QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
October 24, 2009
Apparently, I’m writing too much. There have been several complaints in the past few weeks that my blogs are getting too long (and boring?), so I’m going to shorten them to make reading them easier. What I’m going to do this week is to set forth the questions I am asked most often and the answers to the best of my ability:
1. Question: Why do you write about the paranormal when most people don’t believe what you write?
Answer: Simply because a belief is popular doesn’t mean it’s true. Not that many years ago (only a few centuries) people believed the sun revolved around the Earth. Not just the uneducated, but the scientists of the day, as well. People like DaVinci were telling anyone who would listen that the Earth was round and that it revolved about the sun…but the “smart” people of that period refused to believe it and made fun of those who thought differently.
2. Question: You’re a very educated man. Have you really researched the paranormal?
Answer: Of course I have and I am constantly researching it. Ever since 1979 when I saw what I believed to be a dream and later discovered it was the ghost or spirit of a girl who had been murdered in the apartment I was renting, I have thoroughly researched the paranormal and continue to do it to this day. What I saw was unexplained by science, and I had to find out what caused it. Some day, the research I’ve done may be recognized as the “truth” about life.
3. Question: Do you have any scientific proof of paranormal things?
Answer: No. There is overwhelming evidence of such things as ghosts, UFOs, mind-body separation, etc., but none of them will meet the criteria of “scientific proof”. Science sets standards that even scientists cannot meet: Fifty years ago science claimed to have proof that our solar system was created by a larger star passing near our sun and pulling gasses from it which became globules, cooled and became planets. Twenty years ago science had “proof” that Pluto was a ninth planet in our solar system (only recently discovered to be untrue). The key aspects of physics: quantum mechanics, nuclear physics and light weren’t even known about less than 100 years ago. In law, when forensic proof is absent, courts rely on circumstantial evidence. There is enormous circumstantial evidence that the paranormal is very real.
4. Question: Why do you believe the brain and the mind are two wholly separate things?
Answer: The brain controls the bodily functions like breathing, feeling pain or pleasure, etc. The mind controls the thought process. Your brain can tell you that something is extremely hot, but your mind can still tell you it’s O.K. to touch it. So, you touch it. People with football or military injuries to their brain may have a tough time with their bodily functions…but such injuries never affect the mind or the clarity with which the mind functions. A body may not respond to an injured brain’s command…while the mind tries to figure out a way to make the body respond.
5. Question: Why are you so certain ghosts and UFOs really exist:
Answer: Because I’m not foolish enough to call millions of people “liars” or “phonies”. There have been millions of UFO and ghost sightings from people who have nothing to gain by lying or seeking publicity. There have been hundreds of thousands of UFO photos and videos. Far fewer, but still quite significant are photos of ghosts that weren’t there when the picture was taken. Granted that photo-shopping can do a lot, but there are so many people (including myself) that have seen these things for themselves. It is foolish and highly egotistical to say that the millions who have experienced paranormal phenomena are all liars or pranksters.
6. Question: Why are you so certain that there is life after death?
Answer: Because there are too many unexplained things that can only be explained by reincarnation. There are cases on record of people who not only knew they had lived before, but remembered details of their previous life which could only have been known to the deceased or the deceased’s family. These things have been checked by scientists, by skeptics and by newspapers and the majority have passed the most intensive scrutiny. But, since science cannot explain them, stories of provable reincarnation are buried except to those of us who research the subject.
I’m keeping it short, but I’ll have more questions and answers next week. Contact me at stebrel@aol.com if you have a question you’d like answered.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
PARANORMAL PERCEPTION
PARANORMAL PERCEPTION October 18, 2009
Nobody asked me, but…
I’ve spoken with numbers of people who have different beliefs about this world in which we live. Not religious beliefs. By “beliefs”, I’m talking about the people who believe in ghosts…life after death… reincarnation…UFOs: Paranormal beliefs.
My daughter, Debbie Fontaine, approached me the other day and stated her belief that we are simultaneously living in another dimension: that we have a similar (if not identical) existence in a dimension in a world that only offers us glimpses into it. At first glance, this might seem to be a bit “far-out”: By “far-out” I mean that her thoughts or beliefs will never be accepted or even looked at closely by the majority of people who are afraid to look at any possibilities other than those in their comfort-zone. Most people readily deny the existence of ghosts, UFOs, reincarnation, etc. because they are afraid of what they might find out. It’s so much easier to put-down investigative thinking and relax in the knowledge that “I Love Lucy” re-runs are shown on Saturdays.
I don’t know the merits or drawbacks of Debbie’s thinking but, even superficially, her theory (or feeling) would actually tend to answer some of our unanswered questions about things we tend to push-aside and call ‘paranormal’.
