The secret Gardner

A while ago I discussed skeptic Martin Gardner's remarkably ill-informed debunking of the famed medium Leonora Piper. Shortly afterward, Greg Taylor of The Daily Grail emailed me with some pertinent remarks. I meant to post these at the time, but it slipped my mind.

Well, better late than never.

Greg wrote,

Came across something when reading an SPR journal which is a decent response to one of Martin Gardner's accusations against Leonora Piper. Thought you'd probably be interested in it:

Gardner: "Mediums in a city know one another. Those who patronize one medium usually visit others. At the time there were scores of mediums in Boston, forming a network of scoundrels who passed information freely back and forth."

SPR Journal: "That Mrs. Piper should have worked up the dossiers of all the sitters some time before was practically impossible. No doubt it was permissible to assume a freemasonry amongst professional mediums, and that any information obtained by one of the fraternity would be at the disposal of all. But a considerable proportion of Mrs. Piper's sitters were not even numbered amongst the 500 odd Members and Associates of the A.B.S.P.R. ; and very few had ever been to a professional medium before." ...

Also, as you mentioned the simultaneous voice and writing communication in your original blog, I thought it worth pointing out this passage from Michael Sage's book on Piper. [Free e-book can be downloaded here - MP.] Fascinating aspect of the phenomenon IMO:

"The voice may keep up a conversation with a sitter while the hand keeps up another in writing with someone else on a wholly different subject. If the sitter who is talking with the hand allows his attention to be distracted by what the voice says, the hand recalls his attention by its movements. When anyone is speaking to the hand control, it is necessary to speak to the hand, and close to the hand, or there is a risk of not being understood. In short, one must behave as if the hand were  a complete and independent being.

"Observation of this phenomenon suggested to Dr Hodgson that by using the left hand he could perhaps obtain three communications on three different subjects. He tried and succeeded, although imperfectly; no doubt because, in the normal state, the left hand is not used to writing...

"The writing often looks like that on a lithographic stone, and can only be read when reflected in a glass; this writing, which is called mirror-writing, is produced as rapidly as ordinary writing, though Mrs Piper, in her normal state, would be unable to write in this way. This mirror-writing has been often observed in subjects who write automatically; the cause for it is still to be found."

Comments

[william]

Mirror writing and upside down writing and writing at a pace not known to exist have been noted with many mediums that are able to do automatic writing.

Patience worth wrote a 70,000-word novel (Telka) in 35 hours of writing time. Michael P may be able to state if that is a fast pace for writing a novel.

She (housewife Mrs. Curran) also was asked to write a poem and begin every line with a letter of the alphabet except the letter X.
Patience Worth through Curran proceeded to write a poem and devoted the last two lines to chide the person that asked her to do this to prove she was indeed Patience Worth who lived in the 17th century.

Here are those last two lines of that poem:

“Yea, this thy servant upon the path of folly.
Zealously endeavouring that she follow a fool.”

She was asked to write a poem on atheism. There was an 8 second delay and then through Mrs. Curran the following poem emerged. I am no authority on poems but I like this one. The last two lines are superb.

“Who doubts his God hath but announced
His own weak limitations;
Hath tied his hand and fettered of his foot.
To doubt thy God is but to stop
The everlasting flow of mercy;
To die of thirst and lose thee.
In the chaos of thyself.”

These quotes have been taken from the book “no living person could have known” pages 40-52.

Spirit communication? Subconscious? Able to connect to universal source of intelligence? If it was subconscious does that suggest reincarnation of Patience Worth to a Mrs. Curran? I lean in the direction of spirit communication.

[Michael Prescott]

>Patience worth wrote a 70,000-word novel (Telka) in 35 hours of writing time. Michael P may be able to state if that is a fast pace for writing a novel.

Very fast. Not unheard of, though. Ordinarily a 70,000 word book would probably take at least six months to write, but pulp-fiction writers who churn out boilerplate romances and action novels (generic series stuff, with titles like The Midnight Avenger #117) can produce a high word count in a remarkably short time. I'm sure that many of Louis L'Amour's Westerns were written (or ghostwritten) in less than a week.

