During my long hours of insomnia last nite I stumbled on this page www.victorzammit.com I was wondering if anyone has heard of this man or his book and I would encourage you to visit this site as I learned a great deal from it and I want to challenge you to check it out :) and then tell me what you think about it...The following is the opening statement of his book which you can access for free on the website as well as other articles and videos... I think you will find it very informative even if you dont agree with everything :)
Opening statement
“Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, but to weigh and consider.”
Sir Francis Bacon
There is undeniable scientific evidence today for the afterlife. I am a former practicing attorney-at-law formally qualified in a number of university disciplines. I am also an open-minded skeptic.
The argument that follows is not just an abstract, theoretical, academic legal argument. As an open-minded investigator, I set out to investigate the existing evidence for survival after death and, with others, to test claims that communication with intelligences from the afterlife is possible.
After many years of serious investigation I have come to the irretrievable conclusion that there is a great body of evidence which, taken as a whole, absolutely and unqualifiedly proves the case for the afterlife. I will not be arguing that the objective evidence has high probative value. Nor am I suggesting that this evidence be accepted beyond reasonable doubt. I am stating that the evidence taken as a whole constitutes overwhelming and irrefutable proof for the existence of the afterlife.
There have been millions of pages written about psychic phenomena and scientific research into the afterlife. Using my professional background as an attorney and my university training in psychology, history and scientific method, I have very carefully selected aspects of psychic research and afterlife knowledge that would constitute objective evidence. This evidence would be technically admissible in the Supreme Court of the United States, the House of Lords in England, the High Court of Australia and in every civilized legal jurisdiction around the world.
When the objective evidence, near death experiences, out of body experiences, after-death contacts, voices on tape, psychic laboratory experiments, the best mediums, the Cross Correspondences, the Scole Experiment, proxy sittings, poltergeists and all of the other evidence contained in this work is seen collectively, the case for survival after death is absolutely stunning and irrefutable.
The evidence presented in this work also proves the existence of so-called 'psychic phenomena', which are interconnected with the afterlife and can only be explained satisfactorily by survival of the individual soul and personality after death.
In absolute terms the evidence presented in this work will convince the rational and intelligent open-minded skeptic or the genuine searcher about the existence of the afterlife.
Why don’t more people know about the evidence?
For many years there has been hostility towards psychic science in the mainstream media and in universities and in some of the churches. The discoveries of serious scientists working to prove the afterlife have been misreported, distorted and ignored. High profile closed-minded skeptics have been given unfair license by the media to ridicule, cheat and lie, with the result that members of the general public know very little about the great body of scientific research which has been accumulated.
Many people who are genuinely seeking to explore this fascinating area have not been able to access unbiased factual information because they may not have the skills or the time to read and analyze the huge number of technical books and articles available on this subject (see Bibliography). In some societies these books are still simply not available because of formal and informal censorship.
Knowledge which is ‘subjective’ includes all information which cannot be independently substantiated. This includes personal beliefs? Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism and other religions. Subjective knowledge also includes closed-minded materialist skepticism (modern usage: a strongly held belief that the afterlife does not exist) because in context of the afterlife, no skeptic can use science to objectively prove that closed-minded skepticism is scientific or that nothing exists in the afterlife.
The original meaning of skepticism referred to the critical examination of a phenomenon without accepting or rejecting it. The original meaning of skepticism had nothing to do with completely denying the afterlife or the validity of psychic phenomena.
Like religion, closed-minded skepticism is a personal, subjective belief which is subject to fundamental errors and to complete invalidation. Because a personal subjective religious or skeptical belief does not have the substance of science, any subjective religious or skeptical belief inevitably can be absolutely invalid.
Objective knowledge?science?is where the same results and the same cause-effect connection can be demonstrated over time and space. Science is regarded as ‘objective’ in that any person who follows the scientific formulas, keeping variables constant, will get the same results.
The studies of voices on tape - Electronic Voice Phenomenon (*EVP and *ITC – see next chapters) and mediumship have clearly showed this element of repeatability. Investigators working independently in many different countries have been able to duplicate each other’s work. Inevitably the objective prevails over the subjective.
