Posted on 19 December 2022, 9:00

In this final blog of 2022, I decided to draw one meaningful quote from a blog appearing in each month of the year.  Hopefully, the reader will find at least one that is meaningful to him or her. Thanks to all for the comments and feedback.  Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy New Year!

A Nihilistic World: “The old order of things has collapsed. In some parts of the world, as in Europe, that collapse has been so complete that it seems everything of the old has been destroyed or lost. Elsewhere, as in our country, much of the staunchness of the old order is still intact; but it is becoming increasingly obvious that even here readjustments are inevitable.” – Betty White (This was a message from the discarnate Betty White to her husband, renowned explorer and author Stewart Edward White, who had asked, through a medium known as Joan, about problems in the world at the time, 1939.  When Stewart asked what had brought about the collapse, Betty responded, “Loss of faith in the present fact of immortality.”)

Humanity Intensified:  “When you come here and your eyes are unsealed, those who meet you will seem quite natural and quite human, as, indeed, we are. In fact, we are more human than you, as you now know yourself, ever dreamed of being. We are humanity intensified many times.”  – Stephen (Stephen was the name of a spirit communicator as reported in the 1920 best-seller “Our Unseen Guest,” by Darby and Joan.)

Individuality of Spirits:  “The voices are of a great variety. I counted in a single evening as many as twenty – some apparently the voices of children, and others of middle-aged persons and old men and women; a few of these are the voices of Indians, and one of a jolly, typical Virginian Negro. Each voice maintains its individuality during the evening and from one evening to another.”  – Isaac Funk  (Dr. Funk was one of the founders of the Funk and Wagnalls publishing firm, which produced the standard American dictionary. He was referring to his visit to a 68-year-old widowed Brooklyn, New York direct-voice medium in 1903.)

Unreasonable Skepticism: “There comes a time at which this hypothesis of universal confederacy must stop; or if not this, that the entire present report may be dismissed off-hand as a deliberate fabrication in the interests of false mediumship. I respectfully submit that no critic who hesitates at this logical climax may by any means escape the hypotheses of validity.  If the present paper is worthy of and if it received the slightest degree of respectful attention, the facts which it chronicles must constitute proof of the existence of Margery’s supernormal faculties, and the strongest sort of evidence that these work through the agency of her deceased brother, Walter.” – Mark Richardson (Dr. Richardson was a physician and Harvard professor of medicine who had countless sittings with medium Mina Crandon, aka “Margery,” and performed a number of experiments with her to rule out trickery.)

Spirit Memory: “As in the case of very old people still in the physical body, those who have experienced the full span of life on earth when they come here recall most easily fragmentary memories of the distant past and fail to recollect near events.  As [Winifred Coombe Tennant] says quite correctly, we seem to swim in the sea of the automatist’s subliminal mind, and any strong current may sweep us away from the memory objectives we have in view, before we attempt to communicate.” –  Gerald Balfour  (Communicating through the automatic writing of medium Geraldine Cummins, Lord Balfour, a British politician when in the flesh, was said to be the leader of a soul group on the Other Side.)

Pseudo Skepticism: “To suggest that these trained observers were all deceived by fraudulent operations, those stupid and very tiresome performances which mislead no one but the uninformed and gullible, is to offer an explanation which offends our reason and shows willful indifference to truth. –  T. Glen Hamilton (Dr. Hamilton, a Canadian physician, surgeon and psychical researcher, was referring to the likes of Sir William Crookes, Sir Oliver Lodge, Professor William James, Professor Charles Richet, and Alfred Russel Wallace, all of whom had investigated various mediums and had deemed them genuine.)

Philistinism: “The ordinary mind may not think things out very far, but it is quick to feel when the central entrenchments of its life are being undermined; and to nothing is it more sensitive than to attacks on its belief in the immortal life.  It feels, and has a right to feel, that when this is destroyed there is nothing left, at last, but a mad and ruthless scramble for the material enjoyments of this present life.” – Howard N. Brown (Dr. Brown wrote for the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.)