Fiction that shows any concern for style, accurate detail, psychological realism, or intricate plotting can't be produced that quickly under normal circumstances. Only very formulaic hackwork usually results from banging out a book at top speed. The excerpts of Patience's books that I've read have not seemed at all like hackwork to me. Quite the opposite: her writing is very complex, with detailed, layered descriptions and accurate use of archaic idioms.

[william]

I thought the poem she wrote on atheism was brilliant and very insightful. Usually I don’t do well with poems they seem so abstract to me but this poem really hit home. After spending hours chatting with atheists on the Internet in chat rooms the line “in the chaos of thyself” hit the nail on head with that hammer you talked about in an earlier post.

“To die of thirst and lose thee.
In the chaos of thyself.”

I think those two lines alone have profound meanings into the mysteries of life if we believe that life is meaningless. Of course these same lines can be said about most fundamentalist religious beliefs that make their God in man’s image.

Don’t remember discussing on this blog but atheism could be looked at as a very ego centered system of beliefs. The atheists and ultra skeptics do appear to believe they are the only ones in the world that have a rational mind and they alone are capable of any analytical reasoning abilities. Is thier god the intellectual rational mind and/or materialism?

[John]

I think atheism in general is simply a lack of a believe of an existence in a deity. It doesn't really describe people's personalities too much. I know of a few atheists who are scientifically, politically and religiously apathetic; they just go on and live their lives as normal. Sure, there are those who are loud and obnoxious about it, but those one are a minority and most other atheists dislike these people.

Michael, I sent you an email. I would greatly appreciate it if you would read it and respond. It's somewhat important to me. Thanks.

[william]

“I know of a few atheists who are scientifically, politically and religiously apathetic; they just go on and live their lives as normal.”

Apathetic is normal?

Read her poem very carefully there is much there, other than mere words.

“Who doubts his God hath but announced
His own weak limitations;
Hath tied his hand and fettered of his foot.
To doubt thy God is but to stop
The everlasting flow of mercy;
To die of thirst and lose thee.
In the chaos of thyself.”

[Cyrus]

Would somebody post some information about that novel being written so fast? That's an incredible claim, and if it were verified by somebody OTHER then the medium I would say that's credibly supernatural.

[william]

http://www.patienceworth.org/patienceworthpoems_001.htm

This might be a good place to start your research into patience worth. Truly this is a story worth the time and effort to research.

Or just google “patience worth” as someone has created and maintains a website dedicated to this wonderful poet. Remarkable story.

[Michael H]

“The atheists and ultra skeptics do appear to believe they are the only ones in the world that have a rational mind and they alone are capable of any analytical reasoning abilities. Is their god the intellectual rational mind and/or materialism?”

William, a few moments with the daily news (including ad content) leads me to believe that the god of the intellect and materialism is the god worshiped most fervently by contemporary western society in general.

[william]

“Leads me to believe that the god of the intellect and materialism is the god worshiped most fervently by contemporary western society in general.”

Michael H: yes and that is what patience worth is saying in her poem with such subtle exquisiteness and her poem on atheism surprised me, as I am not usually into poetry.

Found this short quote in the book " the supreme adventure" and thought it was worth sharing.

“It is because of the divine spirit “within us” that we seek truth: it is because of the divine spirit “without us” that there is truth to discover. –Lily Dougall

This quote by Lily Dougall pretty much sums up my 16 years of research in one short but thoughtful statement.

[Michael Prescott]

John, I've replied to your email with two separate messages. Please feel free to write again at any time.

[Arthur]

“It is because of the divine spirit “within us” that we seek truth: it is because of the divine spirit “without us” that there is truth to discover. –Lily Dougall
___________________________________________

Beautiful quote! and speaking of divine spirits..... I'm listening to the new Josh Groban Christmas CD right now while I'm on the computer. The boy has a voice like an angel, or at least what I imagine an angel sounds like. It's so beautiful it brings tears to my eyes. Rare and incredible... Artie

[Michael H]

A fable for Lily . . .

