Believing vs Drawing Conclusions

Some of my posts have been titled "What I Believe" but that makes it sound as if I am drawing things out of thin air or doing "one potato, two potato" and seeing which idea wins. Or which sounds more interesting to me.

I don't come to my beliefs lightly and I don't ever like to jump on a bandwagon. Yet some people have said to me, "Diane you are so smart, how can you believe that?" as if I say I believe in Santa Claus and the tooth fairy.

In 2000 I took a class on contemplative practices and did a paper on the concept of chi. Part of that paper talked about Qi Gong and Tai Chi, and part of it talked about Feng Shui. My professor was hesitant to accept my writing about Feng Shui because he thought it was a trendy concept that had no basis in this sort of understanding. Yet before writing about it I asked a Chinese student whether her culture saw Feng Shui in the same light as Qi Gong and meridians in accupuncture. She said yes, that feng shui was taken seriously in China. I did write about it in my paper, and how the flow of energy can be enhanced by placement of water, color, and other elements. In the reading I've done, energy and electricity and magnetic force are key factors in a lot of unexplained phenomena that includes apparitions, paranormal activity, and health. In the same vein, that energy and magnetic force (and gravity) affects the planets and their relationship to each other, and their alignment (the way our living environment can be affected by energy flow and magnetic/electric energy around us). When I talk about the planets being aligned well for some purpose or not being aligned well, people are surprised at my comments. I do think, just as the moon affects the tides and people's behavior and as electro-magnetic fields can affect one's health , that the planetary positions can affect energy flow and magnetic pull.

That being said, there is a full moon coming up on November 13 and there will be a golden triangle in the sky with Jupiter, Saturn and something else, Neptune? Golden triangles in the sky mean a positive alignment in a geometrically balanced formation, and that is thought to be a helpful aspect. I've read books that talk about golden triangles being in the sky when certain businesses started or when a person is born (so it appears in their astrological chart), and it bodes well for them. People like Bill Gates and Michael Jordan have these sorts of geometrically balanced formations in their birth charts that indicate possible superstardom in particular areas of their lives. A friend of mine said he didn't believe in astrology because it was not in the Bible. But it was in the Bible. The Magi were astrologers who came to see Jesus because of what they saw in the stars. Prophets in the Bible, like Isaiah, described Jesus' coming and his life in ways that are not unlike psychics today.

But I digress. When we are born and the universe is aligned in a particular way in relation to where we are on the planet, it seems to me that it sets the stage for the direction we will take in life the same way the current of water sets the stage for where a twig or leaf floating in the water will end up and when.

I read a really interesting journal article from the Journal of Near-Death Studies today that gave a great explanation for physical theory on hyperdimensions and how that fits in with the experiences described by those who have near-death or out-of-body experiences. I will try to write more about that this week.

(note: will add links and photos to this later when I have time).

All Saints Day

a>Here's something that I think about sometimes -- religious people -- particularly Catholics-- do not give credence to paranormal experiences: ghosts, communication with the dead, healing (a la Edgar Cayce), and spiritual guidance. Though the teachings of Christianity indicate prophets getting messages from God and angels (they were the psychics of their day) and those prophets like Isaiah, John the Baptist, and others are revered by the church. The Bible is rife with stories about angelic messengers coming to people like Abraham, Moses, Job, Noah, Joseph and the Virgin Mary, for example, and telling them what God wanted them to do. Christians believe that this actually happened, or they believe the idea of these people back in the day whose stories make up the Bible as having received some sort of spiritual guidance. I mean, a donkey spoke to Balaam.

Then the Catholic church canonizes humans who devoted their lives to spiritual quests and whose faith allowed them to inspire others or to affect events. Those people are canonized partly on the basis of miracles (unexplained happenings -- not unlike paranormal or supernatural things), happening when people pray to those humans after death. The miracles could have happened when they were alive, as well. Bernadette, who saw the Virgin Mary, and dug for water in a certain spot that is believed to heal people, and the kids in Fatima, Portugal, who brought messages to the Pope from Mary. These are all stories that are believed by Catholics around the world. So supernatural things based on spiritual beliefs are part of the Catholic faith.

To extend that to say that those people became more highly evolved based on their understanding of spiritual or non-physical "laws" --- and I mean laws in the same way as the law of gravity or the laws of physics--means that there is reason to believe that other people not revered as saints also have come to understand those laws and use them to effect change and healings (shamans, buddhist monks, yogis, etc.).

Many psychics speak of spiritual guides -- and often among those is a Native American spiritual guide as well as others who have lived. Columbia educated psychiatrist Brian Weiss, in his book Many Lives, Many Masters, the information he received from patients under hypnosis who talk about not only past lives, but life between lives, in which they work with spirit guides to plan their next life -- almost like an educational program--that will be done with the help of these spiritual partners. Raymond Moody in his books about people who have experienced near death experiences notes the repeated reference to spiritual beings who meet the person and who the NDErs feel a close connection with.

