The world's mythology and literature are haunted by spectral visitors from "the other side," ectoplasmic intruders aiding, warning, guiding, and terrorizing humankind. Every culture, from the aboriginal to the wired, spins tales of vaporous apparitions, of a constant commerce across the permeable boundary dividing souls freed of flesh from those still encased within it. If death silences the lips, whence arises the ceaseless clamor from beyond the veil? Read the rest of this entry »

French physicist and philosopher Bernard d'Espagnat was this year's winner of The Templeton Prize, a generous award given to a living person whose outstanding contributions through their life's work define and substantiate the spiritual aspects of life.

His explorations of quantum mechanics and insights into the nature of our universe stand out for their implications about the existence of an "ultimate spiritual reality" that is veiled from us apart from our perceived everyday world. This veiled reality, according to d'Espagnat, exists beyond time and space.
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Can our mind really display extra-sensory abilities beyond the five senses? One expert set out to define and prove the validity of such psychic powers as precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis, out-of-body experiences, and telepathy.

Neuroscientist Diane Hennacy Powell, a former Harvard Medical School professor, attempts to logically answer long-standing questions about the possibilities of psychic phenomena, and the relationship between our brain and consciousness, in her book, The ESP Enigma: The Scientific Case for Psychic Phenomena. Extra-sensory abilities can be explained, she says, by applying the theories of Einstein and quantum physics. She also provides empirical data developed over the past few decades from several well-designed and rigorously supervised experiments that reinforce the existence of such phenomena.
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My generation used to watch a limited selection of paranormal shows such as The Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, and Bewitched (does this one even count?). Now it seems we have an endless array of metaphysical subjects to watch on an almost nightly basis.

Currently there's Ghost Hunters, Paranormal State, Ghost Whisperer, Medium, Destination Truth, Saving Grace, America's Psychic Challenge, Alien Abductions: True Confessions, John Edward Cross Country, A Haunting, Most Haunted, and on and on. These shows tend to be on cable channels rather than major networks who are more likely to go after the really big money rather than produce fringe, reality-exploring content.
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After my father passed away last week, my brother naturally wondered what heaven is like. After reflecting on his inquiry, I felt the only true response could come from those who have directly experienced what we call "heaven." I pointed him to Near-Death.com, a site that includes many descriptions of experiences from those who have purportedly crossed over to the other side and returned to tell about it.
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