So here we are, wandering through a forest. We come across a tree. The tree is of a variety known as Near Death Experiences. It’s a fascinating tree. We examine the tree, and then we notice a neighboring tree. This tree is of a variety known as Evidence of Reincarnation. We examine it as well, and continue on our way.

As we continue our walk through the forest, we encounter other varieties. We discover trees called Evidence of PSI, Archeological Mysteries, Spiritualism, Dream Research, Religion, Anthropic Principle, Neo-Platonic Philosophy, Medium Communication, Consciousness Studies, Quantum Physics, Testimony of Mystics, Gaia Theory in Biology, Personal Experience. Some are tall, ancient trees. Others are small seedlings. There are many, many trees in the forest; almost seven billion of the Personal Experience variety alone.

A breeze comes through the canopy above. It seems to whisper to us, a quiet, gentle voice, urging: “Look Within”. We push the voice away, continuing to focus on the trees around us. We find more trees. Together, they seem to tell us that there is another forest somewhere, something called a spiritual forest, but it’s far, far away.

We notice this and mention it to others. They get upset.

“There’s no other forest”, they insist, “There’s only this one.”

They say we’ve misinterpreted some trees, and they point to other trees in the forest. They show us trees named Reason, Logic, Mathematics, Science. They’ve noticed a lot of trees as well. Can’t we see how real this forest is? Can’t we see all of the benefits that understanding these trees has provided for us? Can’t we see that the forest has been fully explored, and the forest is telling us that there is no other forest?

We’re puzzled, because it seems that all of the trees together are trying to tell us something, but not everyone agrees. We sigh deeply to ourselves, and continue to wander through the forest.

We encounter people gathered around Particular Trees.

“Look at this Beautiful Tree”, they say as we come upon them, “This is the only real Tree in the forest. The others were all planted to mislead us. Can’t you see how beautiful this Tree is? How tall and sturdy it is? Yes, there is a spiritual forest, but it’s far, far away; you have to worship this Tree to find it.”

“And”, some of them warn, “If you don’t worship this Tree, you will be punished terribly. This forest will swallow you forever.”

We admire their trees, some have beautiful leaves, and others have powerful trunks, while still others bear wonderful fruit. But we’re not sure about any Particular Tree, because we can so clearly see all of the other trees. And we recall the tree called Testimony of Mystics, and remember that many of the messages in that tree come from those who advocated one or another of the Particular Trees, while still other messages in the Testimony of Mystics tree came from those who advocated no Particular Tree, yet they all tell us there’s another forest somewhere.

Many of the other trees seem to tell us there’s something to the Particular Trees, but together they seem to say that no Particular Tree is necessarily the right Particular Tree. We also notice large groups gathered around many different Trees. Still, the warnings of some of the Particular Tree adherents give us pause. Will we really be punished if we choose the wrong Tree, or no Particular Tree at all?

It’s all very confusing.

We decide to move on. The breeze glides through the canopy overhead. “Look Within”, it urges again, but still we don’t hear it. We wander on; continuing to examine the trees we encounter as the breeze gently caresses the canopy above, never recognizing that we have been walking through the spiritual forest all along.

[william]

What is the “gap” between that divine spirit within us and that divine spirit without us? It is a not knowing status or our unaware mode of being that divine spirit.

A synonym for not knowing or unawareness is ignorance. Oh my, that ignorance that the Buddha discovered is a necessity for the journey of the soul to find/discover/awaken to those truth/s.

Now we ask, why have journeys at all if isness is all and all.

Could it be for isness or pure awareness to express its static pure awareness reality as a dynamic consciousness (souls) perceived reality we must be unaware of our true identity?

Food for thought.

[Greg Taylor]

Hi William,

As I also noted to Michael in my email, it is a little known fact that the 'Virgin Mary' sightings at Fatima were announced in a prophecy by a Portugese Spiritualist group, the message being received via automatic writing in mirror, written from right to left.

But it's hard enough to cover all the afterlife topics we do here, without moving into paranormal experiences like the Fatima event...
;)

Kind regards,
Greg

[william]

little known fact I guess never heard that one before.

do you have a link that discusses that fact.

[Greg Taylor]

Hi William,

It's mentioned in 'Celestial Secrets', a book about the Fatima event. There's even a picture of the mirror script.

Speaking of which, where would Leonora Piper's mirror writing be held (if it was kept)? At the ASPR? Wonder how hard it would be to get some images of it if it's there...

Kind regards,
Greg

[Gerry]

With 99% fraud pervading the field of trance mediumship, 4 cases in the past 150 years stand out: Mrs. L Piper, D Douglas-Home and Edgar Cayce. Their 'manifestations' caused shock at the time. How unbiased were witness reports? given that test conditions were almost never of a scientific or lab-based type, such being mostly unavailable. The American, Leonora Piper(1859-1950) like Cayce, endured stomach pains. Her so-claimed 'channelling' convinced bitter sceptics such as William James, a Harvard prof, & Richard Hodgson of the British Society for Psychical Research in the late 1800's that something unique was occurring.

It's a pity these 3 people could not have been recorded 'viva voce'

GC
London

[Bill Ingle]

There are hidden implications in questions of "survival."

What survives? Let's assume this "region of self" exists at birth -- pre-exists, in other words.

I would say this region of self, essence, entity, soul, inner self -- call it what you will -- is native to a timeless environment, but that is aside from the main point here, also expressed by Seth as "you are as dead now as you will ever be."

If you ponder this for a bit, it's plain that psychology and the supernatural are completely inseparable, two views of the same area, but our beliefs associated with psychology are irrevocably colored by the history of that discipline; the theories of Freud and Jung supplanted those of Myers and James a very long time ago, no matter that Freud's theories themselves were later eclipsed by newer theories.

The "scientific" approach to spiritualism, parapsychology, and so on (particularly as taken by James & Co.) attempted to be "hands off," "detached," "third-party," and so on, but how can anyone even begin to understand any of this from such a position?

Further, all of this analysis and theorizing involves exactly the sort of mental activity that must be temporarily stilled if the "inner senses" are to be invoked and experienced.

In other words, why the hell didn't James, Myers, and so on experiment themselves with trance states and mediumship? (Of course they were trying to be "scientific" about this, but this blinded them. At least they were open to possibilities; Gardner is a much more extreme example of this blindness.)

There are so many pertinent questions they might have asked, through Leonora, too.

That was then, and those brilliant researchers are all dead, as dead as Leonora Piper, and as dead as we are, in the sense used above.

It behooves us to silence our intellects, silence our mental associating, and focus directly on that region of our own minds that exists now, existed before we were born, and shall most likely continue to exist after our passing. Observing this in others will get us nowhere people haven't been since 1886 or so.

This kind of exploration is a "hands on" endeavor, must be, and no Marvin Gardner will ever try it -- they will always stand aside and criticize from a distance, as though swimming can be accomplished only by standing on shore and commenting on what others are doing, not by jumping in and getting wet.

"But this is so unscientific" some will say.

So what? Maybe the usual scientific approach is just plain inappropriate here, or science itself needs some tweaking, some new data obtainable only by such exploring.

Analysis and theorizing can always _follow_, later, after the fact.

"But what if the experimenter is simply deluding him or herself" others might say.

The only answer to this is for many to experiment and share notes.

"But what if that only leads to the formation of a cult or cults?" might be the reply.

Suppose that science (no less than certain religions) is really no more than a cult writ large, a discipline wherein many share certain beliefs?

I could go on and on, endlessly, in this vein.

Even if those interested in this topic are unwilling -- afraid -- to venture into these waters directly, they could at least find modern equivalents of Leonora Piper.

This could be a friend of a friend, or a friend of a friend of a friend; the Internet enables anyone to find such a person without any difficulty.

Such a medium or channeller could be strictly amateur, that is doing this for fun and/or their own edification, not for money, and lacking the pressures that come with professional mediumship, the need to "perform" even when conditions aren't appropriate.

If three hundred folks chose to explore this realm by stilling their minds and probing inwardly, a certain number would discover they possessed natural gifts of mediumship, and a certain percentage of that number would turn out to be truly excellent in this department.

This is actually going on, every day, and it is so much more effective than thousands and thousands merely _discussing_ this topic, _thinking_ about it, _analyzing_ it.

These last activities, again, are not the same as actually diving in and getting wet; they amount to the creation of a large circle of those who stand outside, watching, more open minded than those who dismiss everything "occult," everything dealing with "inner," "spirit," and so on, but even though closer to what everyone has or is, inwardly, still standing outside; still no cigar, in other words.

I am just another rank amateur in this department, having little to offer beyond my own experiences, rarely extraordinary, while as a result of my long interest in these areas, combined with Internet interactivity, I have come to know a good number of amateurs who skills and talents greatly surpass my own. These folks are everywhere! Many walk around all day, every day, having no idea what they possess!

Partly out of frustration, I have been assembling simple exercises to address this situation, these found here.

These are not incredibly esoteric, do not require spending years in a cave or monastery somewhere, involve no "master" (I am definitely not in that category myself), and do not require an experimenter to adopt "unscientific" truths; they need only imagine and proceed. Hopefully, such techniques can help address that which we gradually ceased to focus on after our birth, as our parents, our siblings, our peers, and then our educators and authorities taught us to focus elsewhere, they themselves having been through the same process.

How did I get into this in the first place? One strong experience is related here.

All I was trying to do that day was to teach myself how to meditate. Someone else could take the same book (How to Meditate) or some equivalent and follow the same path, elsewhere.

They might not "see" the same book I did ("Seth Speaks"), instead "seeing" some book more suitable to their own individuality, or having some other experience, equally provocative (maybe they'd have a vision of Michael's blog, or Greg Taylor's Daily Grail site -- who knows?) but this would provide a personalized path to those really uncharted waters everyone here is interested in.

Regards

Bill I.

[Pavel Chichikov]

"To doubt thy God is but to stop
The everlasting flow of mercy;
To die of thirst and lose thee.
In the chaos of thyself.”

Powerful lines.

[Ginny]

Hey, Arthur! I swaint and foon for Josh Groban too! Love his Christmas album. If he's sappy (as some say), I say, let the sap flow - in ten-gallon drums!

[william]

"To die of thirst and lose thee.
In the chaos of thyself.”

Thanks Pavel for the words of praise for this small but significant poem. Those last two lines about atheism were both thoughtful and priceless from my point of view.

We appear to be on a journey of discovery, an awaking if you will, into mysteries that I suspect we cannot even begin to comprehend or imagine, but yet for some reason we humans especially the atheists and the religious seem to think they have it figured all out and know the answers to the mysteries of life.

Both groups will tell anyone on no uncertain terms that they have an open mind without realizing that the concept of an open mind is an oxymoron.

Some days this knowing so little is very frustrating, but other days I think what an adventure yet lies ahead of us all. One can only speculate how many adventures we have had to arrive at a level of consciousness we have today seeking beyond conditioned or as Patience Worth put it so beautifully “in the chaos of thyself” beliefs.

[Pavel Chichikov]

"Thanks Pavel for the words of praise for this small but significant poem. Those last two lines about atheism were both thoughtful and priceless from my point of view."

William,

The entire stanza struck me as having considerable poetical and spiritual power. I sense that the power comes from authentic experience.

Not that there's anything wrong with dogma per se. No individual can figure out life and the universe entirely alone, without relying on the collective experience of generations. We in the established churches also believe in the revealed character of fundamental truth about salvation and the destiny of souls - but that's another matter.

The transcendent is all around us. As the saying goes: "Heaven is hidden in plain sight."

It's desperately important, though, to separate the real from the fake, the authentic from the incomplete and the bewildered.

[william]

“The entire stanza struck me as having considerable poetical and spiritual power. I sense that the power comes from authentic experience.”

Me to Pavel that poem struck me deeply as someone that had experienced human life deeply and with deep insights into the human mind. That word authentic is so rare today especially in what we see in politics. I world with 3 and 4 year old children and the word that comes to my mind when I think of them is: authentic.

