the foremost communities of skeptics on the internet. Interestingly, much of what is written about the theory of scientific proof that is used to justify the theory of evolution by natural selection also applies to belief in the afterlife.

The primary function of science is to demonstrate the existence of phenomena that cannot be observed directly.
...
In fact, the most important discoveries of science have only be inferred via indirect observation. Familiar examples of unobservable scientific discoveries are atoms, electrons, viruses, bacteria, germs, radio-waves, X-rays, ultraviolet light, energy, entropy, enthalpy, solar fusion, genes, protein enzymes, and the DNA double-helix.
...
The validity of a hypothesis does not stand or fall based on just a few confirmations or contradictions, but on the totality of the evidence.
...
In scientific practice, a superior and well-supported hypothesis will be regarded as a theory. A theory that has withstood the test of time and the collection of new data is about as close as we can get to a scientific fact.
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/comdesc/sciproof.html

Science is when you make hypotheses and and test them against empirical evidence. Our hypothesis is that spirits and the afterlife exist and when considered against the evidence the conclusion that they do exist is inescapable.

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Detailed Overviews of the Evidence

After reading the cases below, you can find out much more about the scientific evidence for spirits and the afterlife by reading these detailed overviews.

• "A Lawyer Presents the Case for the Afterlife" by Victor J. Zammit
  http://www.victorzammit.com/book/4thedition/index.html

• "21 Days into the Afterlife" by Piero Calvi-Parisetti, MD
  http://www.openmindsite.com/book.htm

• "Better Evidence" weblog post by Michael Prescott
  http://michaelprescott.typepad.com/michael_prescotts_blog/2007/09/better-evidence.html

• "The Survival Top 40" by Miles Edward Allen
  http://www.survivaltop40.com

• "Psychical Research and the Survival Controversy" by D. Scott Rogo
  http://www.survivalafterdeath.org.uk/articles/rogo/kidd.htm

• "Is There an Afterlife?" by David Fontana.

• "Nothing Better Than Death" by Kevin R. Williams:
  http://www.near-death.com/nothing_better_than_death.html

Start of Chapter

Individual Cases

Brian D. Josephson
(Nobel Prize for Physics)

Brian David Josephson (born Cardiff, Wales, UK, 4 January 1940) is a British physicist whose discovery of the Josephson effect ... won him the 1973 Nobel Prize for Physics ... [H]e is the head of the mind-matter unification project in the Theory of Condensed Matter research group.

...

Josephson's is one of the more well-known scientists who believe that parapsychological phenomena may be real...

"What are the implications for science of the fact that psychic functioning appears to be a real effect? These phenomena seem mysterious, but no more mysterious perhaps than strange phenomena of the past which science has now happily incorporated within its scope."

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Charles Robert Richet
(Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine)

Charles Robert Richet: 1850-1925. Pioneer psychical researcher, honored professor of physiology at the Faculty of Medicine in Paris, and winner of the 1913 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine.
...

He conducted experiments with a number of different mediums including Franek Kluski, Jan Guzyk, and Stephen Ossowiecki, both in Paris and Warsaw.

...

"The more I reflect and weigh in my mind these materializations, hauntings, marvelous lucidity, apports, xenoglossie, apparitions and, above all, premonitions, the more I am persuaded that we know absolutely nothing of the universe which surrounds us. We live in a sort of dream and have not yet understood anything of the agitations and tumults of this dream."

Thirty Years of Psychical Research

http://survivalebooks.org/#Thirty Years of Psychical Research

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John William Strutt
(Nobel Prize for Physics)

John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh (12 November 1842 � 30 June 1919) was an English physicist who (with William Ramsay) discovered the element argon, an achievement that earned him the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1904. He also discovered the phenomenon now called Rayleigh scattering and predicted the existence of the surface waves now known as Rayleigh waves.

...[He] was president of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR), London, 1919. ... Lord Rayleigh became interested in psychical research after reading about the investigations of his colleague Sir William Crookes.

... "I have seen enough to convince me that those are wrong who wish to prevent investigation by casting ridicule on those who may feel inclined to engage in it." ...

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Sir William Crookes

Sir William Crookes: 1832-1919. Discoverer of the element thallium. Elected fellow of the Royal Society in 1863. Royal Gold Medal 1875, Davy Medal 1888, Sir Joseph Copley Medal 1904, knighted in 1897, Order of Merit 1910. Invented the cathode-ray tube.

Crookes first began his investigations into 'psychic' phenomena in 1869 as a hostile doubter. In his article, 'Spiritualism Viewed by the Light of Modern Science' he declared:

"The increased employment of scientific methods will produce a race of observers who will drive the worthless residuum of spiritualism hence into the unknown limbo of magic and necromancy."

Crookes' experiments with Daniel D. Home demonstrated the existence of a 'psychic force' wholly ignored by science.

Crookes stated:

"Of all persons endowed with a powerful development of this Psychic Force, Mr. Daniel Dunglas Home is the most remarkable and it is mainly owing to the many opportunities I have had of carrying on my investigation in his presence that I am enabled to affirm so conclusively the existence of this force."

Sir Robert Boyle

Sir Robert Boyle (1627-1691) was one of the most brilliant scientists of all time. In the book "Extraordinary Knowing", Elizabeth Mayer explains that Boyle was the father of modern chemistry, the founder of the Royal Society of London, and the author of Boyle's Law.

Mayer also explains that Boyle investigated the spiritual healer Valentine Greatrakes. At first Boyle was skeptical, but his investigations convinced him of the genuineness of Greatrakes abilities. Boyle's lab notebooks from 1666 contain notes on his observations.

This day a woman came among other Patients to be curd of a great thicknesse of hearing she complaind of, & he haveing put his fingers in her ears, and (as I remember) a litle strookd them, she complaind no more of her deafnesse, but a great pain that resided in the fore part of her Head, where haveing strookd her, he presently dislodgd the pain, & after haveing chasd if from place to place about her Head, as she informd us, at length she told us that both her pain & the deafnesse were gone, & when I askd her how long she had [d] bin soe thick of hearing, she innocently answerd me ever since the birth of her first child, & when I smileing demaunded how it was since she was brought in Bed of her first child, she said about a year & a quarter, and affirmeing her self to be recoverd, as she seemd to the by-standers to be, she went away joyfull.
http://www.bbk.ac.uk/boyle/workdiaries/WD26Clean.html

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

http://www.survivalafterdeath.org.uk/researchers/doyle.htm

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 1859-1930. . . . In 1881 he obtained his Bachelor of Medicine and Master of Surgery degree. . . . As regards survival, in 1902 when he first met Sir Oliver Lodge he had not arrived at a definite conclusion. But Myers' Human Personality made a deep impression on his mind. . . .

Later . . .

http://www.spiritwritings.com/arthurconandoyle.html

Until his death Doyle remained convinced that life continued after death, because of ongoing communications from deceased family members who assured him that they lived in the spirit world. These communications remained the "definite demonstration" that he had sought since his days at the University of Edinburgh.

One would expect that a trained doctor and surgeon and the creator of the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes would not be taken in by fraudulent mediums and would reach reasonable conclusions from the evidence.

Start of Chapter

Richard Hodgson

Richard Hodgson 1855-1905 . . . Professor of legal studies at Cambridge University. . . . His legal training and personal attainments made him specially qualified for the detection of fraud. . . . The change in his general attitude towards the phenomenal side of 'spiritualism' was brought about very slowly and after desperate resistance by his unparalleled opportunities of investigation with the mediumship of Mrs. Piper for a period of fifteen years.

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Gary Schwartz

Psychic Researcher: Gary Schwartz Ph.D.

From http://veritas.arizona.edu/investigators.htm

GARY E. SCHWARTZ, Ph.D., Director of the VERITAS Research Program, is a professor of Psychology, Medicine, Neurology, Psychiatry, and Surgery at the University of Arizona and director of its Human Energy Systems Laboratory and its Center for Frontier Medicine in Biofield Science. After receiving his doctorate from Harvard University, he served as a professor of psychology and psychiatry at Yale University, director of the Yale Psychophysiology Center, and co-director of the Yale Behavioral Medicine Clinic. Dr. Schwartz has published more than four hundred scientific papers, edited eleven academic books, is the co-author of The Living Energy Universe, and is the author of The Afterlife Experiments: Breakthrough Scientific Evidence of Life After Death and The Truth About Medium.

Start of Chapter

Neville Whymant

http://www.freewebs.com/psilib/PsychicAdventuresWhymant.txt

At the end of March, 1926, I first arrived in New York, having left England a few days before. Previously I had spent several years in the Far East engaged in ethnologic research, an occupation which necessitated my speaking several Oriental languages daily. This acquaintance with a variety of tongues was the direct cause of my being drawn into the series of strange happenings which form the burden of this tale.

. . .

As the [spirit] voice went on I realized that the style of Chinese used was identical with that of the Chinese Classics, edited by Confucius two thousand five hundred years ago. Only among the scholars of Archaic Chinese could one now hear that accent and style, and then only when they intoned some passage from the ancient books. In other words, the Chinese to which we were now listening was as dead colloquially as Sanskrit or Latin, and had been so for even a greater length of time. If this was a hoax, it was a particularly clever one, far beyond the scope of any of the sinologues now living.

. . .

I asked if "the Master" would explain to me the meaning of one of these long-obscure odes.

. . .

In declaiming the ode the voice had put a new construction on the verses and made the whole thing hang together as a normal poem. It was, I was told, a psychic poem, and it was well known that the Chinese recognized psychic literature as a thing apart from ordinary literary compositions. "Read in this way," the voice had said, "does not its meaning become plain?

Start of Chapter

More Eminent Researchers

A more complete list of eminent researchers can be found at:
http://www.aspsi.org/feat/life_after/tymn/testimonials.htm

Start of Chapter

Books by Eminent Researchers

The chapter E-Libraries has links to on line libraries of free e-books on the subject of survival after death.

Many books and articles by the professionals listed on
http://www.aspsi.org/feat/life_after/tymn/testimonials.htm are available free on line. Here is a list of some of them

Judge John W. Edmonds
Spiritual Tracts by (100+ page excerpt)
http://www.spiritwritings.com/SpiritualismEdmonds.pdf

Allan Kardec, Esq.

• The Spirits' Book
  http://www.spiritwritings.com/kardecspiritstoc.html
• The Mediums' Book
  http://www.spiritwritings.com/kardecmediumstoc.html

Sir William Crookes
Researches into the Phenomena of Modern Spiritualism
http://www.survivalafterdeath.org.uk/books/crookes/researches/contents.htm

The Rev. William Stainton Moses

• Spirit Teachings
  http://meilach.com/spiritual/books/st/sptext.zip
• More Spirit Teachings
  http://www.meilach.com/spiritual/books/morest/mspteach.htm

Sir William Barrett
Death-Bed Visions
http://www.survivalafterdeath.org.uk/books/barrett/dbv/contents.htm

Frederic W. H. Myers, Esq.
Human Personality Vol II
http://www.survivalafterdeath.org.uk/articles/myers/intro.htm

Sir Oliver Lodge

• Survival of Man
  http://www.survivalafterdeath.org.uk/books/lodge/survival/contents.htm
• Raymond
  http://www.survivalafterdeath.org.uk/books/lodge/raymond/contents.htm
• Why I Believe in Personal Immortality
  http://www.survivalafterdeath.org.uk/books/lodge/immortality/contents.htm

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

• History Of Spiritualism Vol I
  http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0301051.txt
• History Of Spiritualism Vol II
  http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0301061.txt
• More books by Arthur Conan Doyle can be found here:
  http://gutenberg.net.au/plusfifty-a-m.html#letterD

Dr. James H. Hyslop

• Psychical Research and Survival
  http://www.survivalafterdeath.org.uk/books/hyslop/survival/contents.htm
• The Borderland
  http://www.survivalafterdeath.org.uk/books/hyslop/borderland/contents.htm

Dr. William James
On Mediumship
http://www.survivalafterdeath.org.uk/articles/james/mediumship.htm

Dr. Charles Richet

• Thirty Years of Psychical Research
  http://survivalebooks.org/#Thirty Years of Psychical Research
• Mediums
  http://www.survivalafterdeath.org.uk/articles/richet/mediums.htm

Dr. Carl A. Wickland

• Thirty Years Among the Dead
  http://www.spiritwritings.com/ThirtyYearsAmongTheDead.html
• Gateway of Understanding
  http://www.spiritwritings.com/GatewayOfUnderstanding.pdf

Edward C. Randall, Esq.

• The Dead Have Never Died
  http://survivalebooks.org/#The Dead Have Never Died
• Frontiers of the Afterlife
  http://survivalebooks.org/#Frontiers of the Afterlife

Dr. Isaac K. Funk
The Psychic Riddle
http://survivalebooks.org

The Rev. Charles Drayton Thomas

• An Amazing Experiment
  http://www.survivalafterdeath.org.uk/books/thomas/contents.htm
• Precognition and Human Survival
  http://www.survivalafterdeath.org.uk/books/thomas/human/contents.htm

Dr. T. Glen Hamilton
Intention and Survival
http://www.survivalafterdeath.org.uk/books/hamilton/contents.htm

Dr. C. J. Ducasse
A Critical Examination of the Belief in Life After Death
http://www.survivalafterdeath.org.uk/books/ducasse/critical/contents.htm

Gary Schwartz, Ph.D.
"Anomalous Information Reception by Research Mediums Demonstrated Using a Novel Triple-Blind Protocol" Julie Beischel, Gary E. Schwartz Explore (New York, N.Y.) 1 January 2007 (volume 3 issue 1 Pages 23-27 DOI: 10.1016/j.explore.2006.10.004)
http://www.explorejournal.com/article/PIIS155083070600454X/fulltext

More free e-books on psychic research can be found in the Psychic Research section of the chapter Recommended Reading

Start of Chapter

• About Skeptical Thinking

Skeptical Fallacies

Evidence

• There is no evidence for spirits or the afterlife.
• Intelligent people don't believe in the afterlife.
• If afterlife research was valid, mainstream science would accept it.
• If paranormal phenomena were real we would see signs of it in society.
• Equating an untested hypothetical explanation with empirical data.
• Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.
• Consciousness Is Produced by the Brain
• The Transmission Model of The Brain is not Falsifiable and is not Scientific
• Belief in the Afterlife is not Falsifiable and Therefore is not Scientific
• You can't prove a negative, you can't prove spirits and the afterlife don't exist.

• Mediums use information gathered about the subjects before giving them a reading.
• Mediums use cold reading techniques to seem like they are getting information from spirits.
• Magicians can reproduce the phenomena of physical mediumship and other paranormal abilities.
• Mediums take unfair advantage of people who are grieving or who are afraid of death.

• Parapsychological research is not published in peer reviewed journals.
• If there was research demonstrating the afterlife, the researchers would win the Nobel Prize.
• Afterlife researchers were fooled by charlatans.
• Paranormal phenomena disappear when scientists try to reproduce them in a laboratory.
• The results of psychical research are not reliable if they are not obtained from repeatable laboratory experiments.
  
• Anecdotal Evidence
  • Anecdotal evidence is not reliable.
  • Anecdotal evidence is unscientific because it is not repeatable.
  • Anecdotal evidence is unscientific because it cannot be disproved.
  • Anecdotal evidence is the result of people who are in emotional turmoil and is therefore unreliable.
  • Anecdotal evidence is not meaningful without a statistical basis for understanding it. Anecdotes may be due to chance coincidence.
• Evidence for the afterlife is unacceptable because the research took place too long ago.
• Near Death Experiences can be explained by biological phenomena such as lack of oxygen or a "dying brain".

This chapter is intended to help you understand how skeptics may use flawed reasoning to try to dissuade you from believing in the afterlife. Skeptics may give explanations which sound very rational from their point of view, but when examined closely are found to be insufficient to invalidate the evidence for the afterlife or to discredit belief in it. You also might find yourself trying to justify your beliefs and find it helpful to understand skeptical thinking in order to explain to a skeptic why you do not accept their reasoning. However, be aware this may not allow you to actually convince a skeptic of your point of view.

Skeptics often know very little about the evidence for the afterlife. They have little interest in learning about it because they they don't believe in it. Therefore it would seem that simply providing information to educate them would result in a meeting of minds. While an educated believer can point out the skeptic's ignorance and mistaken assumptions, this does not guarantee a meeting of minds because the skeptic and the believer often have very different mind sets.

The skeptic often feels that in order for him to accept a new belief, there must be proof of it. If he can hypothesize a possible flaw in the evidence, he will not consider the evidence proof even if there is no evidence that flaw has a real effect. In this case, an untested hypothetical explanation of why belief based on that evidence might not be justified is sufficient for the skeptic to remain disbelieving. However, you should realize that an untested hypothetical explanation is not necessarily sufficient to prove a belief is wrong. The skeptic often has difficulty seeing this. Sometimes this causes the skeptic to be accused of circular reasoning - it seems like he doesn't accept evidence because he knows the phenomena is not possible. However, if one considers the many scientific controversies of the past, one will see that whether or not a possible though untested flaw in the evidence is sufficient to dismiss a conclusion based on the evidence is very often a matter of opinion.

A believer, on the other hand, would like a skeptic to offer proof the belief is incorrect. Often the skeptic will decry "It can't be disproving" or "You can't prove a negative". For example, you cannot prove spirits don't exist because spirits might exist in some place which we are not able to interact with or have any knowledge of. Making this complaint is a mistake and is usually due to ignorance of the evidence. It applies only when belief is based on faith alone. It does not apply when belief is based on an analysis of evidence such as the large body of evidence supporting belief in the afterlife. It is ironic that the skeptic who is ignorant of the evidence of the afterlife bases his disbelief not on an analysis of the evidence, but upon his own faith that the afterlife does not exist.

It is not necessary for the skeptic to do the impossible and disprove the existence of the afterlife. It is sufficient to show that the evidence for belief is invalid, or show that a hypothetical flaw in the evidence has a real effect. For example, if a skeptic can show a medium was using cold reading techniques by analyzing a transcript of a reading and showing how the principles of cold reading were applied, that would invalidate the evidence attributed to that reading. However, a skeptic would be unlikely to agree to undertake such an effort. Since he doesn't believe in the afterlife, it would seem to him to be a waste of time to try to disprove it. He would expect the believer to provide proof cold reading did not occur. Again, considering the many scientific controversies of the past, one can see that what is a reasonable conclusion to draw from evidence can also be a matter of opinion. Often the believer is accused of being to credulous or not sufficiently analytical.

When a skeptic and a believer try to discuss the subject, an argument in which both sides demand proof and criticize the other side's reasoning can result. The skeptic doesn't feel obligated to prove anything since if he is going to change his belief it is incumbent on the believer to provide iron clad proof. The believer makes what is in his mind a reasonable conclusion from the evidence and expects the skeptic to prove the evidence is flawed or that another explanation is true.

Often it is hard to tell who is the believer and who is the skeptic. There is a certain symmetry where a believer acts like a skeptic of the opposite belief, and the skeptic acts like a believer in the opposite belief. The skeptic demands the believer provide better proof, the believer demands the skeptic prove his concerns have real consequences.

Occam's razor doesn't help because it can be a matter of opinion as to what entities are unreasonable and therefore extraneous.

So this begs the question, when discussing the afterlife with a skeptic, what should you do? It depends. Are you trying to educate the skeptic about the evidence? Are you trying to convince the skeptic that the belief is correct? Are you trying to explain why it is reasonable to believe? Are you trying to explain why his arguments against belief are not convincing? Which of these you attempt depends on the person involved and the situation. Whatever your intention, you should be clear in your own mind what you are trying to do.

In general, it is wise to ignore and refrain from personal attacks and stick to a polite discussion of facts. Try to refrain from acrimony since making someone angry will decrease the likelihood that they will adopt your beliefs. Sometimes if you keep a neutral or friendly tone and ignore the negativity in a skeptic's approach and stick to facts he will see that you are serious in conducting a reasoned discussion and drop the attitude and continue the discussion in a less hostile manner. Keep in mind that two people can have the exact same experience and because of their personal bias' believe different things. For example, two bird watchers might be out in the countryside and see an unusual bird that is not native to the area. One person, an amateur meteorologist, might think it was blown off course by a recent hurricane, and another, a pet store owner, might think it is a pet escaped from a home destroyed in the hurricane. Who is right?

Start of Chapter

Skeptical Fallacies

Evidence

There is a huge amount of empirical evidence collected by researchers from interviewing experiencers and from controlled experiments including experiments conducted in laboratories. The chapter A Summary of Evidence has more details.

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Intelligent people don't believe in the afterlife

People who have more education are more likely to believe in the afterlife.

Contrary to researchers' expectations, a poll of 439 college students found seniors and grad students were more likely than freshmen to believe in haunted houses, psychics, telepathy, channeling and a host of other questionable ideas.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10950526/

Most doctors believe in the afterlife.

In the survey of 1,044 doctors nationwide, 76 percent said they believe in God, 59 percent said they believe in some sort of afterlife, and 55 percent said their religious beliefs influence how they practice medicine.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8318894/

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If afterlife research was valid, mainstream science would accept it.

If the second person isn't sure of the answer, he�s liable to go along with the first person�s guess. By then, even if the third person suspects another answer is right, she�s more liable to go along just because she assumes the first two together know more than she does. Thus begins an �informational cascade� as one person after another assumes that the rest can�t all be wrong.
...
And so the informational cascade morphed into what the economist Timur Kuran calls a reputational cascade, in which it becomes a career risk for dissidents to question the popular wisdom.
...
"Senator McGovern, I recognize the disadvantage of being in the minority," Dr. Ahrens replied. Then he pointed out that most of the doctors in the survey were relying on secondhand knowledge because they didn't work in this field themselves.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/09/science/09tier.html?_r=1&science&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin

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If paranormal phenomena were real we would see signs of it in society.

There are practical uses of the paranormal phenomena, as well as practical consequences of paranormal research in society. Energy healing, mediumship, induced after-death communication, past life regression, remote viewing, dowsing, psychic detectives, and the use of psychics in the commercial sector are all examples of this.

There are professionals who practice energy healing and mediumship both of which have been validated by scientific experiments. In some hospitals nurses are allowed to practice therapeutic touch because research has demonstrated its effectiveness.

Scientific research has demonstrated the effectiveness of mediumship. An example of such research is: "Anomalous Information Reception by Research Mediums Demonstrated Using a Novel Triple-Blind Protocol" Julie Beischel, Gary E. Schwartz Explore (New York, N.Y.) 1 January 2007 (volume 3 issue 1 Pages 23-27 DOI: 10.1016/j.explore.2006.10.004)
http://www.explorejournal.com/article/PIIS155083070600454X/fulltext

Scientific research has also demonstrated the effectiveness of energy healing. An example of such research is: "The Effect of the "Laying On of Hands" on Transplanted Breast Cancer in Mice" William F. Bengston, David Krinsley Journal of Scientific Exploration, Vol. 14, No. 3, pp. 353-364, 2000
http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_14_3_bengston.pdf

Induced after death communication (IADC) is a therapy developed by 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. For more information see:
http://metgat.zaadz.com/blog/2007/8/induced_after-death_communication
http://www.induced-adc.com

Similarly, past life hypnotic regression has had great healing effects on patients with emotional and physical problems. The evidence is clear that it has helped patients and therefore is beneficial to society.

Remote viewing is another application of psychic abilities that we see in our society. There are a number of commercial enterprises that provide remote viewing services and offer classes in remote viewing. To learn more about remote viewing read "Remote Viewing - the Real Story" by Ingo Swann:
http://www.biomindsuperpowers.com/Pages/2.html

Dowsing services are also available commercially. In "The Geller Effect" by Guy Lyon Playfair and Uri Geller, Playfair writes in chapter 17 "Whatever It Is" that many business leaders believe in ESP because they use it themselves. In chapter 9 of this book, Uri Geller describes some of the work he was hired to do by companies that paid him very large fees to use his psychic powers to locate oil and minerals. The book can be found on-line at:
http://site.uri-geller.com/en/books

Police departments use psychics to help solve criminal investigations, as this article on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation web site explains:

"Police in Nelson, B.C., have found the body of a young woman who disappeared last March, and they credit a local psychic for pointing them in the right direction."
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2005/01/27/psychic-body050127.html

A number of businesses hire psychics as consultants to help with their business planning. In the June 30, 2008 issue of Newsweek the article "The $10,000-a-Month Psychic", discusses intuitionist Laura Day who works for several corporations.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/142632

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Equating an untested hypothetical explanation with empirical data.

