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Media Watch for August 2006 (Issue 57)
The Circle of Elders is a free service providing practical advice and guidance from empathetic volunteer seniors. “Elder Wisdom Circle: advice from those who care” is a Nationwide Network comprised of volunteer seniors aged 60-97 who ask to be thought of as grandparents to the cyber-world. Elders participate individually from their home computers or collectively at senior community centers. There are around 250 “Dear Abby” Elders who respond to more than 2,000 questions a month. Questions range from relationship issues to the meaning of life. Elders must be at least 60, fill out a questionnaire and go through a screening process. The Elder Wisdom Circle website is www.elderwisdomcircle.org and we hope that there are some Spiritualist Elders out there that will join this wonderful nonprofit effort.
1. Is it true? 2. Can you absolutely know that it’s true? 3. How do you react when you think that thought? 4. Who would you be without that thought? Katie’s tough love message that all suffering is optional rubs many mental health professionals the wrong way, but Time voted her one of its Spiritual Innovators for the 21st century. To find out more about The Work, you can read her bestselling book, I Need Your Love—Is That True? How to Stop Seeking Love, Approval and Appreciation and Start Finding Them Instead. From: AARP, “Quit Your Pain,” by Mark Matousek, May/June 2006
Scientists Propose Alternative View of Mind: Reviewing a recent article by J. M. Schwartz et al. in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, John Paynton noted in the Paranormal Review that there have previously been two prevailing views about the nature of mind. In one, mind is a by-product of matter. In the second, mind and matter are the same and mental states are identical with brain states. In both, the mind cannot influence the body. According to Poynton, “Schwartz et al. asserts that in clearly specified circumstances, mind can be shown to have an independent and causally effective existence; terms such as feeling, knowing and effort are intrinsically mentalistic and experiential, and ‘cannot be described exclusively in terms of material structure.’ Consequently their ‘quantum model of the human person’ is ‘essentially dualistic, with one of the two components being described in psychological language and the other being described in physical terms.’”
Poynton noted that this article being written by such highly respected scientists and published in such a highly respected journal may go a long way to change the prevailing view of mainline scientists. From: “President’s Note on Revolutionary Science,” Paranormal Review, Society for Psychical Research, January 2006. Reviewed Article: “Quantum physics in neuroscience and psychology: A neurophysical model of mind-brain interaction,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 2005.
What We should always ask: Apart from a few notable exceptions, C. D. Broad was one of the very few professional philosophers of his day to take a serious and active interest in psychical research. He identified three important questions which need to be asked when investigating any claim of a supernormal event.
From: www.survivalafterdeath.org/news.htm
Face Appears on Woman’s Grave: Howard Taylor first
noticed a face-like image on the marble pattern below his wife, Virginia’s, mausoleum nameplate two months after her death. Perhaps the facial pattern’s most striking feature is its right eye. Virginia Taylor’s right eye drooped and the marble pattern reflects this.
Taylor feels that his wife is looking over him and says that he didn’t want to tell many people at first because he was afraid that they would think he was nuts. Dean Bruce, a counselor at the cemetery said, “It’s not just any face. It looks like his wife … no one can believe it. We’ve never seen anything like it.”
The mouth is just below the horizontal line and the right eye is just above it at the left. The face is seen as she may have looked if you stood beside her while she was lying down. From: Times Dispatch, “On crypt’s marble, husband sees the face of his late wife” by Paige Akin, www.timesdispatch.com
Questions For Skeptics: The problem with James Randi and his foundation on the paranormal, pseudoscientific and supernatural, by Skylaire Alfvegren, Las Vegas Weekly, 1-27-6. In his article published to coincide with a skeptic’s conference in Las Vegas, Alfvegren points out that, “Dogmatists of any stripe are fundamentally wounded, whether they’re Islamic terrorists, Christian abortion-clinic bombers or magicians with an ax to grind.” He compares the negative approach taken by Randi and his followers, as opposed to the Fortean Society who “…are neither gullible nor pompous, neither ‘true believers’ in—nor coldly dismissive of—anything. And they have a sense of humor largely missing from Randi’s crowd.”
Skeptics, of which Rani’s group is but one, have become widely recognized as being religiously against just about any form of non-traditional science or belief. It is as if they seek to maintain the status quo—even to the point of “debunking” hard science that does not conform to mainstream standards.
As Alfvegren wrote, “‘In and of itself,’ says a man once denigrated by the skeptical movement, ‘skepticism has made no actual contribution to science, just as music reviews in the newspaper make no contribution to the art of composition.’”
Most Christians Don’t Believe in the Body’s Resurrection: The findings of a Scripps Howard/Ohio University poll, done in February and March, surprised and dismayed some of the nation’s top theologians since it put American’s beliefs in conflict with both the Nicene Creed and the Apostles’ Creed, ancient statements of Faith meant to unify Christian belief. The Nicene Creed, adopted in 325 concludes with the famous words: “We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.” Similarly, the Apostles’ Creed professes a belief in “the resurrection of the body.” Only 36% of the 1007 adults interviewed answered yes to the question; “Do you believe that, after you die, your physical body will be resurrected someday? 54% did not believe this and 10% were undecided.
Al Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY, is quoted as saying “…Christianity being taught in so many denominations … has produced a people who simply do not know some of the most basic Christian truths.”
The poll found that those surveyed believe in other major elements of Christian teachings. Over 90% said they believed in a God or a Supreme Being and 65% said that they were “absolutely certain” that God existed. Over 70% said they believed in an afterlife in which they would have “some sort of consciousness,” but less than half were “absolutely certain” of this. A Scripps Howard poll in 2003 found that 63% were “absolutely certain” that Jesus died and physically rose from the dead and 60% “absolutely believed” that Jesus was born of a virgin mother.
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A
Cure for the Blues? Self-help guru Byron Katie says, “Don’t believe
bad thoughts about yourself.” For the past 20 years, Katie has been
showing people how to lead stress-free lives using a technique she
calls, “The Work.” The Work involves four questions you ask about a
painful belief:
