To believe in life after death?

[organictwat]

I've been doing some reading around the subject of near death experiences lately and am fascinated. Although I'm agnostic I believe the 'soul' lives in after physical death, aibu?

My dads ex RAF and hes told me all about cold reading,a process that is used to get information out of the enemy without them thinking they are revealed anything,its easily done. A lot of these people that see these mediums reveal too much to begin with.

I do feel for you blond but please don't rely on a medium to tell you much. These people prey on the grief of others.
Sorry but thats my view.

And blond when my brother went to see one to get closure from moms death this so called fake said she could not connect with my mom as my mom had recently died (4 months) and that the spirit needs to heal.
What bunkum. He paid her £25 and got feck all apart from the name Peggy and there as never been a Peggy in the family.
Just be careful and don't rely on them blond

i know i have to take anything the psychic says with a pinch of salt

and not to give out info/lead them

but how can they get so many details right - i heard a tape of the session with my friend and there was no leading/giving out info about dh

watch this space - july 8th

I went with a friend to see a medium. (I was there as moral support for her). It was a case of "I have your mother Sue (not real name btw) she wants you to know that she's watching Jack and Eve (also not real names). She did no fishing about, no miss-hits. For my friend it was like a conversation with her late mother.
The medium said her waiting room was full of a mix if alive people and deceased, she could see and communicate with both. She didn't accept money for the session, as she said it wasn't ethical to make money out of her gift. I have no doubts in my mind that she was the real deal.
As for life after death, I find it far easier to get my head around there being an afterlife than nothingness. To go through life and each have our own thoughts, dreams, etc, it is unbelievable to me that we don't carry on in some way.

The day my mom stands in front of me then I may believe it. Mom was a hugh spiritual person and did actually say when she was diagnosed that she will come back to me. Its never happened.

Pumpernickel if your brother didn't get anything that surely means the psychic/fake wasn't cheating - because she didn't say anything! ok she got £25 but could have then come up with all sorts to keep him happy.

just a thought.

I don't think anyone is denying there are many fakes out there. They give every genuine medium a bad name. However, there is a lot of research by scientists into this now, especially in the area of physics, perhaps brought on by the Steven Hawking story and his belief in nothingness.

I agree you need to not pin all your hopes on readings Blondes but I don't think you are too naive in this area. Some will be genuine and give an accurate reading and others will be obviously fishing. I am so sorry for your loss. Hope your brother gets the tape.x

Blondes I hope with all my heart you get a message from Mark. I really do x

I absolutely believe in life after death. My Pop (Grandad) still leaves his smell of a pipe around my house sometimes. It is beyond comforting.

I also agree that LAD doesn't have to be anything to do with religion. I think spirituality is far greater and stronger than 2000 years of stories.

Vicar I hope you come back to this thread. I believe what you felt was genuine.

I don't want to be harsh on people who are grieving and who find comfort in thinking that their lost loved ones are popping back in some vague way. IF it makes you feel better, great. However don't give any of these fucking woo-peddlers money. They are preying on you. They are ALL con artists, at the very best deluded bucketheads managing the occasional lucky guess. Doris Stokes, for example, used to get the local papers for any place she was booked to appear at, and read the obituaries to get relevant names. Any of these charlatans doing a reading in public know they are going to strike lucky with a few common names and incidents - 'I've got a man here, Tommy, Tony, Timmy?' Someone bursts into tears and the fraud goes on 'It was sudden, wasn't it?' and some other poor sod goes 'Oh yes, he had a heart attack' and they go on from there.

I want to go and see Sally Morgan. She's fascinating.

sally morgan drove me insane by talking in a silly sing song little girl voice when the spirits wanted to say something

I've never understood why people think Derren Brown is some great shakes for showing people how it's done. He's a self confessed con man himself as he used to make his money as a medium, saw a niche for disproving them...

I've seen loads of them, for every ten you see, about one is the real deal. One gave me names, exact names. Who knows?

Bottle....but for that very reason Derren Brown is perfect, although I think you'll find he was a hypnotist and not a medium.

But he's still no better than those he exposes. He too gained financially out of the bereaved and he DID used to work as a medium.

I've met the man a few times and have mutual friends, I never knew he was a medium.

Well he wasn't, he just claimed to be.

I think Derren Brown's success is a good thing, because the more people are informed about how cold reading etc works, the fewer people will be taken in by mediums and all the rest of the woo-peddling empire, though there is a limit to how much the stupid and desperate can be protected from con artists determined to fleece them. I suppose the deluded-sincere type of woo-peddler justifies his/her behaviour on the grounds that a lot of crap about 'being peaceful and happy and watching over you dear' may bring some comfort to the bereaved.
There's a very good novel (Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks by Christopher Brookmyre) that takes apart all the tricks used by 'spiritualists' - go and read it, it's great fun.

I thought his evangelical Christian thing was truly inspired,.

However, there is a lot of research by scientists into this now, especially in the area of physics, perhaps brought on by the Steven Hawking story and his belief in nothingness.

Eh? There is? What Steven Hawking story?

I have done a quick search and can't find anything about db working as a medium. Just a magician and hypnotist.

GrimmaTheNome Stephen Hawking thinks humans are like a broken computer, after death there is nothing. Heaven is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark! But there are loads in the scientific community, not theoretical physics but other branches, who refute this.

Can't do links, sorry but if you google you will find loads on this.

Oh. Well, I'm a member of the 'scientific community' and the 'Steven Hawkings story' is pretty much what the vast majority think. You can find some rare beasts by googling, but 'loads'? ' a lot of research by scientists into this now'? No, not really.

(somewhat perplexed how a scientist actually could research this. I know there's one attempt to verify 'near death' experiences which last I heard had drawn a blank, but how on earth could you go further )

Stephen Hawking thinks humans are like a broken computer, after death there is nothing. Heaven is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark! But there are loads in the scientific community, not theoretical physics but other branches, who refute this.

Could it be the same scientific community which refutes evolution then?

I'm pretty sure though that MOST in the scientific community would pretty much agree with Stephen Hawking though. And evolution.

Well, there are probably more scientists who are christians and believe in an immortal soul than there are who refute evolution, to be fair. While there are indeed some who will disagree with Hawkings et al, they can't actually refute him as they have no proof.

Where can you get actual statistics on that though? Many scientists do seem to be atheist or agnostic, or at least the ones I read about. Would be interesting to find out. I know there have been surveys done suggesting as many as 90% of scientists are atheists but would be interested to see the actual figures. Research here suggests that Natural Scientists Are Less Likely to Believe in God than Are Social Scientists There have been discussions of this on Snopes.