If it is to be convincing, skeptical debunking must be backed up with facts and evidence and the same rigorous analysis of the data that skeptics demand from believers. When a debunker offers a reason to dismiss empirical evidence they must offer evidence of their own. If a skeptic accuses a medium of cold reading, they must provide a transcript of a reading and show how the medium is applying the techniques of cold reading to give the impression he is communicating with spirits. If they accuse an investigator of being duped by a medium they must describe the methods the investigator used, propose how a medium could commit fraud under those conditions, and demonstrate that it is actually possible to produce fraud under those conditions.

This is the most common fallacy - to equate an untested and hypothetical explanation with a theory based on empirical data.

This logical mistake can be hard for skeptics to admit. Some people believe in the religion of Materialism. Their belief is based on faith. Often such believers don't investigate the evidence for the afterlife because it contradicts their religious beliefs. They often try to discredit the empirical evidence for the afterlife by making up stories about why that evidence might be wrong without really investigating the evidence or by backing up their stories with facts. They don't even realize their stories are contradicted by facts because they never investigated the evidence in the first place.

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Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.

The central problem however lies in the fact that "extraordinary" must be relative to some things "ordinary." and as our theories change, what was once extraordinary may become ordinary (best seen in now accepted quantum effects that earlier were viewed as "impossible"). Many now extraordinary claims may become more acceptable not when they are replicated but when theoretical contexts change to make them more welcome.
Source: "On Some Unfair Practices towards Claims of the Paranormal" by Marcello Truzzi
http://www.skepticalinvestigations.org/anomalistics/practices.htm

This suggests that what constitutes an "extraordinary" claim is subjective.

What is an extraordinary claim? An extraordinary claim is a claim that contradicts strongly held beliefs. What any one person considers an extraordinary claim is therefore subjective. Science cannot objectively determine whether or not a claim is extraordinary.

What is extraordinary proof? Extraordinary proof is evidence that disproves strongly held beliefs. Again, this is subjective. If a person with strongly held beliefs chooses to maintain disbelief in the face of contradicting evidence, then by the fact of that continuing disbelief, the proof is not extraordinary. Science cannot objectively determine whether or not proof is extraordinary.

The notion that extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof is not a principle of the scientific method. It is actually a statement about psychology masquerading as scientific philosophy.

There is no correspondence whatsoever between how strongly a person believes something and the method by which a contradicting claim can be proven. Each scientific question requires its own unique proof. The type of evidence required for that proof has nothing to do with whether or not someone has strong beliefs against it. The proof depends solely on the particulars of the problem in question. Some problems can be proven mathematically, some can be proven logically for example by deduction or induction. Some problems can be proven through observation in the field, others can be proven by experiments in the laboratory. Some things are easy to prove, some are hard.

Due to the subjective nature of identifying extraordinary claims and extraordinary proof, all this notion really means is that if someone has strongly held beliefs, they will resist giving up those beliefs. It is an observation about human nature not a requirement determined by the nature of scientific inquiry. In fact, it is an observation about a characteristic of human nature which interferes with scientific progress. For example, a committee of scientists reviewing a scientific paper should judge that paper on it's own merits. They would be wrong to reject its conclusions if their only reason was because those conclusions contradicted the strongly held beliefs of some outside scientist. However that committee might reject the conclusions if those conclusions contradicted their own beliefs. Therefore this notion of extraordinary claims and proof cannot be considered part of the scientific method. It is only possible to consider it a statement of how bias interferes with objectivity. When skeptics assert this notion, if they are not cynically trying to misdirect the discussion away from evidence they don't want to consider, and if they are being sincere, then they are actually demonstrating that they are refusing to consider the evidence objectively.

A corrected version of this notion would then read:

An analysis of the history of science shows that extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof when people are unwilling to objectively assess evidence that contradicts their strongly held beliefs, and this has been an persistent obstacle to progress.

The chapter A Summary of Evidence has a link to a skeptic's definition of scientific proof. At the time of this writing, that definition makes no mention of special requirements for extraordinary claims. What is interesting about that chapter is that the evidence for the afterlife which it outlines is, in fact, extraordinary. The evidence which proves the afterlife includes evidence from both observations in the field and experiments. Anyone who doubts this proof should look at that chapter and follow the links and read the references that give a full account of the evidence.

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Consciousness Is Produced by the Brain

There is no evidence that consciousness is a result of brain activity.

Neurological activity can be measured and shown to be associated with mental activity, but this is not evidence that neurological activity generates consciousness. Clearly the brain and the conscious mind interact. Nerve impulses from sensory organs result in brain activity and the conscious mind becomes aware of the sensations perceived. When the mind generates the impulse to move, nerve impulses are carried from the brain to the muscles to cause movement. Consciousness is affected by brain activity and is able to influence brain activity. The brain might be an interface between the mind and the physical body, however there is no evidence that consciousness itself is generated by the brain.

One theory is that consciousness is a non-physical process and that one of the functions of the brain is not to generate consciousness but to restrict consciousness. In that case, if you release the conscious mind from the brain as happens during a near death experience you should have expanded consciousness. This is exactly what happens. People who experience NDE's are able to perceive more than they do when in the body. They report seeing in 360 degrees and seeing colors that they do not see when in the body. Blind people report seeing during NDE's. Some near death experiencers report being able to communicate telepathically with other beings. Some report understanding that time is just an illusion or that they seem to have access to all the knowledge in the universe.

This theory is often referred to as the "filter model" where the brain filters some aspects of consciousness like a colored glass can filter out some wavelengths of light. What passes through the filter is a restricted set of conscious faculties that we have while in the physical body.

Restricting consciousness probably has some survival value. If a person had access to all the information in the universe about any time in the past, present or future, it might be difficult to concentrate on surviving here and now.

One of the early descriptions of the filter model of consciousness can be found in the introduction to of "Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death" volume I by Frederic William Henry Myers. Myers compares consciousness to light, likening the conscious mind to the visible spectrum and the unconscious mind to parts of the spectrum that are not visible. The brain may filter faculties from any part of the spectrum conscious or unconscious and those faculties that are passed through the filter are those faculties that are available while we are in the body.
http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=title%3A%28human%20personality%29%20AND%20creator%3A%28myers%29

In the sun's spectrum, and in stellar spectra, are many dark lines or bands, due to the absorption of certain rays by certain vapours in the atmosphere of sun or stars or earth. And similarly in the range of spectrum of our own sensation and faculty there are many inequalities permanent and temporary of brightness and definition. Our mental atmosphere is clouded by vapours and illumined by fires, and is clouded and illumined differently at different times. The psychologist who observes, say, how his reaction-times are modified by alcohol is like the physicist who observes what lines are darkened by the interposition of a special gas. Our knowledge of our conscious spectrum is thus becoming continually more accurate and detailed.

But turning back once more to the physical side of our simile, we observe that our knowledge of the visible solar spectrum, however minute, is but an introduction to the knowledge which we hope ultimately to attain of the sun's rays. The limits of our spectrum do not inhere in the sun that shines, but in the eye that marks his shining. Beyond each end of that prismatic ribbon are ether-waves of which our retina takes no cognisance. Beyond the red end come waves whose potency we still recognise, but as heat and not as light. Beyond the violet end are waves still more mysterious, whose very existence man for ages never suspected, and whose intimate potencies are still but obscurely known. Even thus, I venture to affirm, beyond each end of our conscious spectrum extends a range of faculty and perception, exceeding the known range, but as yet indistinctly guessed. The artifices of the modern physicist have extended far in each direction the visible spectrum known to Newton. It is for the modern psychologist to discover artifices which may extend in each direction the conscious spectrum as known to Plato or to Kant. The phenomena cited in this work carry us, one may say, as far onwards as fluorescence carries us beyond the violet end. The X rays of the psychical spectrum remain for a later age to discover.

It is known that brain damage can also effect memory, reasoning, language and other mental functions. If the brain filters consciousness and what passes through the filter is a restricted set of faculties of consciousness that we have while in the physical body, then if the brain is damaged in certain ways, it might filter out more faculties or fail to transmit certain faculties clearly.

This theory is sometimes called the transmission theory. It is discussed in detail in:

"Human Immortality: Two Supposed Objections to the Doctrine" by William James
http://www.survivalafterdeath.org.uk/articles/james/immortality.htm

In this lecture James agrees that thought is a function of the brain.

Every one knows that arrests of brain development occasion imbecility, that blows on the head abolish memory or consciousness, and the brain-stimulants and poisons change the quality of our ideas. The anatomists, physiologists, and pathologists have only shown this generally admitted fact of a dependence to be detailed and minute. What the laboratories and hospitals have lately been teaching us is not only that thought in general is one of the brain's functions, but that the various special forms of thinking are functions of special portions of the brain. When we are thinking of things seen, it is our occipital convolutions that are active; when of things heard, it is a certain portion of our temporal lobes; when of things to be spoken, it is one of our frontal convolutions.

...

When the physiologist who thinks that his science cuts off all hope of immortality pronounces the phrase, ``Thought is a function of the brain,'' he thinks of the matter just as he thinks when he says, ``Steam is a function of the tea-kettle,'' ``Light is a function of the electric circuit,'' ``Power is a function of the moving waterfall.'' In these latter cases the several material objects have the function of inwardly creating or engendering their effects, and their function must be called productive function.

However he points out that there are different types of functional dependence. Besides thought being produced by the brain it might be released by the brain or transmitted by the brain.

But in the world of physical nature productive function of this sort is not the only kind of function with which we are familiar. We have also releasing or permissive function; and we have transmissive function.

The trigger of a crossbow has a releasing function: it removes the obstacle that holds the string, and lets the bow fly back to its natural shape. So when the hammer falls upon a detonating compound. By knocking out the inner molecular obstructions, it lets the constituent gases resume their normal bulk, and so permits the explosion to take place.

In the case of a colored glass, a prism, or a refracting lens, we have transmissive function. The energy of light, no matter how produced, is by the glass sifted and limited in color, and by the lens or prism determined to a certain path and shape. Similarly, the keys of an organ have only a transmissive function. They open successively the various pipes and let the wind in the air-chest escape in various ways. The voices of the various pipes are constituted by the columns of air trembling as they emerge. But the air is not engendered in the organ. The organ proper, as distinguished from its air-chest, is only an apparatus for letting portions of it loose upon the world in these peculiarly limited shapes.

James goes on to suggest that the functional dependency of thought on the brain might in actuality be a transmissive function.

Suppose, for example, that the whole universe of material things--the furniture of earth and choir of heaven--should turn out to be a mere surface-veil of phenomena, hiding and keeping back the world of genuine realities. Such a supposition is foreign neither to common sense nor to philosophy. Common sense believes in realities behind the veil even too superstitiously; and idealistic philosophy declares the whole world of natural experience, as we get it, to be but a time-mask, shattering or refracting the one infinite Thought which is the sole reality into those millions of finite streams of consciousness known to us as our private selves.

...

Suppose, now, that this were really so, and suppose, moreover, that the dome, opaque enough at all times to the full super-solar blaze, could at certain times places grow less so, and let certain beams pierce through into this sublunary world. These beams would be so many finite rays, so to speak, of consciousness, and they would vary in quantity and quality as the opacity varied in degree. Only at particular times and places would it seem that, as a matter of fact, the veil of nature can grow thin and rupturable enough for such effects to occur. But in those places gleams, however finite and unsatisfying, of the absolute life of the universe, are from time to time vouchsafed. Glows of feeling, glimpses of insight, and streams of knowledge and perception float into our finite world.

Admit now that our brains are such thin and half-transparent places in the veil. What will happen? Why, as the white radiance comes through the dome, with all sorts of staining and distortion imprinted on it by the glass, or as the air now comes through my glottis determined and limited in its force and quality of its vibrations by the peculiarities of those vocal chords which form its gate of egress and shape it into my personal voice, even so the genuine matter of reality, the life of souls as it is in its fullness, will break through our several brains into this world in all sorts of restricted forms, and with all the imperfections and queernesses that characterize our finite individualities here below.

According to the state in which the brain finds itself, the barrier of its obstructiveness may also be supposed to rise or fall. It sinks so low, when the brain is in full activity, that a comparative flood of spiritual energy pours over. At other times, only such occasional waves of thought as heavy sleep permits get by. And when finally a brain stops acting altogether, or decays, that special stream of consciousness which it subverted will vanish entirely from this natural world. But the sphere of being that supplied the consciousness would still be intact; and in that more real world with which, even whilst here, it was continuous, the consciousness might, in ways unknown to us, continue still.

He points out that there is no more evidence to suggest thought is produced by the brain than there is evidence that it is transmitted by the brain.

Is it not more rigorously scientific to treat the brain's function as a function of production?

...

The theory of production is therefore not a jot more simple or credible in itself than any other conceivable theory. It is only a little more popular. All that one need do, therefore, if the ordinary materialist should challenge one to explain how the brain can be an organ for limiting and determining to a certain form a consciousness elsewhere produced, is to retort with a tu quoque, asking him in turn to explain how it can be an organ for producing consciousness out of whole cloth. For polemic purposes, the theories are thus exactly on a par.

In the Preface to the Second Edition of "The Will to Believe and Other Essays", where this lecture is reprinted, James addresses the question: If the personality is a result of consciousness transmitted through the brain, how does that translate into immortality? If the brain dies, then the individuality dies. His answer is that the source of the transmitted consciousness is an individualized consciousness and what happens in the brain may be registered back in the consciousness that is the source of the transmission - the transmission is a two way transmission.

If our finite personality here below, the objectors say, be due to the transmission through the brain of portions of a pre-existing larger consciousness, all that can remain after the brain expires is the larger consciousness itself as such, with which we should thenceforth be perforce reconfounded, the only means of our existence in finite personal form having ceased.

The plain truth is that one may conceive the mental world behind the veil in as individualistic a form as one pleases, without any detriment to the general scheme by which the brain is represented as a transmissive organ.

...

And in transmitting it - to keep to our extremely mechanical metaphor, which confessedly throws no light on the actual modus operandi - one's brain would also leave effects upon the part remaining behind the veil...

In summary, the brain may filter consciousness rather than produce consciousness. Only those faculties of consciousness which are transmitted through the filter are the faculties we have while in the body. This explanation of the relationship between the mind and the brain explains the same phenomena that are explained by the theory that the brain produces consciousness:

• If the filter is damaged, it might not transmit some faculties clearly and there could be loss of some mental functions as happens after a stroke or a head injury.
• During sleep, or anesthesia, or coma, it may be that nothing passes through the filter and there is no consciousness ie. unconsciousness.

• Survival After Death: If consciousness is not produced by the brain but exists separately from the brain, then it can be possible for consciousness to survive the death of the physical body. This can explain the many types of evidence for the afterlife.
• Near Death Experiences: If the mind is released from the filter, there may be expanded consciousness which could explain what happens during an NDE.
• Extra-Sensory Perception: If consciousness exists separately from the brain then it must have some means of perceiving its environment and communicating with other consciousnesses when not incarnated. This suggests that consciousness should have the ability to perceive the environment without using the physical senses. This explains extra-sensory perception, telepathy and clairvoyance, which may be the normal mode of communication and perception by consciousness when it is existing apart from the brain.
• Psychokinesis: If consciousness is distinct from the brain there must be some means by which the consciousness can influence the physical brain in order to control the body. This predicts the existence of psychokinesis - the ability of mind to influence matter.
• Quantum Mechanics: If consciousness is distinct from the brain there must be some means by which the consciousness can influence the physical brain in order to control the body. This is consistent with the observation from quantum mechanics that consciousness has ability to influence matter by collapsing the wave function of particles.
• Mystical Experiences: In deep meditation that reduces brain activity, filtering may be reduced and more faculties of consciousness may be passed through. This could explain mystical experiences of oneness and unlimited knowledge reported by practitioners of Zen Buddhism, Yoga, and other eastern traditions.
• Enhanced Psychic Perceptions During Dreams and the Hypnogogic State: Reduced brain activity during sleep, and during the hypnogogic state may result in reduced filtering. This could allow more faculties of consciousness to pass through the filter and result in increased psychic abilities such as clairvoyance, precognition, and spirit communication which have been reported to occur in those states. This is discussed in more detail in the chapter on A Natural Method for Learning to Communicating with Spirits.
• ESP Under Hypnosis: Similarly, hypnosis has been used to enhance psychic perception. The hypnotic state may also reduce the filtering of consciousness by the brain. In addition, subjects under hypnosis can remember in much greater detail than they can under normal consciousness. Hypnosis may modify the filter so that a greater faculty of recollection can pass through the filter.
• Talents released by brain injury: There was an article in the dailymail.co.uk on June 1, 2009, of a man who suffered a stroke and as a result gained artistic talents:
  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1190002/Masterstroke-Man-draw-stickmen-wakes-life-saving-brain-surgery--artist.html

  For most, stroke and brain surgery can be devastating but for Alan Brown it sparked a previously unseen talent... as an artist.

  When Alan, 49, emerged from a gruelling 16-hour operation following his stroke, he found he had become a reborn 'Michelangelo' and was able to paint and draw with incredible detail.

  This is strong evidence that the brain does not produce consciousness but restricts it. It is extremely unlikely that a brain injury could cause the same changes in the brain that learning a skill would produce. If an injury to the brain can give a person a new talent, that suggests that the talent originally existed in the non-physical consciousness but the brain was restricting that talent from expressing itself in the physical organism. The stroke may have damaged the part of the brain that restricted the talent from emerging. This might then allow the patient to become more fully conscious of his innate abilities.
• Some individuals might have natural differences in the filtering ability of the brain and some individuals might be able to learn to control that filtering ability. This might explain why some people are naturally more psychic than other and why some people are able to develop their psychic abilities.
• Certain types of damage to the filter might let some faculties that are normally restricted, pass through. This could explain why increased psychic abilities sometimes occur after head injuries.

The theory that the brain filters consciousness is superior to the theory that the brain produces consciousness because the filter theory explains everything the production theory explains and it also explains many more phenomena that the production model cannot explain.

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The Transmission Model of The Brain is not Falsifiable and is not Scientific

The section on the fallacy: Belief in the Afterlife is not Falsifiable and Therefore is not Scientific explains the significance of falsifiability to a scientific theory.

In short, for a theory to be scientific it must be supported by evidence. For a theory to be supported by evidence it must pass a test that could demonstrate the theory is false.

Someone might question whether the transmission/filter model of the brain can be falsified. Any change in mental function can be explained by it. If conscious faculties are increased, as occurs during an NDE, it is ascribed to less filtering, if conscious faculties are decreased, as may occur after a stroke, it is ascribed to increased filtering. However the transmission model makes at least two predictions that can be tested:

• Consciousness can exist independently of the brain.
• The brain does not produce consciousness.

The other way to falsify the filter model is to study the brain and determine if it produces consciousness or not. Proving the brain produces consciousness will falsify the transmission model.

An electronics engineer can examine a radio receiver and determine that it does not generate the signal it receives and converts to sound. A scientist should be able to examine the brain and determine how it works in the same way. The research that is currently being conducted by neuroscientists to prove the brain produces consciousness may eventually reach a blank wall like an engineer tracing the signal all the way back to the antenna of a radio and then not being able to go any further and concluding that the radio is a receiver.

The electronics engineer doesn't have to know anything about radio waves nor should the scientist have to know anything about non-physical consciousness. The engineer only needs an amplifier and and oscilloscope and he can trace the signal. Similarly the scientist only needs to understand the physical mechanism of the brain.

The same electronics engineer can analyze a computer and show that all the behavior of the circuits are determined by the physical elements of the computer. If the brain produces consciousness, the scientist should be able to do the same thing for the brain. If you properly understand the brain you will know how, for example, an impulse to move your arm originates. If you can't explain how that impulse originates by the mechanism of the brain then you have to look for something outside the brain to explain it.

If someone says a computer is a receiver for radio waves you can falsify it by demonstrating the behavior of the computer is explained by the properties of the physical elements comprising it. If someone says a brain is a filter for consciousness you can falsify it by demonstrating the behavior of the brain is explained by the properties of the biological elements comprising it. Neuroscience will eventually resolve this question.

How might the filter model be proven? Perhaps some extremely improbable quantum phenomena will be found to occur in the brain on a regular basis. If nothing known to science can explain it, scientists will have to look for some new phenomena which may lead to the "discovery" of consciousness.

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Belief in the Afterlife is not Falsifiable and Therefore is not Scientific

This fallacy is often stated in this way but what it really means is that belief in the afterlife is not supported by evidence.

The philosopher Karl Popper wrote that for a theory to be scientific it must be supportable by empirical evidence. Empirical evidence is evidence from either observation or experiment. Popper stated that a theory that is supported by empirical evidence is not just consistent with the evidence but must pass a test which if it failed would demonstrate the theory is false. The theory must be falsifiable.

In short, for a theory to be scientific it must be supportable by evidence. For a theory to be supported by evidence it must pass a test that could demonstrate the theory is false.

An essay written by Karl Popper explaining this philosophy can be found at:

Science, Pseudo-Science, and Falsifiability by Karl Popper
http://www.kenrahn.com/jfk/critical_thinking/Science_pseudo_falsifiability.html

The theory of the afterlife has passed tests that could falsify it, and therefore it is supported by empirical evidence, which is to say, belief in the afterlife is scientific.

Several tests of the theory of the afterlife come from Richard Hodgson's investigation into the mediumship of Mrs. Piper. This research is described in:

A Further Record of Observations of Certain Phenomena of Trance by Richard Hodgson L.L.D. Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research Vol. XIII. 1898, p 284 - 582:
http://books.google.com/books?id=5dTNAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA284&dq=editions:LCCN09022954&lr=&output=html

In his investigation, Hodgson observed "communicators" that would communicate through Mrs. Piper while she was in a trance. There were different hypotheses proposed to explain them. They included deliberate fraud, alternate personalities, telepathy, and spirits.

Tests for the hypothesis that the communicators were spirits included:

• Communicators should have knowledge that is unknown to the medium and the sitters.

• Communicators should have knowledge that the person they claimed to be had while living.

• Communicators should demonstrate mannerisms and patterns of speech of the person they claimed to be.

• Characteristics of the communication should vary with the communicator independently of who the sitters are.

Failure at any of these these test would rule out the spirit hypothesis as an explanation Mrs. Piper's mediumship.

In fact, the mediumship of Mrs. Piper passed all of these tests.

The details of the investigation are in the Proceedings. Hodgson found that the communicators were not a result of fraud, and that they had knowledge unknown to the medium and the sitters. The communicators exhibited gestures, patterns of speech, and personal knowledge of the person they claimed to be. ( Communicators also showed an interest in living friends and relatives, and demonstrated that they maintained current knowledge about them.) Characteristics of the communication varied with the communicator not with the sitters. Spirits communicating shortly after death had difficult communicating. Spirits that suffered a long illness or mental turmoil before death had more difficulty communicating. Spirits who were communicating for the first time had difficulty coming through but learned after a few attempts and could be assisted by other spirits. Some spirits were never very good at communicating. Other spirits were particularly good at communicating names. These variations in characteristics of the communicators were unaffected by who the sitters were.

Based on this evidence, Hodgson believed the communicators were spirits.

If communicators knew only what the medium knew, the spirit hypothesis would be falsified. If the communicators did not demonstrate personal knowledge and characteristics of the person they claimed to be, the spirit hypothesis would be falsified. If characteristics of the communication were found to vary with the sitters, for example if some sitters always brought through strong communicators and other sitters always brought through weak communicators, then the theory that the communicators were independent entities would be falsified.

Based on this empirical evidence one can see that belief in the afterlife is supported by empirical evidence, it has passed several tests that could falsify it and therefore belief in the afterlife is scientific.

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You can't prove a negative, you can't prove spirits and the afterlife don't exist.

Some skeptics use this fallacy to avoid the burden of justifying their opinions. However, the proposition that you can't prove a negative can be disproved under the formal rules of logic. This is discussed in the article:

You Can Prove A Negative by Steven D. Hales
http://departments.bloomu.edu/philosophy/pages/content/hales/articlepdf/proveanegative.pdf

This article also explains why giving adequate reasons for rejecting the evidence said to prove something exists is equivalent to proving the thing doesn't exist. Therefore, a skeptic can disprove the existence of spirits and the afterlife by giving adequate reasons for rejecting the evidence said to demonstrate their existence.

This shouldn't be a problem. Most skeptics claim to believe only what is proved. It is implicit in this claim that they will not believe what is not proved. If they don't believe in spirits and the afterlife, then they should be able to explain why they reject the evidence that is said to demonstrate their existence. In fact, most skeptics have no reluctance to explain why they reject the evidence for spirits and the afterlife. Many of their arguments are discussed right here in this chapter on skeptical fallacies.