"Not that there's anything wrong with dogma per se. No individual can figure out life and the universe entirely alone, without relying on the collective experience of generations."

I notice that it can bring people such comfort to believe what others have told them is truth. Their faith gives them such hope for their futures. The problem becomes that dogma can cause such suffering. My truth (dogma) becomes thee truth and here comes the intolerance, suffering, wars and etc.

In Iraq those three tribes hate one another because each one things their truth is thee truth.

Then we have the Christians going around the world telling people that if they don’t accept their truth and be saved they will burn in hell for eternity.

When we try to impose our truths on others like the religious and even the Darwinists are doing then the trouble begins. I am amazed at what most people consider to be enough evidence to be considered fact. We humans love our facts.

But then if we were perfect (i.e. pure awareness) there would be no you nor me and their would be no world to discuss such things.

[Arthur]

Hey, Arthur! I swaint and foon for Josh Groban too! Love his Christmas album. If he's sappy (as some say), I say, let the sap flow - in ten-gallon drums!
Posted by: Ginny
--------------------------------------------

When I try to imagine in my head how angels sound when they sing, they sound like Josh Groban. Every once in a while a little bit of Heaven filters through to this physical world. I listened to "Noel" (Josh Groban's Christmas Album) three times yesterday, but haven't had time to today because of Church. I think I'm going to put it in my car so I can listen to it while I'm driving. - Art

[Kevin]

For Bill I.: note that Wm. James DID himself "jump into the waters", using an anesthetic to induce a psychedelic state, which he considered similar to the mystical experience. Such personal experiences only confirmed in his mind the conviction that "ordinary" consciousness is a reduced or constrained form of a much larger, latent consciousness of which our individual selves are part. This was the basis of the "filter" or "transmission" theory advocated by Myers, Bergson and himself.

Gardner's willfully ignorant and vapid criticisms of Mrs. Piper's mediumistic capacities are all too indicative of the larger problem which the self-appointed Keepers of the Flame of Scientific Proof have when confronted with evidence which conflicts with their stone-incised "certainties". The lessons taught by history go unlearned by these Keepers, and they have failed to see how positions have been reversed: it is now "Science" (as comprised by those true believers in materialistic scientism) which refuses to look through the telescope, as the Pope did to Galileo, refuses to see the accumulated data for what it is. How many instances have been documented of advocates who have offered some scientist or academic a book on a subject like Leonora Piper or anything listed under the unfortunate rubric of "paranormal", only to have the recipient dismiss the offering without even examining the contents? Those skeptics who DO open the books are guilty of many rhetorical crimes, such as subjecting the data to a scrutiny and level of "proof" against which their own cherished "laws" and scientific findings often cannot stand. Such behavior tells us more about psychology than it does about PARApsychology.

In spite of all debunking efforts, we are left with veridical information obtained through such mediums as Mrs. Piper and others that seems another striking indicator of a much larger reality than the five unaided physical senses can access. One would like to think that such indications would be enough to engage the curiosity of all who encounter them, but perhaps only direct personal experience can accomplish that feat. Dr. Charles Tart has a website called The Archives of Scientists' Transcendent Experiences (T.A.S.T.E.) at which those in the scientific community have been welcome to post their own "paranormal" personal stories. The site is still up (www.issc-taste.org) though unable to be updated at present. It is worth reading the stories recounted in the archives section of the site, not only for the content of the various experiences submitted, but for the attributions given. Note how often submitters remain anonymous when their field of expertise is in the "hard" sciences. This particular branch of the Church of Science allows for no heretics among the faithful Keepers, even while these same believers attempt to cope with experiences which clearly fall outside the proscribed boundries of their religion. Does this seem familiar?

[william]

“The lessons taught by history go unlearned by these Keepers”

Would there be much history if no lessons went unlearned. The drama exists because of our imperfections. What fascinates me is the ultra skeptics make such fun and many are very angry with the religious fundamentalists, but yet they are as rigid in their beliefs as the very people they chastise. It is amazing to watch in action almost eerie.

