I have sometimes met people who embrace the idea of reincarnation with  enthusiasm.  Moreover, it’s fair to note that the research of psychiatrists like Ian Stevenson and Jim Tucker, and others, do make a case for the reality of reincarnation.  It may not be altogether compelling evidence, but, as Stevenson said, it is suggestive, often strongly so.   Equally suggestive, and often strongly so, is the evidence from the near-death experience and deathbed visions; from mediumship, apparitions of the deceased, ghosts and hauntings, and in some types of poltergeist case.&n ..read more

Are you a closet shaman, medium or prophet? History proves that certain people are called to engage with extraordinary powers and beings. These are folks apparently endowed with unusual mental gifts enabling them to serve their community in helpful ways. Shamans, mediums and prophets, however, are figures associated with the pre-scientific era.  In the critical eyes of our mainstream culture, they are primitive, superstitious, and irrational.   We may be living in an age of quantum mechanics, the Webb Telescope, and computer programs that can write essays for high school students; no ..read more

At any given moment, our normal ability to be conscious of events around us is confined to our senses, directly or through microscopes, telescopes, and other sense-amplifying devices.   However, there’s a revolutionary fact to contend with: it’s also possible, under the right conditions, to be conscious of events around us through extrasensory mental functions. Called clairvoyance, or remote or clear viewing, this extension is part of a larger  pattern of extraphysical mental powers.     For reasons we needn’t dwell on, modern science has evolved in such a way that it a pri ..read more

Signs of a growing interest in a post-materialist worldview are on the rise among philosophers.  Alan Lightman, for example, has been on the Internet , expressing two things at odds with each other, the first his commitment to scientific materialism, the second his admission that he can’t quite explain consciousness in terms of materialist assumptions.  He’s not alone with this admission; even the most committed materialists are forced to admit, as the late Jerry Fodor did, that nobody has even a clue to how to reduce consciousness to anything physical.    Lightman seems to ..read more

     The Mystery of Materialization     It’s a philosophical virtue--knowing what you don’t  know.  The opposite vice would be to passionately believe in your own BS.  A perfect example would be the QAnon crowd. Capitalist advertising would be another example, diametrically opposed to philosophical wonder.   Einstein wrote how the mysteries of nature inspired his theoretical imagination. Something that is truly mysterious excites the imagination, but also stimulates the intellect.  I don’t at all mind admitting I don’t know something. There a ..read more

On occasion I slip into bouts of insomnia, and, as a result, have some unusual experiences. The net effect of these episodes suggest to me that we’re immersed in a world busy with invisible mental traffic--spirits, ghosts, memories, phantoms, archetypes, landscapes, cities—an infinite  world of dreams, we could say.  Normal brain function in tune with the demands of normal life is oblivious to all this mental traffic. The insomniac brain, however, hanging out on the edge of sleep, is more likely to “see” or “hear” something of the ambient mental traffic.   The form of my insomni ..read more

In my last post, I said there was clear evidence for a connection between the amazing phenomena at Fatima in 1917, the so-called “miracle of the sun” and UFOs.  It’s a shocking connection to notice.  What are we to make of it?  One possibility is clear enough.  But first, a few facts to keep in mind.  The U.S. Government has finally lifted the veil of deception, and made public evidence of the regular invasion of our air-space by UFO technology that transcends human technology.    We have no idea where these entities come from in the universe or how long they ..read more

What I’m about to relate is for me definitely beyond belief.  I can’t think of a more compelling mystery, but neither can I think of a more powerfully evidenced story. We need to go back to Fatima, Portugal, October 13, 1917.  On that day in a mountain cove, seventy thousand people had gathered together in hopes of witnessing something miraculous, promised by a girl who claimed to communicate with the Virgin Mary.  Two other children saw and communed with the otherwise invisible Mary.  The Lady had promised a miracle months ago and today was the day she said it would happen ..read more

Why do so many scientists and philosophers shy away from the idea of consciousness? The question occurred to me after reading a recent interview of the philosopher David Chalmers by Robert Lawrence Kuhn.  Chalmers, since the nineties, is known for arguing that consciousness is a “hard problem,” and concludes that consciousness, being irreducible  to anything physical, implies dualism, and thereby falsifies materialism.  Chalmers is commendable for his courage in a mainstream culture that swears by scientific materialism.     But why does it require courage to argue for ..read more

It’s Christmas time. so Bill Whitaker of CBS’s 60 Minutes on December 18 did a report on miracles.  According to the Catholic Church, the records show 70 miracles have been documented associated with St. Bernadette’s healing shrine.   Whitaker interviewed the 70thperson officially declared to prove a miracle, Sister Bernadette Muriau. After eight years of grilling research, Muriau’s case was declared unexplained—hence, a miracle. But at least three hundred medical experts had to  examine and ratify the phenomenon before the conclusion was made public.   The 83-year-old’s or ..read more