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Mediumship

Some charlatans pretend to be mediums and do collect information about people and use it to give fake readings. However if a skeptic is going to accuse a particular medium of doing this, they should have some evidence otherwise they are simply guessing. Evidence could include testimony by people who inadvertently provided information or who were probed for information by the medium. Some charlatans routinely request personal information about sitters before allowing them into a seance. Such a fact, if verified, would also provide evidence. Also such charlatans usually keep records on people and share them with other charlatans (see The Psychic Mafia in the chapter on Book Reviews ). Evidence of the existence of records can also provide evidence that they are dishonest.

One should also be careful with terminology. A medium is someone who facilitates communication with spirits. Someone who pretends to do this is not a medium just as a con-artist who pretends to be a doctor is not a doctor.

Furthermore, just because charlatans exist, that does not prove there are no true mediums. Gary Schwartz has published numerous research reports demonstrating the accuracy of mediums in scientific experiments including a triple-blind experiment in which the medium has no contact with the person getting the reading. This eliminates cold reading or the use of previous knowledge as an explanation for mental mediumship.

Anomalous Information Reception By Research Mediums Demonstrated Using A Novel Triple -Blind Protocol
http://veritas.arizona.edu/papers/Beischel%20EXPLORE%202007%20vol%203.pdf

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Mediums use cold reading techniques to seem like they are getting information from spirits.

Cold reading is when a medium makes general statements or uses body language or statements made by the sitter to make it seem like they are getting information from spirits. If someone thinks a medium is cold reading, they can examine a transcript of a reading and show how he does it. Either they can show how the information is provided by the sitter or how he makes general statements or how he changes his story based on what the sitter says.

Cold reading cannot replicate what mediums do. Psychical researcher Montague Keen was on a TV show with a prominent stage magician in 2003. He described the magician's attempts at cold reading:

The edited version [of the TV show] omitted his first futile but extended attempts at cold reading which was so unsuccessful that the embarrassed floor manager had to announce a technical fault and stop the show.
http://www.survivalafterdeath.org.uk/articles/keen/randi.htm

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Magicians can reproduce the phenomena of physical mediumship and other paranormal abilities.

A number of the best magicians have said that magicians are not able to reproduce spiritual phenomena in the same conditions in which mediums demonstrate such phenomena. Magicians have also express belief in the paranormal and the belief that some mediums they have observed are genuine.

The following quote is from "Is There an Afterlife" by David Fontana

Will Goldston, one of Europe's leading professional magicians, author of 40 works on sleight of hand, and founder of the Magicians' Club of London, testified in a national newspaper (the Daily Sketch) that 'I am convinced that what I saw [at a Rudi Schneider s�ance organized by Harry Price] was not trickery. No group of my fellow- magicians could have produced those effects under such conditions.' Goldston also spoke up for independent voice medium Hazel Ridley and for Helen Duncan (who may have been another who used mixed mediumship) and was sufficiently impressed by physical phenomena actually to become a spiritualist. Both David Abbott and Howard Thurston, contemporaries of Houdini and two of America's best-known magicians, confessed their conviction in the genuineness of physical phenomena (like Goldston, Thurston also became a spiritualist).

This quote is from "Magicians Who Endorsed Psychic Phenomena" By George P. Hansen
http://www.tricksterbook.com/ArticlesOnline/MagWhoEndors.htm

Samuel Bellachini was the Court Conjuror for Emperor William I at Berlin. Bellachini investigated the controversial American medium Henry Slade. The sittings were not only held in darkness, but some were in full daylight. Bellachini was convinced that the results were not due to trickery.

The famous historical medium, Eusapia Palladino, readily admitted herself that she used trickery when she could. Skeptics have often thus dismissed positive reports of her phenomena. But no less than Howard Thurston [a well known magician] believed in some of her results and said so in the New York Times. Thurston was nevertheless well aware of her trickery.

The "Official Report: Society Of American Magicians, Assembly 30, Atlanta Chapter" by Artur Zorka, Chairman of The Occult Investigations Committee says:

... it is the unanimous finding of this committee that although we, as magicians, can duplicate each of these test results using methods known by us, under the proper conditions . . . there is no way, based on our present collective knowledge, that any method of trickery could have been used to produce these effects under the conditions to which Uri Geller was subjected.
http://www.uri-geller.com/books/geller-papers/g14.htm

Leo Leslie, a Danish magician wrote in his book "Uri Geller":

The judgment of all of us who were present for what occurred was one of total endorsement of Geller's paranormal claims: both his ability to bend metal and his talent for receiving telepathic signals.
http://www.uri-geller.com/books/geller-papers/g23.htm

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Mediums take unfair advantage of people who are grieving or who are afraid of death.

People who are afraid of death take comfort from the knowledge that they will continue on in the afterlife. People suffering from grief take comfort from the fact that their loved ones continue to exist, can communicate with them, and may be reunited with them in the afterlife. When people who have not investigated the empirical evidence for the afterlife deny it's existence or try to explain away the evidence by offering untested and unsupported hypotheses, they are also harming those suffering from grief.

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Research

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Parapsychological research is not published in peer reviewed scientific journals.

According to the Parapsychology Association Bibliography for 1998 the following journals are peer-reviewed and publish parapsychological research.

• Journal of Parapsychology
• Journal of Scientific Exploration
• Journal of the Society for Psychical Research
• European Journal of Parapsychology
• Japanese Journal of Parapsycholog
• Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research

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If there was research demonstrating the afterlife, the researchers would win the Nobel Prize.

There is research demonstrating the afterlife (see the section in this chapter on the fallacy: There is no evidence of spirits or the afterlife.). In fact there was evidence that should have brought afterlife research into the mainstream of science as early as 1922 (see the section Early Research in the chapter Summary of Evidence). Unfortunately it is human nature that when people encounter evidence that contradicts their beliefs they tend to either ignore it or attribute it to fraud or incompetence. An exception to this, that reinforces people's disbelief in evidence for the afterlife, is that people are also prone to accept the beliefs of the majority even if it contradicts their own beliefs (see the section in this chapter on the fallacy: If afterlife research was valid, mainstream science would accept it.).

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Afterlife researchers were fooled by charlatans.

Skeptics may try to apply this fallacy to both early and current researchers. The way to counter this fallacy is the same in both cases. Most scientists have published books or research papers where they describe their materials, methods, observations, and steps taken to prevent fraud. If someone is going to prove the researchers were fooled, they must describe the experimental methods used, suggest how the research subjects committed fraud, and demonstrate that it is possible to commit fraud in that way under those conditions.

Researches into the Phenomena of Spiritualism by Sir William Crookes

http://www.survivalafterdeath.org.uk/books/crookes/researches/contents.htm
Or:
http://books.google.com/books?id=PMg0AAAAMAAJ&printsec=titlepage&output=text

In another part of the room an apparatus was fitted up for experimenting on the alterations in the weight of a body. It consisted of a mahogany board, 36 inches long by 9 1/2 inches wide and 1 inch thick. At each end a strip of mahogany 1 1/2 inches wide was screwed on, forming feet. One end of the board rested on a firm table, whilst the other end was supported by a spring balance hanging from a substantial tripod stand. The balance was fitted with a self-registering index, in such a manner that it would record the maximum weight indicated by the pointer. The apparatus was adjusted so that the mahogany board was horizontal, its foot resting flat on the support. In this position its weight was 3 lbs., as marked by the pointer of the balance.
http://www.survivalafterdeath.org.uk/books/crookes/researches/investigation.htm
Or:
http://books.google.com/books?output=text&id=PMg0AAAAMAAJ&jtp=7

Thirty Years of Psychical Research - Charles Richet

We have read and re-read, studied and analyzed the works written on these subjects, and we declare it vastly improbable, and even impossible, that eminent and upright men such as Sir William Crookes, Sir Oliver Lodge, Reichenbach, A. Russel Wallace, Lombroso, William James, Schiaparelli, F. W. H. Myers, Zollner, A. de Rochas, Ochorowicz, Morselli, Sir William Barrett, Ed Gurney, C. Flammarion, and many others, in spite of their close attention and their scientific knowledge, should all have been duped over and over again a hundred times by tricksters or have been the victims of an astounding credulity. It is not possible that they should all and always have been so blind as not to perceive frauds necessarily gross; so incautious as to form conclusions where no conclusion was legitimately possible; and so unskilful as never to have made a single unexceptionable experiment. A Priori, their experiments deserve careful consideration and not to be contemptuously rejected.

This book can be downloaded from:
http://survivalebooks.org/#Thirty Years of Psychical Research

In addition, the possibility of fraud does not prove fraud occurred, nor does one proven fraud imply there are no true psychics. There have been many cases of fraud in every profession but this does not mean that those professions are all populated by charlatans.

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Paranormal phenomena disappear when scientists try to reproduce them in a laboratory.

There are many laboratory studies that prove the paranormal. Here are just a few:

• 1993: Observation Of A Psychokinetic Effect Under Highly Controlled Conditions
  http://www.fourmilab.ch/rpkp/observ.html

• Toward Understanding the Placebo Effect: Investigating a Possible Retrocausal Factor
  http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/acm.2006.6243
  http://www.liebertonline.com/toc/acm/13/7?cookieSet=1

• Effects of Intentionally Enhanced Chocolate on Mood
  http://download.journals.elsevierhealth.com/pdfs/journals/1550-8307/PIIS1550830707001802.pdf
  http://www.explorejournal.com (September 2007)

• The Effect of the "Laying On of Hands" on Transplanted Breast Cancer in Mice
  Abstract (HTML)
  http://www.scientificexploration.org/jse/abstracts/v14n3a2.php
  Full Text (PDF)
  http://www.scientificexploration.org/jse/articles/pdf/14.3_bengston_krinsley.pdf

• "On the Latest Study of ESP and OBEs" has several references.
  http://www.mind-energy.net/archives/232-On-the-Latest-Study-of-ESP-and-OBEs.html

Here are a few journals that publish psychic research:

• The Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research
  http://www.aspr.com/jaspr.htm
• Journal of Scientific Exploration
  http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal.html
• Journal of Parapsychology
  http://www.rhine.org/journal.shtml
• European Journal of Parapsychology
  http://ejp.org.uk/

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The results of psychical research are not reliable if they are not obtained from repeatable laboratory experiments.

This fallacy is easily exposed by comparing psychical research to research on evolution. The evidence for the theory of evolution by natural selection was not obtained through laboratory experiments. The evidence for natural selection was first observed by Charles Darwin in the wild on the Galapagous Islands. Later more evidence was found by other investigators burried in the ground as fossils. There is a huge amount of evidence for the theory of natural selection and virtually all scientists recognize it is reasonable to believe the theory based on that evidence.

There are also a huge number of observations of paranormal phenomena made by scientists and other reliable sources. It is reasonable to believe those phenomena are real because the phenomena of psychical research are repeatable. These same phenomena are observed, in many cases under controled conditions, over and over by different observers. Psychics have produced the same phenomena for different investigators, and investigators have observed similar phenomena from different psychics.

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Anecdotal evidence is not reliable.

It is not correct to assert that all research conclusions based on aecdotal evidence are invalid because there are reliable forms of anecdotes and valid uses of anecdotal evidence. Certain fields of psychical research are often incorrectly criticized because they are said to rely on anecdotal evidence. These fields include crisis apparitions, near death experiences, death bed visions, and past life memories.

While there are valid criticisms of anecdotal evidence and how anecdotes can be misused to reach incorrect conclusions, not every criticsim of anecdotal evidence applies to every anecdote or every use of anecdotes. Many of the criticisms of anecdotal evidence do not apply to the way anecdotal evidence is used in psychical research.

The value of anecdotal evidence depends on the quality of the anecdotes and what they are used to demonstrate. For example, a high quality anecdote would involve first hand accounts by multiple identified witnesses of good character where each witness coroborates the others.

The way anecdotes are use in research also determines whether the conclusions drawn from them are valid. For example anecdotes are often criticized because they cannot prove a cause and effect relationships. However anecdotes in psychical research are often used merely to prove a phenomena occurs and are not used to demonstrate a cause and effect relationship.

The following is list of a the criticism of anecdotal evidence. The reasons they do not apply to the way anecdotes are used in psychical research is explained.

(The following criticisms of anecdotal evidence are discussed in the wikipedia article on anecdotal evidnece.)

• Vivid emotionally charged anecdotes seem to be more plausible and are given greater weight. This is relevant when anecdotes are being used to argue that a decision be swayed in a certain direction. It is irrelevant when anecdotes are used in psychical research to demonstrate that a phenomena occurs.

• You don't know how many people are not reporting such anecdotes. This is not relevant in psychical research where anecdotes are not used to demonstrate the frequency of a phenomena but are used only to demonstrate the phenomena sometimes occurs. Also see below Anecdotal evidence is not meaningful without a statistical basis for understanding it.

• Anecdotes are eaisly misused to incorrectly assert cause and effect relationships. Anecdotes are not used to demonstrate cause and effect relationships in psychical research, they are used to demonstrate a phenomena occurs.

• Anecdotes that refer to the exception rather than the rule are misleading. It is proper to use anecdotes to demonstrate that exceptions to a rule exist. This is apropriate in psychical research when one is trying to demonstrate a paranormal phenomena occurs.

• Anecdotes cannot be used to demonstrate statistical facts. Anecdotes are not used to demonstrate statistical facts in psychical research, they are used to demonstrate a phenomena occurs. Also see below Anecdotal evidence is not meaningful without a statistical basis for understanding it.

• Anecdotes do not carry the weight of authority. Authority is not required for a fact to be true.

• Anecdotes are subject to cognitive bias and are unfalsifiable.

  Cognitive bias occurs when a person's judgement is affected by their preconcieved ideas, expectations, and opinions.

  This criticism is often misapplied to psychical research due to a misunderstadning that the anecdotes are from individual subjective experiences, when, in fact, the anecdotes often involve multiple witnesses making objective observations. Anecdotes are verifiable when there are multiple identified witnesses who coroborate each other. There are cases of multiple corrobrating witness for crisis apparitions, memories of past lives, and even some NDEs.

  In many cases, the paranormality of an NDE is demonstrated not by the subjective nature of the experience but by verifiable information brought back by the experiencer which could not have been perceived even if the experiencer had been conscious. These are called veridical NDE's

  For examples see:

  "People See Verified Events While Out-Of-Body"
  http://www.near-death.com/experiences/evidence02.html

  The NDE and Out-of-Body Kevin Williams' research conclusions
  http://www.near-death.com/experiences/research11.html

  Individual NDE Experiences
  http://www.nderf.org/archives_1stHalf2002.htm
  (Search the page for "veridical" to find these types of cases)

• Anecdotes are subject to subjective validation

  Subjective validation "occurs when two unrelated or even random events are perceived to be related because a belief, expectancy, or hypothesis demands a relationship. Thus people seek a correspondence between their perception of their personality and the contents of a horoscope." ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forer_effect)

  This is one of the biggest criticism of psychical research, but it is irrelevant unless the anecdote is being used to demonstrate a correspondence between events. It doesn't apply when objective, verifiable observations are reported. For example, as often occurs with crisis apparitions, if several people saw an apparition of someone but they didn't know the person's life was in danger, there would be no cause for subjective validation.

  (See "Phantasms of the Living" by Edmund Gurney
  http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=title%3A%28phantasms%20of%20the%20living%29%20AND%20creator%3A%28edmund%20gurney%29 ).

  In the case of death bed visions, there are a number of cases where visions were seen of people who were thought to be living but in actuality had died.

  (See "Death Bed Visions" by William Barrett chapter 2
  http://www.survivalafterdeath.org.uk/books/barrett/dbv/chapter2.htm ).

  This is exactly the opposite of what you would expect if subjective validation were occuring.

Rejecting conclusions of psychical research that uses anecdotal evidence is inappropriate because there are reliable forms of anecdotes and reliable uses of anecdotal evidence. If someone asserts that psychical research is flawed because it relies on anecdotal evidence, they must prove that assertion by identifying the conclusions of that research and demonstrate which specific criticisms of anecdotal evidence apply to the anecdotes used to reach those conclusions.

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Anecdotal evidence is unscientific because it is not repeatable.

When a researcher interviews someone who has made an observation it is evidence. This type of evidence is not just scholarly, it is scientific. Collecting evidence from individuals is used in other fields of science such as anthropology and sociology.

There are many fields of science where reseach is not always done in a laboratory. Ecology, astronomy, field biology, botany, zoology are examples. Sometimes you have to go to where the phenomena are if you want to study them.

In the book "21 Days into the Afterlife" Piero Calvi-Parisetti, MD. gives a good explanation of how anecdotal evidence is used.

"Let's say, for example, that a biologist goes to Antarctica to study one particular aspect of the penguins� behaviour. After five weeks of observation he comes back with a report saying that the penguins do this and that. Is that not science?

"Well, of course it is. But we expect that if another biologist went and observed the same penguins, he would report the same behaviour.

"Precisely. And this is precisely what happens with most of the anecdotal evidence I am talking about. People observe phenomena and report what they have seen. And then other people observe the same phenomena and report the same kind of things. Just swap the biologist with a psychic researcher and the penguins with mediums or other psychic phenomena."
http://www.openmindsite.com/book.htm

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Anecdotal evidence is unscientific because it cannot be disproved.

The section on the fallacy: Belief in the Afterlife is not Falsifiable and Therefore is not Scientific explains the significance of falsifiability to a scientific theory.

In short, for a theory to be scientific it must be supported by evidence. For a theory to be supported by evidence it must pass a test that could demonstrate the theory is false.

It is possible for anecdotal evidence to be used in a test that can falsify a theory. One case where this was done was an investigation on crisis apparitions.

When an apparition of a person is seen near the time of his death, it is called a crisis apparition. Evidence of crisis apparitions comes in the form of anecdotes because their occurence is not predictable and can't be studied in a laboratory. The section on the fallacy: Anecdotal evidence is not meaningful without a statistical basis for understanding it. Anecdotes may be due to chance coincidence. describes an investigation that determined the frequency of apparitions and then taking into account the frequency of deaths, determined that seeing a apparition of someone near the time of his death occurred much more frequently than chance coincidence could explain.

This investigation demonstrated that crisis-apparitions are a paranormal phenomena and should be a high priority for scientific investigation because the known laws of science cannot explain the correlation between the death of an individual and the appearance of an apparition of them. However, if this investigation had shown that crisis-apparitions occurred at a frequency expected by chance coincidence, the paranormal hypothesis would have been falsified and crisis-apparitions would have no special priority for scientific investigation. This demonstrates that there are ways that anecdotal evidence can be used to confirm a theory and therefore anecdotal evidence can be scientific.

Furthermore, conclusions drawn from eyewitness accounts can also be disproved. For example, if someone says he saw a ghost on main street, you may be able prove he was somewhere else at that time. You may not be able cross-check every statement in an anecdote but if you can demonstrate a high frequency of inaccuracy in those statements that can be cross-checked within a study, then you can cast doubt on the conclusions of that study. It is hard to do this, but all you have to do is interview people. It would be much easier to investigate a first hand eye witness account than for example to try to disprove astronomical observations that require expensive telescopes or physics experiments that required huge particle accelerators and require expensive computer time to analyze. The case of cloning fraud in Korea is another example. I don't have the equipment to show that was a fraud but I do have a telephone and I could easily investigate anecdotes.

Additionally, if someone thinks anecdotal evidence is used to draw the wrong conclusions, they can try to reproduce the study. They can collect new anecdotes and investigate them more carefully. If they think the anecdotes are the result another phenomena they can design a study to test that hypothesis.

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Anecdotal evidence is the result of people who are in emotional turmoil and is therefore unreliable.

Anecdotes are not all about people under stress. Many occur when the observer is in perfectly good health, not aware anyone is ill or has any expectation of experiencing anything paranormal.

About fourteen years ago, about 3 o'clock one summer's afternoon, I was passing in front of Trinity Church, Upper King Street, Leicester, when I saw on the opposite side of the street a very old playmate, whom, having left the town to learn some business, I had for some time lost sight of. ... The next week I was informed of his somewhat sudden death at Burton-on-Trent, at about the time I felt certain he was passing in front of me.
http://www.survivalafterdeath.org.uk/articles/rogo/apparitions.htm

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Anecdotal evidence is not meaningful without a statistical basis for understanding it. Anecdotes may be due to chance coincidence.

Anecdotes can be understood in a statistical context if a survey is conducted to learn about the frequency of the type of event described by the anecdotes. This methodology may be used to rule out chance coincidence as an explanation of anecdotal evidence.

The psychical researchers of the late 19th century wanted to extend the methods of science so that personal experiences could be studied quantitatively and objectively.

One way they did this was to use a survey to help make sense of anecdotal information about crisis apparitions. The survey was called "the census of hallucinations". They tried to do a representative survey of the British population asking a simple question:

"Since January 1, 1874, have you when in good health, free from anxiety, and completely awake had a vivid impression of seeing or being touched by a human being, or of hearing a voice or sound which suggested a human presence, when no one was there ? Yes or no ?"

If a subject answered yes, they requested further information. If the event seemed to include veridical information, they sought corroborating testimony from other witnesses such as family members to whom the subject described the hallucination at the time it occurred.

This is described in "Phantasms of the Living" by Edmund Gurney, Volume 2 Chapter XIII "The Theory of Chance Coincidence"
http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=title%3A%28phantasms%20of%20the%20living%29%20AND%20creator%3A%28edmund%20gurney%29

Next, using sources of information on the frequency of deaths such as "Supplement to the 45th Annual Report of the Registrar-General", they calculated the expected probability of having a hallucination near the time of death of a relative or acquaintance. From this they were able to demonstrate that the frequency of crisis apparitions (seeing an apparition of someone near the time of their death) was much too high to be explained by chance coincidence.

The census of hallucinations is also described in The Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research. Many articles on the census can be read in the Proceedings on line at books.google.com. These articles can be easily found the Web Guide to the PSPR.

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Evidence for the afterlife is unacceptable because the research took place too long ago.

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Near Death Experiences can be explained by biological phenomena such as lack of oxygen or a "dying brain".

The following on-line sources discuss how "scientific" theories of NDEs fail to explain all of the observed phenomena associated with NDEs.

• People See Verified Events While Out-Of-Body
  http://www.near-death.com/experiences/evidence02.html
• Michael Prescott discusses chapter 6 of the book "Irreducible Mind" by Edward F. Kelly, Emily Williams Kelly, et al.
  http://michaelprescott.typepad.com/michael_prescotts_blog/2007/03/irreducible_min.html
• Michael Tymn discusses the section on NDE's in chapter 2 "Where Are You?" in the book "Your Eternal Self" by R. Craig Hogan, Ph.D.
  http://metgat.gaia.com/blog/2008/3/debunking_the_nde_debunkers
• Scientific Theories of the NDE
  http://www.near-death.com/experiences/experts01.html

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Skeptical Misdirection

In The Mass Media

• Ignoring the Evidence in a Film Documentary
• Published Misrepresentations of Parapsychological Research

Misrepresenting The Scientific Evidence

• Parapsychological Research
• The Double Standard
• Retraction of False Statements
• NDE Research

Skeptics Ignore The Results of Their Own Experiments

• Ignoring Successful Experiments
• Psychic Diagnosis
• ESP in Animals

Mediumship

• Cold Reading Fails to Replicate what Mediums Do
• Misrepresenting the Evidence of Spirit Communication

Links

Skeptical Misdirection

There are many examples of prominent skeptics who have obscured the truth. Skeptics often say that believers in the paranormal have been fooled by charlatans but it is the skeptics who have been fooled by prominent members of their community who seem to be more interested in winning the debate than in illuminating the truth. Skeptics often accuse mediums of preying on gullible people to make money but it is often the prominent skeptics who are trying to make money writing books and filming documentaries who are spreading misinformation in the pursuit of personal gain.

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In The Mass Media

In "The Daily Grail", Rupert Sheldrake tells of a prominent who skeptic refused to consider peer reviewed scientific studies of telepathy in a debunking documentary.

[The skeptic] seemed uneasy and said, "I don't want to discuss evidence". "Why not?" I asked. "There isn't time. It's too complicated. And that's not what this programme is about." The camera stopped.

The Director ... confirmed that he too was not interested in evidence. The film he was making was another [prominent skeptic's] polemic.

