Survival of consciousness conference

In January 2008 I'll be speaking at this conference on the survival of consciousness.

Comments

John said…
Given your invitation to the conference, I'd assume you have a positive view on this? What's your reasoning behind this? If I recall correctly, in blog comment I read a while back, you said the evidence for survivalism wasn't very strong.
Dean Radin said…
I regard the cumulative evidence for survival as intriguing, and as such worth paying close attention to. But for me the jury is still out. I'm speaking at this conference because the evidence for psi is relevant to the issue of survival. If, as psi suggests, brain and mind are not identical, then death of the brain does not necessarily mean death of the mind. This opens the possibility that something might survive bodily death, although I suspect that whatever that may be, it would exist beyond ordinary concepts of "alive" and "dead."
Julio Siqueira said…
-
Why do you say that psi suggests that brain and mind are not identical?
-
Dean Radin said…
As far as physics and the neurosciences know today, the brain cannot know what will happen tomorrow or a thousand miles away. But if precognition and clairvoyance (not to mention other psi effects) exist, then there must be something beyond the brain that can know these things. If that something is "mind," then brain and mind may not be identical. Of course, in the future we are likely to discover that our present understanding of matter and energy are incomplete, in which case perhaps there are ways that a physical object like the brain could gain spooky knowledge of distant places and times. There are several other arguments, presented nicely in the book Irreducible Mind, suggesting that mind cannot be mechanistically "reduced" to the material brain.
amperro said…
Several physicists have claimed that the passage of time (or even time itself) is an illusion, and we remember the past rather than the future because of the asymmetry of time. Maybe precognition reverses this asymmetry.
Marie D. said…
As I was reading Entangled Minds, I had a sudden sharp pain on the right side of my face (neck/ear/temporal area). I knew that a spirit wanted to talk to me. I asked who it was and I heard "Theorem Bell."
While conversing with him, he told me: "I need you to pass on a message to my friend Peter Onisquius (not sure of name). He will know it is me when you say to him that Bell said Hey pecker, what the heck is this about? It is Bell and his crap again."
"Once you say that, he will know that you've spoken to me so he can accept that even though he himself could not prove it, the theorem of non-locality is true."
I looked up physicists to find out who this Peter might be but I couldn't find it. So, I am submitting it to you since it is your book I am reading.
I am not a scientist but I am an avid reader of scientific and non-scientific works.
I believe in the psi world because I have had countless experiences that relate to it.
Keep up the good work. You validate what many people are not willing to talk about.
lightseeker said…
From my own psi experiences, I know the mind and the brain are not identical. The mind can expand beyond the brain and operate independently of time and space, and therefore perceive/know things beyond the physical senses.

I do believe in survival of mind/consciousness after death. I communicate telepathically with spirit guides (one was able to confirm his existence to me by using a sort of code word in a foreign language I had to look up!). At one point I questioned my guide "Are you an individual, separate entity or are you just an aspect of my own mind?" He responded with another question: "Does it matter?" What a great teacher - really got me thinking! I realized that when the individual mind (sense of self) expands into the realm of comprehensive consciousness (what Jung coined as the collective unconscious), in effect, that mind is united with all other minds and there is a sense of oneness, all is One Mind, and yet by some means individual mind is also retained within that One Mind (even in the discarnate state after death). Both states exists at once, whether the psychic is just visiting the realm of the One Mind or joins it after the transition of physical death. So my understanding is that while sometimes the entities one perceives by psychic means seem to be entirely separate, individual entities complete with their own personalities and vibrational frequencies, they are also - because we are all essentially One Mind - seemingly aspects of the individual mind. The individual mind exists within the pool of the One Mind - they overlap - so it can sometimes be confusing; it takes practice to discern if the voices and images one perceives are just a creation of one's own brain/imagination, or coming from beyond the brain, from some other individual entity/consciousness as part of the One Mind.
lightseeker said…
To Marie D. -

The names you received seem to contain parts of a Latin phrase. Not sure who Peter and Bell are, but take the rest of those names together and you get "Theorem" and, since you weren't sure of the spelling, maybe a garbled version of "omnis quis" - in other words, having to do with the theory pertaining to the why/how of the all/everything. Makes perfect sense in light of the reading material - Entangled Minds and psi related to quantum mechanics. Physicists were (and still are) constructing unifying theories to explain everything in the Universe.

The use of Latin (which you don't know - neither do I, had to look the words up in a Latin glossary) indicates you were definitely getting this message from some other entity beyond your own mind. This is exactly the way my own spirit guide confirmed his existence to me - with a strange Latin word/name!

