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On a lighter note a hilarious and short video of sceptical cliches we all have run into in discussions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjyGeDKhEoM

I will certainly pick up this book when it is released.

On a related note, there is one issue raised by skeptics which I would like to explore here.

Materialists will say that consciousness MUST be a product of the brain, since it is clear that consciousness is not there when the brain is 'switched off', i.e. deep sleep, under anesthetic, knocked unconscious and so on.

If the mind existed independently of the brain, why are we not conscious when are brains are 'switched off'? This implies that the mind relies on the brain for awareness.

My own non-material explanation is this:

The current thinking is that the greater part of ourselves exists outside of physical reality, and outside of time itself - as time is a physical property.

At certain points, our awareness is withdrawn from objective physical reality and then reinserted again. This happens on a regular basis, i.e. every time we go to sleep, and under anesthetic etc

This period is described as being 'unconscious' as far as materialist science is concerned. But perhaps what is happening is that our 'higher self', for want of a better term, withdraws from physical reality for what in space-time terms appears to be a duration of time. It is not a duration of time as far as the higher self is concerned, as that exists outside of time - for the higher self it is merely a *blink*.

However in physical reality, 4 or 5 hours may have passed - for the higher self there is no gap, it simply withdrew from the physical time space arrangement and then reinserted itself again, it is only on this side that this manifests as a defined duration of time, be it seconds, minutes or hours.

This may be a common and regular occurance. As to why we need to do this every night is not so clear, perhaps it allows an energy exchange that helps in the recovery period required for the physical body, or perhaps it allows a 'download' of data from that day to the higher self?

"I will certainly pick up this book when it is released."

FYI, it's available now.

"it is clear that consciousness is not there when the brain is 'switched off', i.e. deep sleep, under anesthetic, knocked unconscious and so on."

I'm not so sure. People who have been in comas sometimes report a pretty active mental life. OBEs are not uncommon under anesthesia. NDEs can take place when the brain is registering little or no activity. Sleep, of course, is dreamtime.

It's possible that we are never really unconscious - it only appears that way. Sometimes we don't remember what happened to us when we were "out," but this may have to do with the difficulty of processing transcendent experiences via a physical nervous system.

Douglas, the brain is not switched off during sleep or anesthetics. The neural activity remains - but it changes pattern.

Re: being conscious while in a coma, I came across this recently:

http://spiritualscientific.com/DrMorseBlog/2010/08/16/not-a-vegetable-at-all-but-a-white-crow/

Funny, I pre-ordered Science and Psychic Phenomena: The Fall of the House of Skeptics, and I have been patiently waiting for quite a while now.
After reading this post, I checked my order with Amazon and sure enough, it was shipped today, to be delivered Monday. Too long. I can't wait. I'm gonna download the Kindle edition as well. Chris Carter is the best!

BTW Michael, I know this has been brought up before, but I'm "sweating" you :-) When are you going to write a non-fiction paranormal related book? Your fiction is great, so I can only imagine what you could do with a book, or series of books written in the style of this blog. If nothing else, a select compilation of blog posts and essays with extended commentary in e-book form would be cool. A new book with fresh material would be better.

I second your BTW, RD. A non-fiction on the paranormal by Michael would be outstanding. Maybe even a fiction on the paranormal based on what Michael has learned to date.

Maybe the cure for a period of fiction writer's block - god forbid it happen - would be to take a different course and go non-fiction, just once? I dunno, I'm not a writer, but sounds like it might work. Might be an excuse to give it a try.

Rabbit Dawg and No One, I appreciate your interest, but I doubt I'll ever write a paranormal book. As far as a serious nonfiction book on the subject is concerned, I don't think there'd be much of a market for it, and it would be boring to write, since I'd mostly be regurgitating what I've written here. Also, my views tend to change over time, so I'm not sure I'd want to commit to a definite set of conclusions. (A book feels more permanent than a blog post.)

Regarding a paranormal novel, I tried writing one not long ago, and it turned out that I wasn't very good at it! My comfort zone as a fiction writer is pretty narrow, and when I get outside of it, I flounder.

Anyway, there are plenty of good nonfiction books on the paranormal already. Sometimes I think there are too many, since I don't have time to read them all! I would recommend pretty much anything by Kenneth Ring, Michael Tymn, Chris Carter, Rupert Sheldrake, Scott Rogo, Michael Sabom, or Charles Tart (and since this list is off the top of my head, I'm sure I'm leaving out a lot of names). I also recommend Randi's Prize, by Robert McLuhan, who runs the blog Paranormalia. That was probably the most balanced, judicious book on psi that I've read recently.


Regarding the replies to my post, I realise that the brain is never really 'switched off'. I mean that term only in the skeptic sense, in that the brain is seen to be in a condition where awareness is not possible.

However, I agree with Michael in that it may be the case that we are never really unconscious, it only appears that way.

That was where I was going with my original post. I agree with Michael that we sometimes ARE aware when undergoing an operation and so on, but I also think that the illusion of unconsciousness is also brought about when the greater part of our awareness blinks in and out of physical reality.

No time passes for the greater awareness because that exists outside time, but for observers here, several seconds, minutes or hours may have passed. This may well happen when knocked out, when in non-REM sleep and in other common situations.


I wonder why they re-issued it? I like the original and am looking forward to the book on mediums etc.

They reissued it because the original edition went out of print, and the original publisher went out of business. (Not that their bankruptcy had anything to do with Chris's book.)

ah, I see. Thanks.

Just came in the mail today! Delivery was very quick. I've been wanting to read this for some time now.

by the way, the Felix Circle has some more pictures from their Feb seance in red light. Seems quite impressive.

Just the type of insight we need to fire up the dbetae.

Hi guys,

Please, just read the "review" of Carter's book, by our notorious friend G.M.Woerlee.

http://www.amazon.com/review/RQKGFVK92ZNW5/ref=cm_cd_pg_oldest?ie=UTF8&cdForum=FxNPU9ZANWBS7C&cdPage=1&asin=159477451X&store=books&cdSort=newest&cdThread=Tx322VZ956V6W68#wasThisHelpful

Also the many comments on this "review" are quite interesting.

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