I said to [the director], "If you're treating telepathy as an irrational belief, surely evidence about whether it exists or not is essential for the discussion. If telepathy occurs, it's not irrational to believe in it. I thought that�s what we were going to talk about. I made it clear from the outset that I wasn't interested in taking part in another low grade debunking exercise."
http://dailygrail.com/node/5817

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Published Misrepresentations of Parapsychological Research

In "Examining the Skeptics", Michael Prescott discusses rampant inaccuracy in a book by a prominent skeptic.

[A prominent skeptic] comes across as a bullying figure, eager to attack and ridicule, willing to distort and even invent evidence - in short, the sort of person who will do anything to prevail in a debate, whether by fair means or foul.

The title of his book thus takes on a new and unintended meaning. From what I can tell, [the prominent skeptic] really is the Flim-Flam man.

...

Hebard, [the prominent skeptic] says disputes the Targ-Puthoff account. He [Hebard] is quoted [by the prominent skeptic] as saying, "It's a lie. You can say it any way you want, but that's what I call a lie."

Dr Hebard was very annoyed by this claim since, as he explained to me, [the prominent skeptic] had tried to get him to make this charge and he had refused. Dr Hebard later signed a statement to this effect for me.
http://www.skepticalinvestigations.org/exam/Prescott_Randi.htm

Another article by Michael Prescott "Everything old is new again: Let's get Serios" discusses Ted Serios who could psychically impress images on photographic film. Prescott exposes not one but two skeptics who tried to debunk Serios and made no mention of the the fact the Serios worked under controlled conditions that prevented fraud. One of the skeptics even listed the conditions but said they were a "preposterous set of controls" included in a challenge to him to try to produce the phenomena by ordinary means. He made no mention of the fact that the psychic he was trying to debunk worked under those conditions.
http://michaelprescott.typepad.com/michael_prescotts_blog/2009/05/everything-old-is-new-again-lets-get-serios.html

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Misrepresenting The Scientific Evidence

A prominent skeptic's FAQ makes this incorrect claim about parapsychology:

"And, there is not a single example of a scientific discovery in the field of parapsychology that has been independently replicated. That makes parapsychology absolutely unique in the world of science."
http://www.randi.org/jr/faq.html

According to parapsychologist Dean Radin, the truth is:

A meta-analysis of the database, published in 1989, examined 800 experiments by more than 60 researchers over the preceding 30 years. The effect size was found to be very small, but remarkably consistent, resulting in an overall statistical deviation of approximately 15 standard errors from a chance effect. The probability that the observed effect was actually zero (i.e., no psi) was less than one part in a trillion, verifying that human consciousness can indeed affect the behavior of a random physical system.
http://www.deanradin.com/para2.html#ninea

In another case, Chris Carter in "Research of the Skeptics", tells of a skeptic who made entirely unsupportable statements about the supposed lack of evidence for psi phenomena.

Martin Gardner wrote:

How can the public know that for fifty years skeptical psychologists have been trying their best to replicate classic psi experiments, and with notable unsuccess? It is this fact more than any other that has led to parapsychology�s perpetual stagnation. Positive evidence keeps coming from a tiny group of enthusiasts, while negative evidence keeps coming from a much larger group of skeptics.

But as Honorton pointed out, �Gardner does not attempt to document this assertion, nor could he. It is pure fiction. Look for the skeptics� experiments and see what you find.� For the most part, skeptics have simply criticized from the sidelines, and have produced no experimental research of their own.
http://www.skepticalinvestigations.org/New/Anomali/skeptic_research.html

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The Double Standard

Skeptics apply different standards of proof for parapsychological research and mainstream science. They justify this double standard by claiming that extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. This is a fallacy which is exposed in the chapter on Skeptical Fallacies. That chapter explains that when skeptics apply this double standard, they are simply demonstrating they prefer to disbelieve parapsychological research because that research contradicts their strongly held beliefs and not because there is any objective scientific reason to doubt it. Since there is no objective scientific way to identify an extraordinary claim it is based on personal belief rather than scientific facts. Ultimately, it is hypocritical for a skeptic who claims to require scientific evidence before accepting a belief to use this double standard to reject parapsychological research.

The Wikipedia article for Remote Viewing gives an example of this type of skeptical misdirection.

Professor Richard Wiseman, a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire and a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) has said that he agrees remote viewing has been proven using the normal standards of science, but that the bar of evidence needs to be much higher for outlandish claims that will revolutionize the world, and thus he remains unconvinced:[24]

"I agree that by the standards of any other area of science that remote viewing is proven, but begs the question: do we need higher standards of evidence when we study the paranormal? I think we do. (...) if I said that a UFO had just landed, you'd probably want a lot more evidence. Because remote viewing is such an outlandish claim that will revolutionize [sic] the world, we need overwhelming evidence before we draw any conclusions. Right now we don't have that evidence." Richard Wiseman Daily Mail, January 28, 2008, pp 28-29 [24]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_viewing

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Retraction of False Statements

After making false claims "debunking" research by Rupert Sheldrake a prominent skeptic was forced to admit his own deception:

He wrote: "I overstated my case for doubting the reality of dog ESP based on the small amount of data I obtained. It was rash and improper of me to do so."

[A prominent skeptic] stated: "Viewing the entire tape, we see that the dog responded to every car that drove by, and to every person who walked by." This is simply not true, and [the prominent skeptic] now admits that he has never seen the tape.
http://www.skepticalinvestigations.org/whoswho/Randi_dogs.htm

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NDE Research

A research study in a medical journal showed consciousness can continue without brain function. A skeptic characterized the article as showing the exact opposite.

In his "Skeptic" column in Scientific American in March, 2003, Michael Shermer cited a research study published in The Lancet, a leading medical journal, by Pim van Lommel and colleagues. He asserted this study "delivered a blow" to the idea that the mind and the brain could separate. Yet the researchers argued the exact opposite, and showed that conscious experience outside the body took place during a period of clinical death when the brain was flatlined. As Jay Ingram, of the 'Canadian Discovery Channel' commented: "His use of this study to bolster his point is bogus. He could have said, 'The authors think there's a mystery, but I choose to interpret their findings differently'. But he didn't. I find that very disappointing" (Toronto Star, March 16, 2003). Here, Pim van Lommel sets out the evidence that Shermer misrepresented.
http://www.skepticalinvestigations.org/New/Mediaskeptics/vanLommel.html

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Skeptics Ignore The Results of Their Own Experiments

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Ignoring Successful Experiments

A skeptical parapsychologist ignored her own successful experiments in order to make the claim that she could not demonstrate paranormal phenomena.

British psychologist Susan Blackmore ... wrote in 1996: �When I decided to become a parapsychologist I had no idea it would mean 20 years of failing to find the paranormal.

These claims led parapsychologist Rick Berger to critically examine the Blackmore experiments in great detail, and he found that �The claim of �ten years of psi research� actually represents a series of hastily constructed, executed, and reported studies that were primarily conducted during a 2-year period.�� These consisted of a set of experiments conducted between October 1976 and December 1978 for her PhD dissertation.

So, how does Blackmore reconcile the fact of 7 successful experiments out of 21 with her often-repeated claim that her own research led her to become a skeptic? Simple: results from successful experiments were dismissed as due to flaws in the experiment, yet study quality was simply ignored when the results were nonsignificant.
http://www.skepticalinvestigations.org/New/Anomali/skeptic_research.html

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Psychic Diagnosis

Skeptics proved that psychic Natasha Demkina can make accurate medical diagnoses. In testing her, they found a probability 50 to 1 in favor of a psychic explanation of her performance yet the skeptics said her claims were delusions.

Natasha Demkina, a 17-year-old Russian schoolgirl celebrated in her home town of Saransk for making accurate diagnoses of people's medical ailments just by looking at them, was brought to New York (a gruelling 24-hour journey by train, flight and bus) to have her 'paranormal claims' tested by the self-styled world authorities.

She was required to match seven written diagnoses against seven corresponding test persons wearing black-lens spectacles to avoid any eye contact. She said from the outset that two of the diagnoses were outside her range, but she was kindly reassured by Wiseman that she would pass her test if she scored five out of five on the other trials. Under these fairly taxing conditions she was in fact correct in four out of the seven trials, a result yielding a significant p value of .02, an outcome calling for a fair degree of congratulation.

But there were no congratulations for Natasha. While noting (in passing) that the odds against this result being due to chance were around 50 to 1, Wiseman told her that she had failed, and the patronising Hyman advised that she should forget her delusions and pursue her proposed medical studies (his own delusion being presumably that the diagnoses of medical practitioners are invariably correct). The commentator crowed that the girl would now return to Russia discredited. Mission accomplished!
http://www.skepticalinvestigations.org/Demkina/Barrington_scientists.htm

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ESP in Animals

A skeptic successfully repeated an experiment that showed a dog can predict when his owner is on the way home. The skeptic claimed the results refuted the phenomena.

With the help of his assistant, Matthew Smith, he did four experiments with Jaytee, two in June and two in December 1995, and in all of them Jaytee went to the window to wait for Pam when she was indeed on the way home. As in my own experiments, he sometimes went to the window at other times, for example to bark at passing cats, but he was at the window far more when Pam was on her way home than when she was not. In the three experiments Wiseman did in Pam's parents' flat, Jaytee was at the window an average of 4% of the time during the main period of Pam's absence, and 78% of the time when she was on the way home. This difference was statistically significant. When Wiseman's data were plotted on graphs, they showed essentially the same pattern as my own. In other words Wiseman replicated my own results.

I was astonished to hear that in the summer of 1996 Wiseman went to a series of conferences, including the World Skeptics Congress, announcing that he had refuted the 'psychic pet' phenomenon. He said Jaytee had failed his tests because he had gone to the window before Pam set off to come home.
http://www.sheldrake.org/D&C/controversies/wiseman.html

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Mediumship

A prominent skeptic who claims mediums routinely use cold reading to fool people demonstrates that cold reading does not replicate what mediums do.

The edited version [of the TV show] omitted his [the prominent skeptic's] first futile but extended attempts at cold reading which was so unsuccessful that the embarrassed floor manager had to announce a technical fault and stop the show.
http://www.survivalafterdeath.org.uk/articles/keen/randi.htm

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Misrepresenting Evidence of Spirit Communication

Martin Gardner wrote:

"Records of Mrs. Piper�s s�ances show plainly that her controls did an enormous amount of what was called 'fishing,' and today is called 'cold reading.' Vague statements would be followed by more precise information based on how sitters reacted. Mrs. Piper usually held a client�s hand throughout a sitting, sometimes holding the hand against her forehead. This made it easy to detect muscular responses even when a sitter was silent. Moreover, her eyes were often only half closed, allowing her to observe reactions."

However a commenter in Michael Prescott's Blog explains:

Somehow, Gardner forgets to tell us that many of the readings involved proxy sitters - people who did not know the facts of the case they were inquiring about. Strange how this little fact was overlooked. Could Gardner have forgotten to mention it because cold reading is useless in a proxy sitting?
http://michaelprescott.typepad.com/michael_prescotts_blog/2007/08/how-martin-gard.html

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More Skeptical Misdirection

Robert McLuhan, in his blog "Paranormalia", gives examples of skeptics...

1) Refusing to engage with parapsychological investigations on any level as being of no interest, undoubtedly fraudulent, obviously nonsense, etc.
...
2) Engaging with [psychical investigations], but explaining them away with all kinds of implausible scenarios which in any other context no one would entertain for a moment.
...
3) Carrying out experiments in order to prove that, when properly conducted, the effect will not appear, getting an effect, and then explaining it away on the grounds of 'experimental flaws'.
....
4) Carrying out experiments with psychics on television with a very precisely determined pre-agreed protocol, getting highly significant results, and then refusing to accept the results as valid. ...
http://monkeywah.typepad.com/paranormalia/2008/12/unengaged-implausible-illogical.html

According to a National Science Foundation poll, 60% of people believe in psychic phenomena. Unfortunately, a greater majority is still needed since there is currently little or no overt government funding for parapsychological research.

Why is this so? In the preceding chapters, we have seen the extraordinary evidence for the afterlife and some of the eminent scientists who studied psychic phenomena and found it genuine. Despite this, we have also seen the misleading statements made by skeptics and some of the fallacies spread by skeptics. These misleading statements and fallacies have the effect of confusing many ordinary people about psychic phenomena, but the lack of government funding for parapsychological research is due to a much more serious problem. The problem is that in the U.S., top scientists and government agencies are actively involved in suppressing parapsychological research.

One would expect that subjects as important to the understanding of humankind and the universe as the afterlife, telepathy, psychokinesis, remote viewing, and precognition would be worthy of scientific investigation. Unfortunately, there isn't the critical mass of popular approval necessary to overcome the forces in society that are working to suppress parapsychological research. Parapsychological research is suppressed through refusals to accept its results and by misrepresentations of those results. The forces behind this suppression include 1) individuals who control research funding who are attached to the status quo and who are afraid they will lose status and power if materialism is found to be incomplete and 2) government intelligence agencies that do not want to encourage and abet international competitors in developing paranormal techniques for intelligence gathering and psychic interference with electronic weapons.

(A prime example of this resistance to parapsychological research by scientists and the government is seen in the NSF poll mentioned above which lists the results for belief in psychic phenomena under subject heading "Pseudoscience".)

Conspiracy theories that require coordination at a high levels and cooperation among a large number of groups are unlikely. However there is evidence which is discussed below, to support the belief that parapsychological research is being suppressed by top scientists and government agencies in the U.S. Additionally, we do know there have been unacceptable activities in the U.S. in the past. For example there were drug and medical tests done on people who didn't know about it and didn't agree to participate. Failure to recognize the results of parapsychological research is a pale shadow compared to some the darker deeds that we know have been done and therefore suppression and misrepresentation of parapsychological research cannot be considered impossible.

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Entrenched Powers

There is a great resistance by the scientific community to psychical and parapsychological research. This has been going on for over a hundred years. It was a problem in 1871 when Sir William Crookes unsuccessfully tried to present his research ( http://www.survivalafterdeath.org.uk/books/crookes/researches/contents.htm ) on psychokinesis to the Royal Society and it is a problem today. This resistance is mostly a social artifact left over from the time science led the revolution against superstition, creationism, and anthropocentrism. Like many revolutions, the scientific revolution went too far and those who benefited from its excesses are loath to give up the benefits.

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. He writes that if this is true, belief in psychic phenomena should depend how committed a person is to the materialist world view. He then presents evidence to support this contention showing that 68% of the general public believe in the possibility of psychic phenomena, 55% of college professors also believe, 30% of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) division heads believe, but only 6% of the members of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) believe in psychic phenomena.

Radin points out that a skeptic might suggest that this dependency is due to greater knowledge about perceptual and memory biases that are said to lead to mistaken belief in psychic phenomena. But it is also true that the skeptics' own perceptual and memory biases might be the cause of their skepticism. It seems unlikely that there would be a great difference in knowledge about perceptual and memory biases between AAAS division heads and NAS members. However, there would be a difference in attachment to the scientific world view since being a NAS member is more prestigious than being an AAAS division head. Therefore the contention that the cause of disbelief is due to perceptual and memory biases in skeptics seems to be justified.

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.

In the history of science, there are many examples where the mainstream scientific view was wrong. For example, the theory of continental drift was ridiculed when it was first proposed. This shows that what is a reasonable conclusion to draw from empirical evidence is subjective. Radin is saying that skepticism of parapsychological research by stop scientists is due to subjective factors and not actual problems with experimental design or interpretations of results. The fact that those people who have a greater stake in the correctness of the materialist world view are less likely to believe in psychic phenomena is evidence of this.

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Government Suppression

There is also ample evidence that some agencies of the U.S. government have tried to suppress parapsychological research by deliberately misrepresenting the results of that research. The reason for this is to diminish the likelihood that international competitors will develop psychic techniques that could threaten the U.S.

Ingo Swann in "Remote Viewing - The Real Story" ( http://www.biomindsuperpowers.com/Pages/2.html ) explains that the intelligence community in the U.S. became interested in parapsychological research when it became clear that the Soviets were heavily engaged in such research. Another factor that upset the defense department was that computers belonging to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which were working on military projects at SRI, went haywire when Uri Geller was being tested on the floor below. If someone could psychically affect electronic circuits, they could interfere with any modern weapons system that used electronics.

The DARPA Debunking of Uri Geller (1972)

In late 1972, after DARPA computers seemed to have been affected by Uri Geller's psychic powers, DARPA sent the prominent skeptic Ray Hyman to debunk Geller.

Hyman reported that Geller was doing what magicians could do. However, Hyman did not test Geller under controlled conditions that would enable him to distinguish between stage magic and paranormal abilities. In his book "Uri", Andrija Puharich, a scientist who validated Uri Geller's psychic abilities, names two individuals from DARPA who started rumors that Geller's abilities were not genuine. This was exposed as a disinformation campaign when Targ and Puthoff at SRI obtained positive results with Geller under tightly controlled conditions and their research was published in the Nature article: "Information Transmission Under Conditions Of Sensory Shielding" by Harold E. Puthoff, Ph.D., and Russell Targ, Nature, VOL 252, No. 5476, Oct. 18, 1974, pp. 602-607.
http://www.uri-geller.com/books/geller-papers/g3.htm

NRC report on parapsychology (1987)

In 1987, the National Research Council (NRC) issued a report that was the result of a request by the US Army for an evaluation of several subjects, one of which was parapsychology. The report incorrectly stated that there was no justification for parapsychological research. During an interview on Skeptiko Podcast, Chris Carter, author of "Parapsychology and the Skeptics", described this report:

There was even a National Research Council (NRC) report in 1987 which announced to the press: "The Committee finds no scientific justification for research conducted over a period of 130 years for the existence of parapsychological phenomena." It was a total hatchet job.
http://www.skeptiko.com/blog/?p=38

According to the Wikipedia article on the NRC, the NRC is the working arm of the National Academy of Sciences and was founded to help develop military technology during World War I. Interestingly, as was pointed out above, the National Academy of Sciences members are likely to be highly biased against the validity of psychic phenomena. More information about this "hatchet job" can be found in the chapter "A Field Guide to Skepticism" in "The Conscious Universe" by Dean Radin ( http://www.skepticalinvestigations.org/guide/field_guide.htm ).

CIA Report On Remote Viewing (1995)

The CIA, at the direction of Congress, requested the American Institutes for Research to prepare a report on remote viewing. The report was released in 1995. The report incorrectly concluded that remote viewing was not useful for intelligence purposes.

Edwin C. May, who had participated in intelligence programs using remote viewing, wrote in "The American Institutes for Research Review of the Department of Defense's STAR GATE Program: A Commentary" ( http://www.lfr.org/LFR/csl/media/air_mayresponse.html ) that the CIA had deliberately limited the scope of the report to ensure that the report would not find any cases where remote viewing had been useful for intelligence purposes.

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Secret Programs

Skepticism in the Media

Some of the incredulity about psychic phenomena spread by the mass media is due to collaboration with government agencies. In his book "Uri", Andrija Puharich, wrote that individuals working for DARPA directly influenced Time magazine to publish an article that denied Geller's psychic abilities were genuine and tried to discredit the scientists who studied Geller at SRI. More details can be found in Puharich's book:

"Uri" by Andrija Puharich
http://site.uri-geller.com/en/books

Infiltration of Skeptical Organizations

According to the Wikipedia article on Ray Hyman, Hyman was a founding member of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), a skeptical organization, and he also consulted for the Defense Department. This is fairly straight forward evidence suggesting that the Defense Department has infiltrated skeptical organizations. If one prominent member of a skeptical organization was working openly for the Defense Department, it seems possible, in light of the above examples of government misrepresentation of parapsychological research, that other prominent skeptics, also members of skeptical organizations, could be working secretly for government agencies.

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In Conclusion

The phenomena of parapsychology are real. The report in Nature by Puthoff and Targ, and the statements by Edwin C. May are only two of the many sources of evidence of that reality which have been published since Crookes proved the existence of telekinesis in 1871. But, in light of the evidence provided above, it seems that the skeptics are still in control of the agenda. Despite the fact that the majority of people in the U.S. believe in psychic phenomena, and despite the fact that scientific evidence gained from parapsychological research has proven a number of those phenomena are real, there are forces that are preventing these subjects of immense importance to human understanding of the universe and our place in it from being investigated with the full vigor that they deserve.

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There are various ways to use this page. You can:

• Scroll through the page and look for articles of interest.
• Use your browser's Find function to find articles with a certain name in the title.
• Use your browser's Find function to find articles with a certain topic in the title.

When you have found an article you want to read, go to the beginning of that table of contents and click on the link where it says: "Links to individual articles at books.google.com". That link will take your browser to a web page at the books.google.com web site where there will be a link to each article. Simply click on the link of your choice and you can start reading the article on-line. Alternatively books.google.com allows you to download the entire volume.

To navigate to the contents of a specific volume on this page, click on the corresponding link in the table of volumes below. The tables of contents of all the volumes are listed here on a single page to facilitate searching with the web browser Find function.

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Table of Volumes

Click on the volume number to scroll to its Contents.

vol. I 1882 - 1883	vol. II 1884	vol. III 1885	vol. IV 1886 - 1887	vol. V 1888 - 1889
vol. VI 1889 - 1890	vol. VII 1891 - 1892	vol. VIII 1892	vol. IX 1893 - 1894	vol. X 1894
vol. XI 1895	vol. XII 1896 - 1897	vol. XIII 1897 - 1898	vol. XIV 1898 - 1899	vol. XV 1900 - 1901
vol. XVI 1901	vol. XVII 1901 - 1903	vol. XVIII 1903 - 1904	vol. XIX 1905 - 1907	vol. XX 1906
XXI n/a	XXII 1908	XXIII n/a	XIV 1910	XXV 1911
XXVI 1913	XXVII 1914 - 1915	XXVIII 1915	XXIX 1918	XXX n/a
XXXI 1921	XXXII 1922

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Tables of Contents

Volume I 1882-1883. Links to individual articles at books.google.com

Officers and Council for 1882 1

Objects of the Society 3

Address by the President at the First General Meeting 7

First Report of the Committee on Thought-Reading 13

Note on Thought-Reading. By Professor Balfour Stewart 35

Note on Thought-Reading. By Rev. A. M. Creery 43

Appendix to the Report on Thought-reading. By Professor W.f. Barrett 47

Address by the President at the Second General Meeting 65

Second Report of the Committee on Thought-Transference (with Illustrations) 70

Preliminary Report of the Reichenbach Committee 99

First Report of the Committee on "Haunted Houses" 101

First Report of the Literary Committee 116

On Clairvoyance. By G. Wyld, M.D. (Abstract) 156

Annual Business Meeting, January, 1883 - Report and Financial Statement 158

Third Report of the Committee on Thought-Transference (with Illustrations) 161

First Report of the Committee on Mesmerism 217

First Report of the Reichenbach Committee 230

On Some Phenomena Associated with Abnormal Conditions of the Mind. By Professor W. F. Barrett 238

Address by the President at the Fourth General Meeting 245

Second Report of the Committee on Mesmerism 251

Record of Experiments on Thought-Transference at Liverpool. By Malcolm Guthrie, J.P., And James Birchall 263

Appendix to the Report on Mesmerism 284

Note on Muscle-Reading. By the Rev. E. H. Sugden 291

Circular No 1. On the General Work of the Society 295

Circular No. 2. On Dreaming and Allied States 303

Catalogue of the Library 307

Regulations as to the Lending of Books 319

Officers and Council for 1883 320

List of Members, Associates, Honorary and Corresponding Members 321

Constitution and Rules 331

Volumes - Start of Chapter

Volume II 1884. Links to individual articles at books.google.com .