Cool experience, Marie!!
lightseeker said…
Okay, WOWEEEEE!! Marie's post was so fascinating, I've been doing more research and I may be onto something here, thanks to Marie's telepathy and Dean's blog!

"Theorem Bell" is an obvious reference to Bell's Theorem as it relates to quantum mechanics. Bell died in 1990 - so he's definitely a discarnate entity/mind/spirit. The Peter of "Peter Onisquius" may be physicist Peter L. Knight, who is living and publishes profusely on the American Physical (Physics) Society's (APS) "Physical Review Online Archive" - five of his articles are related to Bell's Theorem.
The link is here:
http://prola.aps.org/search/query/7eb6ed94f395ed2860e0763b028e8d7a

Although I haven't read all the papers, it seems Peter doesn't always agree with Bell. It seems that perhaps (if I've identified the correct "Peter" as P.L. Knight), Marie indeed got a message from Bell for Peter from beyond the grave. Bell is still hanging around, taking keen note of what's going on in the world of physics... It would be very interesting to contact Dr. Knight and find out if this message (via Marie) means anything to him. We might just have some tangible proof of survival of mind after death - communication via an unrelated, unknown medium (Marie) who just happened to be interested (entangled?)in the subject matter regarding psi and quantum physics/non-locality...

WOW is all I can say!!!!!!

Dean, perhaps you should be the one to follow up on this, contact P. L. Knight???? Let us know what you learn.
lightseeker said…
Okay, more research, and here is the real zinger - the proof!

Peter L. Knight is a theoretical physicist who teaches and conducts his research at Imperial College in London. His bio is here:
http://www.imperial.ac.uk/research/qols/about_qols/peter_knight.htm

In describing his research, he and a colleague formulated a very successful model which they dubbed "CRAPOLA"!!! So, in the message Marie received, "crap" seems to be the secret code word here. (Maybe "Onisquius" is some nickname Bell had for Knight.)

Absolutely amazing! I just don't think these can be mere coincidences.
lightseeker said…
One final note to Marie's message from Bell to Peter...

Another interpretation of "Peter Onisquius" may be Peter Onus Quis, or "Peter Who Is a Burden."

Seems Bell is ribbing this Peter, whether as an old friend or antagonist, only Peter would know for sure. BTW, Peter L. Knight came up with his CRAPOLA model in the 1980s it seems, and Bell died in 1990. Apparently these two knew (or at least knew of) each other's work in the world of physics. Apparently Bell is still keeping track of Peter's work from the other side, and he wants him to know it, LOL!!

FANTASTIC!!!
Unknown said…
This thread started from Marie's account is quite fascinating. I am inclined to accept the "communication attempt from beyond the grave" hypothesis for Marie's experience. It seems intriguingly plausible.

