Study on Near Death Experiences (NDE): Dr. Jan Holden is involved with a study on NDE at the University of Virginia. Subjects are patients undergoing operations for pacemakers. During the procedure the patients’ heart is stopped to make sure that the pacemaker is working and that is when Holden’s study begins. Holden hopes to provide support for the theory that consciousness is more than a product of brain activity.

She says that NDEs result in changes in values and attitudes by those who experience them and include a complete loss of the fear of death. According to Holden, there are also times when a person experiencing near death relives moments in their lives and often find themselves on the receiving end of their actions. For instance, she reported that a man claiming to work as an assassin for the U.S. in Vietnam, had a near death experience of being on the receiving end of the bullets that he had fired. He also experienced the grief his target’s family members felt. “People who come out of it ... realizing that the separation between people is artificial that, really, we all are connected, that when we do something to another person, we really do it to ourselves…” From: The North Texas Daily, “Questioning Life after Death” www.ntdaily.com

Research on Mirror Gazing: Arthur Hastings from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology used mirror gazing under conditions of sensory deprivation in bereavement research. The research was designed to explore facilitated contact with deceased friends and relatives and to collect data on the phenomena, experiences and effects on bereavement. The pilot study with five participants resulted in strong experiences and four apparent contacts. The main study used twenty-seven participants who went through a three-stage process. First they remembered a decease relative or friend. Next they gazed into a mirror in a darkened room while thinking of that person and finally they simply reflect on and discussed the experience. Thirteen participants reported contact with the person who they had been trying to reach. Participants noted a variety of imagery appearing in the mirror. They also experienced light, sounds, dialogue, body sensations and even smells. Several participants received very specific messages from the sought person.

Statistically significant reductions in bereavement responses were found over the entire group. These included unresolved feelings, guilt, sadness, loss, grief and the need to communicate. Participants reported a significant impact on their lives after the study.

From: IONS Noetic Sciences Review, number 65, “Consciousness Beyond Death”

Self-fulfilling Prophecies: Research has demonstrated the power of our thoughts—if you envision yourself tripping as you cross a stage you will be more likely to do so. Now, new evidence suggests that previous studies may have underestimated the effect of our own negative prophecies and the power of others’ false beliefs in promoting negative outcomes.

Researchers Stephanie Madon, Max Guyll, Richard Spoth, and Jennifer Willard, all at Iowa State University, had 115 parents who had children in the seventh grade fill out questionnaires that measured their beliefs about their children’s alcohol use. The children also filled out a questionnaire at the start of the experiment, including items assessing their past alcohol use. Twelve months later, the children answered another questionnaire that ascertained their recent alcohol use. The results showed that parents’ beliefs predicted their children’s alcohol use beyond the risk factors showing the self-fulfilling prophecy effect. This self-fulfilling effect was strongest when both parents overestimated their child’s alcohol use.

Alternative Science: The Alternative Science website presents an alternate view of scientific discovery. It was created by Richard Milton, the controversial writer, broadcaster and journalist. The site found at www.alternativescience.com is well worth taking a look at. Be warned, though, what was supposed to be a brief look at the site for us turned into an hour. Milton presents an excellent analysis of the debunking organization CSICOP. Some of the page descriptions are: Impossible Discoveries, Forbidden Science, Mysterious Origins of Man, Science and Censorship. In “ESP and the Lottery” a physicist finds that increased sunspots activity correlates with a decrease in the winning numbers being hit. Could the accuracy of our mediums also be affected by increased sunspot activity?

Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) Experiment: The Association TransCommunication (ATransC) has embarked on a new experiment that hopes to bring new proof that we survive death. In the experiment, groups of four AA-EVP members are being formed to function as experiment “cells.” Each week, cell members fill the role of Questioner, Sender, Receiver and Scribe. The Questioner independently decides on a request to be put to the cell’s cooperating, etheric communicators and gives that request to the Sender but not to the other members of the cell. The Senders then communicates the request to their etheric contacts and ask that they send the response to the Receiver. This is done through meditation, prayer, EVP recording session or whatever way the sender normally uses to communicate with the Other Side. The Receiver then conducts one or more EVP sessions asking to receive the correct response to the question. If EVP messages are recorded, the results are given to the Scribe. The Scribe then asks the Questioner for the request and compares the request with the results. If the etheric communicators have complied with the request, then the results are posted in a forum in which other AA-EVP members are able to see if they agree.

In the first week of experiments, both 4Cell 1 Voices and 4Cell 2 Infinity had success. In the experiment, the request was for the communicators to answer the question: “Does it take more of your energy to manifest a Class ‘A’ EVP? If so please indicate your answer as ‘More energy’ or ‘No difference.’” The answer was clearly heard as, “No difference.” (This, by the way, contradicts one of our theories about etheric to physical communication. It is the same as saying that “raising the vibration” during a séance makes no difference. We suspect that some communicating entities may not be any more informed than some people in the physical … or we have to change our thinking. That is what this is all about.)

In the Infinity group, the request was: “Can you tell me the name of Jim Robinson’s make-believe sister?” The expected answer was, “Sissy Sally.” The group recorded several messages but selected “Sallys the name,” as the final result.