Fourth Report of the Committee on Thought-Transference 1

Third Report of the Committee on Mesmerism 12

Appendix to the same 20

An account of some Experiments in Thought-Transference. By Malcolm Guthrie, J.P. 24

Second Report of the Literary Committee 43

Appendix to the same 53

Note on the Existence of a "Magnetic Sense."By Professor W. F. Barrett 56

The Stages of Hypnotism. By Edmund Gurney 61

Report of Wells Sunk at Locking, Somerset, to Test the Alleged Power o the Diving rod. By W. J. Sollas, M.A., D.Sc 73

The Divining Rod. By Edward R. Pease 79

Appendices (I, II,) to the Divining Rod 90,95

Annual Business Meeting 108

Third Report of the Literary Committee. - A Theory of Apparitions. Part I 109

Second Report of the Committee on Haunted Houses 137

President's Address at the Eighth General Meeting 152

Fourth Report of the Literary Committee. - A Theory of Apparitions. Part II. 157

Professor Balfour Stewart's Address at the Ninth General Meeting 187

An Account of Some Experiments in Thought-Transference. By Oliver J. Lodge, D.Sc. 189

An Account of Some Experiments in Mesmerism. By Edmund Gurney 201

Diagrams Illustrative of Thought-Transference 207

On a Telepathic Explanation of Some So-called Spiritualistic Phenomena. By F. W. H. Myers. Part I. 271

Abstract of the President's Address at the Eleventh General Meeting 238

M. Richet's Recent Researches in Thought-Transference 239

Note on the same by Professor O. J Lodge and Mr. Alfred Lodge 257

The Problems of Hypnotism. By Edmund Gurney 265

Library Catalogue 293

Rules of the Library 316

List of Members and Associates, December, 1884 317

Constitution and Rules 333

Volumes - Start of Chapter

Volume III 1885. Links to individual articles at books.google.com

Automatic Writing. By Frederic W. H. Myers 1

Opening Address at the Thirteenth General Meeting. By Professor Balfour Stewart, F.R.S 64

Notes on the Evidence, collected by the Society, for Phantasms of the Dead. By Mrs. H. Sidgwick 69

Hallucinations. By Edmund Gurney 151

The Calculus of Probabilities applied to Psychical Research By F. Y. Edgeworth 190

Annual Business Meeting 200

Report on Phenomena connected with Theosophy

(1) Statement and Conclusions of the Committee 201

(2) Account of Personal Investigations in India, and Discussion of the Authorship of the "Koot Hoomi" Letters (with Appendices). By Richard Hodgson 207

(3) Report of Mr. F. G. Netherclift on the Blavatsky-Column Correspondence 381

(4) Note on Certain Phenomena not dealt with in Mr. Hodgson's Account. By Mrs. H. Sidgwick 382

(5) Details of the Evidence referred to on Page 207 397

Contents of the above Report 400

Some Higher Aspects of Mesmerism. By Edmund Gurney and Frederic W. H. Myers 401

Further Report on Experiments in Thought-Transference at Liverpool. By Malcolm Guthrie, J.P. 424

Local Anaesthesia induced in the Normal State by Mesmeric Passes 453

Report on an alleged Physical Phenomenon 460

Catalogue of the Library (Abridged.) 464

List of Members and Associates, December, 1885 475

Constitution and Rules 493

Volumes - Start of Chapter

Volume IV 1886 - 1887. Links to individual articles at books.google.com

Human Personality in the light of Hypnotic Suggestion. By Frederic W. H. Myers 1

On some Physical Phenomena commonly called Spiritualistic, witnessed by the Author. By Professor W. F. Barrett 25

Note on the above Paper. By Professor Balfour Stewart, F.R.S. . 42

Results of a Personal Investigation into the "Physical Phenomena" of Spiritualism, with some critical remarks on the Evidence for the genuineness of such Phenomena. By Mrs. H. Sidgwick 45

The Possibilities of Mal-Observation in relation to Evidence for the Phenomena of Spiritualism. By Charles C. Massey 75

Note on the above Paper, by Professor H. Sidgwick, and further Discussion 99

Experiments in Muscle-Heading and Thought-Transference. By Max Dessoir 111

On Telepathic Hypnotism, and its relation to other forms of Hypnotic Suggestion. By Frederic W. H. Myers 127

The Calculus of Probabilities applied to Psychical Research. II. By F. Y. Edgeworth 189

Automatic Writing. III. By Frederic W. H. Myers 209

Opening Address at the Twenty-fourth General Meeting. By Professor Balfour Stewart, F.R.S. 262

Peculiarities of Certain Post-hypnotic States. By Edmund Gurney 268

Experiments in Thought-Transference. By Anton Schmoll 324

Accounts of some so-called "Spiritualistic" Seances. By Professor H. Carvill Lewis, M. A., F.G.S., and Others 338

The Possibilities of Mal-Observation and Lapse of Memory from a Practical Point of View : -

Introduction. By Richard Hodgson 381

Experimental Investigation. By S. J. Davey 405

Multiplex Personality. By Frederic W. H. Myers .... 496

Stages of Hypnotic Memory. By Edmund Gurney 515

Note on Certain Reported Cases of Hypnotic Hyperaesthesia. By Frederic W. H. Myers 532

Critical Notices :-

A. Binet and Ch. Fere, Le Magnetisme Animal. By Edmund Gurney 540

Dr. Gilles de la Tourette, L'Hypnotisme et les Etats Analogues au Point de Vue Medico-legal. By O. Elton 555

Dr. J. Ochorowicz, De la Suggestion Mentale. By Frank Podmore 562

Library Catalogue 569

List of Members and Associates 587

Volumes - Start of Chapter

Volume V 1888 - 1889. Links to individual articles at books.google.com

Recent Experiments in Hypnotism. By Edmund Gurney 3

Relation de Diverses Experiences sur la Transmission Mentale, la Lucidite, et Autres Phenomenes non Explicables par les Donnees Scientifiques Actuelles. Par M. Charles Richet, Professeur de Physiologie a la Faciulte de Medicine de Paris 18

Experiments in Thought-Transference. By A. Schmoll and .J. E. Mabire 109

Hypnotism and Telepathy. By Edmund Gurney 216

Critical Notices. By Frederic W. H. Myers.

(1) Preliminary Report of the Commission appointed by the University of Pennsylvania to Investigate Modern Spiritualism in accordance with the Bequest of the late Henry Seybert 260

(2) Hystero-epilepsie Masculine: Suggestion, Inhibition, Transposition des Sens. Par le Professeur Fontan 263

Note relating to some of the Published Experiments in Thought-Transference 269

Opening Address at the Twenty-eighth General Meeting. By Professor Henry Sidgwick 271

The Connection of Hypnotism with the Subjective Phenomena of Spiritualism 279

On the Evidence for Premonitions. By Mrs. H. Sidgwick 288

Experiments in Thought-Transference. By Max Dessoir . . . 355

Supplement.

I. Edmund Gurney's Work in Experimental Psychology. By F. W. H. Myers 359

II. French Experiments on Strata of Personality. By F. W. H. Myers . - 374

Opening Address at the Thirtieth General Meeting. By Professor Henry Sidgwick 399

On Apparitions Occurring Soon after Death. By the late Edmund Gurney, completed by F. W. H. Myers 403

Recent Experiments in Crystal-Vision ....... 486

Automatic Writing.�IV.�The Daemon of Socrates. By Frederic W. H. Myers 522

Supplement.

I. On a Series of Experiments at Pesaro. By H. Babington Smith 549

II. Dr. Albert Moll's "Hypnotism." By Max Dessoir . . . 566

The Edmund Gurney Library ........ 575

List of Members and Associates 590

Volumes - Start of Chapter

Volume VI 1889 - 1890. Links to individual articles at books.google.com

Address by the President, Professor Sidgwick, on The Canons of Evidence in Psychical Research .... . . . .1

Address by the President on The Census of Hallucinations ... 7

On Recognised Apparitions Occurring more than a Year after Death. By F. W. H. Myers 13

Further Experiments in Hypnotic Lucidity or Clairvoyance. By Professor Charles Richet 66

Duplex Personality. An Essay on the Analogy between Hypnotic Phenomena and certain Experiences of the Normal Consciousness. By Thomas Barkworth ......... 84

Notes of Seances with D. D. Home. By William Crookes, F. R. S. 98

Experiments in Thought-Transference. By Professor and Mrs. H. Sidgwick, and Mr. G. A. Smith ....... 128

Supplement.

I. International Congress of Experimental Psychology. By A. T. Myers, M.D 171

II. Ad Interim Report on the Census of Hallucinations . . . 183

III. Professor Pierre Janet's "Automatisme Psychologique." By Frederic W. H. Myers 186

IV. Binet on the Consciousness of Hysterical Subjects. By F.W.H. Myers 200

V. "Das Doppel-Ich." By F. W. H. Myers 207

VI. Dr. Jules Janet on Hysteria and Double Personality. By F. W. H Myers 216

VII. Professor Liegeois on Suggestion and Somnambulism in Relation to Jurisprudence. By Walter Leaf, Litt. D. . 222

VIII Two Books on Hypnotism. By Walter Leaf, Litt. D. . . 225

Phantasms of the Dead from Another Point of View. By F. Podmore . 229

A Defence of Phantasms of the Dead. By F. W. H. Myers . . 314

A Record of Telepathic and Other Experiences. By the Author Of "A Record Of Recent Experiments In Crystal Vision" . . 358

Experimental Comparison between Chance and Thought-Transference in Correspondence of Diagrams. By Lieut.-Colonel G. Le M. Taylor 398

Supplement.

I. Observations on Clairvoyance, &c. By Drs. Dufay and Azam . 407

Address by the President, Professor Sidgwick, on the Census of Hallucinations (his second address on this subject) . . . 429

A Record of Observations of Certain Phenomena of Trance-

(1) Introduction, by F. W. H. Myers . . . .436

(2) Part I., by Professor O. J. Lodge, F.R.S. . .443

(3) Part II., by Walter Leaf, Litt. D. ... 558

(4) Index to Items in Parts I. and II., specially difficult to explain by direct thought-transference. By Professor O. J. Lodge, F. R. S. . . . 647

(5) Part III., by Professor William James, of Harvard University 651

Supplement.

I. Second Ad Interim Report on the Census of Hallucinations . 661

II. Review of A. Aksakof's Animismus and Spiritismus. By F. W. H. Myers 665

Supplementary Catalogue of the Edmund Gurney Library . . . 675

List of Members and Associates ........ 679

List of Members and Associates of the American Branch . . . 697

Volumes - Start of Chapter

Volume VII 1891 - 1892. Links to individual articles at books.google.com

Experimental Studies in Thought-Transference. By Baron Von Schrenck-Notzing, M.D., Munich 3

Some Recent Experiments in Automatic Writing. By Thomas Barkworth 23

On the Evidence for Clairvoyance. Part I. By Mrs. Henry Sidgwick . 30

Apparitions of the Virgin in Dordogne. By Leon Marillier . . . 100

Supplement.

I. Professor William James's "The Principles of Psychology.'' By F. W. H. Myers 111

II. Short Notices of Books 134

III. Circular Letter No. 4. - Hypnotism: Its Conditions and Safeguards . 137

IV. Circular Letter No. 3. (2nd Edition.) Appeal for Collaboration. .141

V. Circular Letter No. 5. Importance of Publication of Names . . 144

On Alleged Movements of Objects, without Contact, Occurring not in the Presence of a Paid Medium. Part I. By F. W. H. Myers . . .146

Experiments in Clairvoyance. By Dr. Alfred Backman . . . .199

A Case of Double Consciousness. By Richard Hodgson . . . .221

Supplement.

I. Third Ad Interim Report on the Census of Hallucinations . . . 259

II. On Spirit Photographs; A Reply to Mr. A. R. Wallace. By Mrs. Henry Sidgwick 268

III. Notices of Books. By H. E. Wingfield and W. Leaf . . .290

The Subliminal Consciousness. By F. W. H. MYERS 298

Supplement to the Paper on the Evidence for Clairvoyance. By Mrs. Henry Sidgwick 356

Note on a Visit to Kalmar. By F. W. H. Myers 370

Some Recent Thought-Transference Experiments. By Professor Oliver J. Lodge, F.R.S 374

On Alleged Movements of Objects, without Contact, Occurring not in the Presence of a Paid Medium. Part II. By F. W. H. Myers . . .383

Supplement.

Reviews -

I. "Riddles of the Sphinx." Reviewed by C. C. Massey . . 395

II. "The Occult Sciences" 408

List of Members and Associates 413

List of Members and Associates of the American Branch .... 433

Volumes - Start of Chapter

Volume VIII 1892. Links to individual articles at books.google.com

� 1. Introductory .......... 1

� 2. Some Peculiarities of the Trance State ..... 4

� 3. Hypothesis of Fraud 6

� 4. Hypothesis of Thought-Transference from the Sitters . . 9

� 5. Clairvoyance and Prophecy ....... 27

� 6. The " Spirit " Hypothesis Concerning Phinuit and other "Controls" 28

� 7. Mrs. Piper's Early Trances ....... 46

� 8. Phinuit's Account of Himself ...... 50

� 9. Relation of Phinuit to Mrs. Piper 54

� 10. Conclusion .......... 56

Detailed Reports of Sittings . . . . . . . .59

On Indications of Continued Terrene Knowledge on the part of Phantasms of the Dead. By F. W. H. Myers . . . .170

Mr. Davey's Imitations by Conjuring of Phenomena sometimes attributed to Spirit Agency. By Richard Hodgson, LL.D. . . 253

Record of a Haunted House. By Miss R. C. Morton . . . 311

The Subliminal Consciousness. Chap. III. The Mechanism of Genius. Chap. IV. Hypermnesic Dreams. By F. W. H. Myers . 333

Further Information as to Dr. Backman's Experiments in Clairvoyance 405

General Meetings .......... 413

De l'Appreciation du Temps par les Somnambules. Par M. J. Delboeuf, Professeur a l'Universite de Liege .... 414

Some Experiments in Thought-Transference. By Dr. A. Blair Thaw 422

The Subliminal Consciousness. Chap. V. Sensory Automatism and Induced Hallucinations. By F. W. H. Myers . . . 436

Experiments in Thought-Transference. By Mrs. H. Sidgwick and Miss Alice Johnson 536

Supplement.

I. William Stainton Moses. By F. W. H. Myers . . .597

II. The Second International Congress of Experimental Psychology. 601

Supplementary Catalogue of the Edmund Gurney Library . . . 612

List of Members and Associates 615

List of Members and Associates of the American Branch . . . 636

Volumes - Start of Chapter

Volume IX 1893 - 1894. Links to individual articles at books.google.com

General Meetings .......... 1

The Subliminal Consciousness. By Frederic W. H. Myers.

Chap. VI. The Mechanism of Hysteria .... 3

Chap. VII. Motor Automatism 26

The Defence of the Theosophists. By Richard Hodgson, LL.D. . 129

Mind-Cure, Faith-Cure, and the Miracles of Lourdes. By A. T. Myers, M.D., F.R.C.P., And F. W. H. Myers .... 160

Supplement.

Notices of Books : -

Dr. Moll's " Rapport in der Hypnose." By Waiter Leaf, Litt.D 211

Dr. Schmidkunz's " Psychologie der Suggestion." By Walter Leaf, Litt.D 214

Professor Brofferio's "Per lo Spiritismo." By Walter Leaf, Litt.D 216

Experiments at Milan with Eusapia Palladino. By Frank Podmore 218

Professor Tamburini's "Spiritismo e Telepatia." By H. Babington Smith 225

Mr. T. J. Hudson's "The Law of Psychic Phenomena." . 230

General Meetings .......... 235

Partial Anaesthesia. By Professor William Ramsay, PH.D.,F.R.S. 236

The Experiences of W. Stainton Moses. - I. By Frederic W. H. Myers 246

Indian Magic and the Testimony of Conjurers. By Richard Hodgson, LL.D 354

Supplement.

Review :�

Mr. Andrew Lang's (1) Introduction to Kirk's "Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies." (2) Essay on "Comparative Psychical Research." By H. Babington Smith 367

Supplementary Catalogue of the Edmund Gurney Library . . 370

List of Members and Associates 371

List of Members and Associates of the American Branch . . 394

Volumes - Start of Chapter

Volume X 1894. Links to individual articles at books.google.com

General Meetings 1

I. Address by the President, the Right Hon. Arthur J. Balfour, M.P., F.R.S 2

II. On the Difficulty of Making Crucial Experiments as to the Sources of the Extra or Unusual Intelligence Manifested in Trance- Speech, Automatic Writing, and other States of Apparent Mental Inactivity. By Professor Oliver J. Lodge, F.R.S. 14

III. Report on the Census of Hallucinations. By Professor Sidgwick's Committee ... ... 25

Chapter I - Introductory... ... ... 25

� II. - Method of Conducting the Enquiry and General Results 33

� III. - Discussion of the Trustworthiness of our Results ... ... 54

� IV. - Hallucinations and Pseudo-Hallucinations 70

� V. - The Relation of Illusions to Hallucinations 94

� VI. - Form and Development of Hallucinations 113

� VII. - Physiology of Hallucinations 134

� VIII. - Age, Sex, Heredity, Nationality, and Health. Recurrent Hallucinations ... ... ... ... 149

� IX. - Mental and Nervous Conditions in connexion with Hallucinations ... 166

� X. - Expectancy and Suggestion ... ... 174

� XI. - Organic Effects accompanying Hallucinations 198

� XII. - Death-Coincidences 207

� XIII. - Chance Coincidence ... ... 245

� XIV. - Veridical Hallucinations continued : Further Coincidental Cases ... 252

� XV. - Collective Hallucinations 303

� XVI.- Premonitions and Local Apparitions ... 331

� XVII. - Phantasms of the Dead 364

Conclusion ... ... ... ... 392

Appendix ... ... ... ... ... 402

Supplement.

Review :�Mr. Andrew Lang's " Cock Lane and Common Sense." By Walter Leaf, Litt.D. ... ... ... 423

Supplementary Catalogue of the Edmund Gurney Library ... ... 427

List of Members and Associates ... ... ... ... ... ... 431

List of Members and Associates of the American Branch ... ... 454

Volumes - Start of Chapter

Volume XI 1895. Links to individual articles at books.google.com

General Meetings .... 1

Experiments in Thought-transference. By Henry G. Rawson, Barrister-at-Law . . 2

Dipsomania and Hypnotism. By John Gordon Dill, M. A., M.D., and a Case by C. Theodore Green, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P. (Lond.) 18

The Experiences of W. Stainton Moses. - II. By Frederic W. H. Myers . . 24

On the Apparent Sources of Subliminal Messages. By " Miss X." 114 Supplement.

Reviews : -

Recent Books on Hypnotism. By C. Lloyd Tuckey, M.D. 145

Mr. F. Podmore's "Apparitions and Thought-transference." By Wm. Romaine Newbold, Ph. D. . 149

Mr. W. Leaf's " Modern Priestess of Isis " (translation from W. S. Solovyoff), and Mr. E. Garrett's "Isis. very much Unveiled." By Frank Podmore . . 155

Herr Edmund Parish's " Ueber die Trugwahrnehmung." By Miss Alice Johnson 162

" Rivista di Studi Psichici." By Walter Leaf, Litt. D. 171

General Meetings 173

Some Experiments on the Supernormal Acquisition of Knowledge. By Mrs. A. W. Verrall 174

Analysis of Mrs. Verrall's Card Experiments. By C. P. Sanger, F.S.S. 193

The Voices of Jeanne d'Arc. By Andrew Lang .... 198

Resolute Credulity. By Frederic W. H. Myers .... 213

Telepathic Dreams Experimentally Induced. By Dr. G. B. Ermacora 235

Some Psychical Phenomena bearing upon the question of Spirit Control. By Charles Hill-tout ..... 309

Supplement.

Subliminal Self or Unconscious Cerebration ?

I. By Arthur H. Pierce ...... 317

II. By Frank Podmore 325

General Meeting 333

The Subliminal Self. By Frederic W. H. Myers.

Chapter VIII. The Relation of Supernormal Phenomena to Time ; - Retrocognition ..... 334

Chapter IX. The Relation of Supernormal Phenomena to Time ; - Precognition . . .... 408

Report of the Hypnotic Committee for 1894�5 .... 594

Supplement.

Review :-

Professor Boirac's " L'Hypothese du Magnetisme Animal." By Walter Leap, Litt. D 599

Supplementary Catalogue of the Edmund Gurney Library . 601

List of Members and Associates ... 602

List of Members and Associates of the American Branch . 626

Volumes - Start of Chapter

Volume XII 1896 - 1897. Links to individual articles at books.google.com

General Meetings ........... 1

Address by the President, Professor William James .... 2

Sub-conscious Reasoning. By Wm. Romaine Newbold ... 11

Suggestion without Hypnotism, an Account of Experiments in preventing or suppressing Pain. By C. M. Barrows ... 21

Poltergeists. By Frank Podmore ....... 45

A Case of Information Supernormally Acquired. By Miss Alice Johnson 116

Supplement.

James Braid ; His Work and Writings. By Dr. J. Milne Bramwell .......... 127

Glossary of Terms used in Psychical Research. By P.W.H. Myers 166

General Meetings ..... .... 175

Personally Observed Hypnotic Phenomena. By Dr. J. Milne Bramwell .......... 176

What is Hypnotism? By Dr. J. Milne Bramwell .... 204

Some Experiments in Crystal-Vision. By Professor James H. Hyslop 259

A Case of Psychic Automatism, including " Speaking with Tongues." By Albert Le Baron. Communicated by Professor William James ......... 277

Supplement.

Involuntary Whispering Considered in Relation to Experiments in Thought-Transference. By Professor Henry Sidgwick 298

Recent Experiments in Normal Motor Automatism. By F. W. H. Myers 316

Reviews : -

Mr. Aksakoff's " The Precursors of Spiritism for the last 250 years." By Walter Leaf, Litt. D. . . . 319

Mr. T. J. Hudson's " A Scientific Demonstration of the Future Life." By Harlow Gale .... 330

General Meeting 337

Address by the President, William Crookes, F.R.S. . . . . 338

Supplementary Catalogue of the Edmund Gurney Library . . 357

Officers and Council for 1897 358

List of Members and Associates ....... 359

List of Members and Associates of the American Branch . 381

Volumes - Start of Chapter

Volume XIII 1897 - 1898. Links to individual articles at books.google.com

General Meetings ..........1

On the So-called Divining Rod, or Virgula Divina. By Professor W. F. Barrett.

Book I.

Part I. Introductory 2

Part II. Moder n Literature on this Subject ... 12

Part III. Examination of Evidence 24

Part IV. Geological Opinion 220

Part V. Brief Survey of the Evidence . . . .237

Part VI. Theoretical Conclusions 243

Appendix A. The Words "Dowse" and "Dowser". . 256

Appendix B. Geological Opinion upon Underground Water 262

Appendix C. How the Rod is Held . . . . . 266

Appendix D. The Sensations Alleged to Occur in Dowsing 272

Appendix E. Note on the Horsham Experiments . . 278

Table of Contents 281

General Meetings .......... 283

A Further Record of Observations of Certain Phenomena of Trance. By Richard Hodgson, LL.D.

Part I.

� 1. Introductory ......... 284

� 2. Development of Automatic Writing in Mrs. Piper's Trance 291

� 3. History of the G. P. Communications .... 295

� 4. Brief Accounts of Other Communicators . . 335

� 5. The " Spirit " Hypothesis and the Hypothesis of Telepathy from the Living ..... 357

� 6. Indications that the " Spirit" Hypothesis is True . 370

�7. Recent Changes in Mrs. Piper's Trance . . . 407

Detailed Reports of Sittings. Appendices I-IV. . . . 413

I. Psychical Research in American Universities. By Professor Harlow Gale of the University of Minnesota . . 583

II. Reviews: -

Herr Edmund Parish's "Zur Kritik des Telepathischen Beweis Materiels." By Mrs. H. Sidgwick . . 589

Dr. John L. Nevius's " Demon Possession and Allied Themes." By Professor W. Romaine Newbold . 602

Mr. F. Podmore's "Studies in Psychical Research." By Andrew Lang ....... 604

Dr. R. Osgood Mason's " Telepathy and the Subliminal Self." By Professor James H. Hyslop . . 610

Mr. W. T. Stead's "Letters from Julia : or, Light from the Borderland." By F. W. H. Myers . . 612

Dr. Louis Waldstein's "The Subconscious Self and its Relation to Education and Health." By F. Podmore 614

Mr. Andrew Lang's "The Book of Dreams and Ghosts." By J. G. Smith 6l6

Supplementary Catalogue of the Edmund Gurney Library . . 619

Officers and Council for 1898 621

List of Members and Associates ....... 622

List of Members and Associates of the American Branch . . 644

Volumes - Start of Chapter

Volume XIV 1898 - 1899. Links to individual articles at books.google.com

General Meetings .......... 1

I. Part of the Presidential Address delivered to the British Association at Bristol, September, 1898. By Sir Wm. Crookes, F.R.S 2

II. A Further Record of Observations of Certain Phenomena of Trance. Part II. A.�By Professor Wm. Romaine Newbold 6

III. Discussion of the Trance-Phenomena of Mrs. Piper. I - By Frank Podmore 50

IV. A Contribution to the Study of Hysteria and Hypnosis ; being Some Experiments on Two Cases of Hysteria, and a Physiologico-Anatomical Theory of the Nature of these Neuroses. By Morton Prince, M.D. . . 79

Supplement.

