One of the most common objections to the idea of mediumistic communication is that no voice from beyond the grave has succeeded in revealing the contents of a sealed envelope containing a posthumous message. Yet I recently came across a case which contradicts this claim, at least in part.
The first account I read of this case is found in Trevor Hamilton's 2009 biography, Immortal Longings: FWH Myers and the Victorian Search for Life after Death. In a section on the so-called cross-correspondences, Hamilton writes:
For example, in 1904 JG Piddington of the SPR [Society for Psychical Research] sealed an envelope containing the phrase that if he were a spirit he would try to transmit the number seven in some form or another. Over the next few years six mediums received scripts playing with the number seven in various ways and on the 27th of January 1909, Mrs Verrall wrote: 'Has he (Piddington) found the bits of his sentence scattered among you all?' Mrs Verrall did not get to know of Piddington's sealed letter till 30th of March 1909. This, of course, destroyed the purpose of Piddington's original sealed envelope, which was intended to provide some kind of after-death puzzle which the discarnate Piddington could solve, thus 'proving' his survival. However, it did suggest discarnate awareness of the process and some element of co-ordinated design to demonstrate that awareness. [p. 293]
This intrigued me, so I did a little Googling and came across a 1954 book by Alson J. Smith titled Immortality: The Scientific Evidence. On pages 76-77, Smith writes:
A number of years ago Mr. J.G. Piddington of the society for psychical research wrote a letter which was not to be opened until after his death. He then sealed it and put it away in a safe to which only he had access. In the letter he commented on his tendency, both as a child and as an adult, to play constantly with the number seven. He counted railroad cars in groups of seven, counted up to seven before making a decision, walked in a seven-step rhythm, etc. In psychology this is known as they "tic," and Piddington referred to it as a tic in his "posthumous" letter. Piddington said nothing to anyone about the letter.
Three years later, with the letter still reposing unopened in the safe and Piddington still alive, the automatists -- Mrs. Verrall, Mrs. Holland, and Mrs. Piper (who was an automatist as well as a trance medium) began to get a lot of references to "seven" in their scripts. The phrase "we are seven" appeared, and also constant references to the clock with its "tick, tick." So often did the references to "seven" and to "tick" appear that it was obvious that they had some significance. Finally Piddington revealed the contents of his letter.
How account for this? Had the mind of Piddington leaked the information telepathically to the automatists? Or had they exercised clairvoyance to see the contents of the sealed letter in the safe?
Both of these possibilities are intriguing in themselves, but there was still another and even more interesting possible explanation. At the same time that Piddington had been writing his "posthumous" letter in London, the automatic script of Mrs. Verrall in Cambridge had been full of messages that purported to come from Frederic W. H. Myers, who had died sometime before. Even as Piddington wrote his letter, Mrs. Verrall had been writing: "Note the hour -- in London half the message has come ... surely Piddington will see that this is enough and should be acted upon." Later "Myers" wrote again through Mrs. Merrill: "Has Piddington found the bits of his sentence scattered among you all?" Remember, all this time Mrs. Verrall and the other automatists had no conscious knowledge that Piddington had written any letter at all. The third possibility, therefore, was that the appearance of bits of Piddington's letter in the scripts of the automatists was due to deliberate action on the part of a deceased personality (Myers) who had chosen this method of indicating his survival to his friends.
Finally I looked for the source cited by Trevor Hamilton in his biography -- pages 175-181 of a book called Zoar; or, The Evidence of Psychical Research concerning Survival, by W. H. Salter, published in 1961. Happily, this book is available on Google Books, and most of the relevant pages are present, though a couple are omitted. Salter's book provides the fullest account of this episode that I've read, though an article in the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, cited by Salter, evidently goes into even more detail.
Salter writes:
The Sevens case (Proc. XXIV, 222-253) was much more diffuse and complex. In all its stages it was spread over four and half years, from July 1904 to January 1909, but with a stage of marked activity between the 20th of April and 24th of July 1908. Seven persons were involved, three of them being the principal members at that time of the SPR group of automatists (Mrs. Verrall, Mrs. Holland, and my wife, H.V.). The other four were the medium, Mrs. Piper, two minor automatists, Mrs. Frith and Mrs. Home, and Piddington....
On the 13 July 1904, at some time in the middle of the day that cannot be exactly fixed, Piddington wrote a "posthumous letter" at the Society's room in London, sealed it, and gave it to Alice Johnson to keep. The letter began as follows: --
"If ever I am a spirit, and if I can communicate, I shall endeavour to remember to transmit in some form or other the number SEVEN.
"As it seems to me not improbable that it may be difficult to transmit an exact word or idea, it may be that, unable to transmit the simple word seven in writing or as a written number, 7, I should try to communicate such things as: 'The seven lamps of architecture', 'The seven sleepers of Ephesus', 'unto seventy times seven', 'We are seven', and so forth. The reason why I select the word seven is because seven has been a kind of tic with me ever since my early boyhood...."