Consciousness After Death: “I find now difficulties such as a blind man would experience in trying to find his hat.  And I am not wholly conscious of my own utterances because they come out automatically, impressed upon the machine (Leonora Piper’s body)…I impress my thoughts on the machine which registers them at random, and which are at times doubtless difficult to understand.  I understand so much better the modus operandi than I did when I was in your world.”   – Richard Hodgson (the surviving consciousness of Dr. Hodgson as told to Professor William Newbold in a July 23, 1906 sitting with Leonora Piper).

Music from the Spheres: “We had last night an admirable specimen of zither playing, for a length of time. The performer (we don’t know his name yet) actually performed what is called a free prelude; that is to say, a short unbarred composition. The whole thing was most marvelous, for there is no zither in our house, and it is an instrument that cannot be mistaken.” – Stanhope Speer (Dr. Speer reported on a sitting with his friend Rev. William Stainton Moses, a medium, on July 13, 1874.)

Beyond Human Understanding: “I am perfectly convinced that I have both seen, and heard in a manner which should make unbelief impossible, things called spiritual which cannot be taken by a rational being to be capable of explanation by imposture, coincidence, or mistake, But when it comes to what is the cause of these phenomena, I find I cannot adopt any explanation which has yet been suggested. If I were bound to choose among things which I can conceive, I should say that there is some sort of action or some combination of will, intellect, and physical power, which is not that of any of the human beings present.”   – Augustus De Morgan (Professor De Morgan was a renowned British mathematician and pioneering psychical researcher.)

Limited Human Awareness: “The possibilities of the Universe are still largely a sealed book.  We must be unaware of a multitude of things going on all around us, just as we are unaware of the wireless waves passing through the hall at the present moment – waves which would bring us speech or music if we had suitable instruments…If only our eyes were open to see the whole of existence we should be dazzled, blinded – we could not stand it. They are mercifully screened from complete revelation, but we have inklings and suggestions and indications that we are thus screened, that the body isolates us, so as to enable us to act as individuals and to do our work here in the field of matter which we are occupied with for a few years”   – Oliver Lodge (Sir Oliver was a world-renowned physicist and pioneering psychical researcher.)

Drab Earth Life: “How very dim life on earth seems to me now!  I look upon it as a troubled dream, wherein were indeed some bright spots, some kind feelings shed around my path to make it brighter.  I was but the germ placed in a casket of clay, whose inner unfoldings, whose heaven-sent aspirations, should have begun to develop themselves sooner while placed there.” – John C. Calhoun (A former vice-president of the United States, Calhoun communicated with former U.S. Senator Nathaniel Tallmadge on a number of occasions from the spirit world.)

Michael Tymn is the author of The Afterlife Revealed: What Happens After We Die, Resurrecting Leonora Piper: How Science Discovered the Afterlife, and Dead Men Talking: Afterlife Communication from World War I.
His latest book, No One Really Dies: 25 Reasons to Believe in an Afterlife is published by White Crow books.

Thank you Michael and Bruce — I appreciate the follow-ups to my AI comment. Still pretty amazed by it all ….

Anthony,
I worked with chatbots for many years. The idea was that if you were in a room and you were unable to tell a software driven bot from a real person, it was said to have passed the Turning Test (named after Alan Turning - Enigma machine fame ). My consultancy company was named after Alan his favourite location to think was a special parkbench)
The new conversational branch of intelligence is to continue the intelligence debate. Chatbots don’t handle lexical ambiguity well. The story goes that the first chatbot was Julia and the wife of the developer was thinking that he was cheating on the wife with these conversations. The learning of chatbots can also be corrupted with the conversation getting slanted. An airlines customer service chatbot was misdirected to explain to the customers that they would need to sit according to colour and race. The problem is the learning set for training the bot (short for robot). The new AI one is getting good at exam answers. It learns fast.
My students were trained with a chatbot that was AI - https://www.chatbots.org/chatbot/a.l.i.c.e/
Bruce

Anthony,

Thanks for the information on ChatGPT.  It sounds very interesting.  I attempted to sign up, but they said I was verified but not authenticated.  I got hung up there, but need to try again later.