I. The British Medical Association and Hypnotism.

I. - Address by Dr. J. Milne Bramwell .... 98

II. - Frederic W. H. Myers. The Psychology of Hypnotism 100

III. - David Yellowlees, LL.D., M.D. The Uses and Dangers of Hypnotism ...... 109

IV. - John F. Woods, M.D. Hypnotism in Organic Disease 109

V.- CHAS. A. Mercier, M.B., F.R.C.S. Eng. Suggestion and Crime ........ 110

II. Note on "Fisher's Ghost." By H. Arthur Smith . . .111
Note on a Case in Phantasms of the Living .... 114

III. Reviews :�

Some Cases Recorded in the Annales des Sciences Psychiques. By J. G. Smith 115

Mr. Andrew Lang's "The Making of Religion." By Frank Podmore 128

Dr. Otto George Wetterstrand's ' Hypnotism and its Application to Practical Medicine." La Revue de Psychologie. Dr. Edgar Berillon's " L'Hypnotisme et l'Orthopedie Mentale." By Dr. Chas. Lloyd Tuckey . . .139

Mr. E. W. Scripture's "The Now Psychology." By Professor James H. Hyslop ...... 144

L'Annee Psychologique. By F. W. H. Myers . . . 146

Mr. Henry Ridgely Evans's "Hours with the Ghosts." By Richard Hodgson, LL.D 147

General Meetings 151

I. On the Conditions of Certainty. By Professor Charles Richet 152

II. Coincidences. By Alice Johnson.

Summary and Introduction ....... 158

Chapter I. Classification of Coincidences .... 165

Chapter II. General Discussion of Chance .... 178

Chapter III. Examples 193

Chapter IV. Examples,�continued ..... 261

Appendix I. (written jointly with W. E. Johnson) On the Construction of Artificial Chance Series . 293

Appendix II. Examination of a Premonitory Case . . 309

Appendix III. Some Premonitory Dreams .... 317

Appendix IV. A Guessing Competition. Was it a "lottery"? 322

I. The Forms of Apparitions in West Africa. By Mary H. Kingsley 331

II. A Few Notes on Occultism in West Africa. By J.Shepley Part,M.D. 343

III. Psychology and Psychical Research: a Reply to Professor Munsterberg. By F. C. S. Schiller 348

IV. Dr. Morton Prince's " Experimental Study of Visions." By F. W. H. Myers 366

V. Extract from J. E. de Mirville's "Des Esprits et de leurs Manifestations Fluidiques." With Introductory Note by Alfred R. Wallace, F.R.S 373

VI. Reviews:�

Professor G. T. W. Patrick's "Some Peculiarities of the

Secondary Personality." By F. W. H. Myers . . 382

Dr. Boris Sidis' "Psychology of Suggestion." By Dr. E. W. Taylor 386

Herr R. Muller's " Naturwissenschaftliche Seelenforschung." By Professor Harlow Gale ...... 389

Dr. G. B. Ermacora's "La Telepatia." By Professor Harlow Gale ........ 392

Miss X. (A. Goodrich-Freer)'s "Essays in Psychical Research." By Richard Hodgson, LL.D. 393

Judge Dailey's " Mollie Fancher ; the Brooklyn Enigma." By Professor W. Romaine Newbold .... 398

Supplementary Catalogue of the Edmund Gurney Library . . 399

Officers and Council for 1899 ........ 401

List of Members and Associates. . 402

List of Members and Associates of the American Branch . . . 426

Volumes - Start of Chapter

Volume XV 1900 - 1901. Links to individual articles at books.google.com

General Meetings .......... 1

I. The Fire Walk. By Andrew Lang 2

II. Discussion of the Trance Phenomena of Mrs. Piper. II.�By Mrs. Henry Sidgwick ........ 16

III. Discussion of the Trance Phenomena of Mrs. Piper. III.� Reflections on Mrs. Piper and Telepathy. By Andrew Lang 39

IV. On Some Philosophic Assumptions in the Investigation of the Problem of a Future Life. By F. C. S. Schiller . . 53

Supplement.

I. A Study in Spiritistic Hallucinations. By Professor Harlow Gale 65

II. A Case of Alleged Loss of Personal Identity .... 90

III. Note by Mr. F. C. S. Schiller on his Review of Professor Munsterberg's " Psychology and Mysticism " ... 96

IV. Reviews:�

Miss A. Goodrich-Freer and the Marquis of Bute's "The Alleged Haunting of B-- House." By Frank Podmore 98

James Braid's " Neurypnology," edited by A. E. Waite. By J. Milne Bramwell 101

Dr. J. M. Creed's "My Experience of Hypnotic Suggestion as a Therapeutic Agent." By Chas. Lloyd Tuckey, M.D. 103

Mr. H. H. Goddard's "The Effects of Mind on Body as evidenced by Faith Cures." By Professor Harlow Gale 105

"L'Annee Psychologique." By F. W. H. Myers . . 105

General Meetings 109

Presidential Address. By F. W. H. Myers 110

General Meetings .......... 129

I. On the So-called Divining Rod. By Professor W. F. Barrett, F.R.S.

Table of Contents 130

Part I. Introductory 132

Part II. Experiments by the Author .... 144

Part III. Cases of Good Water Supply Found. . . 1G4

Part IV. Experiments with several Dowsers Independently 187

Part V. Experiments in Blindfolding the Dowser . . 200

Part VI. Cases of Amateur Dowsers .... 214

Part VII. Miscellaneous Cases 226

Part VIII. Professional Dowsers and Their Failures . . 234

Part IX. Continental, Colonial, and Californian Cases . 243

Part X. Bleton, the Notable French Dowser. . . 257

Part XI. Automatic Motion of the Rod .... 276

Part XII. The Malaise of the Dowser and its Origin . . 299

Part XIII. Origin of the Stimulus to Motion of the Rod . 303

Appendices 315

Supplement.

I. Pseudo-possession. By F. W. H. Myers ..... 384

II. Reviews :�

Mr. M. M. Petrovo-Solovovo's " The Scientific Investigation of Physical Phenomena with Mediums." By Walter Leaf, Litt. D 416

M. Camille Flammarion's " L'Inconnu et les Problemes Psychiques." By Frank Podmore .... 422

Dr. C. Lloyd Tuckey's "Treatment by Hypnotism and Suggestion." By G. F. Rogers, M.D. ... 433

Mr. Percival Lowell's "Occult Japan ; or, the Way of the Gods." By the Hon. Everard Feilding . . . 434

Dr. A Lehmann's " Aberglauben und Zauberei." By F. C. S. Schiller ......... 437

Dr. Paul Gibier's "Psychism ; Analysis of Things Existing." By Frank Podmore . . . . . . . 441

Miss Alice Feilding's "Faith-Healing and Christian Science." By G. F. Rogers, M.D 443

III. The Fourth International Congress of Psychology. By Dr. Frederik Van Eeden ....... 445

In Memory of Henry Sidgwick.�(With Portrait.) By F. W. H. Myers 449

General Meetings ......... 465

The Development and Genealogy of the Misses Beauchamp : a Preliminary Report of a Case of Multiple Personality. By Dr Morton Prince 466

Supplementary Catalogue of the Edmund Gurney Library 484

Officers and Council for 1900 ..... 485

List of Members and Associates ..... 486

List of Members and Associates of the American Branch 510

Volumes - Start of Chapter

Volume XVI 1901. Links to individual articles at books.google.com

A Further Record of Observations of Certain Trance Phenomena. By Professor James Hervey Hyslop, Ph.D.

Table of Contents 1

Chapter I. Introduction ....... 4

Chapter If. General Account of the Facts .... 20

Chapter III. The Telepathic Hypothesis 124

Chapter IV. The Spiritistic Hypothesis 158

Chapter V. Difficulties and Objections .... 24^

Chapter VI. Conclusion 280

Preliminary Note to Appendices ..... 2f)7

Appendix I. Detailed Record of Sittings . . . 803

Appendix II. Record of Sittings, continued . . . 3I,7

Appendix III. Record of Sittings, concluded . . . 417

Appendix IV. Experiments on the Identification of Personality ..... 537

Appendix V. Experiments in Communication through a Tube 624

Appendix VI. Experiments in Hypnosis . . . 635

Appendix VII. Quotations bearing on the Mental Condition of the Communicator while Communicating 643

Volumes - Start of Chapter

Volume XVII 1901-1903. Links to individual articles at books.google.com

In Memory of F. W. H. Myers,�(With Portrait.)

I. By Oliver Lodge, D.Sc., F.R.S. - - 1

II. By Professor William James.�Frederic Myers' Service to Psychology 13

III. By Professor Charles Richet ------ 24

IV. By Frank Podmore.�F. W. H. Myers and the Society for Psychical Research 29

V. By Walter Leaf, Litt.D.�F. W. H. Myers as a Man of Letters 33

Address by the President, Dr. Oliver Lodge, F.R.S. 37

General Meetings 59

I. Introduction to the Reports of Sittings with Mrs. Thompson. By Sir Oliver Lodge, F.R.S. 61

II. On the Trance Phenomena of Mrs. Thompson. By the late F. W. H. Myers 67

III. Account of Sittings with Mrs. Thompson. By Dr. F. Van Eeden 75

IV. A Record of Two Sittings with Mrs Thompson. By J.O. Wilson and J. G. Piddington 116

V. Report on Six Sittings with Mrs. Thompson. By Richard Hodgson, LL.D. - - 138

VI. Note on a Possibly Automatic Incident observed in the case of Mrs. Thompson. By Alice Johnson - 162

VII. Notes on the Trance Phenomena of Mrs. Thompson. By Mrs. A. W. Verrall 164

Supplement.�Reviews :

Professor Flournoy's " Nouvelles Observations sur un Cas de Somnambulisme avec Glossolalie." By F. C. S. Schiller - - 245

Professor Jastrow's " Fact and Fable in Psychology." By F. N. Hales "----. 252

Dr. A. Binet's" La Suggestibilite." By Dr. F. Van Eeden - - 263

Dr. Osgood Mason's " Hypnotism and Suggestion in Therapeutics, Education and Reform." By the Hon. E. Feilding - - 265

M. Sage's " Madame Piper et la Societe Anglo-Americaine pour les Recherches Psychiques." By Mrs. A. W. Verrall - 268

Mr. Andrew Lang's " Magic and Religion." By E. N. Bennett - 269

Mr. H. G. Hutchinson's " Dreams and their Meanings." By N. W. Thomas 272

Herr P. N. Cossmann's "Elemente der empirischen Teleologie." By Dr. F. Van Eeden 273

Mr. G. C. Hubbell's " Fact and Fancy in Spiritualism, Theosophy, and Psychical Research." By N. W. Thomas - - - 274

General Meetings, 277

I. Some Experiments in Hypnotism. By " Edward Greenwood " 279

II. Malay Spiritualism. By Walter Skeat .... 290

III. The Poltergeist, Historically Considered. By Andrew Lang - 305

Remarks on Mr Lang's Paper. By Frank Podmore - - 327

Further Remarks. By Andrew Lang 333

IV. Discussion of the Trance Phenomena of Mrs. Piper. By Hereward Carrington ... . 337

Remarks on Mr. Carrington's Paper. By Professor J. H. Hyslop - 360

On Professor Hyslop's Report on his Sittings with Mrs. Piper. By Frank Podmore 374

Mr. F. Podmore's " Modern Spiritualism : a History and a Criticism." By Alice Johnson 389

Professor W. James' "The Varieties of Religious Experience." By F. C. S. Schiller 403

M. Maurice Maeterlinck's "Le Temple Enseveli." By J. G. Piddington ... 411

M. Ch. de Coynart's " Une Sorciere au XVIII Siecle." By J. G. Piddington 416

"Deuxieme Congres International de l'Hypnotisme. Comptes Rendus." By Dr. C. Lloyd Tuckey 422

Mr. R. J. Ebbard's " Will-Power." By Dr. C. Lloyd Tuckey - 423

M. C. G. Leland's " Have You a Strong Will ?" By Dr. C. Lloyd Tuckey - ... 424

Dr. A. Moll's "Christian Science, Medicine, and Occultism." By Dr. C. Lloyd Tuckey 434

Dr. C. G. Jung's " Zur Psychologie und Pathologic sogenannter occulter Phanomene." By N. W. Thomas .... 425

Mr. G. Spiller's"The Mind of Man." By N. W. Thomas - - 426

Edmund Gurney Library : Supplementary Catalogue - 428

Officers and Council for 1902, 429

List of Members and Associates 430

List of Members and Associates of the American Branch - - - 455

Volumes - Start of Chapter

Volume XVIII 1903 - 1904. Links to individual articles at books.google.com

Presidential Address. By Sir Oliver Lodge, F.R.S. ... 1

Supplement.�Reviews:

Mr. F. W. H. Myers's " Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death":

I. By Professor William James 22

II. By Sir Oliver Lodge, F.R.S. 34

III. By Professor Th. Flournoy 42

IV. By Walter Leaf, Litt.D. -, - 53

"The Nineteenth Century" and Mr. Frederic Myers. By Andrew Lang 62

Reply to Mr Podmore's Criticism. By Professor James H. Hyslop - 78

General Meetings ... 103

I. On the Types of Phenomena displayed in Mrs. Thompson's Trance. By J. G. Piddington 104

II. On Certain Unusual Psychological Phenomena. By John Honeyman, R.S.A. 308

Address by the President, Professor W.F. Barrett, F.R.S. 323

General Meetings - 351

I. A Case of Multiple Personality (with Illustrations). By Albert Wilson, M.D.

Introduction 352

History of the Case 355

Theory of Cerebral Changes connected with Changes of Personality 380

Appendix I. :

Writings of the different Personalities - ... 387

Comments on the Writings and Drawings of the Secondary Personalities. By Alice Johnson - - 393

Diary of Appearances of different Personalities - - 398

Diary of Appearances of the Normal State ... 400

Description of Illustrations 402

Appendix II. :

Letter from Mr. Piddington to Dr. Wilson - - - 405

Comments by Dr. C. Lloyd Tuckey '- - - - 412

Comments by Dr. Robert Jones - - - - 413

II. The Answers to the American Branch's Questionnaire regarding Human Sentiment as to a Future Life. By F. C. S. Schiller 416

III. The Poltergeist at Cideville. By Andrew Lang - - - 454

Supplement.

I. The History of a Haunted House. By Dr. J. Grasset. Translated and Abridged by Vera Larminie - - - 464

II. Reviews:

Dr. J. Milne Bramwell's " Hypnotism: its History, Practice, and Theory." _ By Walter Leaf, Litt.D. - 481

Dr. J. Maxwell's " Les Phenomenes Psychiques: Recherches, Observations, Methodes." By The Hon. E. Feilding 490

Editorial Note - - - - 501

Mr. F. C. S. Schiller's "Humanism: Philosophical Essays." By F. N. Hales ... - 501

Officers and Council for 1904 505

List of Members and Associates 506

List of Members and Associates of the American Branch 533

Volumes - Start of Chapter

Volume XIX 1905 - 1907. Links to individual articles at books.google.com

General Meeting, 1

I. La Metapsychique. Par Professeur Charles Richet, - - 2

II. Report on Various Spiritualistic Phenomena. By Lieut.- Colonel G. L. Le M. Taylor, 50

III. The Light thrown on Psychological Processes by the Action of Drugs. By Ernest Dunbar, 62

General Meeting, - - 79

II Psychological Aspects of the Welsh Revival, 1904-5. By the Rev. A. T. Fryer, 80

II. Xenoglossie : l'Ecriture Automatique en Langues Etrangeres. Par Professeur Charles Richet, 162

III. Discussion of Professor Richet's Case of Automatic Writing in a Language unknown to the Writer :

I. By Sir Oliver Lodge, 195

II. By Mrs. A. W. Verrall, 205

III. By the Hon. Everard Feilding and Alice Johnson, 245

IV. Reponse aux Observations de M. Feilding et Mdlle. Johnson. Par Professeur Charles Richet, - 262

Supplement.

I. Dr. Henry Head's "Goulstonian Lectures for 1901." By J. G. Piddington, 267

II. Reviews:

Mr. F. W. H. Myers's "Fragments of Prose and Poetry." By Walter Leaf, Litt.D., 342

Drs. Boris Sidis and S. P. Goodhart's "Multiple Personality." By W. M'Dougall, ... 345

General Meetings, 355

I. Richard Hodgson : In Memoriam (with Portrait):

I. By Mrs. Henry Sidgwick, 356

II. By J. G. Piddington, ... - - 362

III. By M. A. De Wolfe Howe, 368

II. Presidential Address. By The Right Hon. Gerald W. Balfour, 373

Supplement.

I. Mr. Petrovo-Solovovo on Spiritism. By Walter Leaf, Litt.D., 397

II. The Case of Sally Beauchamp. By W. M'Dougall, M.Sc., M.B., 410

III. Reviews:

"Henry Sidgwick : a Memoir. By A. S. and E. M. S." By Frank Podmore, 432

Professor J. H. Hyslop's " Borderland of Psychical Research," " Enigmas of Psychical Research," and " Science and a Future Life." By Hereward Carrington, - - - 451

Professor Jastrow's "The Subconscious." By Frank Podmore, 455

Officers and Council for 1907, 461

List of Members and Associates, - 462

Index to Vol. XIX., 500

Volumes - Start of Chapter

Volume XX 1906. Links to individual articles at books.google.com

On A Series Of Automatic Writings. By Mrs. A. W. Verrall - 1

Part I. General Description Of The Script.

Chapter I. Introductory 6

Chapter II. Form and Style of the Script 18

Chapter III. Other General Characteristics .... 47

Chapter IV. Varieties of Dramatic Form Assumed 67

Chapter V. Comments in the Script on the Phenomena 84

Chapter VI. Unverifiable Statements and Allusions - - - 105

Part II. Verifiable Matter Contained is The Script.

Chapter VII. Reminiscences and Connexion with Dreams, etc. - 133

Chapter VIII. Experiments in Conveying Information Telepathically to the Script 156

Chapter IX. Spontaneous References to Living Acquaintances - 177

Chapter X. References to other " Sensitives"; Cross-correspondences 205

Chapter XI. Cross-correspondences, Continued - ... 219

Chapter XII. Miscellaneous References to Past Events - - 276

Chapter XIII. Miscellaneous References to Future Events - - 319

Illustrative Appendix 340

Volumes - Start of Chapter

Volume XXII 1908. Links to individual articles at books.google.com

I. Presidential Address. By Mrs. Henry Sidgwick, - - - 1

II. A Series of Concordant Automatisms. By J. G. Piddington.

Introduction, 19

List of Sittings with Mrs. Piper, 27

Explanation of Abbreviations and Terms, 29

Cases of Cross-Correspondence.

I. St. Paul, ... - - - 31

II. Francis and Ignatius, 36

III. Triangle within a Circle, - ... 36

IV. Steeple, 38

V. Library, my own Name and Mrs. Sidgwick's, - - 46

VI. Hope, Star and Browning, 59

VII. Arrow, 77

VIII. Giant and Dwarf, - - 87

IX. Laurel Wreath, - - 94

X. Celestial Halcyon Days, ------- 103

XI. Crossing the Bar. The [Greek text omitted] Incident, - 107

XII. Violets, - ' - 172

XIII. Cup, - - - 179

XIV. Diana, 193

XV. Heaven lies about us in our Infancy, and Faith, Hope and Charity, - - 209

XVI. Euripides, - - - - 210

XVII. Spirit and Angel, 220

XVIII. O'er Mountains, Seas and Lakes and Rivers, - 230

XIX. Light in West, 241

XX. Azure and Horizon, - 281

XXI. Thanatos, - 295

XXII. Laus Deo, - 304

XXIII. Music, - 307

The Latin Message, 312

III. An Incident in Mrs. Piper's Trance : being an attempt to elicit from Myers, evidence of acquaintance with a circumstance in the life of Frederic Myers. By Mrs. Henry Sidgwick, - - - 417

Volumes - Start of Chapter

Volume XXIV 1910. Links to individual articles at books.google.com

General Meeting, .......... 1

Supplementary Notes on the First Report on Mrs. Holland's Script. By Alice Johnson, 2

Supplementary Notes on "A Series of Concordant Automatisms." By J. G. Piddington, 11

Further Experiments with Mrs. Piper in 1908 :

Introduction. By Mrs. Henry Sidgwick, Mrs. A. W.

Verrall, and J. G. Piddington, 31

I. Classical and Literary Allusions in Mrs. Piper's Trance. By Mrs. A. W. Verrall, 39

II. Three Incidents from the Sittings : Lethe ; The Sibyl; The Horace Ode Question. By J. G. Piddington, - 86

III. Cross-Correspondences between Mrs. Piper and Other Automatists. By Mrs. Henry Sidgwick, - - 170

Second Report on Mrs. Holland's Script. By Alice Johnson, - - 201

A New Group of Experimenters. By Mrs. A. W. Verrall, - - 264

Sequel to the " Sesame and Lilies" Incident. By Alice Johnson, - 319

Postscript to the Lethe Incident. By J. G. Piddington, - - - 327

General Meeting, 329

Presidential Address. By H. Arthur Smith, 330

Report on the Junot Sittings with Mrs. Piper. By Helen De G. Verrall.

Introduction, - - 351

Detailed Record of Sittings, 355

Supplement.