Most people in the world do not accept the paranormal as being real because they are afraid to face the truth even when the truth is supported by overwhelming evidence. People deny the existence of UFOs despite millions of sightings and hundreds of thousands of photos and videos because they are ‘afraid’ of the thought that some advanced civilization or beings with greater intelligence than ours will swoop down and conquer the Earth, killing or imprisoning its population.
Similarly, most people are afraid of ghosts because, ever since writing became popular, almost all writers have described ghosts as evil things that are impervious to any efforts to fight them. The Frankenstein monster, the living dead, zombies, etc. It is only recently that writers have begun to picture ghosts as being more human: “The Canterbury Ghost”, “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir”, the movie “Ghost”. We describe anyplace we believe a ghost resides as being “haunted”…a term designed to create fear. In actuality, so-called “haunted” places are simply places where dead people who have not recognized the fact that they are dead, still reside. Note that almost 100% of so-called “haunted” places are haunted by the people who used to live there or work there. In the real world, I’ve never heard of a ghost hurting a live human being. Yet people get frightened just walking in a cemetery at night.
Probably one of the reasons organized religion has so many followers is that they promulgate the fear of a Heaven or a Hell. The bad things you do, two by two, will be paid for one at a time in God’s domain. People are frightened of an allegedly omnipotent God whose wrath is written about in all Bibles…but there is safety in numbers. If a lot of people believe as you do…and none of them have led “perfect” lives…maybe God won’t think you’ve been such a bad person when you meet Him face-to-face. Organized religions all have a book of rules If you follow the rules you will be spared His wrath. People feel comfort and safety in this because there are so many others consigned to follow the same sets of rules. All organized religions are based on fear of the unknown and unexplained.
It’s when we put fear aside that we start to use the intelligence God gave us (and “yes”, I do believe in intelligent design) and that we learn to look at things objectively. As I said, unexplained things like ghosts and UFOs have never harmed anyone, so why not look at them closely with an open mind and try and find out if they really exist and what they really are? Debbie’s theory about dimensions should be examined and its strengths and weaknesses explored.
First let’s take a sensible look at what a dimension is: The dimension in which we live is controlled by our ability to sense what is around us. Something exits if we can see it, smell it, taste it, touch it or hear it. But what if there are sounds too high or low pitched for us to hear? Or things not bright enough…or too bright for us to see…or odors we can’t smell, etc.? We know these things exist because in recent years we’ve tested them in laboratories and have developed some instruments to perceive them. Yet, by definition, since they are out of the range of our normal perception, they are not in our dimension.
Now let’s use our imaginations: Is it so far-fetched to believe that there are some living creatures, somewhere in the vast universe, that can hear sounds and see things we can’t? Living creatures who perceive things in their everyday lives that we cannot perceive? Conversely, the sights, sounds, etc. of our world may be imperceptible to them. Thus we say, they (or we) exist in a different dimension where contact with each other is all but impossible.
The question then presents itself , “How do we know that they really do exist somewhere?”
We fall-back on something I’ve been preaching and writing about for years: Our minds! One of the first steps to higher learning is accepting the fact that your mind (or as I sometimes call it, your “aura”) is not in your brain. It may work in conjunction with your brain, but the brain and the mind are not one and the same.
Proof of this is evident every day. People with brains damaged by cerebral palsy, or injured playing football or in a military action, etc. still have minds that function perfectly. Our brain may tell us that a frying pan is hot but we decide to try and lift it anyhow. Your brain “calculates”…your mind “decides”. Our mind and our brain are two totally different things. What we hear in our heads is our own voice reflecting the operation of our mind…not our brain. Our brain told us the frying pan was hot, and we touched it anyhow…then our mind tells us, “Boy, that was a stupid thing to do!”
Our mind cannot be touched, tasted, smelled, seen or heard. Again…what we hear is our own voice, not the functioning of our mind. Therefore, by definition, our mind (or aura) exists in a different dimension. It is capable of temporary separation from your body (astral projection) and it can perceive people, places and things (dreams) that don’t exist when we are awake. If our mind/aura is a part of a different dimension that has learned to communicate with us, is it really so far-fetched to believe that in its dimension it can perceive other things that we, as humans, cannot?
The thought that Debbie expressed may be a little unusual, but it is definitely possible. Over the years I have learned that Debbie is many times more sensitive to things I cannot perceive. She will meet someone for the first time and know immediately that this is a “good” or a “bad” person. And she’s right more than 90% of the time. When she’s alone or sleeping, she can perceive visits from deceased family members far more easily than I.
To me, it is entirely possible that via her more sensitive mind/aura that she can get glimpses of sights, sounds, etc. from a dimension most of us cannot perceive.
