Angel

Canaries in Coal Mines 


Coal miners used to carry caged canaries in coal mines because if dangerous gases such as carbon monoxide collected in coal mines, the gases would kill the canary before killing the miners. so in this analogy, sensitive and spiritual people and individuals can be even more - Virtual Canaries in coal mines - having a sensitivity to adverse conditions makes it a useful early indicator of such conditions; something which warns of the coming of greater danger or trouble by a deterioration in its health or welfare. 


 One can learn from others, especially if they see things differently - in which case, they cna oftne tell you things otherwise you wouldn't know

I believe I should introduce "Others' Spiritual-Psychic Experiences" - with an "Other's"  Summary of her experiences expressed in verse. She does a really succinct job of expressing an important aspect of the essence of spirituality. 


To Be, or Not To Be? That is the Question! - "fractured by this weighted sight"


Rebecca, who was very private about her experiences, as many are, spoke about the essence of spirituality in a poem about her experiences says pretty much the same thing that I do - except much more creatively and expressively! The following is an excerpt from her poem. The pivotal question is as Rebecca says: "I must believe or not believe"  - To Be or Not To Be , That is The Question! I am a little more pedantic about it but I say the same thing - experiences force the mind to do something with the experiences - one way or another   --- which comes down to "yes or no?" Believe or don't believe? To Be or Not to Be? It is the Ultimate Chaos Question!  


The gift and curse of this sight

Colors my world in shades of blue

I must believe or not believe

Stay blind or walk the path to you

And while I surrender to the mystery

All the feelings come along too

I get fractured by this weighted sight


Flynn, who at age nine, had a dream that his mother would die mirrors what Rebeca Says as well!

many times I have explained to my children that reality is a very important observation and that understanding it, is living in the now the present regardless of the past reality which only exists in your mind .They have started to understand and understanding it does not destroy the world you live in if you have always been kept in the loop as it is called your reality for example if i have seen the future told others of it and it happens what is the meaning of it ,I am not sure, yet It happened several times and it is my reality.


"fractured by this weighted sight"


I feel I should highlight Rebecca's brilliant insight:

I couldn't have said it better - "fractured by this weighted sight" - an absolutely brilliant insight!


Another important aspect is how people really view spirituality versus what you find in textbook abstractions.


What Spiritual People Say about Spirit and Spirituality


Gerlinde

I'm Gerlinde Staffler, a writer from Italy, I started to write in September 2020.

My poems are mostly emotional and strongly philosophic and spiritual! This sides in me are the motor to live the life in fullest way!


Spirituality is a limitless dimension of human experience and has a special approach to life, where research and inner growth counts, extending our life to a deeper level of existence that brings balance to body, mind and soul.


I have written the poem "The path..my path" during a walk in nature...walking is like let flowing my feelings and thoughts about life inside and outside me. The path is a writing about our choices for the future and at the same time life lays many surprises on the way, therefore we never know exactly our destination ... but we should never worry too much and go ahead listening to our inner voice.


Linda

Linda Skarrup observed that "Spirit" covers a wide range of beliefs and experiences that are personal! I don't think it's possible to pin it down to just one 'thing'.....for myself, it was a gradual awakening as to who, I AM. It was always there waiting, my first direct experience was at a meditation retreat in Montana... 30 days, no talking, nothing but meditation, food, sleep. One morning, while watching the snow come down outside through a big picture window, I heard the phrase: "this", is all there is"!

Later Linda added that "My spiritual practices GOT ME TO HERE! There are many paths, many teachings and many teachers.... seek and you will find the right One For You...

Last year when I started my spiritual awakening, coming from a life of agnosticism and eventual atheism, I felt that I was only now beginning to reclaim something that was stolen from me a long time ago.


Angel

In a parallel way of looking at spirituality, Angel, a counselor and companion in my journey, also spoke about spirituality being "everything" - an all inclusive way of looking at the world at coping with the world. She proclaimed: “Spirit, to me, is literally; everything. It is the universe beyond our very small, limited existence as human in a physical world. This encompasses your view too, of Spirit being a creative force. It is THE creative force since it is everything. So, when we as humans, create or connect or dream or heal...we tap into Spirit.”


Annie, a psychology student in a masters program:

I went through a major 'dark night of the soul' for a few years that led me to question and dig deep deeper into my false beliefs and what is really going on in the world. In a separate comment she told me that "Spirit is definitely primordial - existing prior to, within and after material. Everything is energy. Like a fish in water, many are just unaware. It's also largely a highly personal experience so the experience may come sooner for others or not at all if they choose to look at a superficial level.

Almost all of education unfortunately focuses on developing and using the left-brain, logical mind and not the right- brain creative mind. Both must be balanced. When people are stuck in the left-brain, they will never understand your spiritual message. The unconscious speaks in symbols and is the key to spiritual truths but people no longer understand how to use this. I feel it is by design...."

Similar to Linda, and Angle, Annie's concept of spirit in that it is "pervasive in consciousness" (everything) and a way of thinking is "everything" as well. She also talks about energy. A moment's consideration of how science might objectively describe or define life in an abstract way, describing "life" as energy or an energy system would seem likely candidates.



Marwa Gally, a Muslim woman who has had spiritual experiences of her own and has a beautiful poem about the "spirit eye" which many people like when I posted it. which did seem to coincide with some "dark nights of the soul" of her own said spiritual experiences are a "Gift by Allah, giving to those who love believing in him, and give them this spiritual gift" - a "gift and will commit leading to creativity and geniuses." Marwa went on to say that "Loguman is Massinger of Allah, was given spiritual gift called wisdom." Luqman was one of those whom Allah had given immense wisdom. Wisdom is the result of thought, deliberation, and experience. Many people possess this quality and live long enough to learn and inspire generations to come.


There are spiritual gifts like clemency and patience. Prophet Muhammad said to Ashajj ibn Qays: You possess two qualities that Allah loves: gentleness and patience. (Muslim)

Then there is the intense faith of Abu Bakr,`Uthman’s modesty, Ali’s bravery, Abu al-Darda’s wisdom, Amr’s resourcefulness, and Mu`awiyah’s leadership skills.

There are spiritual gifts of an intellectual kind, like keen discernment and inspiration. Memory is one of these gifts, possessed by the great hadith scholars like Al-Bukhari and Ahmad ibn Hanbal.

Then there are intellectual gifts of a scientific bent, like mathematical genius in which many of the great thinkers of the East and West excelled.

There are linguistic gifts, like those possessed by Sibuwayh, al-Khalil, and many great poets.

There are physical gifts like strength, speed, and coordination which are celebrated by the world today through sporting events and which constituted part of the heroism celebrated in the past.


Kathi, and several others I spoke with, describe spirit as "guidance", "discernment", and judgment. In that Kathi is a lifelong Lutheran, it isn't surprising that Kathi's definition of spirit as "guidance" matches what Christ said in Luke that the Holy Spirit gave "Guidance" to Simeon.  Carl Jung couldn't have been clearer or more succinct when he stated "Spirit gives meaning to his [man's] life." (CW8:643) The contemporary psychologist remarked about emotion that a primary purpose of emotions - which all agree are essential to most spiritual processes is to "direct attention" which determines of course the orientation and motivations of people. As one neuroscientist observed "attention, intention, and motivation" are all intimately intertwined and interconnected.     