I. Some Recent Developments in Psychotherapy. By T. W. Mitchell, M.D., 665

II. Review:

Mr. Frank Podmore's " Mesmerism and Christian Science." By T. W. Mitchell, M.D., 687

Officers and Council for 1910, 699

List of Members and Associates, 700

Index to Vol. XXIV., 741

Volumes - Start of Chapter

Volume XXV 1911. Links to individual articles at books.google.com

I. Commemorative Address: William James and Frank Podmore. By H. Arthur Smith, 1

II. Frank Podmore and Psychical Research. By Mrs. Henry Sidgwick, - 5

III. In Memory of William James. By W. M'Dougall, - - 11

IV. William James as Philosopher. By Professor J. H. Muirhead, 30

V. Professor Pigou on Cross-Correspondences. By the Right Hon. Gerald W. Balfour, - 38

VI. Report on a Further Series of Sittings with Eusapia Palladino at Naples :

I. General Report. By the Hon. Everard Feilding and W. Marriott, 57

II. Statement by Count Perovsky-Petrovo-Solovovo, 59

III. Detailed Account of the Table-lifting Incident, - 63

IV. Comments on the Above. By Alice Johnson, - 67

V. Note on the Report. By W. W. Baggally, - - 69

Supplement :

Reviews :

Mr. F. Podmore's " The Newer Spiritualism." By the Rev. M. A. Bayfield, - ... ... 70

Open Letter to Dr. Stanley Hall. From Andrew Lang, - 90

Dr. Tanner's "Studies in Spiritism." By Mrs. Henry Sidgwick, 102

"The One-Horse Dawn": Additional Note on an Experiment described in Proc. Vol. XX. By Mrs. A. W. Verrall, - 109

I. Evidence of Classical Scholarship and of Cross-Correspondence in some New Automatic Writings. By Sir Oliver Lodge :

Introduction, 113

Part I. Concerning the Script of February 4, 1910, , - 120

Part II. Concerning the Script of February 10, 1910, - - 147

II. Notes 011 Mrs. Willett's Scripts of February, 1910. By Mrs. A. W. Verrall, 176

I. History of the Period from March, 1908, to March, 1910, 177

II. Sources and Correspondences of Phrases in Mrs. Willett's Script, 190

III. Third Report on Mrs. Holland's Script. By Alice Johnson : Introduction, 218

Cross-Correspondences, -------- 229

The Principle of Selection in the Production of Scripts, - 282

Appendices, 293

IV. Note on the Cross-Correspondence "Cup." By Mrs. A. W. Verrall, 304

V. Miss Verrall's Script of March 16, 1908: a Correction and an Addition. By Mrs. A. W. Verrall, - 320

VI. The Hypnoidal State of Sidis. By T. W. Mitchell, M.D., - 338

Supplement :

Reviews:

"An Adventure," - 353

Professor Robinson Ellis's " The Tenth Declamation of (Pseudo-) Quintilian." By F. C. S. Schiller, D.Sc., - - 361

General Meetings, 363

I. Presidential Address. By Andrew Lang, - 364

II. Poltergeists,Old and New. By Professor W. F. Barrett, F.R.S., 377

III. Les Phenomenes Physiques de Spiritisme: Quelques Difficultes. Par le Comte Perovsky-Petrovo-Solovovo, - - - - 413

IV. On the a priori Argument against Physical Phenomena. By Sir Oliver Lodge, 447

V. A Case of Emergence of a Latent Memory under Hypnosis. By G. Lowes Dickinson, 455

Supplement :

Review :

Professor Flournoy's " Esprits et Mediums." By the Rev. M. A. Bayfield, 468

Officers and Council for 1911, - - 477

List of Members and Associates, - 478

Index to Vol. XXV., 520

Volumes - Start of Chapter

Volume XXVI 1913. Links to individual articles at books.google.com

General Meetings, 1

I. Presidential Address. By the Right Rev. Bishop W. Boyd Carpenter, D.D., 2

II A Month's Record of Automatisms. By Mrs. A. W. Verrall, 24

III. Correspondences Croisees. By Joseph Maxwell, M.D., . . 57

Editorial Note, ' 145

IV. The Latin Message Experiment. By Mrs. Anna Hude, . . 147

Note on Mrs. Hude's Paper. By J. G. Piddington, . . . 171

V. A Hitherto Unsuspected Answer to the Horace Ode Question. By J. G. Piddington, 174

Some Observations on Mr. Piddington's Paper. By the Right Hon. G. W. Balfour, 221

A Reply to Mr. Balfour's Observations. By J. G. Piddington, 231

VI. Two Tennysonian Quotations in Mrs. Verrall's Scripts. By J. G. Piddington 245

Supplement: Review:

N. Vaschide's "Les Hallucinations Telepathiques." By Mrs. Henry Sidgwick, 251

I. Some Types of Multiple Personality. By T. W. Mitchell, M.D., 257

II. A Study in Hysteria and Multiple Personality, with Report of a Case. By T. W. Mitchell, M.D., 286

III. A Note on the Unconscious in Psycho-Analysis. By Professor Sigm. Freud, M.D., LL.D. (Vienna), 312

IV. The Theory of the Subconscious. By Boris Sidis, M.A., Ph.D., M.D., 319

Supplement: Reviews:

Mr. M'Dougall's " Body and Mind, a History and a Defence of Animism." By the Right Hon. Gerald W. Balfour, . 344

Prof. Dr. E. Bleuler's " Die Psychanalyse Freuds." By V. J. Woolley, M.D., 367

Dr. Edwin Ash's " Faith and Suggestion." By C. Lloyd Tuckey, M.D., 370

The Liverpool Psycho-Therapeutic Clinic. By A. Betts Taplin, L.R.C.P., 373

I. A Reply to Dr. Joseph Maxwell's Paper on "Cross-Correspondences and the Experimental Method." By Mrs. Henry Sidgwick, 375

Appendix I. By Mrs. A. W. Verrall, .... 401

" II. By Alice Johnson, 409

" III. By J. G. Piddington, 415

II. Andrew Lang and Psychical Research. By the Rev. M. A. Bayfield, 419

III. A Study of Dreams. By Dr. Frederik Van Eeden, . . 431

IV. Presidential Address. By Professor Henri Bergson, . . 462

Officers and Council for 1913, 481

List of Members and Associates, 482

Index to Vol. XXVI., 522

Volumes - Start of Chapter

Volume XXVII 1914 - 1915. Links to individual articles at books.google.com

I. A Reconstruction of some " Concordant Automatisms." By Alice Johnson.

Synopsis, 1

Introduction, 4

Chapter I. Cross-correspondence : " Ave Roma Immortalis," 11

� II. The Theory of Cross-correspondences and the Latin Message, ...... 24

� III. Cross-correspondence: " Hope, Star and Browning," ....... 28

� IV. Cross-correspondence : " Alexander's Tomb," 50

� V. The [Greek text omitted] Incident, . . 77

� VI. Cross-correspondence : " The Clavigers," . 127

" VII. Some General Conclusions, .... 143

List of Illustrations, . . . . . . . .156

II. Presidential Address. By Professor Henri Bergson. Translated by H. Widon Carr, D.Litt 157

Supplement : Review :

Mr. Hereward Carrington's " Personal Experiences in Spiritualism." By Count Perovsky-Petrovo-Solovovo, 176

Thought-Transference�Experimental. By John E. Coover, Ph.D 186

I. Philosophy, Science, and Psychical Research : A Presidential Address. By F. C. S. Schiller, D.Sc., . . .191

II. Some Recent Scripts affording Evidence of Personal Survival. By the Right Hon. Gerald W. Balfour, . 221

III. Note on the Same Scripts. By the Rev. M. A. Bayfield, 244

IV. A Further Study of the Mac Scripts. By Helen De G. Verrall 250

V. Experiments in Thought-Transference. By Clarissa Miles and Hermione Ramsden 279

VI. To Clear the Air. By the Rev. M. A. Bayfield, . . 318

VII. The History of Marthe Beraud. By Helen De G. Verrall, 333

VIII. Recent Experience in Hypnotic Practice. By Sidney Wilkinson, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P 370

IX. Some Auto-Suggested Visions as illustrating Dream- Formation. By V. J. Woolley, M.D., . . . 390

X. Pseudo-Physical Phenomena in the Case of Mr. Grunbaum. By Alice Johnson, 400

Review : Professor S. Freud's " Psychopathology of Everyday Life " (Translated by Dr. A. A. Brill). By Constance E. Long, M.D., 411

I. Some Recent Experiments in Thought-Transference. By Helen De G. Verrall, 415

II. A Discussion of the Willett Scripts.

I. By Hereward Carrington, 458

II. By Ivor Lloyd Tuckett, M.D., .... 466

III. By the Rev. M. A. Bayfield, 474

Review : Dr. Morton Prince's " The Unconscious, The Fundamentals of Human Personality, Normal and Abnormal." By F. C. S. Schiller, D.Sc 492

Officers and Council for 1915 507

List of Members and Associates 508

Index to Vol. XXVII 548

Volumes - Start of Chapter

Volume XXVIII 1915. Links to individual articles at books.google.com

Volumes - Start of Chapter

Volume XXIX 1918. Links to individual articles at books.google.com

I. Cross-Correspondences of a Gallic Type. By J. G. Piddington, 1

II. Presidential Address. By Professor Gilbert Murray, LL.D., Litt.D., ....... 46

III. Report on a Series of Experiments in "Guessing." By Mrs. A. W. Verrall, ...... 64

IV. Recent Evidence about Prevision and Survival. By Sir Oliver Lodge, F.R.S., ....... III

V. Obituary Notice: Mrs. A. W. Verrall, . . . .170

Supplement : Reviews :

Mr. Henry Holt's "On the Cosmic Relations." By Professor W. R. Newbold, . . . . .177

Professor Boris Sidis's "The Foundations of Normal and Abnormal Psychology." By F. C. S. Schiller, D.Sc., . 186

Professor Juno's "Collected Papers on Analytical Psychology" (translated by Dr. Constance Long). By T. W. Mitchell, M.D., . . . . . .191

The Ear Of Dionysius : Further Scripts affording Evidence of Personal Survival. By The Right Hon. G. W. Balfour, . 197

I. On the Development of Different Types of Evidence for Survival in the Work of the Society. By Mrs. Henry Sidgwick, . . . . . . 245

II The Ear of Dionysius : A Discussion of the Evidence. By Miss F. Melian Stawell, ..... 260

III The Ear of Dionysius : A reply. By The Right Hon. G. W. Balfour, ....... 270

IV. Presidential Address : The Theory of Survival in the Light of its Context. By L. P. Jacks, LL.D., . . . 287

V. Some Experiments with a New Automatist. By Mrs. W. H. Salter, ....... 306

VI. Some Recent Oases of Premonition and Telepathy. By the Rev. M. A. Bayfield, ..... 350

VII. In Memoriam�Mrs. A. W. Verrall, .... 376

VIII. Reviews:

Proceedings of the American Society for Psychical Research, "The Doris Fischer Case of Multiple Personality." By F. C. S. Schiller, D.Sc., . . . . .386

Sir Oliver Lodge's " Raymond." By Mrs. Henry Sidgwick, 404

Officers and Council for 1918, ...... 410

List of Members and Associates, . . . . . .411

Index to Vol. XXIX., .451

Volumes - Start of Chapter

Volume XXXI 1921. Links to individual articles at books.google.com

I. In Memory of Lord Rayleigh, O.M., F.R.S. By Sir Oliver Lodge, F.R.S. 1

II. In Memory of Sir William Crookes, O.M., F.R.S. By Sir William Barrett, F.R.S. 12

III. The Doris Fischer Case of Multiple Personality. By T. W. Mitchell, M.D. 30

IV. The Psychological Foundations of Belief in Spirits. By C. G. Jung, M.D., LL.D. 75

Supplement.

Review :�Dr. Ernest Jones's " Papers on Psycho-Analysis." By T. W. Mitchell, M.D. 94

Note on " A Record of Observations of Certain Phenomena of Trance" (Proc. S.P.R., Vol. VI.). By Sir Oliver Lodge, F.R.S. 103

I. Presidential Address. By William McDougall, F.R.S., M.Sc., M.B. 105

II. Report on a series of Cases of Apparent Thought-Transference without Conscious Agency. By Hubert Wales - 124

Supplement�Reviews :

Dr. Troland's " A Technique for the Experimental Study of Telepathy and other Alleged Clairvoyant Processes." By F. C. S. Schiller, D.Sc. 218

Professor Sigmund Freud's " Totem and Taboo. Resemblances between the Psychic Lives of Savages and Neurotics." By J. C. Flugel 224

Lieut. E. H. Jones's " The Road to Endor." By W. H. Salter 229

An Examination of Book-tests Obtained in Sittings with Mrs. Leonard. By Mrs. Henry Sidgwick.

� 1. Introductory 242

� 2. A Case where the Communicator's Memory seems the Probable Source of Information .... - 253

� 3. Mrs. Beadon's Book-Tests ... - 260

� 4. Instances of Statements about Words or Sentences in a Book which turn out to be Verbally Accurate - - - 270

� 5. Some Miscellaneous Cases - - - 289

� 6. Special Experiments .... - 300

� 7. Question of Cross-Correspondences - - - - 313

� 8. Seemingly Genuine Mistakes, and others - - - 338

� 9. Discussion of Statements which may throw Light on the Mode of Perception of a Page in a Closed Book - - 349

� 10. Conclusion ... - 375

Appendix A : Note on Chance in Book-Tests - - - 379

" B : Cases of Accurate Description of Objects in connection with Book-Tests .... 386

" C : Supplementary to � 8 - 393 � D : Supplementary to � 9 - - 398

Officers and Council for 1921 - - 417

List of Members and Associates - - - - - - 419

Index to Vol. XXXI. 465

Volumes - Start of Chapter

Volume XXXII 1922. Links to individual articles at books.google.com

I. A Further Report on Sittings with Mrs. Leonard. By Mrs. W. H. Salter 1

Supplement : Reviews :

I. Dr. A. v. Schrenck-Notzing's " Physikalische Phaenomene des Mediumismus." By F. C. S. Schiller, D.Sc. - 144

II. Dr. Max Dessoir's " Vom Jenseits der Seele." By F. C. S. Schiller, D.Sc. .------- 146

III. Dr. W. J. Crawford's " The Psychic Structures at the Goligher Circle." By E. J. Dingwall - - - 147

I. Problems of Hypnotism : An Experimental Investigation. By Dr. Sydney Alrutz 151

II. The Phenomena of Stigmatization. By the Rev. Herbert Thurston, S.J. 179

I. Report on a Series of Sittings with Eva C. - - - - 209

II. The Modus Operandi in so-called Mediumistic Trance. By (Una) Lady Troubridge 344

Supplement : Review :

Dr. William Brown's " Psychology and Psychotherapy" ; Dr. Constance E. Long's " Collected Papers on the Psycho- logy of Phantasy " ; Mr. A. G. Tansley's " The New Psychology and its Relation to Life." By T. W. Mitchell, M.D. 379

Volumes - Start of Chapter

• Mrs. Piper: Evidence for Survival After Death
• Mrs. Piper's Control Spirit, Phinuit
• Telekinesis Proved In 1871
• Web Guide to the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research
• Studying Personal Experiences
• Scientific Theories of Psychic Phenomena Part 1
• Scientific Theories of Psychic Phenomena Part 2
• Scientific Theories of Psychic Phenomena Part 3
• Death-bed Visions Confirmed
• Dr. Erlendur Haraldsson
• The Icelandic Physical Medium Indridi Indridason

Start of Chapter

Consciousness

• Brain Injury Expands Consciousness
• Varieties of Mystical Experiences

Start of Chapter

Meditation

Start of Chapter

• Meditation and Emotions
• Alternatives to Meditation

• Karl Popper on Falsifiability
• Negative Proof

Start of Chapter

Parapsychology

Research
• NPR: Can Positive Thoughts Help Heal Another Person?
• NDE Evidence for survival

  Opinion

• Faith In Psi
• Spiritualsim and Science
• Induced After-Death Communication
• Mind Machine Interface
• Survival and Super-Psi

Start of Chapter

E-Books

• Fanny Ruthven Paget & Caroline Larsen

Start of Chapter

Blogs

• Michael Prescott: Everything old is new again
• Transition After Death

Start of Chapter

Personal Experiences

• Psychic or Medium?
• Glimpses of the Higher Realms
• I Met an Angel
• More Personal Experiences

Science

• Spiritual Science
• Paranormal Research
• Evidence for the Afterlife
• Super-Psi
• Where Do Mediums Get Information From?
• Why Super-Psi?
• Terminology

Skeptical Topics

• Spoon Bending
• Orbs
• Aura Photography
• Skeptical Fraud

Sermons

• Memorial Day Message
• Election Day
• The Forbidden Talk

Religion
Who Is God?
Religion

A medium is someone who can communicate with spirits or who in some way makes it possible for spirits to interact with the physical world. A psychic is someone who has ESP, for example, who is precognitive, can do psychometry, or has other "psychic" powers possibly including mediumship. (Occasionally, below, I use the term "psychic" with the intention that the term exclude mediumship. It should be clear from the context when that is.)

Some mediums say that when they give a reading, some of the psychic information is from spirits and some (such as career advice and the like) is from their own power and they know which is which. In my experience, when I have a psychic perception, I never feel able to say "this is not coming from a spirit". Maybe I am not sensitive enough to have purely psychic perceptions or I am not sensitive enough to tell the difference, or maybe I am biased. I've been brainwashed by society to disbelieve in psychic abilities (really!) so I assume any psychic perceptions are caused by spirits acting on me and not through my own power.

Once I was lying in bed half awake and saw a person in my mind's eye and I somehow knew things about him and got a philosophical message at the same time. Later that day in a mediumship class, I started to give a reading to one of my classmates, and I saw the same person in my mind's eye. My classmate recognized the spirit, from my description, as a relative and said the message was characteristic of him. Another time I was lying in bed half awake and I saw a cat that was mostly white with a few small splotches of color. This is not a very common color scheme for a cat. Later that day an acquaintance started showing me photographs of her pet cats. I took a chance and asked her which one is mostly white with a few splotches of color. She showed me the picture (but it took her a while to figure out that she had never told me about this cat). In the first instance it seems likely that the spirit I saw was communicating with me but in the second case I just assume it was spirits influencing me also.

I have a lot of the strange coincidences happen to me and I never notice anything unusual until after it happens. This makes me think I am being influenced by spirits rather than being psychic. If I was psychic I think I should understand what was going as it was happening rather than seeing it as unusual after the fact.

For example...

I was in the grocery store and was going to get a can of frozen juice. For some reason I walked down the wrong side of the isle with the two rows of low freezers in the middle. I never made this mistake before and it is a very unlikely mistake for me. I'm somewhat compulsive about efficiency in the grocery store. I have Pocket PC with a spread sheet I use to take inventory at home and then sort it by where everything is located in the store so I only have to make one pass through aisles. When I realized my mistake I continued walking all the way around the end and over to the other side to get to the frozen juice. When I got there, the juice wasn't where I expected it. I had a sneaking suspicion that they must be on the "wrong" side, the side I first went down and sure enough they were. Was it psychic or mediumship? I don't know. I assume it was mediumship.

Another time I went shopping for a certain item. My policy is to always go to Wal-Mart first since if they have it, it is most likely cheapest and I don't have to look elsewhere. However, I missed the turn. I continued driving and figured out how to get there by another route. I missed the turn for that route too. I finally ended up near some other stores. Having missed two turns, I was suspicious that something unusual was going on but I told my guides: "I'm sorry, I can't really rely on this because it might be an accidental coincidence." To make a long story short, I went back to Wal-Mart but ended up getting what I was looking for at one of the other stores. So was this psychic? Maybe. I hardly ever miss a turn like that let alone two. But, if I was psychic wouldn't I know I wouldn't find what I was looking for at Wal-Mart instead of accidentally missing a turn? So I assume it was mediumship.

This is one of the reasons I started studying mediumship. I felt like I was being influenced by spirits and I wanted them to talk to me about it so I would know what was going on.

There some are cases when I have psychic perceptions and I feel very strongly that they are coming from a spirit. In general this is when I am doing or practicing mediumship and especially when the perceptions are so strong they are unlike ordinary mental impressions. I often think visually but when a very clear and strong visual image appears in my minds eye in response to a mental question I pose to a spirit, it seems obvious that it is coming from the spirit. Also, my sense that the perceptions are caused by spirits are especially strong when I smell something psychically or when a words seem to be put in my mouth and also in cases when it appears I am being influenced for a purpose. I have recounted some of these experiences in the chapter The Dark Side

Also, there are instance where I feel the presence of a spirit while I am communicating with one. It's analogous to the way you have a mental map of your environment and you know someone is behind you even if you don't look at them if they are moving around doing things making noise. I sometimes sense the presence of a spirit in a similar way. Other times I have felt as if they put their arm around my shoulder or place their hands on my head.

I don't claim that my perceptions prove these perceptions come from spirits I only say that is how it seems to me.

Start of Chapter

Glimpses of the Higher Realms

A Glimpse of the Higher Realms

The most beautiful thing I've ever seen was light shining through a doorway to the spirit world. In a vision, I saw a dark wall with a man standing in a doorway. He was there to give me a glimpse of the other side. Behind him was the most beautiful light and it was was streaming through the doorway. It had a greenish hue which I understood was coming from a garden behind the wall. It was as if the plants were not just reflecting light but were luminescent. It's hard to describe, I only saw the tiniest glimpse, but it is where we will be when we are done with our earth life and it is more beautiful than we can imagine.

Feeling Free of the Body

Once I woke up in the middle of the night and I felt like like I was not connected with my body. I knew this must be what it is like to be dead and separated from the body. It felt a lot better than ordinary existence. It's hard to say how - lighter, not physically so much as mentally. It was like all the weight of earthly worries and cares kept in the biological brain were no longer weighing me down.

This was not an out-of-body-experience (OBE). There is a sense of freedom of movement even in partial OBE's which I did not have with this. I've never heard of this feeling occurring with OBE's only with near-death-experiences. I didn't see my surroundings like in an OBE but I didn't sense my body either like in normal consciousness. I didn't have any sense of freedom of movement but I didn't feel paralyzed. I would guess that I was still in place just not connected in the usual way. It felt so pleasant that I tried to avoid any movement or thinking which might disturb it.

I had the sense that it was done just to show me, as a kind of "educational" experience.

Connecting With the Higher Realms

I went in to donate blood again recently. I hope donating is good for my karma. I like to think that as my blood is draining into the collection bag, that some of my bad karma is draining away too.

As I was lying on the table with the needle in my arm, I thought it might be a good idea to try adding some healing energy to the blood. Some people believe that you can store healing energy in objects so that whoever receives the object will receive healing. Other people believe that the energy is not really stored in the object but that spirits or angels make a note of your request and deliver the healing at a later date. There is actually scientific evidence that something like this works.

Effects of Intentionally Enhanced Chocolate on Mood has been published in the Elsevier journal Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing, Volume 3, Issue 5, Pages 433-546 (September 2007).
http://www.explorejournal.com/article/S1550-8307(07)00180-2/pdf

The Intentional Chocolate Company �Cracks The Code� With Its Revolutionary New Line Of Chocolate, Scientifically Proven To Heighten Well-Being
http://www.intentionalchocolate.com/company.php?osCsid=d1ec3e641eb8e255f84d756d8742c90c

However it happens, I thought it would be a good idea to add some healing energy to my blood so that whoever got it would receive an extra dose of healing at a time they would probably be in need of it. At the same time I also directed healing to whoever needed it in the donation center.

What is interesting about this is that when I started doing the healing and I opened myself to the higher planes where the healing energy comes from, I could suddenly feel something very special. I felt is a strong feeling of joy and love for the other people in the donation center. What I think caused this is that there are probably a lot of highly evolved spirits hanging around a blood donation center who come along with the staff, volunteers and donors. If you open yourself up, you start to pick up on the presence of those spirits. Another part of it is something called "spiritual contact". When you open yourself to spirit contact you connect with higher planes and you begin to resonate with the atmosphere of love and happiness that pervades those spheres. I've had similar experiences when going to a spiritualist church and, I think, for the same reasons.

One of our jobs on earth is to help spread God's love. I think of this as acting as a reflector of God's love. The source is God and it comes to us from Him and we should try to let it shine through us onto other people.

Spiritual healing is similar to meditation. In fact, I was meditating to relax before I had the idea to do healing, but when I started healing and opened to the spiritual contact, I felt a very different experience. This is one of the things that leads healers to recognize that spiritual healing is a real phenomena. When you do it you feel different from anything else, including things like meditation which are similar.

This also shows that learning and doing spiritual healing can be a path to spiritual and psychic development.

One last point. Many readers may know that meditation is good for spiritual development. But, meditation is also good for your blood pressure. Everyone in my family has high blood pressure except me. I'm the only one who meditates regularly. When you donate blood they take your blood pressure, so every eight weeks I get confirmation of this fact.

The method of healing I use is described in the chapter on Spiritual Healing.

Start of Chapter

I Met an Angel

While I was out for a walk one day, I saw a small gray dog wandering down a busy street. I was afraid it would get hit by a car so I prayed for an angel to help the dog get home. Immediately, a white car pulled over to the curb near me. The driver was wearing a white sweater and she asked me if it was my dog. I explained it wasn't so she pulled up a short distance ahead, near to the dog, and tried to get the dog to come to her. It didn't work so I squatted down and clapped my hands a few times and the dog ran right up to me and I grabbed it by the collar. We looked at the dog tags and found a phone number and the woman called and left a message that she was going to keep the dog until the owner could contact her and come and get the dog.

Right after I prayed for an angel to help the dog, a white car pulled over, the driver was wearing a white sweater, and she takes care of the dog. I think she was an angel sent to answer my prayer.

Start of Chapter

More Personal Experiences

See chapters:

• Adventures of a Student Medium
• The Dark Side
• Adventures of a Student Healer
  See sections in this chapter:
• Psychic or Medium?
• Where Do Mediums Get Information From?

Start of Chapter

Spiritual Science

When we understand more about paranormal phenomena our definition of matter will change. "Paranormal" and "supernatural" really refer to things that we can't explain. They are not unnatural it is only that our knowledge is limited so we need words to describe things we can't explain.

In the absence of medical science there are witch-doctors - folk remedies that are fundamentally sound are considered magic. When the explanations are provided by medical science, they become mainstream.

There are forces, dimensions, particles, waves, snarks and slithy toves that behave according to natural laws but our scientists haven't "discovered" them yet. As soon as they do, materialism will expand to include these phenomena that are not yet explained by it.

Spiritual laws will become physical laws when we can explain them in terms other known laws.

Some people like to complain about reductionism but we cannot really say reductionism is unsatisfactory until we actually understand the alternative explanation.

The Betty Book
http://www.spiritwritings.com/library.html

The Beta is the form attribute of the consciousness which is you. ... "Not in the same sense as the physical. There is a difference in kind. You have the same body as I have, and an outer covering which I have discarded as a disintegrating shell. The difficulty is in words. For instance, I have a hand. You could not separate my hand from me and have me go on living. You have a physical hand that you could separate from you and still go on living. ... "The physical body is made up of atoms. Each of these atoms is an individual consciousness, and each of them has a form. The Beta is not made up of any such; not in the way the physical is made up. The Beta is elemental; atomic, but not infinitesimal."