Most people can discover a lot of things they never knew existed if only they will stop being afraid to look…afraid of the unknown. Once you rid yourself of the fears that pervade our everyday living, you will be surprised at how much more your mind/aura will reveal to you. “Fear” is now and has always been the greatest enemy of mankind here on Earth. I’m not suggesting you should abandon common-sense, but you should not be afraid to look for people, things and places that are different from those you normally see. It’s not easy to do…but if you make a determined effort I truly believe you will become aware of many things around us...things you may never have believed existed.
Please write me at stebrel@aol.com and let me know if you’ve had perceptions of other dimensions.
As I said…nobody asked me.
Nobody asked me, but…
I’ve spoken with numbers of people who have different beliefs about this world in which we live. Not religious beliefs. By “beliefs”, I’m talking about the people who believe in ghosts…life after death… reincarnation…UFOs: Paranormal beliefs.
My daughter, Debbie Fontaine, approached me the other day and stated her belief that we are simultaneously living in another dimension: that we have a similar (if not identical) existence in a dimension in a world that only offers us glimpses into it. At first glance, this might seem to be a bit “far-out”: By “far-out” I mean that her thoughts or beliefs will never be accepted or even looked at closely by the majority of people who are afraid to look at any possibilities other than those in their comfort-zone. Most people readily deny the existence of ghosts, UFOs, reincarnation, etc. because they are afraid of what they might find out. It’s so much easier to put-down investigative thinking and relax in the knowledge that “I Love Lucy” re-runs are shown on Saturdays.
I don’t know the merits or drawbacks of Debbie’s thinking but, even superficially, her theory (or feeling) would actually tend to answer some of our unanswered questions about things we tend to push-aside and call ‘paranormal’.
Most people in the world do not accept the paranormal as being real because they are afraid to face the truth even when the truth is supported by overwhelming evidence. People deny the existence of UFOs despite millions of sightings and hundreds of thousands of photos and videos because they are ‘afraid’ of the thought that some advanced civilization or beings with greater intelligence than ours will swoop down and conquer the Earth, killing or imprisoning its population.
Similarly, most people are afraid of ghosts because, ever since writing became popular, almost all writers have described ghosts as evil things that are impervious to any efforts to fight them. The Frankenstein monster, the living dead, zombies, etc. It is only recently that writers have begun to picture ghosts as being more human: “The Canterbury Ghost”, “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir”, the movie “Ghost”. We describe anyplace we believe a ghost resides as being “haunted”…a term designed to create fear. In actuality, so-called “haunted” places are simply places where dead people who have not recognized the fact that they are dead, still reside. Note that almost 100% of so-called “haunted” places are haunted by the people who used to live there or work there. In the real world, I’ve never heard of a ghost hurting a live human being. Yet people get frightened just walking in a cemetery at night.
Probably one of the reasons organized religion has so many followers is that they promulgate the fear of a Heaven or a Hell. The bad things you do, two by two, will be paid for one at a time in God’s domain. People are frightened of an allegedly omnipotent God whose wrath is written about in all Bibles…but there is safety in numbers. If a lot of people believe as you do…and none of them have led “perfect” lives…maybe God won’t think you’ve been such a bad person when you meet Him face-to-face. Organized religions all have a book of rules If you follow the rules you will be spared His wrath. People feel comfort and safety in this because there are so many others consigned to follow the same sets of rules. All organized religions are based on fear of the unknown and unexplained.
It’s when we put fear aside that we start to use the intelligence God gave us (and “yes”, I do believe in intelligent design) and that we learn to look at things objectively. As I said, unexplained things like ghosts and UFOs have never harmed anyone, so why not look at them closely with an open mind and try and find out if they really exist and what they really are? Debbie’s theory about dimensions should be examined and its strengths and weaknesses explored.
First let’s take a sensible look at what a dimension is: The dimension in which we live is controlled by our ability to sense what is around us. Something exits if we can see it, smell it, taste it, touch it or hear it. But what if there are sounds too high or low pitched for us to hear? Or things not bright enough…or too bright for us to see…or odors we can’t smell, etc.? We know these things exist because in recent years we’ve tested them in laboratories and have developed some instruments to perceive them. Yet, by definition, since they are out of the range of our normal perception, they are not in our dimension.
Now let’s use our imaginations: Is it so far-fetched to believe that there are some living creatures, somewhere in the vast universe, that can hear sounds and see things we can’t? Living creatures who perceive things in their everyday lives that we cannot perceive? Conversely, the sights, sounds, etc. of our world may be imperceptible to them. Thus we say, they (or we) exist in a different dimension where contact with each other is all but impossible.
The question then presents itself , “How do we know that they really do exist somewhere?”
We fall-back on something I’ve been preaching and writing about for years: Our minds! One of the first steps to higher learning is accepting the fact that your mind (or as I sometimes call it, your “aura”) is not in your brain. It may work in conjunction with your brain, but the brain and the mind are not one and the same.