Shyamala, a hybrid Christian-Hindu parallel - though likely very different - to Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard's similar beliefs, states that "In our Vedas teachings, we each have a Dharma...a sort of duty... There is the Dharma of an educator...there is the Dharma of an intellectual person...who will always be in the pursuit of gaining knowledge...& enlightening others about it... There is also the warrior Dharma...The merchant Dharma... The labourer Dharma... The other is the outsider Dharma... These are the people who change things...

None is superior or inferior. All the above is needed for us to function in this world, relying on each other's Dharma."


This is parallel to the different spiritual gifts that Marwa spoke about and similar also to the list of various "gifts" in Corinthians. 


If I were to explain my understanding of spirit and spirituality in two words, they would be Creativity & Life-Force as Drive & Idealism.  It is likely that due to my personal Dharma - a term referring to a person's cosmic divine destiny - or Spiritual Truth - would seem to be focused on Political Intuition-Precognition and in my view, a pivotal typp of spirituality for humanity would be the spirit of civic activists like Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, and Tolstoy - each who found inspiration and motivation in their spiritual beliefs.   




Some examples


As Flynn, who at age nine had a dream about his mother dying which unfortunately came true - he still questioned 45 years later - said, what disturbs him is that spirituality is about people which many seem to marginalize and sideline. I couldn't agree more. Spirituality first and foremost is not about some outdated theoretical construct of outdated theories of classical physics, it is about people. I would say the same is true spiritually. Spirituality, especially in light of the fact that when it comes to spirituality each person's spirituality is unique - depending to large degree - as J E Kennedy points out - on personality traits, genetic predispositions (for which there is some proof), as well as circumstances such as grieving, depression, recovering addict, and so on - as opposed to a a universal Spirt such as God. In both Luke and John there are several passages that refer to a "spirit within" guidance and truth, as well as in John Christ is quoted as saying "God is spirit!" But it is a fact that spirituality is a "people thing."


Basics & Relevance of Spirituality: Synthesis-Consensus of Frankl, Jung, James, and Durkheim


First, it is readily apparent that when you look to history you can see how the spiritual beliefs in animal spirits obviously played a pivotal role in shaping totemic societies, and it would clearly stand to reason that the spiritual beliefs in animal spirts created meaning and shaped the meaning structure of totemic societies. 


In William James’ classic 1902 work, The Variety of Religious Experience, William James states unequivocally that spiritual and religious experiences create a “sense of reality!” It is a self-evident fact and truth. When you look at the experiences that William James cites, then it is easy to see that spiritual experiences do indeed shape and influence spiritual and religious beliefs – something modern social sciences largely ignore and bypass. 


The Synthesis-Consensus of Viktor Frankl, Carl Jung, William James, and Emile Durkheim is that "Spirit" [spiritual processes] create meaning and a sense of reality (truth). It is probably expressed by Carl Jung when he said "Spirt gives meaning to [his] life!"


Why is this important? J Gillies and R Neimeyer focus on “meaning structures” (p.53), and begin their article with, “Constructivist theories recently have begun to inform understanding of grief, emphasizing the role of meaning making in adaptation to bereavement.” (p.31) Richards (2001) emphasizes that in his study, “68 out of 125 participants spoke of spiritual phenomena in their experiences.” 


"Commonly the bereaved experience missing, longing, and yearning for the deceased; intrusive thoughts, memories, and images of the deceased; intense emotional episodes of sadness, crying, loneliness, and fear; decreased energy and activity; loss of pleasure; social withdrawal and isolation; and feelings of meaninglessness and hopelessness"


In light of the fact that human beings have had spiritual beliefs - and spiritual experiences for tens of thousands of years it would be inevitable that some unconscious symbolism and unconscious processes associated with spirit or spiritual symbolism. Tim Spector, in the article, What Twins Reveal About The Science Of Faith (Popular Science, August 8, 2013) states, “They [the researchers] estimated the heritability of spirituality to be around 40 to 50 percent, which is quite high considering how tricky it is to measure." There are a number of other studies which show that some traits of religiosity - as well as some traits of personality - are inherited! Many have heard of Carl Jung's theory of a Collective Unconscious which could be generally understood as the genetically inherited predispositions through millions of years of evolution. Of course, the human mind turns on symbols, and symbolism which in terms spiritual and mythologies Jung referred to as archetypes. A social psychologist mentioned to me that he believes there is likely some truth to Jung's theory. He highlighted the fact that infants have an innate fear of snakes.   


So, people grieving for loved ones, which involves pain and suffering tap into unconscious spiritual processes to help them cope and to go through the process of meaning reconstruction as Gilles and Neimeyer say. That is, in this sense, spirt and spirituality is more of an unconscious resource that people, depending on their personality and genetic disposition can tap into as resources for creativity, meaning creation, and as Christ says in Luke "guidance" as well! Historically, especially in light of religious mythologies, spirituality is clearly one of the most creative and imaginative processes in human consciousness. Those are precisely the processes one needs in the "meaning reconstruction" processes in grieving - or depression, or recovering addicts, or whatever challenge a person happens to be facing.



Annie


For perspective - Annie: I would like to quote Annie, a student of psychology who is going for her masters. Debbie H. a graduate of neuroscience, who I met some time ago, also got into transcendental spirituality.  Man cannot live on data alone.

 

"I went through a major 'dark night of the soul' for a few years that led me to question and dig deep deeper into my false beliefs and what is really going on in the world. So many great independent scholars enlightened me through the amazing work they share online. Michael Tsarion is one, he has a fantastic website. He used to have a lot of great content on YouTube but removed it due to Truth being censored on that platform. Some is still available though."

 

 "The education system also seems to kill imagination, a necessary ingredient."


The bottom line is that a student of psychology has to go outside of psychology to search for the truth. Also in talking with people, depression appears to be a rather common reason for turning to spirituality. This is just one response. Debbie H. a graduate of neuroscience, who I met has also taken an interest in transcendental spirituality. People need more than data to function effectively. In a separate message Annie observed, "Those in power intentionally want people driven by materialism and blind to their own great power as spiritual beings...."

...and later she goes on to say, "The education system also seems to kill imagination, a necessary ingredient."


Unfortunately, when Annie states that "Those in power intentionally want people driven by materialism..." that is partly true. There is nothing in black and white when it comes to spirituality and opinions vary considerably. However, I have come across a fair amount of people in academics who clearly are intentionally and deliberately sabotaging spirituality at every chance they get.

 


Preface:

When it comes to the potential of the human brain and the Power of Beliefs, it seems that not many people understand the vast potential of the human mind and human consciousness!


 Mr. Wright’s Miracle


The "Placebo" effect is a widely-tested, well-documented and a very convincingly demonstrated effect and phenomenon. You give a person a medication and tell them this will cure them of whatever disease or illness they have - and it works. Beliefs are very very powerful in human consciousness. So, in that context, I would bring to your attention a story documented by modern medicine so you understand that with the human body a lot of things are possible when you ordinarily might not think so. Andrew Newberg, a neuroscientist and author, tells the rather miraculous story of Mr. Wright as recounted by his doctor, Dr. Klopfer.

The story begins with Mr. Wright at death’s door. “His body was riddled with tumors, his liver and spleen were enlarged, his lungs were filled with fluid, and he needed an oxygen mask to breathe.” (p.3) On hearing about the new drug Krebiozen, touted by the media as a miracle cure, Mr. Wright pleaded with Dry Klopfer to be given the drug. Dr. Klopfer gave him an injection on Friday. On returning Monday, Dr. Klopfer discovered, much to his astonishment, that “Mr. Wright’s tumors had shrunk to half their original size, something that even radiation treatments could not have accomplished….and after ten days practically all signs of the disease had disappeared.” But that is not the end of the story.