So all that being said, I personally have come to believe that I am part of a group project, so to speak, with me being one who has taken on the physical body and interacts with others in the project who are in a physical body, and having other partners who are not in a physical body in order to meet some sort of spiritual goals for growth. We help each other move forward through the experiences and choices I have in this life and the interactions I have with others in the physical world. I consider the Saints (as designated by the Catholic Church) to be part of the spiritual realm that I can access. While I'm not sure how it all really works -- of course, who am I to say I know something like that--I have come to believe from my own reading and discussions with others and my own experiences that developing relationships with those in spirit is kind of like networking and calling on our own personal friends and contacts in the physical world.

Saints in the Catholic Church are often given areas of expertise--and are called the patron saint of some specific thing based on that saints earthly life and miracles attributed to that saint. My favorite Saint buddy over the years has been St. Anthony, who finds lost things. He rarely, if ever, lets me down. Sometimes, I will just say, "Anthony, where are my keys?" as my hand reaches into a pocket and there they are. Or "Anthony, I can't find my black pants," and my hand reaches to the back of the drawer and pulls them out. For particularly important things that I've misplaced, when I've exhausted all my options -- all the time calling on Anthony -- I sometimes get the sense that I should just stop what I'm doing and calm my mind and listen. When I've done that, a picture or thought will come to my mind about where to look and I will find what it is I am looking for. So here's to Anthony! Happy Saints Day.

One of my sons was a difficult teenager. It came to my attention somehow that St. Augustine was also a difficult teenager and his mother, St. Monica, who was also in a difficult marriage (I could relate), prayed to have her son's heart changed. I often spoke directly to Monica asking her to help me out in knowing what to do about my son's problems (he is now a police officer and very hard working and in a good place). I also spoke to St. Augustine asking him to work in my son's life. St. Augustine wrote about how his relationship with his peers often influenced his choices, and that was a big factor in my own son's life.

When my other son was going into the NYC Fire Department, I wanted to know who to ask to watch over him -- which saint was designated for Firemen. The more well-known saint is St. Florian, who may actually be Hungarian, as I've seen statues of him in Hungary when I go there. But there is also a saint, St. John of God, who is the patron saint of first-responders. In his life he did first aid, he ran into burning buildings to save people, and he started hospitals way backbefore that was something that was done. Places for sick or injured people to recover. But he was someone who rescued people who were in danger.

While looking up those saints for my son, I came across others who I talk to. I was going through a long, drawn-out divorce and was not looking forward to being alone. I often felt lonely and isolated, and found in my research that St. Rita is the patron saint of lonely people. I started talking to her in my meditations and asking her to send me some friends. The effect was so positive that at times I would ask her to turn it off because I needed a break from my social life.

I do a lot of work in public relations and marketing and found that St. Paul (the apostle) is the patron saint of writers and people in the field of public relations. So when I am in need of ideas or struggling with writer's block, I pray (or speak) with St. Paul. (Also St. Bernardine of Siena)

One of the most interesting things I found in my research was when I was looking for a patron saint of people in the wine business. I had decided to start my own wine importing business and was having difficulty with learning the ins and outs of that whole thing. So I Googled Patron Saints and found a site that allowed me to plug in a topic and to find the saint that corresponded to that. St. Amand is the patron saint of people in the wine business. And the interesting thing is that his saint day is on my birthday. So does that mean I was born to go into the wine business? Probably not, but it doesn't hurt to have that double connection going on. I speak to St. Amand when I am facing difficult business decisions, when I feel like giving up (normally when I feel that way and talk to him, I get a call or e-mail the next day that keeps me going forward in the business) or sometimes I just connect with him when I am out selling to store owners, and I say "Amand, help me make a sale." That connection has been helpful to me in many ways --psychologically and serendipitously.

I changed jobs (my official job at a graduate school) and found myself in a sometimes hostile environment which was very stressful to me and very negative. Others in my workplace called it toxic. It was affecting my health and my ability to sleep. Somehow I came upon information about St. Michael, the Archangel, who is supposed to have been charged by God to defeat evil and negativity in the world and allow God (or divinity, or positive energy, whatever you want to call it) to overcome that negativity and bad will. Every day I ask Michael to protect me (I live alone in NYC) and to keep negativity away from me. When I go into meetings at work that I anticipate being stressful, I say the official prayer of St. Michael and add my own requests related to the specific negativity that I experience or anticipate. I find that at times I can almost sense the protection surrounding me -- like a force field--that people don't want to cross. I do that, too, when I invite someone to my home who might create a negative experience (argument, criticism), along with burning sage (to remove negative energy) and sprinkling Kosher salt outside my front door (a ritual that is supposed to cleanse the environment and keep negativity outside the house).

One quick story about burning sage -- one time during my difficult marriage I was burning sage in the house to cleanse the energy. My ex-husband was out while I was doing this, but returned home before I was finished. He did not even step inside the house but saw me burning the sage stick and spreading the smoke around the dining room. He said, "What are you doing?" and I answered, "Smudging the house to clean the negative energy." He would not even come in. He turned around and left to go somewhere else. I thought to myself, "It worked!" (And he was not one to dislike smoke or incense--in fact he burned incense all the time himself, and he smoked cigars). So I don't know what it was that made him turn around and leave without coming in but I attribute that to the characteristics of sage deterring negative energy.


