Going to Church is Good For You! A study published in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine adds more evidence to the view that older people who regularly attend religious services are healthier than those who do not. Dr. Joanna Maselko studied 1,174 highly functioning men and women in their 70’s. Maselko used peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) to gauge the lung function of participants over a four year period. PEFR declined twice as much during this time for participants who did not attend church services on a regular basis compared to those who did. While the more religious individuals were more active and less likely to smoke these difference did not account for their better lung function.

Maselko cited isolation among the elderly as a major problem causing mental and physical health problem. She feels that religious service protected participants by giving them a supportive community, “Religion can also offer older people a psychological resource for coping with end of life issues, while meditating, praying and singing at religious services may have benefits in and of itself.”

From: “Religious observance may keep older people healthy” by Anne Harding, Annals of Behavioral Medicine, November 2006

Physicist Defends the Paranormal: Nobel Prize-winning physicist, Professor Brian Josephson, presented his views on cold fusions and the paranormal in an interview with Alison George in the December New Scientist, “There are in fact a lot of scientists who believe telepathy exists, but they keep quiet about it.” Josephson was one of six Nobel Prize winners, one from each of the categories, chosen by the Royal Mail to contribute to a booklet marking the 100^th anniversary of the Nobel Prize. The six contributors are regarded as the world’s greatest thinkers and Josephson used the opportunity to talk about the paranormal, “Quantum theory is now being fruitfully combined with theories of information and computation … these developments may lead to an explanation of processes still not understood within conventional science, such as telepathy. In the interview with New Scientist, Prof. Josephson was quoted as saying, “It’s assumed that if a person believes in this kind of thing then his views are not worth considering. It has led to certain people being very prejudiced against me and assuming that there’s something wrong with anything I do. I don’t have the kind of support network that researchers normally have.” See www.newscientist.com

Dr. Schwartz to use Email in Latest Study: Dr. Gary Schwartz latest research at the Human Energy Systems Laboratory at the University of Arizona will have mediums attempting to provide evidence of life after death via e-mail. The mediums will have no information about the deceased other than their name and this information will be given to them by a researcher. Sitters will have been previously interviewed regarding the deceased and will have no contact with the mediums thus ruling out any visual or audible signs that skeptics claim are used as clues for readings. The questions the mediums will be asked will relate to characteristics, appearance, events, and cause of death. Sitters will then be shown lists of answers and asked to select the one closest to what they would expect if the medium was in contact with their deceased loved one. Results will then be analyzed to ascertain the accuracy or inaccuracy of the mediums.

From: Roy Stemman’s Paranormal Review, www.paranormalreview.co.uk

Psychiatrist’s Talks to the Dead: In Your Immortal Body of Light, forensic psychiatrist, Mitchell Earl Gibson M.D. addresses spiritual causes of mental health. He writes that he can see auras, leave his physical body and talk to the dead. Through mediation, Gibson encounters his spirit guide who he often quotes in the book. He writes that in his out-of-body states he was able to observe the spirit leaving the body of a deceased patient and communicate with deceased souls. In the final chapter, he writes that he has attempted to apply his spiritual understanding to his growing psychiatric practice but about ninety percent of his patients have no desire to learn about the spiritual causes of their problems. However, for the other ten percent Gibson has seen miraculous and sometimes spontaneous healings take place.

Thanks to a book review by Michael E. Tymn, http://metgat.zaadz.com/blog

Uri Geller has a Reality TV Show: The premise of Geller’s new show, The Succesor, is that the psychic who is now approaching his 60th birthday has come home to Israel to choose an heir. Geller, who gained fame bending spoons, performs on every show, with contestants show off their powers over ten episodes. The winner becomes Geller’s anointed successor and gets fame and fortune. The show has received great ratings and has started a paranormal fad in Israel.

Mysterious Phone Calls in the Virginia Governor’s Mansion: Asked during his monthly radio show on the Virginia News Network whether he has had paranormal experience like previous Executive Mansion occupants, Virginia Governor Timothy M. Kaine, flatly answered, “Yes.” Governor Kaine said that, “At the same ‘inconvenient time,’ a little after midnight on the same day of the week, the telephone will ring in the family’s private quarters but when answered, no one is there.” He says that he is researching whether something odd happened on the same day and hour sometime in the mansion’s history. Unlike previous residents, the family, has not seen the friendly ghost of a young woman who is said to haunt the mansion but Governor Kaine said his wife, as the daughter of a previous governor, Linwood Holton in the early 70’s, had witnessed other strange occurrences like a portrait being mysteriously taken from a wall and then deposited in another room.

From: the Washington Time, Dec 11, 2006

Set the Mind on a Goal: In a talk last year at the Arthur Findlay College, Colin Bates stated the importance of starting and structuring mediumistic development by setting the mind on a goal. He suggests development or home circles as great places to practice attunement and says that an effective way to place the mind in a state of ‘non-interference’ is through meditation. Colin says that there is a demand for mediumship to be spontaneous but that it is a slow and gradual process which takes practice and discipline. He finds that it is easy for people to talk themselves out of having mediumship ability simply because they have not practiced for a while. He says that it is vital to bring in the will of the mind so that the analytical mind and doubt are not allowed to take over. He continued that over a period of time you start to build “a foundation of power” and will feel the energy of the spirit world through a natural process of “unfoldment.”

From: Paranormal Review, October 2006 Issue 40, “Mediumship, Spirit Awareness and Developing your

Potential: A Personal View of a Course at the Arthur Findlay College” by Elizabeth C. Roxburgh.