Proof of this is evident every day. People with brains damaged by cerebral palsy, or injured playing football or in a military action, etc. still have minds that function perfectly. Our brain may tell us that a frying pan is hot but we decide to try and lift it anyhow. Your brain “calculates”…your mind “decides”. Our mind and our brain are two totally different things. What we hear in our heads is our own voice reflecting the operation of our mind…not our brain. Our brain told us the frying pan was hot, and we touched it anyhow…then our mind tells us, “Boy, that was a stupid thing to do!”
Our mind cannot be touched, tasted, smelled, seen or heard. Again…what we hear is our own voice, not the functioning of our mind. Therefore, by definition, our mind (or aura) exists in a different dimension. It is capable of temporary separation from your body (astral projection) and it can perceive people, places and things (dreams) that don’t exist when we are awake. If our mind/aura is a part of a different dimension that has learned to communicate with us, is it really so far-fetched to believe that in its dimension it can perceive other things that we, as humans, cannot?
The thought that Debbie expressed may be a little unusual, but it is definitely possible. Over the years I have learned that Debbie is many times more sensitive to things I cannot perceive. She will meet someone for the first time and know immediately that this is a “good” or a “bad” person. And she’s right more than 90% of the time. When she’s alone or sleeping, she can perceive visits from deceased family members far more easily than I.
To me, it is entirely possible that via her more sensitive mind/aura that she can get glimpses of sights, sounds, etc. from a dimension most of us cannot perceive.
Most people can discover a lot of things they never knew existed if only they will stop being afraid to look…afraid of the unknown. Once you rid yourself of the fears that pervade our everyday living, you will be surprised at how much more your mind/aura will reveal to you. “Fear” is now and has always been the greatest enemy of mankind here on Earth. I’m not suggesting you should abandon common-sense, but you should not be afraid to look for people, things and places that are different from those you normally see. It’s not easy to do…but if you make a determined effort I truly believe you will become aware of many things around us...things you may never have believed existed.
Please write me at stebrel@aol.com and let me know if you’ve had perceptions of other dimensions.
As I said…nobody asked me.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
UFO Reports
UFO REPORTS October 11, 2009
This is the third and final blog in a three-part report on paranormal frauds. In the first two we talked about Psychic frauds and Medium frauds. Our topic today is UFO frauds.
When talking about Psychic and Medium frauds, there is one factor in common: It’s a way for someone to dip into your purse and make a profit by pretending to have special powers. This is not so with the UFO frauds: most UFO frauds are perpetrated by people who want to see if they can fool you…or make a fool of you! Maybe what they really want is to try and prove themselves superior to you or get an unearned fifteen minutes of fame.
There have been in excess of two million UFO “sightings” reported; some of them from heads of State, some from the military (including Generals and Admirals), some from the astronomical societies. There have been far too many reports of UFOs for any intelligent person to say that they are all frauds or mistakes. Of course, with so many reported sightings, you may want to ask yourself “How come I’ve never seen one?”
Let's take a real look at the probability: There are approximately 6 billion people on Earth, and 2 million only represents .0003% of the world’s population. In simple terms, that means that only one of every 1,800,000 people have reported a UFO sighting. So the odds are very high that you have never seen one with your own eyes.
However, there are a very substantial number of photos of UFOs. I don’t know exactly how many, but I would estimate more than 100,000 photos exit. So, with more than 2 million sightings reported and more than 100,000 photographs available on the Internet (most of which have been checked for “photo-shopping), it becomes ludicrous to say that UFOs don’t exist.
Yet, there are a significant number of people who will make up stories about UFOs; about UFO crashes; about being abducted by aliens from UFOs; about finding alien skeletons; about crop circles; etc. Some of these frauds go to incredible lengths such as making dummy models of what they believe UFOs look like; photographing the models; creating plastic skeletons; decorating wheat and corn fields with large patterns to try and convince observers that these were done by alien beings. To me, such people are not only frauds, they are psychopaths. At least the Psychic and Medium frauds are trying to make money…but I don’t see how these frauds are trying to do anything but prove that they can fool some people. I guess there will always be people who can be fooled, and there will always be some publishers who will pay people to tell their make-believe stories about having been abducted by UFO aliens.
The sad part is that people like these have made the entire world of UFOs (and, possibly, alien beings) appear to be ridiculous and absurd. Their antics have kept the more scientific institutions from taking UFO reports more seriously and, perhaps, uncovering what they really are. Newspapers seem to delight in exposing some of these frauds and detailing how far they went to fool people. The trouble with this is that the frauds get much more media coverage than the legitimate reports.
I’ve received a very significant number of reported UFO sightings, some of which appear to be quite legitimate and some of which are blatant frauds. I have never met a person who claims to have been abducted or seen alien beings that was believable. I’ve seen a great number of alleged UFO photographs that are clearly fraudulent (I do not believe UFOs pause to pose for photographs) and I’ve seen an even greater number of photographs that have been checked for photo-doctoring that clearly are UFOs.
It’s going to be impossible to ever verify the existence of UFOs unless one lands in a public place and whatever/whomever is inside of it steps out for the world to see. Until that happens, we can make some educated guesses:
UFOs have to emanate from someplace: The three most logical assumptions are (1) they emanate from some world in outer space, (2) they emanate from a different dimension, or (3) they emanate from someplace here on Earth. There seems to be no consistency in the shape of UFOs. I’ve seen many undoctored photos showing them as round, oval, triangular and diamond shape. Of course, none of the photos have ever been crystal clear because the UFO is moving and does not pose for pictures. But there are numerous photos in which their shape is clear. This means that (a) they are from a multitude of different origins or (b) their shape is flexible.
If their shape is flexible, then it is clear that UFOs originate in a different dimension and, somehow, slip through cracks in out fabric of space and time.
If they are craft with different shapes, then the concept of multiple origins is likely to be true. It would also diminish the probability that their origin is someplace here on Earth. It’s difficult to believe that although almost three-quarters of our Earth is still unexplored and our motion-detectors (radar and sonar) are still quite primitive that numerous craft of different shapes exist here on Earth or even under our oceans that have not been isolated as to their origin…unless the craft are so small as to be virtually undetectable. Our eyes often deceive us. Optical illusions are plentiful. It’s entirely possible that what appear to be large objects in the sky are actually much smaller and closer to us than our eyes perceive.
We cannot discount the possibility that these UFO craft are from somewhere in outer space. The likelihood that there are a variety of other places in space that have traversed the enormous distances in space (trillions and trillions of miles) just to observe the Earth is highly unlikely. (A brief aside: If you want to know just how large a "trillion" is, just imagine that you had a counting machine that counted four numbers per second and never stopped, day or night. It would take that machine more than 79 years to reach a "trillion".)
Of course, there is the possibility (as several science-fiction authors have suggested) that there is a twin planet to Earth on the opposite side of the Sun. But if this was true, why would there be so many different shapes of UFOs?
Clearly, UFOs exist. What they are, where they are from, and why they are observing us are all questions still to be answered.
If you have any thoughts on the subject, write me at stebrel@aol.com
This is the third and final blog in a three-part report on paranormal frauds. In the first two we talked about Psychic frauds and Medium frauds. Our topic today is UFO frauds.
When talking about Psychic and Medium frauds, there is one factor in common: It’s a way for someone to dip into your purse and make a profit by pretending to have special powers. This is not so with the UFO frauds: most UFO frauds are perpetrated by people who want to see if they can fool you…or make a fool of you! Maybe what they really want is to try and prove themselves superior to you or get an unearned fifteen minutes of fame.
There have been in excess of two million UFO “sightings” reported; some of them from heads of State, some from the military (including Generals and Admirals), some from the astronomical societies. There have been far too many reports of UFOs for any intelligent person to say that they are all frauds or mistakes. Of course, with so many reported sightings, you may want to ask yourself “How come I’ve never seen one?”
Let's take a real look at the probability: There are approximately 6 billion people on Earth, and 2 million only represents .0003% of the world’s population. In simple terms, that means that only one of every 1,800,000 people have reported a UFO sighting. So the odds are very high that you have never seen one with your own eyes.
However, there are a very substantial number of photos of UFOs. I don’t know exactly how many, but I would estimate more than 100,000 photos exit. So, with more than 2 million sightings reported and more than 100,000 photographs available on the Internet (most of which have been checked for “photo-shopping), it becomes ludicrous to say that UFOs don’t exist.
Yet, there are a significant number of people who will make up stories about UFOs; about UFO crashes; about being abducted by aliens from UFOs; about finding alien skeletons; about crop circles; etc. Some of these frauds go to incredible lengths such as making dummy models of what they believe UFOs look like; photographing the models; creating plastic skeletons; decorating wheat and corn fields with large patterns to try and convince observers that these were done by alien beings. To me, such people are not only frauds, they are psychopaths. At least the Psychic and Medium frauds are trying to make money…but I don’t see how these frauds are trying to do anything but prove that they can fool some people. I guess there will always be people who can be fooled, and there will always be some publishers who will pay people to tell their make-believe stories about having been abducted by UFO aliens.
The sad part is that people like these have made the entire world of UFOs (and, possibly, alien beings) appear to be ridiculous and absurd. Their antics have kept the more scientific institutions from taking UFO reports more seriously and, perhaps, uncovering what they really are. Newspapers seem to delight in exposing some of these frauds and detailing how far they went to fool people. The trouble with this is that the frauds get much more media coverage than the legitimate reports.