He continues by referring to his habit of taking it as a good omen for his golf if he saw from the links a railway engine drawing seven carriages, and added that he had purposely cultivated "this tic", as the memory of it might "survive the shock of death".
On the same day at 11.15 a.m. Mrs. Verrall, who was then in Surrey, wrote a script which, after some nonsensical Latin and Greek words, continued: --
"But that is not right -- it is something contemporary that you are to record -- note the hour -- in London half the message has come."
The rest of the script purports to give the contents of Myers's "posthumous" envelope [a different posthumous test, with ambiguous results] ... and ends "Surely Piddington will see that this is enough and should be acted on. F.W.HM." This is, I think, the only instance of any direction in all Mrs. Verrall's scripts to "note the hour" because "something contemporary" was to be recorded. The only "contemporary" event relevant to communications from Myers was Piddington's "posthumous" letter. Although this was probably not written until shortly after Mrs. Verrall's script, and although the phrase "half the message" is not altogether appropriate to this opening move in a cross-correspondence involving six other persons, nevertheless the script may, without too great a strain, be regarded as referring to Piddington's "posthumous" letter, of the existence of which Mrs. Verrall had no normal knowledge.
Salter then gives examples of the number seven appearing in the automatists' scripts and utterances from 1907 onward. These include:
Helen Verrall (Salter's wife "H.V.") wrote, "A rainbow in the sky ... The sevenfold radiance from a single light ..."
Various automatists made allusions to Dante's Divine Comedy, involving the Seventh Circle of Purgatory and seven candlesticks whose flames painted colors of the rainbow in the sky.
Mrs. Piper said in semi-trance, "We are Seven. I said Clock! Tick, tick, tick." (Note that "we are seven" is the exact phrase found in Piddington's letter.)
Through her Myers persona, Helen Verrall wrote of a seven-branched candlestick and the seven colors of the rainbow, and also wrote "we are seven."
In trance, Mrs. Piper said, "Seven of us, 7, seven."
Mrs. Frith wrote, "... till the mystic seven lights up the golden candlestick of dawn."
Mrs. Holland wrote, "There should be at least three in accord and if possible seven." She specified the six automatists involved in this cross-correspondence as six of the "seven," though Piddington himself was not mentioned.
Through her Myers persona, Mrs. Home wrote, "Seven times seven and seventy-seven send that burden of my words to others."
Salter continues:
On the 19th November 1908 Alice Johnson told Piddington of a sevens cross-correspondence with Dante allusions to be found in the scripts.... On the 27th November 1908, after he and she had examined the case more thoroughly, he told her that the subject of his "posthumous" letter was variations on the theme of Seven. She then got out his sealed envelope from the locked drawer where she had kept it. They examined it, found to the seals intact and opened it. Until that day she had had no inkling what the contents might be.
On the 27th January 1909 Mrs. Verrall, who did not even know that such an envelope existed, wrote a script ending with the following passage: --
"And ask what has been the success of Piddington's last experiment? Has he found the bits of his famous sentence scattered among you all? And does he think that is accident, or started by one of you? But even if the source is human, who carries the thoughts to the receivers? Ask him that. F.W.H.M."
Nothing is airtight, but this strikes me as an exceptionally strong case, and one that deserves to be better known.
Agreed that this is a very interesting case and, as always, thanks for bringing it to our attention.
However, given that Piddington was still alive, doesn't it sort of lend itself to the super-psi explanation of mediumistic activity as opposed to the survival explanation (not that I agree with the super-psi view point, just that in this case.....)?
Posted by: no one | December 09, 2010 at 07:24 PM
Many thanks for this fascinating post. But there's an obvious inconsistency at the heart of the story that gives me pause for thought. In July 1904 the spirit purporting to be Myers was apparently able to identify the contents of Piddington's letter even before it was written, yet in January 1909 he had to inquire as to whether Piddington had recognised the frequent allusions to the number seven in the scripts. At the very least this suggests that the capacity of discarnate spirits to acquire information about the material world is extremely sporadic.
Posted by: Peter | December 10, 2010 at 03:02 AM
"doesn't it sort of lend itself to the super-psi explanation of mediumistic activity...?"
It could. The trouble with super-psi is that it can be used to "explain" just about anything.
"yet in January 1909 he had to inquire as to whether Piddington had recognised the frequent allusions"
I interpreted the January 1909 questions as rhetorical. But I admit they don't have to be read that way.
Posted by: Michael Prescott | December 10, 2010 at 09:41 AM
I'm not sure if even Piddington had gone through the whole envelope thing and the mediums had revealed the contents after he was gone prior to it being opened would it be a big deal. It could be said that Piddington had planned out with the mediums in secret prior to his passing the contents of the envelope as a form of fraud and there would be no real way of disapproving that. I guess it could be argued if there would be anything for Piddington to gain from this since such a revelation would only be made after he was dead, aside from recognition after his passing.
