Mediumship
The Scientific Evidence
'I'd like to believe in mediumship and soul survival, but sadly, all the evidence indicates that it isn't true.'
This is the kind of thing that closed-minded skeptics say in public to appear to be open-minded, even seemingly biased in favour of soul survival, while concluding, based on 'all the evidence', that sadly, contrary to their expressed 'desires' soul survival doesn't occur and mediums do not really exist. To the unsuspecting, particularly when the speaker appears to hold an impressive scientific-sounding qualification or title, such comments can undermine a person's curiosity for discovering more about survival, because, well, if 'Dr Brainiac' says it's all a load of tosh, then it must be, mustn't it?
Actually, despite 'Dr Brainiac's' protestations, there is a lot of evidence which supports the existence of mediumship, telepathy, precognition, telekinesis and healing. And many exceptionally bright and highly qualified people are convinced by this evidence. Indeed the evidence is so impressive, that, rather than what 'Dr Brainiac' would have you believe, which is often that 'intelligent people don't believe in mediumship', due to the 'lack of evidence', in actual fact, many intelligent people do believe in mediumship and related psychic phenomena, specifically because of the quality of the evidence demonstrating the replicable existence of these phenomena.
Let's take a brief look at some of this evidence...
Professor Fontana
Professor David Fontana (1934 - 2010) was a brilliant, erudite researcher who spent many years assessing evidence for and against mediumship. He wrote an excellent 496 page book on the subject called Is There An Afterlife? in which he explored the various forms of spirit communication that have been demonstrated to exist as a result of scientific experiments that have taken place over many decades. No stone was left unturned in his quest to arrive at a sensible conclusion. Explanations by open-minded scientists and closed-minded skeptics for and against mediumship were given and then each explanation was examined by Professor Fontana's laser-like mind and the merits and flaws were made plain for experts and lay readers to see. Professor Fontana was a Fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS), Founder Chair of its Transpersonal Psychology Section, Past President of the Society for Psychical Research, Distinguished Visiting Fellow of Cardiff University and Professor of Transpersonal Psychology at Liverpool Moores University. His credentials are, quite frankly, stellar. His scholarship beyond doubt. And his conclusions should be made known to everyone.
Why?
Because he became certain, due to the evidence, that life after 'death' is a reality. The subject of soul survival was not of course just meaningful to Professor Fontana though, it's the most important issue in all our lives too. After all, we're all mortal (meaning that one day we shall all die) and knowing that there is a life beyond this world can help to ease the fear of death and loss that otherwise exists for many.
Results in millions
Next time you hear someone like our semi-fictional 'Dr Brainiac' say authoritatively that 'all the evidence is against mediumship and psychic phenomena', or some other similar inaccurate pronouncement remember that in actual fact 'Dr Brainiac' is either demonstrating his ignorance on the subject, or his wilful duplicity, when he makes statements such as these. Indeed, Professor Fontana publicly wondered in the pages of Is There An Afterlife? whether such individuals have actually truly familiarised themselves with all of the evidence that exists or whether, perhaps, as the evidence of their comments seems to indicate they are really speaking from positions of insufficient awareness (some might call them ignorant).
In contrast to the error of the closed-minded skeptic, Professor Fontana cited the work of many scientists, in detail, and with regard to some of the more recent studies he included a few statistics that I think you'll find quite remarkable.
If you've attended any of my public demonstrations for example you may have heard me refer to the scientific studies conducted at Arizona University by Professor Gary Schwartz and his team, which have demonstrated odds of one hundred trillion to one against chance being responsible for the astounding results that were achieved when testing some of America's top mediums, including John Edward, Allison DuBois and Susy Smith.
As well as referring to the work by Professor Schwartz, Professor Fontana also referred to the research recently conducted by Professor Archie Roy (1924 - 2012), who was Professor Emeritus of Astronomy in the University of Glasgow and Patricia Robertson, in which studies took place with 10 mediums, who provided readings for individuals in person, resulting in odds of a million million to one against chance being responsible for the accurate evidence presented. (A million million!)
Many, many other experiments were cited by Professor Fontana in his excellent book and I suggest all who are seriously interested in knowing the facts about the science that exists on the subject of the study of mediumship should famailiarise themselves with this work.
Don't be fooled by 'Dr Brainiac' - he's not telling you everything
The next time you hear someone like 'Dr Brainiac' seemingly 'regretfully' attempt to discount the existence of mediumship, or worse, scoffing with a superior, arrogant attitude, as so many pseudo-experts seem prone to do, remember they're either displaying their own ignorance, or a duplicitous bias. Their comments are not to be trusted as facts. Recall instead the odds of a million million to one in one set of experiments - and odds of 100 trillion to one in another. These are scientific facts presented by recognised professors of established universities, which are pretty impressive results in favour of soul survival and mediumship, by any form of reckoning.
Recognition of the existence of the spirit realm is not only sensible, based on the evidence, it's a psychologically healthy attitude too.
Let's recall too that renowned psychotherapists such as Dr Carl Jung and Robert Assagioli have underscored the importance of developing a healthy spiritual outlook towards life and Jung in particular was an advocate of belief in the survival of the soul. When coupled with the evidence gathered by Dr Gary Schwartz (University of Arizona - Mediumship),Professor Robert Jahn and Brenda Dunne (Princeton University - Telekinesis), Professor Archie Roy (University of Glasgow - Mediumship), Dr Eban Alexander (Harvard University – Near Death Experience), Dr Bernard Grad (McGill Univerity - Healing) and many others which indicates that the mind exists beyond the body and that it is capable of influencing the physical world in various ways, the evidence indicates then that the wisest approach to life is one that includes a healthy spiritual perspective. Whilst the closed-minded skeptics may not like this fact, due to the psychological effects of confirmation bias upon them, the evidence indicates that there is a spirit realm and psychics do exist, so it remains a fact, neverthless. As Dr Dean Radin recently pointed out on TV, there have been over 1000 solid peer reviewed scientific studies of psychic ability in modern times. This means that the evidence suggests that the avowed skeptics are actually on the wrong side of science. It's important to remember this point because 'Dr Brainiac' probably won't mention it.