A Different Perspective on the Titanic Disaster

As the Titanic plunged to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, Colonel Archibald Gracie was sucked down with it.  However, he somehow managed to surface and survive, and he soon found himself sprawled on an overturned life raft, his clothes waterlogged and his teeth chattering from the icy cold.  He noticed that the seaman next to him on the raft had a dry cap and asked him if he could borrow it for just a few minutes to warm his head.  “And what would oi do?” was the curt reply.  “Ah, never mind,” said Gracie, as he thought “it would make no difference a hundred years hence.”
 
Those hundred years are up this year on April 15 and we might assume that it no longer makes any difference to Colonel Gracie, wherever and however he now exists.  But understanding Gracie’s ordeal and those of the other 2,222 passengers, including the crew, of the Titanic, might make a difference now for some people – those interested in learning from the experiences of others while searching for greater meaning in life’s suffering and tragedies.

Basically, the Titanic story is about dying and death, a subject many people don’t like to think about. “Dying is especially difficult in America,” writes Kathleen Dowling Singh, Ph.D., an experienced hospice worker, in her 1998 book, The Grace in Dying.  “Our cultural blinders to the world of Spirit, to the transpersonal realms, have left us bereft of meaning, struggling alone with the chaos of psychic deconstruction and physical dissolution.”

This book is not quite like other books about the Titanic.  As the title suggests, it is an attempt to explore the more transcendental aspects of the Titanic story – those suggesting a non-mechanistic universe. The subjects include premonitions, apparitions, out-of-body experiences, telepathic communication among the living, and after-death communication, many related to the Titanic passengers, others offered in support of the Titanic phenomena.  Key among the passengers is William T. Stead, a British journalist.  Although much has been written about Stead’s spiritual pursuits and experiences, very little of it has been discussed in other books about the disaster. Thus, the book is somewhat unique in this respect.

A 1958 graduate of the San Jose State University School of Journalism (B.A. Public Relations), Michael Tymn had two concurrent careers after spending three years as an officer in the U. S. Marine Corps – one as an insurance claims representative, supervisor, and manager, and the other as a freelance journalist.  In his 40-year insurance career, Mike was called upon daily to apply the scientific method by weighing evidence in various types of civil claims and litigation and to make decisions relative to settling the claims or allowing them to go to trial.  He also served as an arbitrator for the Insurance Arbitration Forums, making decisions in certain civil disputes.  He holds the professional designations of Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriters (CPCU) and Associate in Claims – Insurance Institute of America (AIC).

As a journalist, Mike has contributed more than 1,600 articles to some 50 publications over the past 50 years. Writing assignments have taken him to such diverse places as Bangkok, Panama, Glastonbury, Jerusalem, Hollywood, St. Paul, and Tombstone.  He currently serves as editor of The Journal for Spiritual and Consciousness Studies and The Searchlight, both quarterly publications of The Academy for Spirituality and Consciousness Studies.  His metaphysical and paranormal articles have appeared in Atlantis Rising, Paranormal Review, Fate, Mysteries, Vital Signs, Venture Inward, Signs of Life,  Nexus, Psychic News, Psychic Times, Christian Parapsychologist, Two Worlds, Dark Lore, Alternatives, Alternate Perceptions, The Summit, The Honolulu Advertiser, The Honolulu Star-Bulletin, and The Honolulu Star-Advertiser.  He has authored seven books, The Articulate Dead, Running on Third Wind, The Afterlife Revealed, Transcending the Titanic, The Afterlife Explorers, Resurrecting Leonora Piper, and Dead Men Talking. the last five published by White Crow Books.
Mike is convinced that the hedonism, turmoil, and chaos we see in the world today are primarily the result of religious and scientific fundamentalism.  While religious leaders have rejected modern revelation and have been unable to offer its faithful anything more than a very humdrum heaven, science has arrogantly dismissed all religion as superstition.  The end result is that people no longer take the survival of consciousness at death seriously and therefore life has lost its meaning.  Consequently, the majority of people selfishly strive to become “one with their toys” in a march toward extinction.

Having devoted much time to the study of psychical research over the past two decades, Mike has found strong evidence for the survival of consciousness and a more intelligent afterlife than that provided by orthodox religion.  He says he is impelled to bring this evidence to the attention of others, especially those in despair.         

A former nationally-ranked distance runner, Mike is a native of Alameda, California and now lives in Kailua, Hawaii with his wife Gina.