I think this will also be a potential problem with Ian Stevenson's safe, (For those of you that don't know the story, Stevenson has a safe which he only knows how to open that he hopes to some how open even after his death which was about three years ago). One thing I could see happening is considering Stevenson's interest in reincarnation, some time in the future a child may randomly show up and open the safe, but like with Piddington one could say Stevenson had arranged for this to happen prior to his death, again in a form of fraud. I think the only real leak-proof way for Stevenson to open the safe is if he were to show up in public wide ADC appearance demonstrating the opening of it.
Posted by: Aftrbrnr | December 11, 2010 at 05:08 AM
I'm not sure if even Piddington had gone through the whole envelope thing and the mediums had revealed the contents after he was gone prior to it being opened would it be a big deal. It could be said that Piddington had planned out with the mediums in secret prior to his passing the contents of the envelope as a form of fraud and there would be no real way of disapproving that.
Isn't it the same old argument "we can't trust the researchers" that in Skeptics' agenda goes back to the William Crookes/Florence Cook case? And is not proven that is completely unfair and unscientific to doubt of the integrity of a researcher if we have no hint at all about it?
Posted by: Coffones | December 11, 2010 at 02:41 PM
I'm reminded of Henry Sidgwick's address to the SPR in 1882:
"We have done all that we can do when the critic has nothing left to allege except that the investigator is in the trick. But when he has nothing else left he will allege that... We must drive the objector into the position of being forced either to admit the phenomena as inexplicable, at least by him, or to accuse the investigators either of lying or cheating, or of a blindness or forgetfulness incompatible with any intellectual condition except absolute idiocy."
Posted by: Michael Prescott | December 11, 2010 at 05:42 PM
Slightly off topic :)
for those of you interested, ANU is hiring..(David Chalmers) I think that would be a cool job, researching consciousness and getting paid to do it! unfortunately I am about 50 years worth of schooling, doctorates and degrees short.... however I could see some of you there maybe? Michael?
That would be really neat.
http://tinyurl.com/2embyg9
-Marty
Posted by: -Gilgamesh | December 11, 2010 at 08:22 PM
Thanks for the tip, Marty. I'm afraid I fall equally short of the requirements!
Posted by: Michael Prescott | December 11, 2010 at 11:28 PM
No problem! I thought it was interesting.
Say, what do you think of the "Plasma Cosmos" theory?
I have been watching "Thunderbolts of the Gods" and "SYMBOLS OF AN ALIEN SKY" very thought provoking stuff... However I am not a fan of Velikovsky... an electrical universe makes sense with regards to the Holographic theory...(shout out for Art!)
Anyhow as I can barely tie my own shoes
I let the smarter people decide whats what with these things
Has a recovering Skeptic, who now believes... I just want to be sure which rabbit hole to check out and which one not to waste time in :)
-Marty
Posted by: -Gilgamesh | December 12, 2010 at 12:25 AM
"Hogan realized that in order to have the same number of bits inside the universe as on the boundary, the world inside must be made up of grains bigger than the Planck length. ‘Or, to put it another way, a holographic universe is blurry,’ says Hogan.
This is good news for anyone trying to probe the smallest unit of space-time. ‘Contrary to all expectations, it brings its microscopic quantum structure within reach of current experiments,’ says Hogan. So while the Planck length is too small for experiments to detect, the holographic ‘projection’ of that graininess could be much, much larger, at around 10-16 meters. ‘If you lived inside a hologram, you could tell by measuring the blurring,’ he says." http://blogs.monografias.com/sistema-limbico-neurociencias/2010/02/19/the-holographic-universe-when-it-pays-to-be-first/
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When I read these comments about blurriness in a hologram that pretty much clinched the deal for me as far as understanding what is going on with "souls" and what "heaven" is. It was like finding the last piece to a puzzle and then being able to stand back and see the entire picture.
For years I had wondered what the heck near death experiencers where talking about when they said the "other side" seemed even more real than this side, and that they had "more consciousness" than normal. The other side is the holographic film and this side is the holographic projection. It's as simple as that. At death the soul simply changes it's focus from the projection where separation exists to the original holographic film where separation does not exist.
This "more real" and "more consciousness" and "More clear" than this side is a constant recurring them in near death expeiences. I think it is related to this blurring thing in a hologram. It has to do with density of information.
Christine E's NDE
"With the second OB experience, everything again was more real than real - super real in fact." http://www.nderf.org/christine_e's_nde.htm
Valerie's NDE
"NO, there was no feeling of this being anything, other than; more real than real is here...in fact it is much more real than here."
http://www.nderf.org/Valerie's%20NDE.htm
Leonard NDE
"On the other side, reality is even more real than in our body!" http://www.nderf.org/leonard_nde.htm
Like pieces to a puzzle. A puzzle framed by quantum physics and the holographic universe theory and then inside are pieces made up of near death experiences, death bed visions, mystical and transcendental experiences, some mediums, EVP, etc. And when you get enough pieces you can stand back and look at it and the see what the puzzle says. It becomes like a mandala or picture with the answer to who we are and why we are here.
