tag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-511609 2012-01-23T20:30:28+00:00 consciousness, spirituality, psychic research TypePad typepad/paranormaliahttp://feedburner.google.com tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c6d8553ef0168e5f80449970c 2012-01-23T20:30:28+00:00 2012-01-27T15:55:02+00:00 robert mcluhan As I've mentioned, I'm fascinated by what psychics and mediums do. I've long been convinced by the academic research that it's a real process. But how does it start? What exactly do they experience? Not being psychic at all, to me mediums seem like...<br/> <br/> www.paranormalia.com tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c6d8553ef0168e5b2a666970c 2012-01-17T18:42:03+00:00 2012-01-18T09:52:49+00:00 robert mcluhan I've been listening to a conversation between organisers of James Randi's Million Dollar Challenge. They were discussing a test of psychics that they organised for ABC's Primetime Nightline show last summer. It was quite revealing. The test was set...<br/> <br/> www.paranormalia.com tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c6d8553ef01675ff3e669970b 2012-01-04T11:33:10+00:00 2012-01-04T17:31:19+00:00 robert mcluhan We're used to scientists telling us that the universe is inert matter, that we lack free will, and that our ideas, beliefs and goals are just 'folk psychology'. To voice dissent is to invite sharp correction or be denounced as a follower of...<br/> <br/> www.paranormalia.com tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c6d8553ef015438862fd6970c 2011-12-19T12:15:55+00:00 2011-12-19T14:59:49+00:00 robert mcluhan Christopher Hitchens's death has led to a predictable eruption of religious hostilities. For some Christian fundamentalists it's along the lines of 'that nasty atheist will have got a terrible shock'. For his part sceptic PZ Myers 'takes joy in...<br/> <br/> www.paranormalia.com tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c6d8553ef0154384bc108970c 2011-12-14T18:46:29+00:00 2011-12-14T18:46:29+00:00 robert mcluhan I don't much associate rugby players with spirituality, so it's interesting to see what is being said about Jonny Wilkinson on his retirement from the game. Wilko was no common or garden sporting star. There was something oddly religious about his...<br/> <br/> www.paranormalia.com tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c6d8553ef01675ea8f21c970b 2011-12-12T11:28:09+00:00 2011-12-12T11:28:09+00:00 robert mcluhan [Thanks to Phil Brisk for this therapeutic technique to help cope with sceptics.] I've been thinking lately about storylines - or 'narratives', if you prefer a posher word - and how they shape our understanding of the world. For example, take just...<br/> <br/> www.paranormalia.com tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c6d8553ef015437fbddfc970c 2011-12-07T18:13:21+00:00 2011-12-07T18:15:21+00:00 robert mcluhan I talked recently about Deepak Chopra describing how he was 'ambushed' by Richard Dawkins for his 2007 Enemies of Reason films on Channel 4. The film makers hadn't told him it was Dawkins he was going to be talking to. Another putative 'enemy of...<br/> <br/> www.paranormalia.com tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c6d8553ef0162fd64d17c970d 2011-12-05T19:04:36+00:00 2011-12-05T19:04:36+00:00 robert mcluhan Science writer John Horgan has reprised the anti-Buddhism critique that he first published on Slate.com eight years ago. Slate has reissued the original article, and Buddhists are again berating him for his ignorance. So he wants to have another go...<br/> <br/> www.paranormalia.com tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c6d8553ef015393d94a1c970b 2011-12-01T15:23:46+00:00 2011-12-01T17:11:32+00:00 robert mcluhan I wonder what Richard Dawkins makes of this profuse and lengthy apology that Deepak Chopra has just made to him on YouTube. Chopra says 'sorry' about comments he made while appearing on Bill O'Reilly's show on Fox News a few weeks ago. O'Reilly had...<br/> <br/> www.paranormalia.com tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c6d8553ef015393c0c792970b 2011-11-29T18:39:20+00:00 2011-11-29T18:39:20+00:00 robert mcluhan Rupert Sheldrake's new book, The Science Delusion, is published on January 5. Should be a big event. I've just received an invite to the book launch in London on the 17th, chaired by Dr Peter Fenwick. But I'll review it before that - soon, I hope....<br/> <br/> www.paranormalia.com