But not all science is conducted in the laboratory. Within the definition of science there is also the ‘scientific, systematic observation of a phenomenon.’ For example, whilst we accept and believe that thunder and lightening and storms do occur, we cannot duplicate them under laboratory conditions. Case studies too are important to scientific method. As long as there is strict adherence to scientific method, the results of the observations can become scientifically based.
A word of caution
What I have found in many of the meetings about the afterlife is that some people accept much of the information presented but some want to put emphasis on, or disagree about, reincarnation or astrology, or meditation or prayer or crystals or even atheism or agnosticism. For the purpose of the record, it is not my intention to try to change anybody’s beliefs or religion. This is not religious crusading. This is not a matter of faith or belief. This is a matter of either acceptance or non-acceptance of the objective evidence.
You are being given access to some very important objective information about the afterlife, the most important information you will ever come across in your lifetime. But ultimately, given all the information, you the reader will have to decide what you accept or reject. But if you reject the evidence presented in this work the onus shifts onto you to show objectively why you have rejected the evidence.
In the past, the clergy refused to accept science because it conflicted with the clergy's personal religious beliefs. When Galileo showed the Pope the telescope and told him that it would prove Galileo's view of the universe, the Pope called the telescope 'the work of the devil' and refused to look through it. But the clergy had to eventually accept that science prevailed over personal, subjective religious beliefs. It can never be any other way.
You the reader have to take extreme care not to fall into the comfort zone trap, rejecting objective information just because the objective, scientific information conflicts with your personal, subjective beliefs—be they religious or skeptical. Where there is an inconsistency between objective information and subjective belief there may be a need for either more investigation or a change in the subjective belief.
It is submitted that once people feel comfortable with a set of beliefs, they do not want to change them even if new, objective and scientific information shows they are completely invalid. Many beliefs become part of the emotional makeup and hard wired into the nervous system. These beliefs become very hard to shift.
The ‘boggle threshold’
Even if the information is scientific, we initially tend to reject it if the information is too advanced or if it challenges our ‘boggle threshold’ by being too far ahead of our existing knowledge especially if the information is not consistent with our secular or religious beliefs, history, culture, values and tradition.
Repeatedly, we have had to adjust our beliefs and value systems to accommodate scientific marvels such as man walking on the moon and spectacular space explorations. Similarly, adjustments have to be made when dealing with psychic phenomena.
Please check this site out...www.victorzammit.com when you get to the home page click on view the book this is where the good stuff is LOL...Hope you all have a mind challenging day :) and for you lazy folks...challenging your mind is a good thing LOL
PECANS IN THE CEMETARY
On the outskirts of a small town, there was a big, old pecan tree just inside the cemetery fence.
One day, two boys filled up a bucketful of nuts
and sat down by the tree, out of sight, and began dividing the nuts.
One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me,' said one boy.
Several dropped and rolled down toward the fence.
Another boy came riding along the road on his bicycle.
As he passed,
he thought he heard voices from inside the cemetery.
He slowed down
to investigate. Sure enough, he heard, 'One for you, one for me.
One
for you, one for me.
He just knew what it was. He jumped back on his bike and rode off.
Just
around the bend he met an old man with a cane, hobbling along.
Come here quick,' said the boy, 'you won't believe what I heard! Satan and
the Lord are down at the cemetery dividing up the souls.
The man said, 'Beat it kid, can't you see it's hard for me to walk.
When the boy insisted though, the man hobbled slowly to the cemetery.
Standing by the fence they heard, 'One for you, one for me.
One for you,
one for me.
The old man whispered, 'Boy, you've been tellin' me the truth.
Let's see if
we can see the Lord.
Shaking with fear, they peered through the fence, yet were still unable to
see anything.
The old man and the boy gripped the wrought iron bars of the
fence tighter and tighter as they tried to get a glimpse of the Lord.
At last they heard, 'One for you, one for me. That's all.
Now let's go get
those nuts by the fence and we'll be done.
They say the old man made it back to town a full 5 minutes ahead of the
kid on the bike.