Mr. Wright was the only patient who showed any improvement. A couple of months later the Food and Drug administration published a very negative report on the drug Mr. Wright had been given. After hearing of the report, Mr. Wright “immediately became ill.” Dr. Klopfer realized that it was Mr. Wright’s belief in the drug that had affected the cure. So, he told Mr. Wright a “new, super-refined, double-strength product” had come out. After injecting him with water, Mr. Wright improved right away and his tumors disappeared again. Then a new report by the American Medical Association calling Krebiozen “worthless” was published in newspapers. Two days after reading the newspaper article trashing Krebiozen, Mr. Wright was dead.

The power of belief, the empowerment of meaning, is an incredibly strong force in human behavior. The human body is quite literally a miracle and it is clear from this story that the human body is incredibly intricate that must be interconnected at the microscopic level. One person I told this story to responded, “Oh, yes, the placebo effect.” Einstein once said anyone who can’t perceive the miracles that happen each and every day in this world is, for all practical purposes, dead to the world. Placebo effects don’t suddenly and completely cure people – just doesn’t happen. Mr. Wright’s story goes way beyond the placebo effect. Personally, I consider Mr. Wright’s story a reflection of human spirit. The human body and spirit are capable of incredible things. The moral of the story is “Never give up!” and as Millie says, “Always stay positive!”



Spirit Within


A Different Perspective:

I have done a substantial amount of research, and in my research I came across Christ's statement to worship in "Spirt and truth!" (John 4:23-24) After turning that over in my mind for some time, I came to the realization that Christ's statement that to worship in "spirt and truth" was an excellent guiding principle for me personally. I look at things differently, and in my view that statement is not just a spiritual truth, but also as a very valid and true scientific statement.


I reasoned it this way: If you look at Geertz's five part definition of religion, four parts, in a round-about way, essentially described and defined "Truth." In fact compared to Geertz's universally accepted definition of religion, the only thing Christ left out was the part of Geertz's definition which stated that one characteristic of religion are "long lasting moods and motivations" were an important characteristics. In fact, Christ had "spirit" which Geertz left out.


I happened to be reading Brian Hayden's book, "Shamans, Sorcerers, and Saints" when I realized that Geertz had left spirit out of his definition, so I emailed and asked Hayden if leaving out "spirit" didn't invalidate Geertz's definition which as Ira Chernus pointed out had been universally accepted throughout all of the social sciences since 1965. To my surprise he agreed with me. So, in my mind Christ's statement about "Spirit and Truth" had to be one of the most brilliant spiritual and scientific insights into the nature of humanity.  among all the world's spiritual and religious literature! What struck me is that Jesus Christ's simple statement and observation about religion which could be grasped as "spirit and truth" was an insight which beat out all the social scientists two thousand years before - and "we" have all this amazing technology and unbelievable scientific knowledge. From my view my experiences are real - and a physical reality. So I view spirit and spirituality as being real and true with a fundamental scientific reality as well. 


 That separates me from a large portion of religious people, mystics and even Jungians (Jung once said that "Spirit is myth") who view spirit and spirituality as being in a separate "spiritual realm." I believe that is psychologically and spiritually unsound, being both untrue and unscientific. I frequently point out there are a large number of very real and very worldly - and beneficial - types of spirituality such as the spirituality of compassion and the spirituality of civic activists like Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, and Tolstoy who found inspiration and raw drive to endure beatings and imprisonment.



The spirituality of Autistics is so Peculiar, it should be overviewed - again - for perspective


Dr. Koenig "Fascinating" Ingela Visuri: Spirituality and "The case of High functioning Autism"


Ingela Visuri, a PhD, in her well researched dissertation paper focused on the spiritual experiences of high functioning autistics stated that Autistics demonstrate a tendency  to have "unusual, sensory experiences [and] are prevalent among autistic individuals" She goes on to say that "A majority of the participants report unexplainable, sensory experiences that seem to occur without any input of stimuli: touch by invisible hands, visions of things that other cannot see, whispers when no one else is to at home, and sensations of invisible bodies being present. "Several participants describe times of grief when they have felt that a significant, invisible other has been present to comfort them."  (Varieties of Supernatural Experience: The case of High functioning Autism)


 What struck me is the distinct character of the experiences - "unexplainable sensory experiences" - invisible touch, invisible presence (i.e. bodies), and even imaginary friends. My reasoning would be that since this peculiar type of spirituality appears peculiar to autistics it would seem to follow that the peculiar way their brain process information and their deficit in Theory of Mind processing {ability to make inferences and judge others' intentions) would be a an influence or cause of this peculiar type of spiritual experiences [I should note that Dr. Persinger showed that a sense of "presence" of other beings by people seems to be generated to an extent by the temporal lobe, as i recall]. I have done some research into neuroscience and it is complex. But I believe the argument presented below is a reasonable proposition.


What makes autistic experiences set apart from others is that the experiences represent a distinct category - perhaps best illustrated by invisible touch or presence. What makes that exceptional is that it would seem an inescapable conclusion that, in light of the well-known plasticity of the human brain, it would seem an inescapable conclusion that the mine is somehow trying to compensate for the deficit in ToM which produces the well known autistic tendency not to be able to connect. Since the Need to belong is a very powerful drive which "drives" the need to connect, it would stand to reason that physiological reward of some sort accompanies the act of "connecting" - and the brain is tying to compensate for the absence or loss of physiological reward stimulus. 


I had connected with Dr. Koenig, after Dr. Wong said I should get my "Letter to a Congressman" (MD Congressman Ruppersberger) which is critique of materialism in Maryland Universities published because it is an accurate assessment. Dr. Koenig agreed with Dr. Wong's assessment. So I sent Dr. Koenig, a well known and reputable medical doctor and researcher at the Duke of University, this brief mini-essay about the spirituality of autistics. He did reply "Fascinating" - though I am not quite sure if he said that because the studies and idea are "fascinating" or because anyone coming up with such a bizarre idea is "fascinating"?     






             Autistics and Spirituality


High Functioning Autistics


Brief Highlights of High-Functioning Autistics by B.G.


My kids don’t stop creating things, you wouldn’t know they are autistic, they are just very focused into what they are doing but they need to be creating and doing something all day long, they are homeschooled, always, since before covid.


We are considered high functioning, people think we can out-grow being autistic or have a break through, I think it may be true for some, but for most of us, we find ways to cope, learn behaviors and stay away from stressful situations so it appears like it just goes away (like when being creative) but its really a different way of thinking, this is why I believe that the growth in the autistic population as of lately may have something to do with Edgar Cayce's new 5th root race being born.


Most of us have special hobbies that we obsess about, can you guess what mine is ?? 🙂 Its the Edgar Cayce Readings. 

