Research Proving Connectedness. Many meditation, study and séance groups have come to the conclusion that the cooperation and amiable interaction of the members develop a field of energy with which etheric to physical phenomena is able to occur. In our experience, this energy has been generally referred to as “building the energy,” “Rapport” and “A contact field.” Researchers at the Institute of HeartMath give us an explanation for this based on solid research. “… in a longitudinal study of forty-six social groups, one of us (Bradley) documented how information about the global organization of the group—the group’s collective consciousness—appears to be transmitted to all members by an energetic field of social-emotional connection.” The authors went on to conclude that, “Such correspondence in information between parts and the whole is consistent with the principle of holographic organization.

The authors also said that there was evidence that the formation of a coherent social field by a group may help the members of the group establish psychophysiological coherence. With this view, we can understand how a circle, a church congregation, a social club, even a group of business office workers, might form a mutually beneficial bond in which the group acts as a well organized unit, which in turn, helps the individual maintain a positive and well balanced life. This is something we have witnessed, especially in our Spiritualist churches. Perhaps even more evidential, is that we have witnessed the opposite when groups are in discord.

From: The Resonant Heart by Rollin McCraty, Raymond Trevor Bradley and Dana Tomasino, December 2004 - February 2005 issue of the IONS magazine, Shift.

Can Recorded Medicine Replace Pills? French researcher, Jacques Benveniste, bases DigBio technology on the discovery that, “The specific activity of biologically-active molecules (e.g. histamine, caffeine, nicotine, adrenalin), not to mention the immunological signature of a virus or bacterium, can be recorded and digitized using a computer sound card.” To paraphrase: record the signal coming from molecule A and expose molecule B to that signal. Molecule B will react the same way as it would if it came in direct contact with molecule A.

Benveniste’s lab has developed techniques and conducted extensive experiments to prove this theory, and the experiments have been successful and replicable. This, in itself, is full of important implications, and Benveniste’s company is working hard to develop products using the technology.

From: Evaluating Unusual Claims and Devices using a team Approach, A Case Study, by John Ives Ph.D. www.siib.org/Downloads/Ivesjrnl.pdf and www.digibio.com

Russia May Ban Occult Practices: Lawmakers in Russia have drafted a law that calls for the complete ban on occult activities. A 1993 law allows Russians to practice folk medicine and healing provided they have a certificate issued by a government agency or a professional medical organization, but the law says nothing about “occult services.” Lawmakers believe that this loophole has brought about an increase in the number of people committing fraud who have neither skills nor a professional certificate and who offer medical and psychological help, advertising it as “occult services.” It is felt the market for such services is between 8 and 10 million. The ban would not apply to those practicing folk medicine or healing but violators of the ban would pay a heavy fine.

Experts, who were polled, doubted that the lawmakers could effectively ban services that were in high demand. “Even if such a ban is imposed,” a consultant at the Moscow Clairvoyance Center Anzhella Ten said, “the occult business will not disappear, but will simply move into the shadows. Clairvoyants will shut down their web sites, will stop advertising their services in newspapers, but they will continue working secretly.

From: www.survivalafterdeath.org/news.htm

Test for Precognitive Ability. Here is a great web site which tests your psychic ability based on the Zenner ESP cards. Since the next card is not selected until after you have made your choice, this is a test of your ability to predict future events. The accuracy of the result increases with the number of guesses that you make. The significance level is determined by a formula that was used with the Zenner tests. You can also meet new people from all around the world on the web site and discuss psychic, spiritual and metaphysical topics such as how to develop psychic abilities. If you like, you can share your own spiritual experiences.

See www.psychicguild.com

Severely Brain-Damaged People may be More Aware than we Realize: Doctors classify 100,000 to 300,000 brain-damaged people as “minimally conscious,” they can breathe and blink but can’t eat, communicate, or get out of bed. It was thought that they didn’t know what was going on around them, but brain scans suggest they do; they just can’t tell us.

In February Neurology published a study of two brain-damaged men who were “minimally conscious,” able to breathe on their own but otherwise generally unresponsive. When neuroscientists scanned the patients’ brains as they played audiotapes of loved ones, the activity was strikingly normal. The visual cortex of one of the men even lit up in a way that suggested he was visualizing the stories that his relatives told. One of the researchers told the New York Times that they’ve repeated the experiment on seven more patients and found the same results.

From: Slate, All Too Human and other news from the technological frontier by William Saletan at http://slate.msn.com/id/2113287/#brain

Readers Digest Poll: Just 48 percent of some 1,000 adults questioned for a Reader’s Digest Magazine poll correctly answered the reason for celebrating Easter was the resurrection of Jesus. Yet 64% of those same people said they believed in God and 58% believed in life after death.

Virtual Cemeteries: A growing number of Chinese are using the internet to visit their ancestors’ graves during traditional occasions such as the Tomb Sweeping Festival.

In a startling combination of old and new, China now has 100,000 online cemeteries and memorials, offering a place of worship for people who are too busy to leave their offices, the Xinhua news agency reported. These religious websites allow Internet users to dedicate songs, present virtual wine and flowers, and burn candles and incense to mourn the dead. It was reported that the authorities actively encourage online ceremonies as virtual burning of incense does not pose the same challenge to the environment as in the real world.