Yes, it’s a good day for singing a song
And it’s a good day for movin’ along
Yes, it’s a good day
How could anything be wrong?
A good day from morning ‘til night

And it’s a good day for shinin’ your shoes
And it’s a good day for losin’ the blues
Everything to gain and nothing to lose
A good day from morning ‘til night

I said to the sun, “Good mornin’, Sun
Rise and shine today
You know you gotta get goin’
If you’re gonna make a showin’
And you got the right of way”

‘Cause it’s a good day for payin’ your bills
And it’s a good day for curin’ your ills
So take a deep breath and throw away the pills
‘Cause it’s a good day from morning ‘til night.

                      Peggy Lee

I wonder if anyone here has played around with ChatGPT, which is a chatbot that interacts with you as if it were human all through the tech of AI. You should Google ChatGPT and give it a try if you haven’t yet. I’ve been having fun with it, asking it to write me absurd stories. For example, I asked it to tell me a story about how a butcher knife became human while at the same time the butcher himself became a knife. The result was amusing.

So then I asked it:  “Write me a story about life after death.” I fully expected the AI chatbot to simply say: I can’t do this because there is no life after death.” But instead, this is what came out (in about 30 seconds, mind you).

“There was once a man named Tom who died in a car accident. When he arrived in the afterlife, he was met by a kind and wise being who explained to him that death was simply a transition to a new form of existence. Tom was given the choice to be reincarnated into a new life on earth or to stay in the afterlife and continue his spiritual growth.

“Tom decided to stay in the afterlife and was guided to a beautiful, peaceful place where he could learn and explore. He spent countless hours studying ancient wisdom and exploring the mysteries of the universe. As he learned and grew, he began to feel a deep sense of purpose and fulfillment that he had never experienced in his previous life.

“Eventually, Tom decided that it was time for him to return to earth and share the wisdom he had gained with others. He was reincarnated and lived a long, fulfilling life, spreading joy and enlightenment wherever he went.

“When he died again, Tom returned to the afterlife with a sense of gratitude and peace, knowing that death was simply a doorway to a new and wonderful adventure.”

Well! I don’t know how these chatbots work — but that’s not a bad story for AI!

Happy New Year to you all!

Amos, I didn’t have an opportunity to view the link you recommended until yesterday.  It offers a very meaningful message.  Thank you and Happy New Year to you and to all.

Bruce,
I recommend the “JeffMara” (Jeff Reynolds) podcast.  Jeff is the most accepting, courteous, interviewer I have seen and heard.  He allows his interviewees to speak and tell their story without interruption.  At times I wonder how he can keep from laughing at or questioning some of the things he hears but Jeff is a good kind man who listens quietly and shows great acceptance and respect of the person he is interviewing whatever that person may say.  Jeff is very prolific and has many podcasts. He has a variety of people on his podcasts which makes it very interesting to hear all of these differing experiences and beliefs.  I think Jeff is an angel in disguise. 

Good health and happiness for the new year, Bruce.  - AOD

Happy New Year everyone! Thanks to all of you—Michael especially—for helping create a place of refuge and sanity among the craziness in our world. Looking forward to more in 2023!

Amos,
I am watching A Father’s Journey Finding his son from JeffMara (first time I have looked at this podcaster). This shows that there are people finding their way much the same as in the past.
Traveling so my travel computer not as powerful as home - a Chromebook.
What reminds me of the important value of this search/blog is the loss of a loved one.
St Francis of Assisi says save the one first rather than chase the many.
Happy New Year
Bruce

Happy New Year all!

Perhaps at the end of 2022 it might be good to listen to a “JeffMara” podcast with Spiritual therapist Norma Edwards.  This is one of the most outstanding interviews Jeff has done and surpasses all of the “teachings” of all of the revered esteemed communicants from the afterlife without exception.  If you really want to learn how to live a purposeful life listen to Norma Edwards. I can’t recommend her enough!

Happy and Healthful New Year everyone. - AOD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5uBfHFXFqI

May the light of Christmas lighten op your heart and bring peace and warmth into your house and family.  A merry Christmas to all of you.