However, I am still inclined to be cautious. Ultimately all that a reader of any blog is confronted with is email communications, plus whatever information can be derived from Internet research. Accordingly, my cut on this requires that all the logical possibilities be at least identified. Other possibilities that are at least not logically impossible are: (1) subconscious confabulation aided by cryptoamnesia, since all the information does exist in various printed forms, and Marie at least in principle could be subconsciously remembering brief past exposures to the information, (2) subconscious confabulation aided by super esp, and (3), hoax.
Marie D. said…
I just got through reading the several blogs and I find them fascinating.
I liked the last one by David the most. Therefore I will respond since it almost sounds like a challenge to me :-)
This is my story:
The past seven years have been quite interesting for me because I was suddenly confronted with voices that I did not know where they were coming from. I have learned from them a whole lot and continue to do so. Every morning that I wake up there is something new that I need to go research from antiquity/past civilizations, to religions, to ordinary people, to nature, to languages, to everything you can name, things I have no knowledge of. (By the way, I get to see them in dreams in vivid colors too.)
My very first word was Assurbanipal in October of 2000. I did not know what that was, who that was or what it was all about. I swear to you that I thought I was going crazy but I went online and searched that word. Since then, the sky has been the limit.
I started channeling angels recently with some fear I want you to know because this is so new to me.
"Theorem Bell" was the very first time I was able to channel a spirit. It happened right after I wrote in Entangled Spirits "I agree with Bell" for his theorem. I recognized the pain I felt on my right side because I had attended two months ago a meeting where a medium told me that there was a spirit next to me and I had felt the same pain.
I am a nurse with a Ph.D. in Health Administration. I started reading on quantum physics last year because a voice mentioned it. Obviously, I did not know anything about it before then.
A question that I have for Dean Radin is the following: why am I able to dictate how many shadows of myself that I see. All I have to say is "you can do better" and immediately, they start multiplying. I have counted twelve one time, some passing me, some coming from the opposite direction, some stuck to each other, some behind me when I turn my head to look. I keep searching online if it is maybe an optical illusion.
Another time, I had just read another quantum book and I thought of waves and suddenly, while walking in the park, the whole street was nothing but shadows of waves.
There are so many more experiences I could mention such as communicating mentally with my friends the squirrels, the birds or the raccoons and seeing them joining me, lifting their paws to me. Mind you, I have no food to give them except my love and appreciation for being a part of nature.
This morning was wonderful because for the first time, I channeled my uncle (learned from Bell) for my mother because she loved him so much. I had tears in my eyes and my mom just now started crying when I read it over the phone for her. I made sure he said something that only she would remember from their childhood.
I want to say thank you regarding the various interpretations to the Bell comment. My resolution for 2008 is to be able to accomplish something different everyday without fear.
By the way, because of all these extraneous events in my life, I lost husband, house, luxury cars, expensive goods but I gained something that cannot be acquired with money: inner peace, harmony and a love for mankind that I would not relinquish for all the gold in the world. I now believe in interconnectedness because I have become so empathic that I have taken on my patients' pain for myself and seen their relief, without them knowing about it. Healing others has been another forte.
It has been and continues to be a journey. Through it all, my love for humanity stands tall and firm and bears no negotiation.
I hope this has helped. If wanted, I can type the whole conversation I had with Bell. It was quite interesting.
lightseeker said…
It's always wise/healthy to look at such phenomena from all sides, i.e., with a pinch of salt/skepticism and look for other possible causes. I experience psi, and I, too, attempt to discern if there is a more "worldly" explanation. Psychics/mediums aren't always right - it can be hit or miss. Often (not always) the info and messages I receive that my conscious mind (brain) has no normal way of knowing, by means similar to what Marie describes, are verifiable - via research or witnesses (such as in psychometry experiments in which I've received personal details by holding a hidden object, not even knowing to whom it belonged. Meditating on the hidden item, I asked my spirit guide to convey the personal information about the unknown owner of the item, and I received it! I got too many personal details that I had no way of knowing to be purely coincidences.). I totally identify with Marie's experience. For me, when a conscious entity - whether my own super-conscious or another/a "spirit" - the hair on the left side of my head will stand up and/or I get goosebumps all over. When that happens, I know to pay attention, something important is coming through to me. So from what Marie describes, I believe the veracity of her experience, that it's not a hoax - especially because she describes her experiences and new-found perception has been profoundly life-changing! Good for you, Marie, more power to you! :-)

It is possible the unconscious or super-conscious mind is just bringing information to waking consciousness, but why create such a cryptic, detailed conversation?
To consider confabulation of information, whether unconsciously (previous absorption of the information via normal perceptions) or super-consciously (via psi), or even the creation of a hoax - one must realize that's a lot of trouble to go to for an individual mind to concoct - in a backward, very convoluted manner! - and carry on such a detailed conversation (with a separate person/entity the experiencer has never even met!) - within one's own head. Why? For what purpose? I've asked myself this question many times regarding my own telepathic experiences, and being sane of mind, it makes no sense that's one would just concoct such an elaborate conversation in one's own head!

So let's rule out mental illness. Marie comes across as a very normal, well-educated person (as do we all here!), and Dean did a great job providing evidence in Entangled Minds that among psi believers/experiencers, measures of schizotypy were not associated with psychological ill-health. To quote Dean - and I love this! - psi experiencers/believers "just see farther into the depths of the world than other people do."

To me - again from my own similar experiences - the simplest answer (even if science isn't able to prove/explain it yet, which should not rule it out) is that Marie was in contact with Bell's consciousness, and he asked her to pass a personal, probably purposely cryptic message on to a living physicist named Peter (which message may only have meaning to Peter), as a means to rib the latter and to provide evidence of the survival of consciousness after death.
Dean Radin said…
Marie's experience is reminiscent of the creation of the Course in Miracles , which is described here:

www.acim.org/ACIM/HowItCame.htm

Where this sort of information comes from no one knows for sure, but there's no doubt that some people sometimes receive information that proves to be enduringly useful. The Seth materials also come to mind in this regard.

Marie, you kindly offered to type in your entire conversation with "Bell." I'd like to see it, if it isn't too long.
Marie D. said…
Who are you?

Theorem Bell.

What? I say who are you?

I told you I am Theorem Bell.

Why do you use Theorem?

So that you know that you are talking to the right Bell, the physicist.

What do you have to say to me?

I want to say first of all that it is incredible that I am able to prove my theory in you. For years I had been saying that my idea of non-locality is true but I had yet to find someone in the non-professional field to transcribe my theory. I am glad I found you today.