And neither side has a clue that their beliefs have overwhelmed their rational minds in fact the ultra skeptics self promote their rational minds as superior to all others. I think it brings a certain level of mental comfort to buy into a certain system of beliefs. I suspect if nothing else the ego wants to be right and wants comfort.

I know my own journey this past 16 years when I have started to buy into a set of beliefs (example: life between lives hypnosis) and find out later some new evidence contradicts these beliefs it is mentality painful.

[Pavel Chichikov]

A comforting belief may be belief in something real or something false. Comfort and consolation don't disprove the authenticity of a faith.

As for consigning people to hell: the Catholic Church has never claimed to know if any human being is there or on the way there.

[Bill Ingle]

Kevin: "For Bill I.: note that Wm. James DID himself "jump into the waters", using an anesthetic to induce a psychedelic state, which he considered similar to the mystical experience. Such personal experiences only confirmed in his mind the conviction that "ordinary" consciousness is a reduced or constrained form of a much larger, latent consciousness of which our individual selves are part. This was the basis of the "filter" or "transmission" theory advocated by Myers, Bergson and himself."

Kevin: I'm aware of this, having read _Ghost Hunters_ (a wonderful book), following up with additional reading. (I've also read Jane Roberts' _The Afterdeath Journal of an American Philosopher: The World View of William James_ but not in some time; I intend to read it again, as well as a biography of Alice James -- the whole family was of a high "psychic" -- and "neurasthenic" -- pitch.)

Myers' "subliminal self" concept appeals to me (it turns out that it appealed to Sri Aurobindo, too, while I've used the term in Exercise 7. found here).

My point was that despite a Victorian tendency to use various mind altering substances for pain relief, etc., few in SPR sought to explore trance conditions directly, personally, as they pertain to mediumship and _their own_ subliminal selves; beyond the automatic writing of spouses and friends, the primary investigators don't appear to have attempted mediumship themselves. They had to maintain their "scientific" distance, James' experience of chemically altered states notwithstanding.

(It's true that William James suggested his sister, Alice, enter a self-suggestive state for health reasons -- she was disdainful of this suggestion -- but even so, we have no recorded trance utterances from him.)

We create the same lack of direct experience now, when we argue whether or not some Victorian medium was "genuine," or whether so and so's recorded experience regarding the afterlife or some other such area is legitimate or fraudulent, an instance of telepathy or not, and so on.

Yet each of us has -- is, really -- our own "subliminal self," now, in 2007.

Each of us can learn to allow our own subliminal self to "speak," to an extent varying with each person's abilities.

Here, the knowledge, the experience, of pre-birth, life experience, and death resides in each of us; here, we can investigate the mysteries of our own "souls" or entities at firsthand, here we are directly connected to All, and here, one presumes, the gnosis of ancient Hellenic mystics is accessible.

Back to dead Victorian psychical researchers. By focusing on "survival" issues, opportunities were lost. Note how Edgar Cayce's health readings didn't begin to change into something more interesting until someone thought to ask -- when Cayce was in trance -- some deeper questions.

Note how the Seth books (and similar tomes created later, by others following in Jane Robert's footsteps) came about, focused on such questions as the nature of reality.

Were I to be in the same room as Leonora Piper during a session, you can be sure I would ask something of this nature, not whether or not the spirit of some lost relative had words of reassurance for me.

Although Victorian personalities lurk in my own subconscious, my own subliminal self (one reason I feel such a connection to the activities of Myers, James, and company, no matter that Victorian versions of me had no interest at all in such topics), we live now, not then.

I strongly suggest self engagement for those truly interested in these areas; recreating the scientific distance or detachment of the observer has been shown to be less than perfectly effective -- it can only allow you to view, not to participate; discussion is one type of experience but, as is said, comment is free. Another, deeper experience is warranted.

Regards

Bill I.

[Michael H]

“In spite of all debunking efforts, we are left with veridical information obtained through such mediums as Mrs. Piper and others that seems another striking indicator of a much larger reality than the five unaided physical senses can access.”