 

Through the Eyes of an Autistic Child


My son has always been close to the spiritual domain. He was supposed to be a twin but the twin died early on while still in the womb. When he was born, he didn't come crying - as is normal with some babies - he came out cooing. By the time he was two he was just barely starting to talk. The doctors told he may never develop normally. From the time he was two to about the age of six, he communicated with someone named Joseph. They would play together, sometimes quarrel; my wife asked him one day who Joseph was and he said that Joseph was his brother, One night he was up sitting in the living room and my wife heard a scream. She went in there was my son just shaking. She asked what was wrong and he said he saw a ghost. She asked him what did he look like? He pointed to the picture of my wife's dad who was killed in a truck accident when she was 5. He said it looked like him. By the time he was about 12 my wife asked him if he ever saw Joseph anymore, and he said that Joseph went away. As he got older and he learned how to pray and the meaning of prayer, he would pray for hours a night. One night I stayed up to listen and it sounded like he was talking to his best friend. To him God was his best friend. As I've aged and put aside my foibles of youth and I have learned a lot from my son. I now have relationship with God. I don't have long conversations with him like my son but feel a presence in my life I hadn't felt for a long time. Yes, you have my permission to write your essay. My one question is how do you quantify and qualify those kinds of spiritual experiences?


From the time he was two to about the age of six, he communicated with someone named Joseph.







       
A Transformative Experience! 

my daughter passed away in 2016 of a heroin overdose. I found her and my soul felt like it was ripped out of me. After struggling with despair and depression for 2 years I finally was starting to heal from that when my husband, whom I thought was my soulmate turned into an abusive monster in any which way he could. Again one night he stated that he was leaving and I felt that horrific pain again. I drowned myself in drugs and alcohol for 2 years. I realized that I needed to learn to love myself. In the process of learning to love myself was I able to heal myself. I still have a ways to go, but this past year has been focused on living in the moment. If I attempted to make plans you might as well not count on me to be there. Because the universe had other plans and lessons for me to learn in order to move forward. When life starts to feel stagnant or I start to feel stuck. I ask for guidance and the reason or my next opportunity shows up. 

I have forgiven my ex husband and myself. Hurt people, hurt people. I forgave myself for staying in the relationship longer than I should have. I will always love him unconditionally, but his actions I will not tolerate any longer. 

Her reflections 

Spirituality to me is a feeling of inner peace and love, not only the love of others but most importantly myself. Last year, on 1.1.19 I made the decision to focus on my healing mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Spirituality combines all of these areas. If one is off kilter they all are. I was a complete mess at the beginning of the year, but day after I kept moving forward. I know have an awareness of me and how I allow things to affect me. Though, at times I still do get overwhelmed, but those times pass. 

honestly, I have always had gifts. My dreams , premonitions, started as a child. Throughout my life they subsided some, but got right in my face during/after a nervous breakdown in 2016. Looking back my husband and I were in a true spiritual warfare with each other. Everything that I prayed for I received by the end of 2016. All the way down to the strawberry plants in the yard. Then, one by one things got taken away. I had already started the minimalism process in my mind in 2016 because we just had too many material items. We lost the place we lived in and many personal items due to a mold issue where we lived. We ended up homeless for a short time. Then, found a property that had exactly what I prayed for. 

In 2019, I realized the last thing that I was fighting for was my marriage. I had to let go so I could heal and grow. 

The picture on the left was on December 27, 2018. The Picture on the right was exactly one year later. As Frankl emphasized the "Will to Meaning" is vital to human consciousness and life itself!
One year after her instincts to survive and her spirit kicked in

Other Spiritual Experiences that Brought People out of Depression



A Muslim Woman shared a similar spiritual experience: "I wonder those who have psychological disorder, if the get some seed of the spirituality, and cultivate it in their unheated mind and heart, things will be different to them, I passed by one very tough experience, and I witnessed depression, and when I was about to be on medicine, one of my soul-father asked me to connect my heart with Allah, as I was practicing spirituality that I discovered had been once childhood in my heart, I did it. The spiritual experience of seen vision "dreams sending from God" that my tragedy it is totally solved, I get cured, and depression free. If you want to ask me I'm ready to answer!"


The education system also seems to kill imagination!"

This is the observation of Annie, a student of psychology, who is going for her masters:


"I went through a major 'dark night of the soul' for a few years that led me to question and dig deep deeper into my false beliefs and what is really going on in the world. So many great independent scholars enlightened me through the amazing work they share online. Michael Tsarion is one, he has a fantastic website. He used to have a lot of great content on YouTube but removed it due to Truth being censored on that platform. Some is still available though."


The bottom line is that a student of psychology has to go outside of psychology to search for the truth. Also in talking with people, depression appears to be a rather common reason for turning to spirituality. This is just one response. 


In a separate comment she told me that "Spirit is definitely primordial - existing prior to, within and after material. Everything is energy. Like a fish in water, many are just unaware. It's also largely a highly personal experience so the experience may come sooner for others or not at all if they choose to look at a superficial level. Almost all of education unfortunately focuses on developing and using the left-brain, logical mind and not the right- brain creative mind. Both must be balanced. When people are stuck in the left-brain, they will never understand your spiritual message. The unconscious speaks in symbols and is the key to spiritual truths but people no longer understand how to use this. I feel it is by design....


It is a spiritual war to keep people stuck in materialism. This is actually the symbology of the inverted pentagram - material over spirit and it how people are easily controlled. Those in power intentionally want people driven by materialism and blind to their own great power as spiritual beings. The education system also seems to kill imagination, a necessary ingredient."


Ana

Ana, who doesn't talk a lot about her spirituality also said that her interest in spirituality began while she was going through some rough times.


There are studies which definitely show that some traits of religiosity are genetic, and in light of tens of thousands of years of spiritual beliefs it would stand to reason that in the unconscious there would be numerous symbol-ideas and archetypes of spirt and spirituality - and that in times of stress people would tap into to cope with their situations.  


Thoughts and Comments on FB


Linda

My spiritual practices GOT ME TO HERE! There are many paths, many teachings and many teachers.... seek and you will find the right One For You...


Last year when I started my spiritual awakening, coming from a life of agnosticism and eventual atheism, I felt that I was only now beginning to reclaim something that was stolen from me a long time ago.


I think it's the fact of us becoming more isolated. And it's becoming harder and harder for many people to truly connect with others. And when you have millions of people feeling like they don't truly connect with anybody physically, some of them are probably going to kill themselves.



A Soldier's Story From Vietnam    photo by Eduard Delputte on Unsplash.
A rather unusual  and interesting character who I met, turned out to be a Vietnam Veteran. I was selling HVAC systems at the time, and visited homes to inspect and price HVAC systems. When I first sat down at a large desk beside which the customer, a somewhat short man, sat in a chair. he looked at me while I was setting up my computer and said, "You have one daughter and two sons. I glanced at him, a little surprised. Then he went on to say that he was a Vietnam Veteran and related briefly the story of a battle on a hill ion northern Vietnam with the North Vietnamese. As I recall he said a very bitter battle had been going on for a couple of days. A "buddy" and friend of his woke up in the middle of the next night, after having a nightmare that a mortar round would hit him where he slept. So, his buddy got up and moved. The next morning, when he and his buddy looked, they found that a mortar round had in fact hit precisely where his buddy had been sleeping.

When I ask people who have spiritual-psychic experiences how they would describe "spirit" the mos common theme focused on "guidance." I would say, in this specific situation that particular soldier did indeed have some divine guidance.      
Introduction: 
Grieving is hard - sometimes very hard, and vary painful - so anything to help others is well worth the effort. Below are the results of a very unusual and rather unique Study focused on people - as opposed to an abstraction  - as explained in the Article: "Spiritual Experience, Church Attendance, and Bereavement"

People "cope better if they can "actualize" their spiritual experiences!"  

Excerpt from Conclusion 
Pastoral caregivers have long suspected that those persons who simply perform religious rituals or attend church regularly do not necessarily cope
better with bereavement or other personal crises. This study seems to support these long held clinical observations. Just because a person is a regular church attender does not mean he or she will cope with difficulties in life.