It comes as a surprise to me to tail you and to encounter you by chance. Your thought must have called on me or vice versa. I have been looking for a while to transmit this information. I am glad finally it is possible. First of all, I am quite surprised to see a non-physicist reading such material. It is incredible that you could have been interested in a topic that is so controversial. Quantum Physics is not yet accepted by all physicists. As a matter of fact, many such scientists despise the notion that paranormal experiences could fall under physics. They are so full of it. But anyway, that is not why I am with you today.

Let me first say that what you think you know is nothing compared to what I see in the world that I am in. It is amazing that humans feel they are so knowledgeable. My God, there are zillion of things that are incomprehensible to the regular mind. Spirits if you want to call them that way are so advanced that I do not know where to start.

A thought is faster than light itself. The speed of light is determined by the waves created in the universe. Well, a thought goes on the same path, a pattern of waves that are communicated from mind to body and body to mind in less than a second. I am using easy terms so you can follow what I am talking about.

What I could not understand on earth, I am able to understand now. The universe is such a grand plane that one does not have enough intelligence to capture all that it comprises. Let's talk about non-locality which is my forte. When I was on earth, I brushed on it because I had no real proof that my theorem could be true. That is why it was so debatable. Now I can see I was right all along.

I need you to pass on a message to my friend Peter Onisquius. He will know it is me when you say to him that Bell said "Hey Pecker, what the heck is this about? It is Bell and his crap again." Once you say that, he will know that you've spoken to me so he can accept that even though he himself could not prove it, the theorem of non-locality is true.

We do not have to hold hands to be connected. We do not have to physically talk to each other for it to be a reality. You are communicating with me, yet you can't see me. You can't say you hear me. You can't say you visualize me. None of that is true and yet here we are talking to each other. We have crossed borders that scientists would want to deny. Anyway, it is nice talking to you.

Are you friend or foe?

I would not be talking to you like that if I were foe.

What could you tell me to help me progress in this world of Alice in Wonderland?

I will say keep on chucking. The sky is the limit if you keep an open mind. Those that continuously refute what's not visible or what cannot be measured are simply fools. They will die never knowing real truths or real realities. I pity them because the Universe is open to all willing to absorb some of its knowledge.
Marie D. said…
Thanks Dean for the two references matching my experiences. I just read about them. So similar!!!!
lightseeker said…
Marie, thanks for posting your entire conversation with Bell.

You mentioned raccoons, so I take it you're American? Another clue that you were communicating with physicist Bell was his use of the term "keep on chucking" - which is British slang, derived from cricket (chucking = pitching), which means hang in there, keep at it, don't give up. Bell was British (Irish).

So unless Marie has spent a lot of time in the UK or conversing with Brits, the phrase "keep on chucking" would likely not be part of her usual vocabulary. This lends credibility to her experience.

All very fascinating!
Marie D. said…
To lightseeker:
I am American but I spend most of my time these days speaking Spanish/French with friends/family and English with my kids and acquaintances. I have not lived in the UK but visited it twice. I live here in the States.
I have no way of knowing if this Peter exists nor any proof that it was Bell except for what I heard.
As a final word, if what I heard was true, the real Peter will come forward.
It was nice sharing this information.
researcher said…
Marie d: we have some interesting discussions and comments on Michael Prescott’s blog. http://michaelprescott.typepad.com/michael_prescotts_blog/ Would love to have you post this experience on his blog. It is a very open minded blog with a lot of interesting discussion. Your experiences showed up on this blog. I think you would enjoy the comments.

Some of your experiences sound very much like mystical experiences. I have been doing research 16 years into the mysteries of life and find yours interesting. I have a PhD in a science field but now retired. I.e. a PhD can be a hindrance (know it all mentality) but it does give one the interest and confidence of being able to do research.
William

In these past 16 years I have found many interesting books would love to share with you if interested.
Unknown said…
Did anyone ever follow this up and get in touch with Knight? I would be intrigued to find out what has happened of all of this. Bless you, Marie, this is fascinating!
Mr. Dean,

Has your position on survival changed or do you still think the jury is not out yet? I remember in 2004 on a close to truth segment you stated that there is some doubt, then it seems like you progressed more to the middle where you weren't sure - so I was wondering if you are still in the middle or have more certainty now?
Dean Radin said…
My opinion today is pretty much the same as my Dec 8, 2007 post: "I regard the cumulative evidence for survival as intriguing, and as such worth paying close attention to. But for me the jury is still out."

Popular posts from this blog

Show me the evidence

Feeling the future meta-analysis

Skeptic agrees that remote viewing is proven