Excellent post, Kevin. Consider the following, taken from an introduction to a volume about anomalous phenomena published in 1911:

“And if these (anomalies) actually exist as invisible beings or intelligences, and our investigations lead us to the tentative hypothesis that they do, they are natural and not supernatural, for nothing which exists can be supernatural; and, therefore, it is our duty to examine (these anomalies) just as we examine any fact in the visible realm wherein we now live, whether it be a fact of chemistry, of physics, or of biology . . .

“However, as we proceed to make such an examination, we shall have to remember constantly that there is a new set of ideas to work with, entirely different from what we find in natural sciences, and often no adequate vocabulary based on common human experiences . . .

“Consequently, men who deny human immortality, as well as men with religious faith who have not through personal psychical experiences transformed that faith into a fact, nowadays when they happen to read what Plato, Iamblichus, or any of the Neo-Platonists have written, or even what moderns have written in attempting to explain psychic facts, call it all mysticism . . . and mysticism usually means something quite the reverse of scientific simply because we have by usage unwisely limited the meaning of the word science to a knowledge of things material and visible, whereas it really means a knowing or a knowledge of everything which exists.”

Excerpt from the introduction to The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries - W. Y. Evans-Wentz (1911). I’ve substituted “anomalies” for the term “Celtic Fairy Folk” in the above excerpt, so as to not give it away early.

By the way, Evans-Wentz’s work as published was based on his doctoral thesis, and he concluded that there was something more to the Celtic Fairy Faith than simple superstition. Michael Talbot references this book in The Holographic Universe, writing that Wentz took on the project at the urging of W.B. Yeats, who told him that the advent of modern society was causing the ancient Celtic belief of fairies to be lost. It’s a fascinating read, given that it was written before materialism had relegated such things to the realm of ridicule. The entire text is available on-line at sacred-texts here:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/ffcc/index.htm

Another volume that should be revisited by scholars, or anyone interested in these issues, is Cosmic Consciousness, published by Richard Maurice Bucke in 1901. Bucke himself experienced a profound epiphany, which today would be called a mystical or transpersonal unity experience. He spent years researching those who had experienced similar things, and put together a fascinating volume, filled with examples.
He concluded that what he had experienced was a transcendent level of consciousness that would eventually become commonplace among humanity, speculating that it was the next evolutionary step. The 1905 publication is available in PDF format (36MB) here:

http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupid?key=
olbp35841

[ma884zda]

c560t

[william]

if anyone decides to read bucke's book make sure you read c.m.c's mystical experience. it is a delight to read. chapter 29 page 323.

[Michael H]

Hi William - The C.M.C account begins on page 267 of the PDF version. Do you have a hard copy? It is remarkable. What I find amazing is the consistency of the accounts, both from famous, highly regarded spiritual masters, and the anonymous contributers.

I wonder how many people have had similar experiences since this publication, yet have remained silent in consideration of the cultural bias of our current society as well as the teachings of the western faiths?

[william]

"What I find amazing is the consistency of the accounts, both from famous, highly regarded spiritual masters, and the anonymous contributors. "

Yes this very consistency is somewhat similar but even more so than NDE's leads me to believe that they see a different reality than we do but because we do not see or feel what they see and feel we pay little attention to their stories.

They appear to be able to grasp that spirit or essence within us by as CMC put it "I let go of myself". Her writing ability was wonderful to be able to explain her mystical experience. Some of her childhood thoughts were so much like mine I think that is what made her story so interesting and real for me.

What I found interesting was how she was healed from her illness after her mystical experience. How she felt lightness throughout her entire body. This has to be my favorite mystical experience story.

Some of my favorite quotes of hers:

“The great truth of life is a spiritual evolution that this life is but a passing phase in the soul’s progression …..

Welcome centuries even eons of suffering if this is what it brings us……

This shadowy unreality of external things…….

Every longing of the heart was satisfied……..

I loved and was infinitely loved……….

That which we seek with passionate longing, here and there, upward and outward, we find at last within ourselves……….”