A bientot!

Halloween and Ghost Hunting

It is interesting that during Halloween week, ghost hunting is the focus. In fact Ghost Hunters, the TV show is going live tonight. They bring in viewers interactively by having connection to their web site in which viewers can press a button to let the investigators know if they saw something. That opens up a lot of doors to pranksters – they said last year they got 10,000 hits on that button! How annoying would that be to have people pranking them. But at the same time, the show is 7 hours long tonight – from 7 pm to 2 a.m. and hopefully it will be better than the Geraldo live show looking for Al Capone’s treasure.

What is interesting to my study is that people are getting information from a mediated event and they are participating with the television show through the Internet, another mediated aspect of the experience. So it is an event in which possibly millions of people are coming together to watch and/or interact around a paranormal-based reality event – to share a lived experience, discuss it, investigate it (albeit through the representation of the show’s experts and their visitors), and be able to determine among themselves if there is evidence, what the evidence is, and what that means to them. It brings to mind the idea of taking “science” into their own hands… something perhaps blasphemous to a trained scientist, but it is in the same vein as when the bible was put into the hands of the masses (via Gutenburg’s press) and people, rather than priests, were allowed to read and interpret for themselves the words of the bible. In a way, television and other forms of media are allowing people to look at this controversial “pseudo-science” as paranormal research has been called, and to determine for themselves if they think there is something to it.

However, the use of media can make the evidence suspect because there is always the possibility of doctoring the video or audio footage. It would be great if the show would occasionally focus on the steps they take to make sure that these images and sounds are legitimately captured and not added or created by the production company – a topic of discussion I have seen on Internet chat groups about the show. They do have investigators, like Donna LaCroix , who are scientists – she is an engineer, apparently, and it would be helpful if the show played up the more objective and scientific (to whatever degree they can) aspects of what they do. They say what the theories are, but who came up with these theories about EMFs and cold spots? That is a big criticism by skeptics that there is no “proof” – and that is a misguided term, they should say “evidence”—that entities give off high EMFs. But perhaps they do, and this show is making an effort to show that evidence. If there are scientists that they work with, it would be great to see input from those scientists and to know who they are and what their credentials are.

While Ghost Hunters does appeal to those who may too easily believe, it also appeals to those who are well-read in these areas and the just-plain-curious among us who want to see what they are doing. There are even web sites that show amateurs who try to do the same thing themselves. But there are also web sites that show people playing pranks on those watching looking for real footage of entities and then doing something on camera to make them jump, like the video Whoopi Goldberg showed on The View. But Ghost Hunters does not, in my opinion, bring itself credibility when it has investigators who think everything is paranormal, like Brian Harnois did. While I liked his enthusiasm and imagine he had a good friendship with the TAPS people, he was a bit too quick to jump to conclusions that a place was haunted or that an event was paranormal.

The show Ghost Hunters is becoming increasingly popular, at least according to a press release from Sci Fi, the station that airs the show. They don’t, however, say what organization has published those stats (Nielsen or otherwise). But at least at this time of year, there is more interest in things paranormal. And people look for things to watch on television related to hauntings and demons, etc. More channels offer shows about famous places that are supposedly haunted, And newspapers, like The New York Times, as I mentioned in my previous post, are featuring stories about hauntings, real and put on.

From that Times article, there is mention of Bonnie Vent of the San Diego Paranormal group, who channels dead people, many of whom are celebrities. The article mentions her channeling of a message from comedian George Carlin who died in June of this year. This video shows her channeling the "lovely stranger" ghost at the Coronado Hotel in San Diego who apparently was murdered and appears to people at the hotel. This is the kind of programming that Halloween inspires. But, as with the widespread popularity in the Christmas season of generosity and good will, these things are appropriate to focus on year ‘round.

I am posting a video of Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson from Ghost Hunters when they appeared on The View this year. They talk about the way they go about debunking sounds and activity and what tools they use to investigate.

So I'm anxious to see them working live -- as I've missed them doing it the last two years.

More comments later this weekend....

Even the NY Times is talking about ghosts today

Yes, well---Halloween gives the general American public license to talk about ghosts and the supernatural (aka paranormal activity). Here is an article in today's New York Times on Supernatural Cleaning Methods with some great references to books about ghost hunting and cleansing your home (burning sage aka smudging is mentioned).

I'm going to write up something about the Saints for Saturday, All Saints Day. In my belief system about spirits and spirit guides, I (and others) see saints as some of those in spirit who help us in our day-to-day lives. I have certain saints I consider to be helpful to me -- and I've sought them out from the general Catholic understanding of patron saints. More later...

Grandma's ghost stories 2

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Stories about ghosts at Grandma's house on State Street in Ithaca, NY

Grandma Playing Piano

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A demonstraton of my grandmother playing piano for her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren around 1988.

ghost stories 1

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My grandmother telling about one experience in which she experienced a ghost on Brindley Street in Ithaca, NY