Other Forms of Life (Evolution)

by dhw, Friday, December 19, 2008, 11:45 (5614 days ago) @ David Turell

David believes in ESP, OBEs and NDEs, but not in "healing powers" or in an immaterial world. - No-one could seriously doubt that the mind has a huge influence on the body (and vice versa), or that placebos often work for that very reason. However, my father's frozen shoulder, which nowadays you say would be treated under anaesthetic, with the shoulder being forcibly stretched and the scar tissue being broken up, was first relieved and then cured, according to my father, by a simple placing-on of hands. In any case, the removal of warts by hypnosis is scarcely comparable. I must again stress that my father ... who was a very stubborn man ... was totally sceptical, which is not the sort of mindset conducive to autosuggestion. There can be no doubt that the healer himself, whom I met a couple of times, believed that his power came from God, and the point that remains most vividly in my memory is his response to my father's scepticism: namely, that it was he the healer who had to have faith, and not the patient. - I'm fascinated by your equation of the "immaterial world" with the quantum layer. In OBEs and NDEs, the dead person not only retains his identity, but is also able to see and hear what is going on in the room and even elsewhere, as well as encounter other dead people. I can't see much difference between calling this perceiving identity "virtual energy" or an "energy constellation" and calling it the "soul" or the "spirit". If you believe that this constellation does survive death, then can I presume that you also believe in ghosts and in spiritualism? I'm sorry if I seem to be pushing you on this, but for me it's all part of the same complex, and I'd like to know where you draw the line (and why).