I’ve received a very significant number of reported UFO sightings, some of which appear to be quite legitimate and some of which are blatant frauds. I have never met a person who claims to have been abducted or seen alien beings that was believable. I’ve seen a great number of alleged UFO photographs that are clearly fraudulent (I do not believe UFOs pause to pose for photographs) and I’ve seen an even greater number of photographs that have been checked for photo-doctoring that clearly are UFOs.
It’s going to be impossible to ever verify the existence of UFOs unless one lands in a public place and whatever/whomever is inside of it steps out for the world to see. Until that happens, we can make some educated guesses:
UFOs have to emanate from someplace: The three most logical assumptions are (1) they emanate from some world in outer space, (2) they emanate from a different dimension, or (3) they emanate from someplace here on Earth. There seems to be no consistency in the shape of UFOs. I’ve seen many undoctored photos showing them as round, oval, triangular and diamond shape. Of course, none of the photos have ever been crystal clear because the UFO is moving and does not pose for pictures. But there are numerous photos in which their shape is clear. This means that (a) they are from a multitude of different origins or (b) their shape is flexible.
If their shape is flexible, then it is clear that UFOs originate in a different dimension and, somehow, slip through cracks in out fabric of space and time.
If they are craft with different shapes, then the concept of multiple origins is likely to be true. It would also diminish the probability that their origin is someplace here on Earth. It’s difficult to believe that although almost three-quarters of our Earth is still unexplored and our motion-detectors (radar and sonar) are still quite primitive that numerous craft of different shapes exist here on Earth or even under our oceans that have not been isolated as to their origin…unless the craft are so small as to be virtually undetectable. Our eyes often deceive us. Optical illusions are plentiful. It’s entirely possible that what appear to be large objects in the sky are actually much smaller and closer to us than our eyes perceive.
We cannot discount the possibility that these UFO craft are from somewhere in outer space. The likelihood that there are a variety of other places in space that have traversed the enormous distances in space (trillions and trillions of miles) just to observe the Earth is highly unlikely. (A brief aside: If you want to know just how large a "trillion" is, just imagine that you had a counting machine that counted four numbers per second and never stopped, day or night. It would take that machine more than 79 years to reach a "trillion".)
Of course, there is the possibility (as several science-fiction authors have suggested) that there is a twin planet to Earth on the opposite side of the Sun. But if this was true, why would there be so many different shapes of UFOs?
Clearly, UFOs exist. What they are, where they are from, and why they are observing us are all questions still to be answered.
If you have any thoughts on the subject, write me at stebrel@aol.com
Sunday, October 4, 2009
THE SECRETS OF TALKING TO THE DEAD
THE SECRETS OF TALKING TO THE DEAD October 4, 2009
This is the first anniversary of my writing about paranormal phenomena. Judging by the amount of e-mail I get, my blog is becoming quite popular. Although I have exposed a lot of frauds, the primary goal of this blog is to increase the awareness of people that there are a significant number of genuine, seemingly inexplicable, things in our world. My writing is an attempt to separate the genuine from the myths and the fraudulent and, whenever possible, explain them in a way most people will understand.
We live in a world where money reigns supreme. As a result, there are vast numbers of people who will do anything if it brings them a good financial return. Most people have a natural curiosity about such things as life after death, heaven and hell, etc. If someone claims they can “talk with the dead”, there are a lot of people who will pay him/her to talk to one or more of their dead loved ones. Being a Medium can be very financially rewarding. As a result, the number of phony Mediums abound. I have never met a Medium who convinced me of his/her ability to communicate with the dead.
In truth, almost all of the so-called Mediums use the cold-reading techniques I spoke about in my last blog. They are highly skilled actors who can speak in “general” terms, but make it sound like they are taking “specifically”, about your dearly departed. Then, there are some commercial Mediums who use “hot-reading” techniques: information garnered in advance about people who will be in their audience or attending their séance.
Probably the best-known present day Medium is John Edward, a fast-talking former ballroom-dancing instructor who is cleaning up on his proclaimed ability "to connect with energies of people who have crossed over." Died, that is. Indeed, his nightly TV show “Crossing Over with John Edward” was the highest-rated show on the Sci Fi network and is about to go into syndication. He has made appearances on Larry King Live, Dateline, an HBO special, Entertainment Tonight and other TV shows. Between his fees for individual appointments, tickets for his seminars and stage appearances, and sales of his books, audiotapes and videotapes, Edward seems to be one of the few growth industries in an otherwise lackluster economy.
