The Science of Spirit
Is there a spirit world? Do we go there when we die? Do spirits exist? Can we communicate with them? Are those who believe such things mentally ill, or deluded? Is there any scientific evidence that can answer these questions? The answer to that last question is ‘Yes’ and here is the evidence that says not all those who hear voices are mentally ill.
Neuroimaging during Trance State: A Contribution to the Study of Dissociation
Brought to our attention by Professor Alexander Morera-Almeida of the Research Centre in Spirituality and Health, School of Medicine, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Abstract
Despite increasing interest in pathological and non-pathological dissociation, few researchers have focused on the spiritual experiences involving dissociative states such as mediumship, in which an individual (the medium) claims to be in communication with, or under the control of, the mind of a deceased person. Our preliminary study investigated psychography – in which allegedly “the spirit writes through the medium’s hand” – for potential associations with specific alterations in cerebral activity. We examined ten healthy psychographers – five less expert mediums and five with substantial experience, ranging from 15 to 47 years of automatic writing and 2 to 18 psychographies per month – using single photon emission computed tomography to scan activity as subjects were writing, in both dissociative trance and non-trance states. The complexity of the original written content they produced was analyzed for each individual and for the sample as a whole. The experienced psychographers showed lower levels of activity in the left culmen, left hippocampus, left inferior occipital gyrus, left anterior cingulate, right superior temporal gyrus and right precentral gyrus during psychography compared to their normal (non-trance) writing. The average complexity scores for psychographed content were higher than those for control writing, for both the whole sample and for experienced mediums. The fact that subjects produced complex content in a trance dissociative state suggests they were not merely relaxed, and relaxation seems an unlikely explanation for the underactivation of brain areas specifically related to the cognitive processing being carried out. This finding deserves further investigation both in terms of replication and explanatory hypotheses.
Tourettes Action conference for adults with Tourette’s Syndrome
When: Saturday 1st December 2012, 10am until 4pm
Where: Noble Room, Staff House, Birmingham University, B15 (Link)
Staff House is under 5 minutes stroll from University Train Station, which in turn is two stops from New St Station in Birmingham. Both Birmingham New St Station and University Station have lifts, the route from University Station is wheelchair friendly, as is Staff House, which also has a lift available and ramp via the side entrance.
Who: This is our first Conference for Adults with TS and our programme will reflect this. Adults 18 + with TS and friends, family and carers are welcome to register. Parents and teenagers aged 16+ and parents of younger children, although strictly no young people under the age of 16 please. Young people aged 16 – 18 must be accompanied by a responsible adult.
BBC Panorama – The Mind Reader
These experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that even though a person is in a vegetative state, the mind can understand and the brain can respond, which demonstrates conscious awareness. In these experiments the subject is given verbal instructions by an experimenter to think (imagine) specific mental activities such as playing tennis. The experiments demonstrated that there is a correlation between the suggested mental activity and brain response in MRI scanners. It is my contention that the suggestions offered by the experimenters can also be delivered by the use of telepathy instead of speech. This version of the experiment would not only demonstrate the existence of conscious awareness whilst in a vegetative state, but also that such persons can be communicated with on a regular basis using telepathy. Now that would be really interesting, but who is brave enough to conduct such an experiment?
Neurosurgeon’s NDE – radio interviews
Eben Alexander, M.D., discussed his transcendental Near-Death Experience (NDE), in which he was driven to the brink of death and spent a week deep in coma in 2008 from a severe case of bacterial meningitis. In contrast to many other NDEs, his memory of his life on Earth was wiped out during his experience.
Tourette’s – a new treatment
Research on healing
Here is an excellent point of reference for a comprehensive range of resources and published research references.
http://www.councilforhealing.org/ResearchOnHealing.html