Conversely, experience has shown pastoral caregivers that individuals do seem to cope better if they can "actualize" their spiritual experiences in times of crisis. In instances of loss and bereavement, such spiritual experiences may offer not only comfort but also a contextual framework of meaning for understanding death according to a certain set of theological constructs or beliefs, informed by these core spiritual experiences. Our study confirms the importance of internal measures in assessing religious factors and reveals the importance of spiritual experiences in helping persons cope with grief adjustment. Mourners who evidenced higher levels of spiritual experience showed significantly lower levels of negative grief affect in response to their loss. Religious activity, as measured by regular church attendance, appeared to influence grief adjustment only to the extent that it was positively correlated with spiritual experience. 


Footnote on Article: Spiritual Experience, Church Attendance, and Bereavement, by Larry W. Easterling, Th.D, Louis A. Gamino, Ph.D, Kenneth W. Sewell, Ph.D, Linda S. Stirman, B.S.N
Loyola college of Maryland  Body, Mind, Spirit 


Spiritual Experiences Create A Sense of Reality

William James, the Father of American Psychology, in his classic work, Varieties of Religious Experience (1902) demonstrated convincingly, by using numerous stories of spiritual experiences of spiritual experiences that showed a consistent and very evident pattern, demonstrated convincingly that spiritual and religious experiences produce meaning and a "sense of reality." It is pretty simple. In his classic work, The Varieties of Religious Beliefs (1902), first James would lay out religious or spiritual experiences that people related to him, then he showed the religious beliefs that resulted from the spiritual experiences and it was crystal clear that there was a direct correlation between religious-spiritual experiences that people experienced and the spiritual and religious beliefs that the experiences that they produced. 

Furthermore, in psychology, the well-known and well-proved "categorization" process in the human mind which is a pivotal process (Tajfel, Hogg, Abrams, Baumeister, and almost every other social psychologist) would seem to indicate that a spiritual-psychic experience which on the face of it appears to be outside the standard or orthodox model of the physical reality yet, which still require "processing" in some form or manner by the human mind,  and so would necessarily be "categorized as spiritual-psychic experiences - and that processing and categorization as spiritual-psychic experiences is both natural and healthy - in complete contrast to the mainstream psychology norm that spirituality is either "superstitious nonsense" or worse, "mental illness!" And in the case of spiritual experiences while grieving actually very beneficial and good! In fact, the grieving experiences perform a synthesis function! 

  
Angel's Story
                         Angel, Spirits, and Grieving!

I call her "Angel!" She is very unique. Angel has had her own spiritual-psychic experiences which makes it very easy to talk with her - which has proved to be a Godsend for me. In my experience, what I find unusual is that she actually asks me questions. However, It was several months before she told me about her personal spiritual-psychic experiences. Before beginning her story I should explain Angel's view and understanding of spirit and spirituality, which doesn't even mention the 'supernatural' or aspect of spirituality: “Spirit, to me, is literally; everything. It is the universe beyond our very small, limited existence as human in a physical world. This encompasses the view of Spirit being a creative force. It is THE creative force since it is everything. So when we as humans, create or connect or dream or heal...we tap into Spirit.”

She had been very attached to her partner, Sam, who had suddenly and inexplicably died. She said she was truly devastated by Sam’s death and became barely able to function at all. She went to see Janet Cyford, a Baltimore medium, who connects with spirits. Angel was very surprised when Janet first connected with her grandparents rather than Sam. Her grandparents, through Janet explained that her mother had some kind of illness or problem, which Angel knew absolutely nothing about. Later, after talking with Janet, Angel talked to her mother and discovered that her mother did have a heart problem. Her mother, who normally avoided doctors like the plague had gone to a doctor because she didn’t feel right. It turned out from a stress test that her mother had a blockage frequently referred to as a widow-maker. Her mother had a stent put in and recovered quickly. One thought that crossed my mind about her situation was that, as she had explained, she had totally withdrawn into herself, so bringing her mother up was a wonderful way to get her out of herself in retrospect.

I watch Theresa Caputo, the Long Island Medium. on her TV show fairly often. While she doesn’t usually have anything earth-shaking, she is very consistent – and that’s what science is all about – consistency. On her shows the subjects who lost loved ones who Theresa “contacts” and relates their departed loved ones’ thoughts to her clients, always thank her profusely at the end. Theresa helps the people get closure. In Angel’s case, I would hate to think what might have happened had she not talked with Janet. As an outsider, it appears that Janet helped Angel out of a shell she had retreated into after Sam unexpectedly died.
The other rather remarkable thing that happened was that Janet brought up in some way Sam’s life work. 

Sam was a photographer, who Angel got recognition for when a museum archived Sam’s photographs. Angel commented that Sam’s photographs all carry his unique signature and one can tell Sam’s photographs from other photographers’ pictures just by looking at them. Sam put his personality into his photography. Janet told Angel that she should not “hoard” Sam’s work. She looked at me and said that was actually a very perceptive observation because she really does tend to go her own way and usually works by herself. She surprised me when she told me she is really an introvert. Because of that comment, Angel contacted Charles, who is a friend and director to assist her in making a film about Sam and his work. She plans to show it at a festival.

Angel also related the story of something that happened at Sam’s father’s farm. She and Charles, who is directing the film, went to the farm to do a scene about Sam’s background and upbringing that led to his development as a photographer. There was a tree on the farm which had Sam’s used drum-cymbals from his adolescent drum sets hanging on the tree. She said they acted like wind chimes, but while the wind was blowing at the time they weren’t making any sounds. Charles leaned over to get the camera out of the carrying case, and as soon as he straightened up to film the tree, there was a sudden cacophony of sound. Even though the wind didn’t feel like it was blowing any harder, the cymbals had gone completely wild and the sounds seemed almost deafening. 

Angel, who had a really rough go of it after her partner died, told me that she attended group sessions on how to cope with grief - which is never easy. My mother also had a very difficult time after my father died.  Angel said that in one session, someone said that grieving is like being in a night which is pitch black and completely dark - yet after a while your eyes adjust and you begin to see tiny lights light up in the darkness and it dawns on you  that those lights are other souls like you - and suddenly you realize that you are not alone!   She said that really resonated with her and made quite a difference to her mindset!

Jo's Story of Grieving


Jo,

Who had been through the grieving process after her husband died wrote this out as suggestions for my mother after we lost my father. 


"Let me suggest that she talk to him and even if feelings of anger show up scream and yell out loud. Now is not the time to hold back. Spirit knows and hears our thoughts and feelings. Talking out loud is for our benefit. Deep breathing was very useful for me and of course meditation. She can look for signs that he might send her or you. Immediately after my husband died I began seeing the very small white butterfly. I never saw them until that time. She can ask him to send a sign. It might take a while as I believe spirit needs time to adjust to their new surroundings. (at least 6 to 12 months). I asked my husband to go find my father and get help on understanding how to reconnect with us.


I still have triggers that send me into "flashbacks" caused by the trauma but that has become less and less. Tapping is also in the magic box and there are books and web sites with the details. If you know about Hay House Publishers, they have a tremendous amount of resources to use. Grieving is part of our process as humans and if we didn't Love with our hearts and souls, we would not be grieving with such pain. Time will help ease the pain but it never removes the longing for our loved ones. I hope this helps both of you."