Like other so-called Mediums, Edward relies heavily on the "cold reading" technique. It involves posing a series of questions and suggestions, each shaped by the subject's previous response. Mediums often begin, for example, by uttering a generality: "I sense an older father figure here," eliciting a response that leads him to the next question. "I'm getting that his death resulted from a problem in his chest". This is a statistically sound guess that could cover everything from lung cancer and emphysema to a heart attack. Should the subject answer no, the cold reader will often say, "Well, we'll get back to that," and quickly change tack. It's a sophisticated form of the game Twenty Questions, during which the subject, anxious to hear from the dead, seldom realizes that he, not the Medium or the departed, is supplying the answers.
A Time Magazine article written a few years ago by Leon Jaroff cited the case of Michael O'Neill, a New York City marketing manager, who had no preconceived notions about Edward but experienced what he is convinced was a "hot reading"--a variation on the cold reading in which the Medium takes advantage of information surreptitiously gathered in advance. Given an extra ticket by family members hoping to hear from his deceased grandfather, O'Neill attended a performance and was singled out by Edward, who received what he claimed were communications sent directly from the dead grandfather.
While many of those messages seemed to O'Neill to be clearly off base, Edward made a few correct "hits," mystifying everyone by dropping family names and facts he could not possibly have known.
It was not until weeks after the performance, when O'Neill saw the show on TV, that he began to suspect chicanery. Clips of him nodding yes had been spliced into the videotape after statements with which he remembers disagreeing. In addition, says O'Neill, most of Edward's "misses," both on him and other audience members, had been edited out of the final tape.
With all this fraudulent activity going on, should we assume (like Harry Houdini) that communication with the dead is impossible? In my opinion, all of the so-called showmen who claim to be able to talk to the dead relatives of complete strangers are as phony as a three-dollar-bill. Notwithstanding this, Communication with the dead is not only possible, but has very strong supporting evidence.
The evidence indicates that you can communicate with dead people who were very close to you in life. A brother, a mother…someone very close. Definitely not to strangers. Communication usually happens in dreams when the brain is sleeping and the mind/aura has taken over the body. At such times, the mind/aura approaches what we call an astral plane and the mind’s receptors are capable of telepathic thoughts. I have yet to meet someone who has spoken with the dead in voices that can be recorded. Communications from the dead are telepathic; for the obvious reason that vocal chords are a part of the dead body while the spirit/aura exists without a body. Even ghost-chasers who have tried to record spiritual voices in haunted houses had to admit that the sounds made by spirits are barely audible…much like the sounds of people talking who do not have a voice.
Among the growing number of scientists who believe in psychic phenomena, most seem to agree that the psychic’s mind has moved to an astral level where it is significantly more sensitive to telepathy.
There is a very interesting article by James Donahue: He went to classes where the spiritual part of his body was schooled. Soon he learned to astrally project. While astrally projecting, he saw his dead mother and telepathically communicated, in detail, with her. Donahue was not some religious extremist, but, rather, wrote about the experience objectively and dispassionately. http://100megsfree4.com/farshores/jd0125.htm
To me, this is not only possible, it’s logical. When we learn to project astrally, what we have learned to do is separate our mind/aura from our physical body. Our mind/aura can seek-out and communicate with other mind/auras of those very close to us. While this frequently happens by accident, you can teach yourself to do this:
There is an excellent article, online by Dr. Raymond Moody that tries to teach people how to communicate with dead loved ones. http://www.near-death.com/experiences/paranormal10.html The principal behind Dr. Moody’s instructions are the same principals and techniques that can teach you to astrally project: separate your mind/aura from your body for brief periods of time.
To sum it all up, don’t waste your time (or money) trying to communicate with the dead through a Medium. Communication with the dead is not only possible, but it has significant support by evidence with extremely limited conditions: The only people you can communicate with are direct communications between you and a dead loved one and only on an astral level.
We’ll finish this series next week. In the meantime, if you’ve got questions, I’ve got answers. Stebrel@aol.com
This is the first anniversary of my writing about paranormal phenomena. Judging by the amount of e-mail I get, my blog is becoming quite popular. Although I have exposed a lot of frauds, the primary goal of this blog is to increase the awareness of people that there are a significant number of genuine, seemingly inexplicable, things in our world. My writing is an attempt to separate the genuine from the myths and the fraudulent and, whenever possible, explain them in a way most people will understand.
We live in a world where money reigns supreme. As a result, there are vast numbers of people who will do anything if it brings them a good financial return. Most people have a natural curiosity about such things as life after death, heaven and hell, etc. If someone claims they can “talk with the dead”, there are a lot of people who will pay him/her to talk to one or more of their dead loved ones. Being a Medium can be very financially rewarding. As a result, the number of phony Mediums abound. I have never met a Medium who convinced me of his/her ability to communicate with the dead.