Posted by: Art | December 12, 2010 at 03:21 AM
Art, what do you think of this regarding the "Blurry":
It is also a very common occurrence for gravitational wave detectors to find excess noise that is subsequently eliminated. According to Karsten Danzmann, the GEO 600 principal investigator, "The daily business of improving the sensitivity of these experiments always throws up some excess noise (...). We work to identify its cause, get rid of it and tackle the next source of excess noise."[3] Additionally, some new estimates of the level of holographic noise in interferometry show that it must be much smaller in magnitude than was claimed by Hogan
http://prd.aps.org/abstract/PRD/v79/i8/e087503
(BTW I support the Holographic theory, so I find this irritating to say the least))
Posted by: -Gilgamesh | December 12, 2010 at 11:22 AM
Here is the scale from Fermi-lab's new HOLOMETER under construction
http://tinyurl.com/25yg7vt
it is hard to imagine just how small the "pixels" of reality really is.
Posted by: -Gilgamesh | December 12, 2010 at 11:41 AM
It is irrelevant. No matter how much they are able to reduce the noise there is always a certain inherent level of background noise that can NOT be gotten rid of.
I'm searching for a word in my mind that I can't quite put my finger on. It's like the shock absorbers they put under a car engine to help absorb the noise so the passengers in a car won't feel the engine noise - but no matter how much they try and dampen the noise and absorb it with shock absorbers - there is always a little vibration that you can feel when you are in a car, enough so that you know you are riding in a car. The best made cars in the world still have a tiny bit of vibration.
In the experiments they are doing - that "noise" are the pixels in the hologram we are living in. I believe that is what near death experiencers are talking about when they say that the other side seemed "more consciousness than normal" or "clearer than clear" or "more real than this side."
You see the limitations that we experience while we are living in our physical bodies are gone after the soul "exits" (for lack of a better word) the body. That is why they can see more colors than normal, hear more sound than normal, and can think faster and more clearly and calculate better then in a physical body.
One NDE that I read said that while the guy was out of his body in a hospital he saw a woman wearing sequined net stockings. There was like little glittery sequins on the stockings and he said he knew just by looking at the stocking how many of those glittery sequins were on her stockings. Which makes sense if we live in a holographic universe because the "separation" we experience in this life disappears after we die and the soul exits the body because we become connected to the infinite Akashic (holographic) records and our "Mind" or soul expands to encompass everything that ever was, is, or will be. All the stuff that limits us in this life disappears. Whatever we focus our attention on, that is what we will experience.
excerpt from Mark Horton's NDE:
"I was pure intellect, absorbing information and knowledge through "sensors" or means that I have no concept of. From this vantage point, I had to merely think of a place and time and I was there, experiencing everything about the place and time and people present."
http://www.mindspring.com/~scottr/nde/markh.html
Posted by: Art | December 12, 2010 at 11:54 AM
"We work to identify its cause, get rid of it and tackle the next source of excess noise."
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The point of the original journal article that I read said that no matter what they did to dampen or get rid of the noise there was always a certain level of "blurriness" that could not be accounted for.
and that is my point. That blurriness is what near death experiencers are commenting on in their NDE descriptions. I never understood before what they were talking about till I read that article in New Scientist and it was like a light bulb going off in my head.
excerpt from Kelly K's NDE:
"The next thing I recall was being shown the universe. I remember thinking, "So, THAT'S how it is! I was in awe. It was like a huge net, or chain link fence, everything in the universe is connected." http://www.nderf.org/kelly_k's_nde.htm
excerpt from Victor Solow's NDE:
"I was moving at high speed toward a net of great luminosity." http://tatfoundation.org/forum2003-12.htm
Posted by: Art | December 12, 2010 at 12:02 PM
"Say, what do you think of the 'Plasma Cosmos' theory?"
I'm afraid I don't know anything about it. If it's connected to Velikovsky, I would be skeptical ...
Posted by: Michael Prescott | December 12, 2010 at 12:08 PM
Micheal I am sorry for going so far off topic...
mediumistic communication to me anyway just has something off about it...
My wife is a Shaman (Lakota tradition) we have friends who are Mediums.
I have been to lots of readings, soul retrievals, so on and so forth.
I believe and have seen and heard veridical information passed from deceased loved ones to family members from folks who have traveled hundreds of miles just to do a reading with so and so AND they did not know each other from Adam before hand
whats "Off" about it to me is the fact that there really could be a lot more of the "letters" "Hidden moneys" and/or other "secrets" that really could help those left behind then there is, its almost as if they deliberately hold back for some reason...
Maybe once we move on, there is this realization of "Oh that's what I/we were doing"
"I am not going to ruin the game/school/lesson by revealing anything more"
Also I wonder if if since most of the NDE folks say time doesn't exist then perhaps the soul who inhabited the "Nazi Guard" is also the Jewish prisoner he is torturing & abusing
talk about poetic justice
I wonder if the same soul is the "Husband and also the wife"
ha ha talk about intellectual masturbation
sorry... :)
Posted by: -Gilgamesh | December 12, 2010 at 12:33 PM
"Maybe once we move on, there is this realization of 'Oh that's what I/we were doing' ... 'I am not going to ruin the game/school/lesson by revealing anything more'"
I sometimes wonder about that myself! There is a certain elusiveness to these phenomena, as if we can peek behind the scenes but can't be permitted to see too much.