                                                                        Edgar Cayce's Ghost Story

Edgar Cayce, the famous psychic who was active roughly from 1925 through 1945, related the story of the ghost or spirit of a friend who had passed on that appeared to him one evening. Cayce explains that he and this man would often have lively discussions about ‘life after death.’ His friend especially wondered whether one would still feel "emotions" in the afterlife. After his friend had died, one evening noises of people talking came from a room in his house, Edgar Cayce said the radio came on and the room got very cold. He ended up going to bed and he said the sound of voices from that room which were pretty loud continued to be heard for a long time. So, the question occurred to me, ‘What emotions might these apparitions be feeling?  Edgar Cayce is fairly down-to-earth. For example in The Search for God, none of what he says is really wild or far out. So one could take Cayce’s statements about this incident pretty much at face value, and view his story as a fairly realistic assessment of what actually happened.  

Photo by Mads Schmidt Rasmussen on Unsplash
Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash

Rose and Childhood Experiences


I was raised on a farm in Indiana. Even though the house had been remodeled. The structure was over 200 years old. From the time I can remember… And my siblings had heard the same…We could hear chains being drug across the yard outside at night and sometimes came up the stairs Always felt like there was something off about my closet Found out years later There was a door leading from my closet outside to the neighboring field I would assume at some point in time, there were slaves held there… Windows would go up and down by themselves…


Christine Veazey's Story of Transcendence and Survival 
I had a transcendental spiritual-psychic experience that healed me of severe clinical depression in a few minutes. The mind frames our experience in the familiar. In my case, as a child I was deeply religious, devout, heading towards a life of mysticism at an early age. The mystical and religious are, of course, very closely connected. I kind of think Religion has hijacked the spiritual, psychic, mystical mind events. However, people can have these experiences that heal them without being religious. I am not religious now, but as a child I was taught about Jesus, so of course Jesus would be the one who came to my rescue in this following transcendental event. At age 16, I was at a Christian camp with my church high school group and the pastor thought we should appreciate what early Christians went through while being hunted down by Romans 😟 He divided us into two groups. I was a Christian. I was small at under 5 ft., practically everyone was taller. I was getting roughed around in the chase. I was yanked and pulled. My collar got ripped. I went into a severe panic, terror. I ran to hide in the camp bungalow. It was then I had my first out-of-body experience. In my psychism I was on the shore of Galilee and Jesus was in the distance. He was with other men and they were coming out of the Jordan after fishing. A crowd had gathered around. I was in the back, couldn't get a good look at him. But, he was walking in my direction and the crowd parted. He walked right to me. He looked into my eyes and I looked into his. He was mentally communicating to me, no words. I knew his thoughts. I noticed his eyes were turquoise and I didn't know why that color, but I immediately felt an intense acceleration, like going up in an elevator that was taking me away from Earth. I felt the gravity of Earth pulling but I was escaping it. I went through his eyes to a gigantic chamber that was a turquoise crystalline tunnel. I was going through it and out into space. I felt infinite love, it was cosmic consciousness, this love was not emotional love. It was connection, understanding. There are no earth words to describe this. Here was that moment when I was taken up into a consciousness that was not of this world. I immediately saw the microcosm, waveforms of energy, my own thoughts! Not just for me, but for everybody in the world, every negative experience in life had a positive experience attached to it, to learn from, and to grow! I was amazed! I saw that this was the real nature of life! I was given a glimpse of the way he saw life, and there was no punishment from a God. It was only about learning and overcoming a negative experience. In my case, I was being taught how to escape my depression. All I had to do was to see the positive side of the experience as it was attached to the negative. They both came together! Every infinitesimal bit of consciousness had both sides of the waveform, positive and negative. I had been clinically depressed for four years and there was too much negative energy that I had no way of coping with after my father committed suicide and I found him. I slept 18 hours a day and was so exhausted at all times that I mostly dragged myself from one place to the next. Low self esteem. I had also thought that God took my father and I was being punished, because you learn about punishment for sins in church. Yet this experience was showing me that there was an infinite love in the universe that transcends everything, there was not a punishing God. Every negative thought or experience had it's exact perfect positive side! and I saw it! Then what happened was I accelerated even faster. I was streaking across the heavens and the light from the suns and planets were long streaks of light going past me and behind me. This went on for a few seconds, and finally I reached a perceptible edge, and couldn't go any farther. When I thought about my Earth life I was immediately back in my body, minus the depression. No depression! It was just gone! I also had a very big leap in consciousness and I went from being a child to thinking like an adult. When I got home my mom said I was never the same after that. I've told the story to people and sometimes they say things like, "Where you on drugs?" Most people just stare and don't know what to say. I've told it about four times. Not a good reception actually. But I know about transcendental, spiritual, psychic experiences. They can heal in an instant. It is the information that you need to heal yourself and it comes from everywhere.

Diane M.

"I am adopted to a Lakota elder and medicine man who lives on Pine Ridge reservation with extended relatives on Rose Bud and Standing Rock. There is a lot that has been written by non natives that is just flat inaccurate or outright lies."  She contributes regularly to the fB group The Nature of Human Reality: https://www.facebook.com/groups/180311252519414


In reference to this article: Researchers At Large Hadron Collider Are Confident To Make Contact With Parallel Universe In Days: The article says that,  "If successful a very new universe is going to be exposed – modifying completely not only the physics books but the philosophy books too."

 

It is even probable that gravity from our own universe may “transfer” into this parallel universe, researchers at the LHC say. The experiment is assured to accentuate alarmist critics of the LHC, many of whom initially warned the high energy particle collider would start the top of our universe with the making a part of its own. But up to now Geneva stays intact and securely outside the event horizon. Link to article https://www.sciencenatures.com/2020/10/researchers-at-large-hadron-collider.html?fbclid=IwAR0Hc-eBzObPrlRxmhEVCP7glviOLbhrcvkmI9HjjtAVLewqiR-KZIv_0Os



Her sense of it is that gravity fluctuations will severely effect human consciousness, and she may be right. I did run across an article that said that fluctuations in the geo-magnetic field have an effect on spiritual-psychic experiences (which affect peoples' worldviews) - and it is well know that the human brain does, in fact - and reality - at times generate a magnetic field. Furthermore, Persinger has demonstrated putting a magnet in proximity to the temporal lobe can generate a sense of "presence" of others, beings, or even 'God.' To me, it appears readily apparent that all the physical changes in the environment - the introduction of new communication technology with all its electronic 'stuff' in the atmosphere, as well as the new reality of endless streaming information in highly visible format has had (an adverse) effect on the human environment). I never completely discount what anybody says. Diane may well have an excellent point.   