JUST WANTED TO SHARE A SMILE.HOPE EVERYONE HAS A FANTASTIC DAY !! HUGS ANGIE
SINCE PORTAL IN TIME BROUGHT UP THE SUBJECT IN A PREVIOUS BLOG I THOUGHT I WOULD POST THIS LIST OF PARANORMAL TERMS TAKEN FROM THE MYSTICALBLAZE WEBSITE (LINK BELOW)
I POSTED IN AS A NEW BLOG BECAUSE THE LIST WAS SO LONG.
DOES ANYONE DISAGREE WITH THESE OR HAVE ANOTHER OPINION??
Agent – A living person who is the focus of poltergeist activity.
Amulet - An object that is thought to bring good luck or have the power to protect from ghosts or spirits and ward off evil.
Apparition - a spectral image of a person that materializes even though a physical body is not present.
Apport – A physical object that can materialize and appear at will in the presence of a medium.
Asport – A physical object that a spirit teleports to another location or makes disappear.
Astral Body – The body that a person occupies during an out-of-body experience.
Astral Plane – A world that is believed to exist above our physical world.
Astral Projection – The intentional act of having the spirit leave the body, whereas an out-of-body experience will happen involuntarily. (See out of body experience).
Astrology - The theory and practice of the positions and aspects of celestial bodies in the belief that they have an influence on the course of natural earthly occurrences and human affairs.
Aura – An invisible emanation of light that seems to surround a person or thing which is often thought to reflect a person’s personality.
Automatic Writing – This method of obtaining information from disembodied spirits is used by mediums in which the spirit takes control over the medium causing them to translate unconscious information on paper without being aware of the contents.
Automatism – An unconscious or involuntary muscular movement caused by spirits. (See automatic writing)
Autoscopy – The visual hallucination or image of one's body looking back at themselves from a position outside the body. (See out of body experience).
Ball Lightning - A rare form of lightning in the shape of a glowing red ball that can last anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes. Typically associated with Thunderstorms, these spheres are thought to consist of ionized gas.
Banshee – A wailing spirit or “death omen” that will appear to be in two different places at the same time.
Call – A call is the response that is made by a subject during a card-guessing test or during any other type of ESP test.
Card Guessing – Card guessing is used as an experimental test for ESP in which a subject tries to guess the identity of a set of cards.
Case Study – An in-depth investigation of an individual subject.
Channeling – In this modern day method of spirit communication, a spirit will pass information directly to a medium or channeler who will then relay the information on to the listener(s).
Clairaudience – An auditory form of ESP paranormal information is received outside the range of normal perception through voices, whispers and auditory impressions.
Clairsentience – A general term for clairvoyance and clairaudience. Clairsentience typically occurs in the form of ESP through physical sensations or smells.
Clairvoyance – An acute insight or perceptiveness that enables you to see objects or events that cannot be perceived by the senses in the form of mental imagery and intuition. (See ESP)
Closed Deck – A set of cards used in a card guessing deck in which each card will appear a fixed number of times. The statistical analysis obtained from a closed card deck differs from that of an open card deck. (See Card Guessing).
Cold Reading – This is a technique commonly used by fake mind readers, mediums and magicians which allows them to obtain previously unknown information about a person by asking a general series of statements, questions and answers.
Control – This is a procedure in paranormal psychology that ensures that the experiment is conducted in a standard fashion so that the results will no be influenced by any extraneous factors.
Control Group – A group of outside subjects whose performance or abilities are compared with the experimental subjects.
Collective Apparition - A rare type of sighting in which more than one person sees the same apparition or phenomena.
Crisis Apparition – An apparition that is seen when a person is seriously ill, seriously injured or at the point of death.
Dematerialization – This word is used to describe a spirit or specter meaning to deprive of or lose apparent physical substance or in simpler terms, without flesh.
Déjà vu - An impression or dull familiarity of having seen or experienced something before.
Demon - An inferior deity often spoken of in religious text as pure evil.
Direct Voice Phenomenon (DVP) – An auditory “spirit” voice that is spoken directly to the sitters at a séance.
Dice Test – An experimental test in which a subject attempts to influence the fall of dice. This study is used for the investigation of psychokinesis.
