 |
| Borrowed from: Bornforgeekdom.com |
Throughout history people have been perplexed and fascinated
by death. What happens to us after we
die? Do we have souls, and if so, where
do they go? Religions from all around
the world have differing views and beliefs on this subject, but in many
cultures there are those who believe they possess supernatural abilities to
communicate with those from beyond the grave.
These people are known as mediums, and although their powers are often
refuted by both the religious and non-religious alike, as we will see later on,
they remain prevalent in many parts of the world today.
For thousands of years humans have attempted to contact the
spirits of the dead, as is even noted in the bible. In belief systems like Spiritualism there is a separate realm, a spirit world, in which the spirits of
the dead reside. It is believed spirits
can contact anyone, but certain individuals may maintain the power to call upon
the spirits at will. The name, medium,
of course refers to the fact that they are attempting to act as a “Middle Man”
and allow the dead to communicate to the living through themselves. Mediums have often charged for their
services, though, which is reason enough for some to discredit them.
The beliefs regarding, Mediumship and are varied, but often
a medium will be used in either one of two ways: Mental Mediumship, in which
the medium simply relates information from a spirit to a living person; And Physical
Mediumship, in which a medium will experience the message through the senses.
One method skeptics would say a medium may use prove their
access to the spirit world to their client is called a “Cold Reading” in which
the medium will attempt to analyze their client by his or her race, ethnicity,
clothing, etc. in order to determine convincing information about them that will
seem to have been provided by a spirit, usually that of a dead relative,
friend, or partner.
It is fairly commonplace for mediums and others with psychic
abilities to be marked as frauds, which is why many believe that even those
who have not been explicitly disproved must also be fake. However a believer could argue that whether
it’s in religion or business, liars and “charlatans” will always exist, so don’t
throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Regardless of your views, the historical and cultural
significance of mediums is still a fascinating subject, as it pushes the
boundaries of how who and what people can communicate with.
It sounds like the Cold Reading people are like Shawn from Psych. While the medium may communicate from the dead to the living, or vice versa, some people believe that the dead speak without mediums. Ghost Hunters on Syfy is all about some dudes wandering around old building, hoping to communicate with restless spirits. Granted, I don't think that they find messages written in blood too often, but those ghost hunters are pretty convinced that the dead are communicating to them.
ReplyDeleteAlso - random idea for a blog post: crop circles.
Yes, it does rather seem like what Shawn does.
DeleteOoh, I like this idea.
But isn't Shawn from Psych just a good reader of body language and patterns in the now (not in the spiritual world?). Two mediums that immediately come to mind that are popular are the Long Island Medium (the lady with the big hair in New York) and John Edward.
ReplyDeleteI have a question: did your quote in the penultimate paragraph come from you? If so, you don't actually need the quote.
I wonder if there have been any psychological testing done in labs that can determine the accuracy of a psychic like Alison DuBois (that character in Medium was actually based on a real-life person). What have researchers found?
Right, but a cold reading (as I gather) is the name that skeptics give the technique that psychics will use, while the psychics themselves would probably refer to it as something like 'divining'.
DeleteYes, that's my own "quote"; I'll fix it.
There is an interesting (fictional) movie I watched about paranormal powers v.s. scientific analysis and skepticism called Red Lights ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1748179/ )
I think your post was very interesting. It is said that those people who can communicate with spirits are like a lighthouse in the dark; spirits locate those who can or able to communicate with them. I personally, believe in spirits and the ability to communicate with them. However, I agree that there are those who just want money and are frauds. Do you believe mediums exist?
ReplyDeleteI certainly would not discount it as a possibility.
ReplyDeleteOf course, if you believe in God, one might argue that any who claim to pray, and receive guidance in return, could be considered a medium.