George Hansen's book The Trickster and the Paranormal discusses the marginality and elusiveness of psi in great detail.
Posted by: Michael Prescott | December 12, 2010 at 08:23 PM
Sir Oliver Lodge also left several envelopes with some code words. There is some indication that he got one or more of them through, although the SPR concluded that he did not. I can't recall my source on this off hand.
However, in one of his several books, Frederic H. Wood, who received the famous Egyptian material through the medium known as Rosemary, discussed the problem of word tests with his deceased brother, J. Dennis Wood, who said: "Don't make tests of mere words! Nothing passes so quickly from the memory on this side as the form and construction of mere word-phrases! Lodge is very sorry, now, that he chose that particular form of test. It is not easy or natural for us to communicate with your side in this way."
C. Drayton Thomas, who conducted the book and newspapers tests, was told by his deceased father that they remember ideas, not words, or something to that effect.
Posted by: Michael Tymn | December 13, 2010 at 01:10 AM
Thomas's own conclusion was that the book tests were obtained by a spirit who gleaned impressions psychometrically and obtained an exact glimpse now and again by clairvoyance.
By the spirit of his father the following explanation was furnished to Thomas: "These tests have been devised by others in a more advanced sphere than mine, and I have caught their ideas.”
Posted by: Zerdini | December 13, 2010 at 02:15 AM
An added note to my prior post.
I will frequently be reading a book while my wife watches TV. Sometimes I will partly follow the program, other times not. However, several times a week I will be reading when the exact word I am looking at in the book comes out of the TV. Today, it happened twice. The first time was a very unusual word, which made me wonder what the odds were of that exact word being said on the TV at the very time I was seeing it in the book. I pondered on it for a few seconds. Then, an hour later, the same thing happened with the word "train." I wondered if the two words had any kind of connection, but by the time the second "coincidence" happened, I could not remember the first word, even though it was something I dwelled on for a few moments. I still can't remember it. Perhaps, it is just old age, but it makes me appreciate the difficulty of remembering words for these word tests.
Posted by: Michael Tymn | December 13, 2010 at 02:16 AM
I have the same problem,Michael - I'm told it's called Old Timers Disease!
Posted by: Zerdini | December 13, 2010 at 06:55 AM
"J. Dennis Wood, who said: "Don't make tests of mere words! Nothing passes so quickly from the memory on this side as the form and construction of mere word-phrases! Lodge is very sorry, now, that he chose that particular form of test. It is not easy or natural for us to communicate with your side in this way."
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They communicate in "boluses of information". Or as Emmanuel Swedenborg said "ideas so rich in meaning it would take a thousand words to communicate one idea."
And yes, it's a holographic universe thing.
Posted by: Art | December 13, 2010 at 08:56 AM
I recently did some lab tests where I was put in an dark isolation room and exposed to various degrees of EMF. A lot of things happened that I couldn't find words to express, but one part of that experience was easier to find words for than anything else... the colors of the lights I see around things.
I was told that the possible reason for colors being easier to find words for might have to do with the way women process information about colors (which is different than how men typically do it). Colors are something that women relate to with both the right and left portions of the brain, so we remember them both in terms of language and experience.
William Roll has suggested that people who are psychically sensitive may just be more aware of what goes on in their right hemispheres:
"It turns out that we have two minds, one associated with the left brain hemisphere, the other with the right hemisphere. Most of us are unaware that we have two minds, but psychics know, and they know the difference. In their everyday lives, driving their cars, paying bills, and so on, they are governed by their left hemisphere like the rest of us, but when they work as psychics, they seem to shift to the right hemisphere. While the left hemisphere distinguishes sharply between self and others, to the right hemisphere selves may overlap, which could be the source of the psychic sense. Because psychics do not insist on a definite distinction between self and others, they are able to perceive the psychic side of their clients, of which the clients themselves may be ignorant. If our psychic side is in fact more collective and social than our lives as individuals, it seems possible that life after death may also be more collective and social. When the physical brain dissolves at death, the borders created by the brain between self and others may also dissolve."
http://www.psychicalresearchfoundation.com/about.html
Ghosts don't seem to communicate the way we do. They seem to use the very rich and interesting language of feelings, colors and experience that those of us still alive have a strange habit of ignoring.
Posted by: Sandy | December 13, 2010 at 01:59 PM
Michael T the same thing happens to me often as well, not only in words i am reading but thoughts i am thinking. In fact funny you should mention it but it happened only this morning while listening to the radio. My skeptical thought about it is that i do read a lot with the radio on, and there are many many words that don't match up. I remember it happening once with three un-connected words in the space of about ten minutes. Strange but enjoyable moments
Posted by: Andretti | December 13, 2010 at 06:33 PM
"I will be reading when the exact word I am looking at in the book comes out of the TV. "
I usually have a difficult time taking synchronicities such as these seriously. They happen to me often, and I simply don't know what to make them—maybe they're meaningful, maybe not.