.....and all my loved ones family and friends. What have I been saying for decades and decades is finally going on now. Those who know me the longest know this is true. Scientists are confident they will make this breakthrough within weeks because the truth is they have been bumping one parallel dimension next to ours on and off for for the last 4 to 5 years with some success and more so recently. I know because when they do it, I hear and see it more vividly than ever before, which will sound unbelievable or totally crazy to many people until they see the scientific truth for themselves.. I am speaking truth and it is up to you what you chose to see or ignore.. No judgment at all and I guess by now most would understand I am unafraid of judgments but would rather people have the understanding they need to go forward. I walk in two worlds in spirit and consciousness as do the rest of you but I am aware of it and always have been. Question is are you aware of it? People ask what has happened to our world and reality turning it upside down? Why have things gone off the rails in an insane manner. Why do I feel I am losing it or coming apart? Why are some people seeing reality clearly and others are seeing a different more mean and ugly reality entirely? There is a major piece of the puzzle coming soon via science and now there will be hard proof. For all of those feeling out of balance or at times think they may be going crazy, know you are not. The universe parallel to ours has been bleeding over into ours in irregular waves for some time now. It is not fixed and neither is ours. Not the way we think. Millions across the planet are feeling it, perhaps billions in their own way.. Some are becoming paranoid, others frustrated, others scared, some angry and many just lashing out at the uncertainty while others thinking they are losing their hold on reality entirely. You are not losing it but you must learn to flex as the dynamics of our reality are impacted and they are being impacted in ways beyond imagination.. Be fearless and face the future with strength not fear. Fact is we don't know for sure how it will all settle or if it will settle completely in our lifetimes, but just knowing it is happening will help you greatly. So here is the truth and I am sharing something about myself that most have never heard and many will not understand and frankly am fearless doing so right now because it is time. I am not talking end of the world nonsense but the very real possibility that we will see a blending of two universes in which we all are functioning to some degree, consciously or unconsciously right now. How much will our dimension/reality be be impacted? Enough to feel like the world is going crazy especially in 2020 and into 2021. I have known this my entire existence and so have the aboriginal and native people around the world. To the west it all sounds crazy. To those who have not lost their connection to the truth of reality, they will know exactly what I am talking about. Move with, kindness, love and certainty of a better future. It's all about energy, it has always been so. The truth is that the more positive energy we give to life, all the creatures and aspects of this reality and the people and the planet, the more in balance we can give our existence in this world and beyond. What I am saying here is no challenge to religion or spiritual beliefs nor is it a challenge to agnostics or atheists. The fact is that we are all part of this universe and our origin is from a single point in time long ago and here we stand at another point and time together. The greatest and most challenging time to be a human being of this world and this dimension.

                                                                                               Anjali, Jane, Apparitions and Spirits

Anjali is a woman who originally hailed from India. She is into transcendental spirituality. She related to me the story of an experience from her childhood. When she and her family lived in Kenya, her father woke suddenly out of a dead sleep and was shocked to see a vision of his father's apparition in front of him. His father was in tears he spoke to his son, saying, “I am leaving. I am sorry that I do not have any possessions to leave you as an inheritance. Your brother is getting it all.” 

Now when her father told her mother, her mother and her brother who were for the most part nonbelievers, doubted her father’s story. Now in that day and age communication between India and Kenya was rather slow. Her family did finally learn of her grandfather’s death through a friend of the family. 

When they finally returned to India for a visit they did find out that her grandfather had indeed died on the exact date the apparition had appeared to her father. Her family found out from an eyewitness that her grandfather had indeed been in tears on the evening he had died. And it was true her grandfather left her father nothing in the will. 

Jane also told me a story about her grandfather’s death. As she related the story she saw a vision of her grandfather’s spirit. Her grandfather's apparition suddenly disappeared when her grandmother’s scream was heard on when her grandmother discovered that Jane’s grandfather had died. When Jane heard her grandmother scream, her grandfather’s ghost immediately left through a window.

                                                                                                       Healing Sau

I met an interesting woman named Sau. She told me that some time ago, she had had a biopsy of her thyroid which showed she had nodules on her thyroid. The doctor, who had a very good reputation, recommended immediate surgery, because the doctor believed Sau’s life was in imminent danger. Sau talked to somebody who had their thyroid removed, and the person related how her life had been miserable since the operation. On the basis of that testimony, Sau decided not to have surgery. Later, by chance or fate, Sau underwent a Reiki procedure. She said that during the procedure she had never felt such a powerful emotion of unconditional love. A few months later she had another biopsy of her thyroid and the biopsy revealed her thyroid was now “clean.”

                                         The Spirit of Minya the Cat


Judy said, "Minya was my beloved cat who died a couple years ago. She comes to me sometimes. I named her Minya because she looked and acted like a Russian Blue cat and because I thought the name went well with Matie, our Maine Coon cat at the time. Minya is a Russian name meaning "Who represents God?" It fit her beautifully. Minya was a very clean cat and very nurturing. She also had a funny little quirk she would do. She would get up on the dining room table and pick the toothpicks out of the holder one at a time and drop them on the table.


After Minya died, I got a kitten, Cali. Cali, now 11 months old, is a sweet, long-haired cat, but she was not keeping her tail as clean as she should. I tried everything I could think of to teach her, but to no avail. Remembering how Minya had taught Nia, the kitten we got after Matie died, I decided to call on Minya and ask her to teach Cali to keep her tail clean. Within a couple days, Cali was cleaning under her tail and has kept herself clean ever since. Two days after I had called on Minya to help, when I got up in the morning, there on the dining room table were several toothpicks having been taken out of the toothpick holder. I knew Minya had been here." 

A young child's dream of his mother dying 

Recently, a man related to me a story that as a young boy, he had a "precognitive dream about my mom dying.... then in the morning [it turned out] she did [die]....I think i teleported [out of body experience] or something in my sleep cause i believe her last words were "[you can’t be here.... yet, I said, "I am mom", and her eyes went blank yet when i woke up i was in my bed and crying, I did not find out for three hours later that she had actually died...... some things are very hard to deal with especially for a 9 year old

I know one thing above all other things though and it is there is a god ,creator, yaweh, jehovah what ever handle they want to give it, it is, a very real thing.

same it is hard to comprehend at times why each of us have different paths to our own truths and lives and callings and knowledge that is given


Later, he remarked, "then you fight within your self to understand and i am 55 now and i still do not really know why.........yet clear and concise........she was a wonderful teacher and friend
she also knew her time was coming to an end she made me promise that my dad would get remarried she told me this 3 months before she died.

Commentary

Several people have experiences have related to me that at times experiences can be challenging and many say they ask "Why!" My personal spiritual-psychic experience kicked off an intense twenty year long "Identity-Spiritual Crisis." Once it got so intense, I threw away my notarized, very detailed, and, as it turned out incredibly exceptional illustration. That is why I had to file a FOIPA request. I wasn't until I started reading about psychic that I realized how exceptional it was.  

On a Jungian FB group, a psychiatrist remarked that my essay "Fallacy" which focused on the influence of materialism in mainstream psychology which minimalizes and marginalizes spirituality, was right on target and well done. Furthermore, he stated that in his therapy he dwelt quite a bit on spiritual issues which other psychiatrists had ignored or outright degraded. 

I would characterize my personal therapy as having a broken jaw, and then when I went to the doctor's office, getting slapped in the face. The very dehumanizing and even demonizing "norms" of psychology and psychiatry are [largely unconsciously] grasped by most people which is why most people don't talk about their experiences - especially with psychologists or psychiatrists. That is why this man did not say a word about his experiences for 47 years. For the record, even though I sent the Maryland Department of Health, the Maryland Psychological Association, and Johns Hopkins Psychiatry inquiries regarding the studies of spiritual experiences that I know damn well have been sidelined and marginalized by mainstream psychology, I did not even get a "thank you, but no thank you reply."  Materialists have the most rigid, inflexible, and incredibly narrow worldview that I have ever come across.  