In truth, almost all of the so-called Mediums use the cold-reading techniques I spoke about in my last blog. They are highly skilled actors who can speak in “general” terms, but make it sound like they are taking “specifically”, about your dearly departed. Then, there are some commercial Mediums who use “hot-reading” techniques: information garnered in advance about people who will be in their audience or attending their séance.
Probably the best-known present day Medium is John Edward, a fast-talking former ballroom-dancing instructor who is cleaning up on his proclaimed ability "to connect with energies of people who have crossed over." Died, that is. Indeed, his nightly TV show “Crossing Over with John Edward” was the highest-rated show on the Sci Fi network and is about to go into syndication. He has made appearances on Larry King Live, Dateline, an HBO special, Entertainment Tonight and other TV shows. Between his fees for individual appointments, tickets for his seminars and stage appearances, and sales of his books, audiotapes and videotapes, Edward seems to be one of the few growth industries in an otherwise lackluster economy.
Like other so-called Mediums, Edward relies heavily on the "cold reading" technique. It involves posing a series of questions and suggestions, each shaped by the subject's previous response. Mediums often begin, for example, by uttering a generality: "I sense an older father figure here," eliciting a response that leads him to the next question. "I'm getting that his death resulted from a problem in his chest". This is a statistically sound guess that could cover everything from lung cancer and emphysema to a heart attack. Should the subject answer no, the cold reader will often say, "Well, we'll get back to that," and quickly change tack. It's a sophisticated form of the game Twenty Questions, during which the subject, anxious to hear from the dead, seldom realizes that he, not the Medium or the departed, is supplying the answers.
A Time Magazine article written a few years ago by Leon Jaroff cited the case of Michael O'Neill, a New York City marketing manager, who had no preconceived notions about Edward but experienced what he is convinced was a "hot reading"--a variation on the cold reading in which the Medium takes advantage of information surreptitiously gathered in advance. Given an extra ticket by family members hoping to hear from his deceased grandfather, O'Neill attended a performance and was singled out by Edward, who received what he claimed were communications sent directly from the dead grandfather.
While many of those messages seemed to O'Neill to be clearly off base, Edward made a few correct "hits," mystifying everyone by dropping family names and facts he could not possibly have known.
It was not until weeks after the performance, when O'Neill saw the show on TV, that he began to suspect chicanery. Clips of him nodding yes had been spliced into the videotape after statements with which he remembers disagreeing. In addition, says O'Neill, most of Edward's "misses," both on him and other audience members, had been edited out of the final tape.
With all this fraudulent activity going on, should we assume (like Harry Houdini) that communication with the dead is impossible? In my opinion, all of the so-called showmen who claim to be able to talk to the dead relatives of complete strangers are as phony as a three-dollar-bill. Notwithstanding this, Communication with the dead is not only possible, but has very strong supporting evidence.
The evidence indicates that you can communicate with dead people who were very close to you in life. A brother, a mother…someone very close. Definitely not to strangers. Communication usually happens in dreams when the brain is sleeping and the mind/aura has taken over the body. At such times, the mind/aura approaches what we call an astral plane and the mind’s receptors are capable of telepathic thoughts. I have yet to meet someone who has spoken with the dead in voices that can be recorded. Communications from the dead are telepathic; for the obvious reason that vocal chords are a part of the dead body while the spirit/aura exists without a body. Even ghost-chasers who have tried to record spiritual voices in haunted houses had to admit that the sounds made by spirits are barely audible…much like the sounds of people talking who do not have a voice.
Among the growing number of scientists who believe in psychic phenomena, most seem to agree that the psychic’s mind has moved to an astral level where it is significantly more sensitive to telepathy.
There is a very interesting article by James Donahue: He went to classes where the spiritual part of his body was schooled. Soon he learned to astrally project. While astrally projecting, he saw his dead mother and telepathically communicated, in detail, with her. Donahue was not some religious extremist, but, rather, wrote about the experience objectively and dispassionately. http://100megsfree4.com/farshores/jd0125.htm
To me, this is not only possible, it’s logical. When we learn to project astrally, what we have learned to do is separate our mind/aura from our physical body. Our mind/aura can seek-out and communicate with other mind/auras of those very close to us. While this frequently happens by accident, you can teach yourself to do this:
There is an excellent article, online by Dr. Raymond Moody that tries to teach people how to communicate with dead loved ones. http://www.near-death.com/experiences/paranormal10.html The principal behind Dr. Moody’s instructions are the same principals and techniques that can teach you to astrally project: separate your mind/aura from your body for brief periods of time.
To sum it all up, don’t waste your time (or money) trying to communicate with the dead through a Medium. Communication with the dead is not only possible, but it has significant support by evidence with extremely limited conditions: The only people you can communicate with are direct communications between you and a dead loved one and only on an astral level.
We’ll finish this series next week. In the meantime, if you’ve got questions, I’ve got answers. Stebrel@aol.com
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