But a week ago, something happened that has stayed with me. I'm often pained at how complicated my life seems—I'm always trying to do several things at once. It's not a fulfilling or peaceful way to live.
So my frustration came to a head and I prayed about it in a really heartfelt way: "God, please help me to do one thing at a time. Just one!"
I finished the prayer, got up off my knees, and looked at the digital clock on my iPod to see the time. It read 1:11.
Posted by: Bruce Siegel | December 13, 2010 at 07:01 PM
That's pretty funny, Bruce!
I agree that many of these coincidences are pure chance. And, for me at least, they're quite common. These days it has to be something really unusual to get my attention.
Posted by: Michael Prescott | December 14, 2010 at 01:50 AM
I once had a dream that I was visiting my mother's friends house in the Hamptons (which I had never been to, nor heard any details about.) In my mind, I had always pictured it being surrounded by woods way back off the street, but in my dream, it was on the water, and the waves from the ocean were crashing into the house through open windows. I couldn't get the windows shut and the whole place flooded. The owner returned home and was furious that I didn't close the windows.
The next day I called my mother on Long Island,(I was in college in California at the time), and I told her about the dream. She was dead silent until I asked what was wrong and she said that they had been asked to visit her friends house that weekend, and when they got there, the roof had given in due to a heavy rain and they spent the whole weekend on their hands and knees mopping up water. Turned out the house was on the ocean as well. Freaky, huh?
This happenned to me a few times during college, but not since. I always wondered, since I was studying high level mathematics, whether my mind was working on such a sharp level that I was more open to these types of phenominon, but what do I know? Just know it happenned.
Posted by: j9 | December 14, 2010 at 10:48 AM
"That's pretty funny, Bruce!"
Michael, you did mean funny as in odd, right? Because I was being serious—after praying so fervently about "one thing at a time" and then seeing that row of ones on my clock, I felt, at that moment, as though the universe had heard me and was somehow giving me a sign.
Though I'm open to other explanations too!
"I once had a dream that."
J9, I put experiences like that into a whole different class than synchronicities: precognitive dreams. And unlike synchronicities, I have no trouble at all taking them seriously!
I've had too many freakily evidential pd's of my own—yours is a great one, by the way—and have read too much sterling research into them to doubt that this form of time traveling is a reality. (Although with yours, it's hard to know if you were pre-experiencing the conversation, or having some other form of ESP.)
A great book about pd's, and one of my favorite psi books of all time is called "Dreams that Come True."
http://www.amazon.com/Dreams-That-Come-True-Transforming/dp/0804105618/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1292353102&sr=1-1
Posted by: Bruce Siegel | December 14, 2010 at 02:20 PM
"Michael, you did mean funny as in odd, right? Because I was being serious ..."
Actually I did find it humorous. I'm not discounting your experience. I just find things like this amusing, even when they happen to me.
It's like the universe is giving us a wink and a nudge, and whispering, "Don't take it too seriously; it's all a game."
Posted by: Michael Prescott | December 14, 2010 at 03:16 PM
"Actually I did find it humorous."
Me too, actually! Thanks for clarifying. :o)
Posted by: Bruce Siegel | December 14, 2010 at 08:19 PM
"It's like the universe is giving us a wink and a nudge, and whispering, "Don't take it too seriously; it's all a game.""
For what it's worth - meaning believe it or not - I went on a vision quest, alone, sober, way out in the desert in Arizona and after a few days the "Great Spirit" - or whatever you want to call it - spoke to me. It was actually a clear, concise, absolutely certain voice from outside my own mind and all it had to say, as I enthralled at the beauty of a desert stream, was, "Isn't this marvelous.....I created it so you could enjoy it".
Words of course don't transmit the feeling and emotion. The interpretation was more like, "I created all of this for enjoyment and you to be an enjoyer. To enjoy is to worship and to worship is to enjoy".
I wanted to ask about the pain and suffering that are so apparent in life, but I already held the answer. It was that these things are transient and illusory and a part of the more perfect cycle of the cosmic game. Emphasis on the human condition is a kill joy self importance.
This was 25 years ago and I have never forgotten even though I have long ago departed (mostly) the contemplative path for that of material gain and security.
For me, that is all there is to it. It's all a game; a big party. Getting too serious and/or asigning too much meaning spoils the joy and the connections - those synchronicities - get lost.
There is no other lesson to be learned.
I think, if you will notice, that the happier and freer you feel, the more you experience those synchronicities. When you're all uptight and serious the world just doesn't sing with you.
All of this, "life is about learning this or that blah blah blah" just detracts from from where it's really at. And yes, I've had loved ones die and experienced other pains emotional and physical. Focussing on those things in a negative way is a misunderstanding and a mistake, IMHO.