I spoke with one woman who happened to be Catholic who told me about her personal spiritual-psychic experiences which were, quite honestly pretty wild - and on the face of it, far outside the orthodox model of physical reality. She told me her Catholic priest blew her off, saying he had "never heard of experiences like that." And she stopped seeing a psychiatrist because he was an utter asshat (no surprise there). Not long after my exceptionally detailed and remarkably precise 1981 "What a nightmare" warning, I realized I would never ever comprehend the Ultimate physical Reality, so while her experiences raised my eyebrows, I didn't render any judgment, one way or the other. Furthermore, and more importantly, as William James argued,  the sense of reality of spiritual experiences can over-ride the "truth" of the "orthodox physical reality" as most physicists might understand it. 

On top of that even if her personal experience didn't completely match the true physical reality, the way her brain is wired and her way of perceiving the world might just be different from my personal worldview. And, as I have personally learned the hard way, just because a person is crazy, it doesn't necessarily follow that that person is "mentally ill." There are 110 million Americans who have experiences, as "numerous" studies show, and they are - in fact and in truth - real human beings. Need I say more?    

You have to think that after tens of thousands of years, without question there would likely be a fair number of largely unconscious spiritual processes which with the materialist norms that seriously repress those spiritual processes could wreak some serious damage in human consciousness.       
                                                                                                 Near Death Experience

When I worked as a sales clerk at a major retailer, a man recently related an interesting story to me. Just making pleasant conversation since I saw his driver’s license in the course of conducting business and realized he was older than me, I commented that he didn’t really look as old as he really was. He started talking about his health then launched into a near death experience. He said he flat-lined in an operation to remove 5” of his spine because he had arthritis of the spine. He showed me the scar that went all the way around his neck (yeach). He said he heard the doctors yell out “code blue” even though he was clearly unconscious at the time. He said it wasn’t like the movies where there was a light at the end of a tunnel. He said it was a flat horizontal strip or line on the horizon maybe 50 yards away. He said he could clearly see shadows of people highlighted by the line of light as they moved about. He came across his mother who told him, “I’ve been through all this before. We will be fine.” He said it was weird because he was “above” his mother, looking down at her. He said just before he woke he heard the doctors say, “He is coming back; he is coming around.” That he could actually hear what the doctors said even though he had flat-lined is pretty remarkable. I have had a few precognitive experiences my self – one of them notarized and pretty detailed.
                                                                                  Flickering Lights and Spirits
                                                                               Joe's Father's Spirit and Flickering Lights

When I met Joe, he had not too long ago recovered from his wife's passing. He told me that his father, who had been in the Air Force,  seemed, at times, to try communicate with him. He talked to his father, who died when he was three, and his father responded by turning on lights, on occasion, to communicate with him. 

Once when he was taking an exam in college about computer language and programming, his mind went completely blank and remained that way for most of the time period of his test. Joe told me, "during the computerized exam I had mentally talked to my father and asked for help right before my hand started to move the mouse." Then, moving very quickly, in a very short time he finished the test - on time too, in spite of starting very late. To, this day he doesn’t know what he wrote but he stated, he “aced” the exam. He relates this to being in contact with his father's spirit. 

A few years ago, while he was lying in bed with his wife, at two or three in the morning, suddenly the light in the bedroom went on, and the radio came on. His wife, who had some doubts up until then, lost all doubts that Joe's father's spirit was trying to communicate with them. 

I should mention that Jeane Dixon, the famous psychic, tells of experiences with lights dimming ans so forth. Also, one night when my car broke down in New York, a young couple stopped by to help me, and actually stayed up with me all night as I waited for an automobile repair garages to open. The couple told me that in their house the lights often flickered on and off. So, Joe is not alone. 
                                                                                               Dawn and Susanna

During the 2016 election campaign, by good fortune, I happened to get into a rather spiritual discussion on Facebook with a woman named Dawn. We got into a discussion of abortion issues. In a post I asked the question of whether a woman has a religious and spiritual right to choose as well as the legal right due to the passage in Genesis 2:7 which states that ‘God “breathed” life into man.’ It would seem to follow from that passage that the religious definition of life would be “breathing.” While she believed women have the legal right to choose abortion she argued vigorously that life is precious and the question should never be taken lightly. From the emotional content in her arguments I figured she would probably be a “spiritual” person and I had the feeling she may have had experiences of her own so I messaged her and briefly said I had a notarized warning/prediction of a terrorist event, and asked her if she had had any experiences.

It turned out she came from a Christian background. Dawn had been an adopted child but she thought her mother was wonderful and still grieved for her passing. She had a close relation with her aunt. Dawn told me that she had had a rather vivid and frightening dream about a “wall of water” not long before a tsunami occurred in Asia. Like many people, Dawn was a bit reticent to talk about her experiences and beliefs a lot, but from what I gathered the experience had been a very powerful experience and she had spoken about it to several of her friends. She observed that she lost a lot of friends because of that. 

To me, it is rather disconcerting that Dawn’s brain had done exactly what it was supposed to do, yet her friends’ viewed that as ‘psycho’ so to speak. "Categorization" is a well-known and well-established process in the human mind (i.e. the psychologists Tajfel, Turner, Hogg, Abrams, and so on). So, it would stand to reason that, in her case, Dawn would naturally "categorize" her dream as a spiritual-psychic experience. Dawn is not alone. Susanna, an acquaintance-friend of mine, is a dowser. Dowsers are known for  ‘divining’ for water in order to locate places where a well should be dug, as well as seeming to be good at finding things. Dowsers have been around since the middle ages (and before) when miners used dowsers to locate minerals and metals. Susanna is pretty open about her beliefs. Because her industry is somewhat science oriented, she feels sure she was passed over for a promotion because of her beliefs.

Postscript for Dawn:
With the tsunamis that happened at the end of 2018, I asked Dawn if she had any dreams about tsunamis. She said, that, 'No, she hadn't.' She went on to say she didn't know why she had that experience to begin with. What makes me angry is that she lost friends when her brain was doing exactly what it was supposed to be doing. 

Photo by Ryan Plomp on Unsplash

                                                                                       The Spirit of Minya the Cat!
                                                                                                               Judy’s story of Minya

Minya was my beloved cat who died a couple years ago. She comes to me sometimes. I named her Minya because she looked and acted like a Russian Blue cat and because I thought the name went well with Matie, our Maine Coon cat at the time. Minya is a Russian name meaning "Who represents God?" It fit her beautifully. Minya was a very clean cat and very nurturing. She also had a funny little quirk she would do. She would get up on the dining room table and pick the toothpicks out of the holder one at a time and drop them on the table.

After Minya died, I got a kitten, Cali. Cali, now 11 months old, is a sweet, long-haired cat, but she was not keeping her tail as clean as she should. I tried everything I could think of to teach her, but to no avail. Remembering how Minya had taught Nia, the kitten we got after Matie died, I decided to call on Minya and ask her to teach Cali to keep her tail clean. Within a couple days, Cali was cleaning under her tail and has kept herself clean ever since. Two days after I had called on Minya to help, when I got up in the morning, there on the dining room table were several toothpicks having been taken out of the toothpick holder. I knew Minya had been here.   
                                          Empaths!

Jacelyn

I used to have this friend, I could sense her presence without her being in the room. Once I was in a motel room, she was coming over to visit me and I'm like oh she's here. Right after I thought that and started walking towards the door she knocks. Another time she was at work and I was in her apartment across town. I started feeling nausea. When I picked her up she mentioned she had nausea. I asked her what time it started and it was the same time mine started.

Sabrina

She is a college student who told me from time to time she feels what other people feel. She said, "For instance, i talked to an acquaintance, and her acquaintance said she had a back pain." Then she felt herself a sympathetic back pain right where the other person was talking about.  
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