Thanks to all for the additional comments, including those on a book of quotes.  I agree that it is best to provide biographical information on the person being quoted below the quote itself, as in this blog, rather than providing it at the end.  However, for those being quoted two or three times, I’ll probably put a short bio in the appendix. I’m trying to figure out categories for the quotes.  I’ll probably have six or seven categories.

Dear all,
I have been interested in the attribution discussions as it is very practical advice. I used Scrivener to write a recent book and it uses the term attribution. I then took these references and made them endnotes with citations as usual for academic papers using Zotero. (Standard procedure)

I have written papers with footnotes for cybersecurity. Footnotes do not require the reader to go to the end of the article, merely look down.

Different techniques are used for different audiences. The problem is the flow and as quotes are self contained hence my thoughts are adjacent reference/attribution. Each new quote breaks the flow.

Don has an advertising background (I would expect his involvement in many high profile campaigns) with reach, frequency and impact the key thoughts for a marketing message. This has made me think about the various quotes/messages as each having these three attributes.

Those in the after life convey messages to their loved ones with high impact. The next level up have different styles of messages, more long term.
Their reach has been increased by publications such as White Eagle, Silver Birch.

To tie these two thoughts together, the collection of these quotes, each with their high impact nature can get an extended reach with a collection of classic quotes each linked back to the blog in which they appeared.

I appreciate quotes and one I like is “Only three things are certain: Death, taxes, and fear of both of them” Woody Allen. Merry Christmas
Bruce

Mike,

Those are all terrific. If you are going to assemble them into a larger collection, please put the attribution immediately after the quote: name and source. As a historian and documentary editor, there is nothing more frustrating than a missing or buried attribution.

Thank you.

Mike…

On the quote attribution—my gut feel (as an old advertising guy) is that quotes without attribution (VISIBLE attribution) are essentially worthless. As many readers totally ignore “notes” if they’re placed at the back of the book as “end-notes,”  I strongly recommend that you place your attributions up-front with the quotes. (In my own book, the notes were up-front on the same page as the reference…)

Many thanks for this, Michael, I always delight to read your blog. May you have a wonderful Christmas and new year!

Mike,
My preference is that you acknowledge the quoted person’s name and the date, under his or her statement, as well as in an index. (You could give more details of situations and contexts in an Appendix.)
—JK

Michael,
Thank you for your collection of inspiring quotes. Many are familiar. Your blogs have been an inspiration to many and have produced many animated discussions. I have few of your books included in a library of similar books. At the end of such a productive year all I can hear are voices calling
Maestro!
Bruce

Deep thanks to you, Michael, for all the insights that you share with us. I also agree with Don: This would be a great regular feature. I value your bringing to our attention your thoughts and conclusions, as well as those of the researchers who came before us.
Warm Blessings to you,
Jane

Amos, thank you for your interest in my “Afterlife Explorers” book. Unfortunately, it was the least popular of all my books and therefore it was decided not to have a book 2.  “The Afterlife Revealed” was the most popular, with “Resurrecting Leonora Piper” in second place.

Gems all. Great for forwarding to very select friends who wonder about what we are doing. Thanks.

Thanks, Don.  I am considering a book of quotes, maybe 500 or more.  I’m debating on whether to ID the person being quoted below the quote or to have that info all in an appendix.  What do you think?  Keep in mind that some will be quoted more than once.

Mike thanks for taking the time to do this
I really appreciate it
Blessings Karen & Merry Christmas !!!

Thank you, Michael for a year of 24 informative thought-provoking blog articles.  I have enjoyed every one of them.  Happy holidays and good health for the coming year.

(I am reading volume 1 of “The Afterlife Explorers: The Pioneers of Psychical Research” which you published in 2011.  Are there volumes 2, 3 or 4 as you intended?)  -AOD

Thanks for all your blogs this year, Michael. Yet again you have cast enlightenment around for anyone who cares to perceive it. I wish you a happy Christmas and New Year and look forward to more of your blogs in 2023.

Michael…

A nicely thoughtful compendium. You should make this (to the extent that we’re all still around) a regular feature…