Sorry for being preachy. Didn't mean to be. Just saw something that resonated and wanted to offer my opinion; and it's only an opinion,
That's my story and I'm sticking to it :-)
Posted by: no one | December 14, 2010 at 10:01 PM
This was 25 years ago and I have never forgotten even though I have long ago departed (mostly) the contemplative path for that of material gain and security.
Does material gain really bring security?
It can all disappear overnight and then what?
Posted by: Zerdini | December 15, 2010 at 12:10 AM
Zerdini,
Material gain? Security? It's just another game; one that I choose to play at this time. But, yes, material gain does bring comfort and opportunity if used correctly. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool who has never gone hungry, or bumbed up against city hall, or needed healthcare, etc.
Ultimately, we are all dead. We pass off this mortal coil and move on to a realm where earthly pretextes won't protect us. Ho hum.
Cows moo, birds chirp, grass grows, hunters hunt, horses run.....what the else can they do?
Should I sit on a mountain and/or start a religion?
I am a man of certain educational and social background. I do what my dharma says I should do.
All in perspective friend, all in perspective.
Posted by: no one | December 15, 2010 at 12:43 AM
No one
I understand what you are saying. I wouldn't dream of offering you advice or suggest you should start a new religion.
All I know from my studies is that actions bring consequences as surely as night follows day and that we are personally responsible for our actions.
Posted by: Zerdini | December 15, 2010 at 08:30 AM
As the old saying goes, "I've been rich and I've been poor. Rich is better."
Posted by: Michael Prescott | December 15, 2010 at 12:06 PM
I was watching Mary Beard at Pompeii last night. They were examining dozens of skeletons and artefacts of people who'd been sheltering in the basement of an agricultural depot when the Volcano erupted. On one side of the room were the rich, with all their jars of gold and jewels. On the other side, the poor with only the clothes they stood up in.
Worth watching if you get a chance.
Posted by: Ben | December 15, 2010 at 02:20 PM
One the rich subject:
I remember once after a bad break up, my mom looked at me and said, "Look, there's is nothing like a new man, but next time, take my adivce, older...money." lol and she's the happiest, most generous person I know.
My best friend from grade school's mother told her "you can fall in love with a rich man just as well as a poor one" BUT my friend married a poor man and she still is the bread winner and very, very happily married after 20 years.
I envy people who see past wealth. I've lived in Ukraine and in Mexico, and in rich countries like Germany and here...rich is better (with poor you take a lot of cold showers in rusty, bacteria laden water or wash in rivers if necessary when there is no water and hope your electric wiring doesn't burn down your 6th story apartment with no fireplace, if you are lucky enough to have an apartment)...
but do you remember when Friday night pizza was the best treat in the world? Now, pizza isn't special. We can afford it any time. My kids will never know that feeling of "yes, it's pizza night". I guess that is my fault.
Posted by: j9 | December 15, 2010 at 03:11 PM
regarding last post, sorry, I meant "no fire escape" not fireplace. fireplace would have been nice though.
Posted by: j9 | December 15, 2010 at 03:13 PM
"All I know from my studies is that actions bring consequences as surely as night follows day and that we are personally responsible for our actions."
Hey, no problems Z.
And yes, I know this too. but if you find a way out of it, please do let me know. Otherwise, I'll go through it in style :-)
Posted by: no one | December 15, 2010 at 05:54 PM
The Universal Laws are immutable so there is no escape clause.
Otherwise, I'll go through it in style :-)
Que Sera Sera!
Posted by: Zerdini | December 15, 2010 at 06:15 PM
I'm sure how seriously you want to be taken, Zerdini. Surely you're not suggesting that people shouldn't try to earn a living and support themselves?
For most people, financial security is a high priority. Yes, they realize that their security could disappear if they lose their job or encounter some other crisis. But what choice do they have?
The lilies of the field may not toil or spin, but the rest of us have to.
Posted by: Michael Prescott | December 16, 2010 at 12:22 AM
Reminds me of that scene from Life of Brian.
"Have the birds got jobs?"
"Have the birds got jobs?!"
"What's his problem?"
"Says the birds are scrounging"
"Consider the lily..."
"Oh, he's having a go at the flowers now."
Posted by: The Major | December 16, 2010 at 05:10 PM
Well I think you always have a choice. I wouldn't become a salesman or a telemarketer or a ticket writing meter clerk no matter how bad things got. I would make a much better wild man hunting and fishing than evicting people from their foreclosed homes hoping that they understand that it's nothing personal and I'm just doing my job. I would know that excuse was BS before it ever got to the speech phase. You are responsible for the things you choose to do, and some things are better for your own soul to do than others I think. If we live then we have to live somehow, but there is some significant latitude in how.
Posted by: dmduncan | December 16, 2010 at 06:14 PM
Hmmmmm......interesting and somewhat amusing discusion on the material gain topic. I never said that I was harvesting internal organs from orphans for sale on the black market :-0 Or shooting to become the CEO of BP or Blackwater.
What's wrong with dedicating time and energy to a profession for financial reward?