Doppelganger – An exact spirit double or mirror image of a person which is considered to be very negative.
Earthbound – A term referring to a ghost or spirit that was unable to cross over to the other side at the time of death and is therefore stuck on earth.
Ectoplasm – An immaterial or ethereal substance associated with spirit manifestations.
Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP) – Voices and sounds from beyond that are captured and recorded on magnetic tape.
Elementals – Spiritualists commonly refer to this term to describe mean or angry spirits sometimes also called “Earth Spirits”.
EMF Detector – (See Magnetometer)
Extra Sensory Perception (ESP) - Communication or perception by means other than the physical senses.
Exorcism - The banishment of an entity or entities i.e. spirits, ghosts and demons that is thought to possess or haunt a location or human being or animal. The ritual, which can be religious in nature, is conducted by an exorcist who will call upon a Higher Power to cast away any evil forces that may reside there.
False Awakening – The event in which a person believes they are awake but are actually dreaming.
Ghost – A generic term referring to a form of apparition or supernatural entity which is typically the visual appearance of a deceased human's spirit soul.
Ghost Hunting – A carefully controlled research project in which various methods and equipment are used to investigate reports of ghosts and hauntings.
Goat – An experiment in which the subject does not believe in the ability for which they are being tested.
Ghoul – Demonic or parasitic entity that feeds upon human remains.
Hallucination – The perception of sights and sounds that are not actually present.
Haunting – Reoccurring ghostly phenomena that returns to a location where no one is physically present. Ghosts generally haunt places and not people.
Hellhound / Black Shuck – A spectral death omen in the form of a ghostly dog.
Hot Reading – A devious or fraudulent reading in which the reader has been given prior knowledge of the sitter.
Hypnosis – A technique that induces a sleep like state in which the subject acts only on external suggestion.
Ignis fatuus - A phosphorescent or spectral light that that is alleged to be an indication of death. This phenomenon is thought to be caused by spontaneous combustion of gases emitted by rotting organic matter.
Illusion – A delusional perception between what is perceived and what is reality.
Intuition – Non-paranormal knowledge that is gained through a perceptive insight.
Levitation – To lift or raise a physical object in apparent defiance of gravity.
Life Review – A flashback of a person’s life that is typically associated with near-death experiences.
Lucid Dreaming - A dream state in which one is conscious enough to recognize that one is in the dream state and is then able to control dream events.
Magnetometer (EMF, gaussmeter) - An instrument for measuring the magnitude and direction of a magnetic field typically used by paranormal researchers to detect a ghost’s magnetic energy.
Marian Apparitions – The event in which the Virgin Mary is seen.
Materialization – The act of forming something solid from the air. One of the most difficult and impressive materializations is when part or all of a ghost or spirit can be seen, especially if the face is recognizable.
Medium - Someone who professes to be able communicate with spirits on behalf of another living being, acting as a midway point halfway between the worlds of the living and the dead.
Mesmerism – A hypnotic induction of a sleep or trance State (See Hypnotism).
Mist – A Photographed anomaly that appears as a blanket of light. There is no substantial proof that these are related to paranormal phenomenon.
Motor Automatism – Bodily movement or functions that are accompanied but not controlled by consciousness (See automatic writing).
Near Death Experience (NDE) – An experience that is reported by people who clinically die, or come close to actual death and are revived. These events often include encounters with spirit guides, seeing dead relatives or friends, life review, out-of-body Experiences (OBE), or a moment of decision where they are able to decide or are told to turn back.
Old Hag Syndrome – A nocturnal phenomena that involves a feeling of immobilization, suffocation, odd smells and feelings and is sometimes accompanied my immense fear (See Sleep Paralysis).
Orb – A photographed anomaly that theoretically represents the “spirit” of a deceased person. It will appear as a ball of light on film though is some cases; they are not seen at the time of the photo. Since there are many reasonable circumstances (dust, snow, rain, insects, reflection, lens flare, etc.) orbs still remain a highly controversial subject.
Ouija Board - A pre-printed board with letters, numerals, and words used to receive spirit communications. Typically a planchette is employed to spell out words and point out numbers or letters.