The Unobstructed Universe
http://www.spiritwritings.com/library.html

There is but one reality. It is all-inclusive, but in degrees. Its highest expression on earth is consciousness, the self-aware I-Am of man. Consciousness, in degrees, is the one and only reality. This is not a statement of subjective idealism. It is as far from that as from materialism. For as Stephen phrased it: "Your men of books and laboratories...all seek to find a fundamental in their favorite attribute of reality. The idealist has made mind supreme...the materialist has made matter supreme. The truth is that both mind and matter are...attributes of one that is greater than either." To that "greater than either" he gave the name of its highest expression--Consciousness. ... What you call natural law is just a reflection, so to speak, of the orthic law governing my unobstructed universe. There is only one universe, one reality. The only-one-universe is pluralistic, as consciousness, the fundamental reality, is pluralistic. My aspect of the universe is unobstructed. Your aspect of the universe is obstructed. But there is no condition or fact that we have here that is not at least foreshadowed in your world. "Now your laboratories are constantly discovering new manifestations, new laws. Every one of those laws has a parallel here, and every one is useful to you and to us. All the laws and manifestations discovered on your side are operating on our side. And on our side are many laws and manifestations you have not discovered and do not sense. Years hence all this will be told again in the terminology of our laws yet to be discovered by you.

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Paranormal Research

If you want proof of certain paranormal phenomena, all you have to do is read the existing literature. The Home page of this site has links and references to get you started. The chapter Evidence for the Afterlife has a summary of the evidence for the afterlife.

However, more proof will not convince many materialists who will not consider evidence that conflicts with their religion of materialism.

When we can produce technology or techniques that use paranormal forces or laws to do things easily, often, and well, which cannot be done today, that will get the attention of materialists and government research funding agencies.

This is why paranormal researchers and parapsychologists should stop repeating experiments asking "does it work" that have been successful for years and years and start focusing on trying to understand "how it works" so that we can start applying engineering techniques and make these laws of nature easier to use by the average person. The chapter on Natural Mediumship is a very preliminary attempt to do something of that nature.

Another good example of someone using paranormal phenomena in a practical way is Induced After Death Communication.

http://metgat.zaadz.com/blog/2007/8/induced_after-death_communication

http://www.induced-adc.com

Induced after death communication (IADC) is a therapy developed by a Veteran's Administration psychologist that helps veterans 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.

What is important about this therapy is that any therapist can be easily trained to do it with the same high level of efficiency as any other.

Some skeptics complain about evidence not obtained in a laboratory. It must be understood that some science cannot be done in a laboratory. Many aspects of field biology, ecology, geology, anthropology, astronomy are studied by observing phenomena that occurs outside a laboratory. It also must be understood what a laboratory is. A laboratory doesn't have to have benches, stools, sinks, and glassware cabinets. A living room in an ordinary home with curtains that block all light from the windows and used to hold seances can also be a laboratory if phenomena are examined there in an unbiased, empirical, and open minded way. Scientists do not hold a monopoly on science. Where did the first scientists come from? Science is when you try to understand a phenomena by making observations and testing hypotheses.

Other skeptics complain that some of the evidence for the afterlife was obtained too long ago in the last century. The absurdity of this complaint is apparent when considered against the fact that the geometry taught in our schools was codified by Euclid some time around 300 BC. Rational thought and intellectual competence is not a modern invention. A fact does not become false simply because it has been known for a certain period of time. Furthermore, at the time of this writing, the evidence of reincarnation research, ITC, IADC, and the Scole Experiments are more recent sources of evidence.

There is an important parallel with the history of science. At some point in the development of western civilization, a few people decided that ancient manuscripts, and superstitions might not be 100% accurate and that, if possible, facts should be tested. When those first few scientists started testing things, they found that they could learn even more about nature by inventing hypotheses and testing them. This was one of the most important events in the intellectual development of humankind. None of those first few scientists could possibly understand all of modern science. No single person today can understand all of modern science. Nonetheless modern science exists.

Paranormal science is in a similar stage of development today as mainstream science was in those long ago times. However we have been stuck in the earliest stage for too long. We need to start testing hypotheses to learn more about how it works. No single person is going to explain everything, but with many people working on the small piece that interests them and sharing their discoveries we will accumulate a body of knowledge that can be used to develop methods and technology that will make paranormal phenomena an everyday occurrence experienced by everyone.

Start of Chapter

Evidence for the Afterlife

A summary of the evidence for the existence of the afterlife can be found in the chapter Evidence for the Afterlife

Start of Chapter

Super-Psi

The following example from "Survival Versus Super-psi" by Hornell Hart
( http://www.survivalafterdeath.org.uk/articles/hart/superpsi.htm )
shows how mediumship can be at times genuine and at other times influenced by the mind of the medium.

Up to the sitting of June 7th all the information came through Nellie, Mrs. Thompson's so-called spirit control. But on that date the deceased tried, as he had promised, to take control himself, as the technical term goes. The evidence then became very striking. During a few minutes - though a few minutes only - I felt absolutely as if I were speaking to my friend myself. I spoke Dutch and got immediate and correct answers. The expression of satisfaction and gratification in face and gestures when we seemed to understand each other was too true and vivid to be acted. Quite unexpected Dutch words were pronounced. Details were given which were far from my mind, some of which, as that about my friend's uncle in a former sitting, I had never known, and found to be true only on inquiry afterwards.

But being now well on my guard, I could, exactly at this most interesting few minutes, detect, as it were, where the failures crept in. I could follow the process and perceive where the genuine phenomena stopped and the unconscious play-acting began. In hardly perceptible gradations the medium takes upon herself the role of the spirit, completes the information, gives the required finish, and fills in the gaps by emendation and arrangement...

I have had very similar experiences in mental mediumship classes. I would get a reading from a classmate and they would start off being very accurate but after a point the accuracy would become reduced and the student didn't seem to notice anything different. I also found that when I would give a reading I would start off with very accurate evidence and then when I didn't seem to be getting anymore, I would stop. At this point the teacher would usually try to encourage me to try to get more information (which often resulted in some heated dialog). Other students would also try to suggest I should give longer readings, these were the same students who continued long after they stopped being accurate. While mediumship is not 100% accurate, the instances where it is true spirit communication and where it is simply the action of the subconscious mind of the medium are easily distinguishable.

In some cases, when facts about the life of a trance medium's control spirit have not been able to be verified, the control spirit is thought by some to be a creation of the mediums subconscious mind. Mrs. Piper's Phinuit is an example of this. However when the medium uses such a control to pass on evidential information from another spirit, that does not mean that the other spirit is also invented. If the unverifiablilty of the control is considered evidence of super-psi then the evidential nature of information from other spirits must be considered evidence of survival. Otherwise, those who assert control spirits whose identity cannot be verified are a result of super-psi must be able to explain why a medium who can use super-psi to simulate real spirits, does not use this facility when generating their control spirits.

There are several forms of the "super-psi" hypothesis that are applied to mediumship:

1. Mediums might get their information telepathically from the minds of the sitters.
2. Mediums might get their information about dead people from their own powers of ESP, but not from the minds of the sitters, and perform physical phenomena through their own unconscious PK.
3. Trance, materialization, and direct voice mediums might create artificial entities from their own subconscious using ESP and PK.

The first point is easy to answer. There are many cases where a medium has brought through information that none of the sitters knew and that was verified after the sitting, so we know mediumship is not simply based on reading the minds of the sitters.

The other two issues are more complicated, but can be dealt with by considering an analogy. Suppose a paleontologist has a collection of fossils from some extinct species that show a progressive evolution of some characteristic. The paleontologist will reasonably consider this data to be scientific proof that such a species once lived and evolved. Someone might conjecture that alien beings created those fossils five minutes before they were dug out of the ground. This conjecture cannot be disproved. Because of this conjecture, should the paleontologist give up his beliefs about the existence and evolution of that species?

Now consider these data about the afterlife:

Meditation

• "The Inner Art of Meditation" by Jack Kornfeld (Audio tapes)
• "The Art Of Living: Vipassana Meditation as Taught by S. N. Goenka" by William Hart
• "The Relaxation Response" by Herbert Benson
• "The Miracle of Mindfulness: A manual on Meditation" by Thich Nhat Hanh
• "Living With Kundalini" by Gopi Krishna
• "The Three Pillars of Zen" by Philip Kapleau Roshi

Start of Chapter

Healing

• "Born To Heal" by Ruth Montgomery
• "Healing Hands" by J. Bernard Hutton
• "Miracles of Mind" by Russell Targ and Jane Katra, Ph.D.
• "Psychic Healers" by David St. Clair
• "The Therapeutic Touch" by Dolores Krieger, Ph.D.

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Spiritual Development

• White Eagle / Grace Cooke
  • "Spiritual Unfoldment One" by White Eagle
  • "Meditation" by Grace Cooke.
  • "The New Mediumship" by Grace Cooke
• Stewart Edward White
  • "With Folded Wings" by Stewart Edward White
  • "Anchors To Windward" by Stewart Edward White
  • "The Betty Book" by Stewart White
• "The Lightworker's Way" by Doreen Virtue, Ph.D.
• "A Course In Miracles Volume Two Workbook For Students" by Foundation For Inner Peace. Available on-line at: acim.home.att.net, and fipdata.org.

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Spirit Teachings

• William Stainton Moses
  • Spirit Teachings http://www.meilach.com/spiritual/books/st/spteach.htm
  • "More Spirit Teachings" http://www.meilach.com/spiritual/books/morest/mspteach.htm
• Rev. G. Vale Owen
  • "Life Beyond the Veil, vol 1" http://www.spiritwritings.com/BeyondVeil1.pdf
  • "Life Beyond the Veil, vol 2" http://www.spiritwritings.com/BeyondVeil2.pdf
  • "Life Beyond the Veil, vol 3" http://www.spiritwritings.com/BeyondVeil3.pdf
• Elsa Barker
  • "Letters from a Living Dead Man" http://www.spiritwritings.com/LivingDeadMan.pdf
  • "War Letters from a Living Dead Man" http://www.earthlypursuits.com/WLLDM/WLLDMan.htm
  • "Last Letters from a Living Dead Man" http://www.spiritwritings.com/BarkerLastLetters.pdf
• Anthony Borgia
  • Life in the World Unseen http://www.squarecircles.com/scbooks/onlinebooks/
    otherworlds/lifeintheworldunseen/lifeintheworldunseen.htm
  • More About Life in the World Unseen
  • Here and Hereafter http://www.squarecircles.com/scbooks/onlinebooks/
    otherworlds/lifeintheworldunseen/hereandhereafter.htm
• Geraldine Cummins
  • The Road To Immortality: http://www.trans4mind.com/spiritual/cummins/cummins1.html
  • Beyond Human Personality: http://www.trans4mind.com/spiritual/cummins/cummins2.html
• "Our Unseen Guest" by Darby and Joan http://www.spiritwritings.com/ourunseenguest.pdf
• "The Seven Purposes" by Margaret Cameron http://www.spiritwritings.com/sevenpurposes.pdf
• "The Blue Island" by W.T. Stead through the mediumship of Pardoe Woodman and Estelle Stead http://www.attackingthedevil.co.uk/spiritualism/island1.php
• "Frontiers of the Afterlife" by Edward C. Randall http://survivalebooks.org/#Frontiers of the Afterlife

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Spirit Communication

• George Anderson
  • "George Anderson's Lessons from the Light" by George Anderson and Andrew Barone
  • "We Don't Die: George Anderson's Conversations With The Other Side" by Joel Martin and Patricia Romanowski
  • "We Are Not Forgotten: George Anderson's Messages of Love And Hope From The Other Side" by Joel Martin and Patricia Romanowski
  • "Our Children Forever: George Anderson's Messages From Children On The Other Side" by Joel Martin and Patricia Romanowski.
• John Edward
  • "Crossing Over" by John Edward
  • "One Last Time" by John Edward
  • "After Life" by John Edward
• James Van Praagh
  • "Reaching to Heaven" by James Van Praagh
  • "Talking to Heaven" by James Van Praagh
• Edgar Cayce
  • "Edgar Cayce An American Prophet" by Sidney Kirkpatrick
  • "There Is A River
• "Life Between Life" by Joel L. Whitton M.D., and Joe Fisher
• "The Dead Are Alive" by Harold Sherman
• "The Unquiet Dead" by Dr. Edith Fiore
• "Shadow World" by Brad Steiger
• "Phone Calls From The Dead" by D. Scott Rogo and Raymond Bayless
• "A Search For The Truth" by Ruth Montgomery
• Carl Wickland
  • "Thirty Years Among the Dead" by Carl Wickland http://www.spiritwritings.com/ThirtyYearsAmongTheDead.html
  • "Gateway of Understanding" by Carl Wickland http://www.spiritwritings.com/GatewayOfUnderstanding.pdf
• "Incidents In My Life" by Daniel Dunglass Home http://www.spiritwritings.com/incidentsinmylife.pdf
• "These Mysterious People" by Nandor Fodor http://www.survivalafterdeath.org.uk/books/fodor/contents.htm
• "Communication With The Next World" by William T. Stead Through Madame Hyver http://www.spiritwritings.com/CmtnNextWorld.pdf
• "People From the Other World" by Henry S. Olcott http://survivalebooks.org/#People From the Other World

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Near Death Experiences

• "Nothing Better Than Death" by Kevin Williams http://www.near-death.com/nothing_better_than_death.html
• Betty J. Eadie
  • "Embraced by the Light" by Betty J. Eadie
  • "The Awakening Heart" by Betty J. Eadie
• Dannion Brinkley
  • "Saved By The Light" by Dannion Brinkley
  • "At Peace In The Light" by Dannion Brinkley
• Raymond Moody
  • "Life After Life" by Raymond A. Moody
  • "The Light Beyond" by Raymond A. Moody M.D.
  • "Reunions" by Raymond Moody, M.D. with Paul Perry
  • "The Last Laugh" by Raymond a. Moody, Jr., Ph.D,. M.D.
• Melvin Morse
  • "Transformed By The Light" by Melvin Morse, M.D. with Paul Perry
  • "Closer To The Light: Learning From The Near-Death Experiences Of Children" by Melvin Morse, M.D., with Paul Perry.
• "Within Heaven's Gates" by Rebecca Springer
• "After the Light" by Kimberly Clark Sharp

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Inspirational

• Joan Wester Anderson
  • "Where Angles Walk" by Joan Wester Anderson
  • "Where Wonders Prevail" by Joan Wester Anderson
  • "An Angel to Watch Over Me" by Joan Wester Anderson
• "All Night, All Day, Angels Watching Over Me" by Evelyn Bence
• "Reflections of Heaven Peter" by Shockey
• "Real Stories For The Soul" by Robert J. Morgan
• "Heavenly Miracles" by Jamie C. Miller, Laura Lewis, and Jennifer Basye Sander
• Guideposts Series
  • "Listening to the Animals" Guideposts Series
  • "The Hidden Hand of God" Guideposts Series
• "Strange Powers Of Pets" by Brad Steiger and Sherry Hansen Steiger

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Fiction

• The Land Of Mist by Arthur Conan Doyle http://www.classic-literature.co.uk/scottish-authors/arthur-conan-doyle/the-land-of-mist/
• Jap Herron by Mark Twain via Emily Grant Hutchings http://www.spiritwritings.com/JapHerronTwain.pdf
• Joseph F. Girzone
  • "Joshua In The Holy Land" by Joseph F. Girzone
  • "Joshua And The City" by Joseph F. Girzone
  • "Joshua The Homecoming" by Joseph F. Girzone
  • "Joshua A Parable for Today" by Joseph F. Girzone
  • "Joshua And The Children" by Joseph F. Girzone
  • "Joshua And The Shepherd" by Joseph F. Girzone

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Remote Viewing

• "Remote Viewong - the Real Story" by Ingo Swann
  http://www.biomindsuperpowers.com/Pages/2.html
• "Psychic Warrior" by David Morehouse
• "The Stargate Chronicles" by Joseph McMoneagle

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Reincarnation

• "The Search for the Girl with the Blue Eyes" by Jess Stearn

Start of Chapter

Animal Communication

• "Communicating With Animals" by Arthur Myers
• "Kinship With All Life" by J. Allen Boone
• "Learning Their Language" by Marta Williams
• "The Language of Animals" by Carol Gurney

Start of Chapter

Psychic Research

• "The Survival Top 40" by Miles Edward Allen
  http://www.survivaltop40.com
• A Lawyer Presents the Case for the Afterlife by Victor J. Zammit
  http://www.victorzammit.com/book/4thedition/index.html
• "The Metal Benders" by John Hasted
  http://www.uri-geller.com/books/metal-benders/h.htm
• "Induced After Death Communications" by Allan L. Botkin, Psy.D., R. Craig Hogan, PH.D.
• "The Afterlife Experiments" by Gary Schwartz, Ph.D.
• "The Conscious Universe" by Dean Radin
• "Learning to Use Extrasensory Perception" by Charles T. Tart
• "The Mind Race" by Russell Targ and Keith Harary
• "Mental Radio" by Upton Sinclair
• "An Experiment With Time" by J. W. Dunne

  Evidential Accounts

• "Psychic Adventures In New York" by Neville Whymant http://www.freewebs.com/psilib/PsychicAdventuresWhymant.txt
• "The Wisdom Of The Gods" by H. Dennis Bradley http://survivalebooks.org/#The Wisdom of the Gods

  Weblog Articles

• "... Mark sought treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder at a veteran's hospital. When the therapist explained a new therapy called Induced After Death Communication (IADC) to him, Mark said he was willing to give it a try."
  http://metgat.zaadz.com/blog/2007/8/induced_after-death_communication
• "Better Evicence" by Michael Prescott http://michaelprescott.typepad.com/michael_prescotts_blog/2007/09/better-evidence.html
• "The Genuine Article" by Michael Prescott http://michaelprescott.typepad.com/michael_prescotts_blog/2007/09/the-genuine-art.html

  Journals

• The Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research http://www.aspr.com/jaspr.htm
• Journal of Scientific Exploration http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal.html
• Journal of Parapsychology http://www.rhine.org/journal.shtml
• European Journal of Parapsychology http://ejp.org.uk/
• The Archives of Scientists' Transcendent Experiences http://www.issc-taste.org/index.shtml

  Research Papers

• ABOUT THE CONTINUITY OF OUR CONSCIOUSNESS
  http://www.nderf.org/vonlommel_consciousness.htm

• Medical Evidence for NDEs
  http://www.skepticalinvestigations.org/whoswho/vanLommel.htm

• 2007: "Anomalous Information Reception by Research Mediums Demonstrated Using a Novel Triple-Blind Protocol" Julie Beischel, Gary E. Schwartz Explore (New York, N.Y.) 1 January 2007 (volume 3 issue 1 Pages 23-27 DOI: 10.1016/j.explore.2006.10.004)
  http://www.explorejournal.com/article/PIIS155083070600454X/fulltext

• 2000: "The Effect of the Laying On of Hands on Transplanted Breast Cancer in Mice", William F. Bengston, David Krinsley Journal of Scientific Exploration, Vol. 14, No. 3, pp. 353-364, 2000
  http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_14_3_bengston.pdf

• 1993: Observation Of A Psychokinetic Effect Under Highly Controlled Conditions http://www.fourmilab.ch/rpkp/observ.html

• "The Geller Papers" edited by Charles Panati
  http://www.uri-geller.com/books/geller-papers/gpap.htm

• Research articles by Ian Stevenson

  • Three New Cases of Reincarnation Types in Sri Lanka With Written Records
    http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_02_2_stevenson.pdf

  • Case of Possession Type in India With Evidence of Paranormal Knowledge
    http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_03_1_stevenson.pdf

  • A Case of Severe Birth Defects Possibly Due to Cursing
    http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_03_2_stevenson.pdf

  • Phobias in Children Who Claim to Remember Previous Lives
    http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_04_2_stevenson.pdf

  • Survival or Super-Psi?: Interchange Responses
    http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_06_2_braude.pdf

  • A Series of Possibly Paranormal Recurrent Dreams
    http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_06_3_stevenson.pdf

  • A New Look at Maternal Impressions: An Analysis of 50 Published Cases
    http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_06_4_stevenson.pdf

  • Birthmarks and Birth Defects Corresponding to Wounds on Deceased Persons
    http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_07_4_stevenson.pdf

  • Six Modern Apparitional Experiences
    http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_09_3_stevenson.pdf

  • Do Cases of the Reincarnation Type Show Similar Features Over Many Years?
    http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_13_2_keil.pdf

  • What are the Irreducible Components of the Scientific Enterprise?
    http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_13_2_stevenson.pdf

  • Stability of Assessments of Paranormal Connections in Reincarnation Type Cases
    http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_14_3_stevenson.pdf

  • Unusual Play in Young Children Who Claim to Remember Previous Lives
    http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_14_4_stevenson.pdf

  • The Similarity of Features of Reincarnation Type Cases Over Many Years: A Third Study
    http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_17_2_stevenson.pdf

  • Children of Myanmar Who Behave like Japanese Soldiers: A Possible Third Element in Personality
    http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_19_2_stevenson.pdf

  • Half a Career with the Paranormal
    http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_20_1_stevenson.pdf

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Miscellaneous

• "My Story" by Uri Geller
  http://www.uri-geller.com/books/my-story/ms.htm

• "The Geller Effect" by Uri Geller, Guy Lyon Playfair
  http://www.uri-geller.com/geller-effect/tge0.htm

• "Uri" by Andrija Puharich, Doubleday/Robson.
  http://www.uri-geller.com/uri-mystery/uri0.htm

• "Uri Geller: Magician or Mystic?" by Jonathan Margolis
  http://www.uri-geller.com/books/magician-or-mystic/index.htm

• "Arthur Conan Doyle's Book of the Beyond
• "What The Buddha Taught" by Walpola Rahula
• "The History of Spiritualism Vol I" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
• "The History of Spiritualism Vol II" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• "Flights Of Fancy: 100 Years of Paranormal Experiences" by Lynn Picknett
• "Scare Force: Sightings, Unexplained Events, and Hauntings Reported By The U.S. Military by Charles D. Hough, U.S.A.F. (Ret.)

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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	by Henry S. Olcott

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	by Lamar Keene and Allen Spraggett

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	by Dean Radin

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	by Gary Schwartz

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.

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Spiritwritings.com
http://www.spiritwritings.com/library.html

The International Survivalist Society
Books
http://www.survivalafterdeath.org.uk/library.htm
Articles
http://www.survivalafterdeath.org.uk/articles.htm

Survival E-Books
http://survivalebooks.org/

Spiritualists' National Union
http://www.snu.org.uk/fre_book.htm

Parapsychology Library
http://www.freewebs.com/psilib/

The W. T. Stead Resource Site
http://www.attackingthedevil.co.uk/spiritualism/index.php

jhardaker
http://www.jhardaker.plus.com/pdf/pdf.html

Uri Geller's Web Site

• New Site (easier to navigate).
  http://site.uri-geller.com/en/books

• Old Site - has a few book not on the new site (search the page for "online" to find free e-books).
  http://www.uri-geller.com/books.htm

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Blogs

Be sure to look at the comment sections in these blogs. Several have very vibrant discussion communities.

Charles T. Tart
http://blog.paradigm-sys.com/
RSS Feed
http://blog.paradigm-sys.com/feed

Sandstone's Blog
http://sandstonesquarry.blogspot.com

Michael Prescott's Blog
http://michaelprescott.typepad.com/michael_prescotts_blog
RSS Feed
http://michaelprescott.typepad.com/michael_prescotts_blog/index.rdf

Michael Tymn's Blog
http://metgat.gaia.com/blog
RSS Feed
http://metgat.gaia.com/blog/feed

Entangled Minds: Dean Radin's Blog
http://deanradin.blogspot.com
RSS Feed
http://deanradin.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Comments RSS Feed
http://deanradin.blogspot.com/feeds/comments/default

Paranormalia
http://monkeywah.typepad.com/paranormalia
RSS Feed
http://monkeywah.typepad.com/paranormalia/atom.xml

Articles about posts on these blogs at "Life in B Flat".
http://ncu9nc.blogspot.com/search/label/blogs

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Discussion Forums

Psicology Forums

These forums are about parapsychology and psychical research. They are for people who accept the validity of psychic experiences and who do not want to get side tracked by debates on the reality of psychic phenomena.

http://psicology-forum.proboards.com/index.cgi

Afterlife Discussion Forum

This is a great place to discuss or ask questions about the afterlife or any aspect of spirituality.

http://www.facebook.com/board.php?uid=6417546403

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Sites With Links to This Site

• Subversive Thinking
  http://subversivethinking.blogspot.com

• Zeteticismo
  Spanish:
  http://zeteticismo.blogspot.com

  English Translation by translate.google.com:
  http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http://zeteticismo.blogspot.com

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Psychic Detectives