There so often this assumption that the poor are somehow more pure and noble. The lower socio-economic areas I lived in have been heavily populated by cheats of all sorts, grifters, wife beaters, felons....you name it. And, on top of it all, they are bitter and cyncical because they don't have the material things that the well off have even though they won't dedicate themselves to playing the game the right way.
In my experience, people are all the same morally regardless of social class. You have the same mix. Good men and women are few regardless.
Posted by: no one | December 17, 2010 at 03:13 AM
Michael wrote:
I'm sure how seriously you want to be taken, Zerdini. Surely you're not suggesting that people shouldn't try to earn a living and support themselves?
Of course not, Michael. I never suggested any such thing. I was responding to the statement regarding material gain and security. If anyone believes that materialism brings security I would suggest they think again. It's like building a house on shifting sand. I would have thought that the banking crisis and the current recession would have taught that. It seems to me that very few people have learnt the lessons from the Great Depression. Surely it's our needs that we strive for not our wants. The basic things required are clothing, a place to live and food to eat.
For most people, financial security is a high priority. Yes, they realize that their security could disappear if they lose their job or encounter some other crisis. But what choice do they have?
Over the years I have spoken to many people who have passed to the next life and, without exception, many regret that they wasted their lives in the pursuit of material gain only to find they are spiritually bankrupt.
Matthew 6.19 and Matthew 6.33 sum it up very well:
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:”
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Spirit communicators seem to agree.
Posted by: Zerdini | December 17, 2010 at 10:16 AM
no one wrote:
What's wrong with dedicating time and energy to a profession for financial reward?
Nothing at all. I was responding to your statement: "This was 25 years ago and I have never forgotten even though I have long ago departed (mostly) the contemplative path for that of material gain and security."
I have also lived in lower socio-economic areas and when the opportunity arose I moved away from it.
In my experience, people are all the same morally regardless of social class. You have the same mix. Good men and women are few regardless.
There I disagree with you. I don't accept that people are all the same morally.... a rather sweeping statement.
Neither do I accept that 'good men and women are few regardless'. During the course of my life I have met lot of good men and women.
Posted by: Zerdini | December 17, 2010 at 10:34 AM
"If anyone believes that materialism brings security I would suggest they think again."
I would say it's a question of degree. No one has absolute security in this world, but rich people do have more security than poor people, for the most part. I don't mean security in some metaphysical sense; I mean security in the sense that they are less likely to be wiped out financially by a sudden shift in their fortunes.
When I was young and just starting out as a writer, I made very little money and had almost nothing in reserve. Any sudden unanticipated expense could have been devastating to me. And yes, I spent a lot of time worrying about it.
Now I'm better off and don't worry nearly as much. This is good for my digestion, my sleep patterns, and (probably) my soul.
In my experience, being poor (or struggling) is not helpful to one's personal or spiritual development. At least in my case, I found that I was frequently angry, frustrated, and depressed. A measure of financial success helped alleviate these feelings and made me a less stressed-out, more sympathetic person.
Posted by: Michael Prescott | December 17, 2010 at 12:42 PM
"There so often this assumption that the poor are somehow more pure and noble."
Well...the poor may or may not be more pure or noble depending on whether or not, in addition to being poor, they are also pure or noble.
For me the question is whether being pure or noble is more likely to make you poor than rich. Or, at least, if being noble may keep you from being very very rich.
It's nice that Warren Buffett and Bill Gates and Ted Turner give away so much of their wealth. But the question becomes, what had to be done to create that kind of individual wealth to start with?
Ted Turner owns the largest Bison herd in the world. He owns enough land, it is said, that one could go from Canada to Mexico all on his own property.
But at one time Bison didn't have to be protected, and barbed wire didn't divide the west between yours and mine.
Bison were systematically killed to destroy the economy of a different way of life that depended on them. Barbed wire represents a jealous way of life that will tolerate no dissenters or competition.
Posted by: dmduncan | December 17, 2010 at 12:52 PM
One of my favorite singers is a guy from Tanzania named Remmy Ongala. Speaking of money and security Remmy Ongala sings a song where the line goes something like "you can't even wash your broken body without it." The song is called "No money, no life."
Remmy Ongala No Money No Life:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGaY5A0E2tE
I just read online that Dr. Remmy Ongala died about a week ago! He was 63 years old. How strange that I thought of him now and he died so recently.
Posted by: Art | December 17, 2010 at 12:53 PM
This is somewhat yes and somewhat no off topic. Michael did a blog recently in the demise of the owner of the Segue, Jimi Heselden, when he fell off a cliff with the Segue standing "ominously" near him unharmed.
I'm in the movie with my kids right now watching Yogi Bear in 3D, and they just showed a Looney Toons Coyote and Roadrunner short where the Coyote chases the Roadrunner on a Segue. It plays out suspiciously like what may have been the last seconds of our Jimi.
Whoever created this short must have gasped when the heard how Jimi died.
Posted by: J9 | December 17, 2010 at 04:03 PM