Out-of-body experience (OBE) – A sensation or experience in which ones self or spirit travels to a different location than their physical body (See Astral Projection).
Paranormal – Referring to something that is beyond the range of normal human experience or scientific explanation.
Parapsychology - The study of the evidence for psychological phenomena that are inexplicable by science.
Percipient - A person who sees (i.e., perceives) an apparition.
Phantom - Something that is seen, heard, or sensed, but has no physical reality (See Ghost).
Poltergeist - a non-human spirit entity which literally means "noisy ghost" but is usually more malicious and destructive than ghosts of dead human beings. Traditional poltergeists activities are thumping and banging, levitating or the moving of objects, stone throwing and starting fires. It is thought that poltergeist activity in some instances may be brought on subconsciously by an adolescent agent or females under the age of 25.
Precognition – The ability to predict or have knowledge of something in advance of its occurrence, especially by extrasensory perception (See Clairvoyance).
Psi – A letter in the Greek alphabet that denotes psychic phenomena.
Psychic - A person who is responsive to psychic forces with above average ESP abilities.
Psychokinesis (PK) - The power of the mind to affect matter without physical contact, especially in inanimate and remote objects by the exercise of psychic powers.
Psychometry - The ability or art of divining information about people or events associated with an object solely by touching or being near to it.
Pyrokinesis – The ability to unconsciously control and sometimes in rare cases produce fire with their mind only.
Radio Voice Phenomenon (RVP) - Receiving the voice of a deceased human being through a regular radio.
Reciprocal Apparition - An extremely rare type of spirit phenomenon in which both the agent and percipient are able to see and respond to each other.
Remote Viewing – Used by some psychics, this is a procedure in which the percipient or psychic attempts to become physically aware of the experience of an agent who is at a distant, unknown location through ESP.
Retrocognition – An experience in which a person finds themselves in the past and is able to see and experience events in which they had no prior knowledge.
Séance - A meeting or gathering of people, usually lead by a medium to receive spiritualistic messages, manifestations or communication with the dead.
Shaman – A member of certain tribal societies who acts as a medium between the visible world and an invisible spirit world and who practices magic or sorcery for purposes of healing, divination, and control over natural events.
Sheep – An experiment in which the subject believes in the ability in which they are being tested.
Simulcra – This is a word used to describe the seeing of faces, figures and images in ordinary, everyday object such as rocks, foliage, etc.
Specter – A ghostly apparition; a phantom (See Ghost).
Spiritualism - The belief system that the dead are able to communicate with the living, through an intermediary or medium.
Stigmata – Unexplained bodily marks, sores, or sensations of pain corresponding in location to the crucifixion wounds of Christ.
Subjective Apparitions – Hallucinations of apparitions or other phenomena that are created by our own minds.
Supernatural - Of or relating to existence outside the natural world. As opposed to paranormal, the term "supernatural" often connotes divine or demonic intervention.
Tarot Cards - A set of (usually 72) cards that include 22 cards representing virtues and vices, death and fortune etc. used by fortunetellers to help predict future events.
Telekinesis - The paranormal movement of objects by scientifically inexplicable means.
Telepathy – Communication from one mind to another through means other than the senses.
Teleportation - A method of transportation in which matter or information is dematerialized, usually instantaneously, at one point and recreated at another.
Thought Form – An apparition produced solely by the power of the human mind.
Trance - A hypnotic, cataleptic, or ecstatic state in which one becomes detached from their physical surroundings.
Vortex – An anomaly that appears as a funnel or rope-like image in photographs. These images are sometimes thought to represent ghosts, collections of orbs or gateways which travel to a wormhole in time-space. There has been no substantial scientific evidence to support any of these theories.
White Noise – An Acoustical or electrical noise of which the intensity is the same at all frequencies within a given band.
Zener Cards – A set of 25 cards for use in card-guessing tests of ESP. Each set contains 5 of each of the following cards:
Circle
Square
Greek Cross
Three Wavy Lines
Five-pointed Star
http://www.mysticalblaze.com/GlossaryParanormal.htm
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