I recently had the pleasure of making a pilgrimage to my alma mater, the University of Virginia, in beautiful Charlottesville, VA. It was a gorgeous late-winter day, and I strolled the “grounds” (Note: Not the “campus,” as any UVA student quickly learns), taking in the glorious Rotunda and Lawn, and wandering through a few of the gardens enclosed within elegant “serpentine” brick walls, where lemony daffodils were already abloom far before ours up north had even begun to poke their sleepy heads through the soil. I remembered studying in those gardens, and even taking exams there, unwatched, as the U. has always had an Honor System that allows for such things. I thought about, and truly felt, the history of the place, founded and designed by Thomas Jefferson (or “Mr. Jefferson,” as he’s known on grounds). And I marveled that a place so steeped in history and tradition is now, in fact, the home of some of the most remarkable, most cutting-edge research in the field of what some would term “the paranormal.”
University of Virginia, RotundaUniversity of Virginia, Pavilion Garden
In honor of that visit, Reader, I’m thrilled to share this interview with Bruce Greyson, MD, UVA Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences, and colleague of Dr. Jim Tucker, who heads up the University’s remarkable Division of Perceptual Studies, and whom I featured in my first blog entry, as well as in my book Adventures of a Soul. While Dr. Tucker has focused his fascinating work mainly on children’s past-life memories, Dr. Greyson’s area of expertise is the NDE, or near-death experience. (And I can only say: Go, Wahoos, go!)
In this excellent interview, Dr. Greyson discusses the prevalence of NDEs (some 5 percent of the population have experienced them); the patterns and features of NDEs that are consistent across cultures—going as far back as ancient Greece and Rome; the accurate and verifiable things NDE experiencers have observed that logically should have been impossible for them to observe while unconscious and apparently “out of body”; the fact that NDE experiencers have often encountered deceased friends and loved ones whom they did not yet know were deceased at the time they “met” them during the NDE; how NDEs have dramatically affected and altered the lives of the great majority of those who have had them; how science has tried to explain NDEs; and more.
Dr. Bruce Greyson
There are a host of other interesting interviews with Dr. Bruce Greyson on YouTube, and he’s also featured in the provocative documentary Surviving Death (along with Dr. Jim Tucker), based on the book of the same name by journalist Leslie Kean and available on Netflix. I haven’t yet read Dr. Greyson’s book, After, but Reader, it’s high on my list.
Dr. Jim Tucker
I had planned to visit Jim Tucker, who has been so kind to me and to my book, during my visit to the U., but alas, he was called to attend to a family matter and unable to meet up with me, though he hoped to, he assured me, next time I pass through. I’ll be sure to contact him then, and I’m hoping to meet Dr. Greyson too. It’s my dream to be a fly on the wall in the offices of the Division of Perceptual Studies. I’m wondering what other provocative stuff they’re looking into these days! Is sixty-two too old to be a student intern? Student of the metaphysical, that is!
University of Virginia, Historic Lawn Rooms
Will a day ever come when UVA students may actually take courses in Perceptual Studies, or even Parapsychology? I’ll have to ask these two pioneering men of science for their take on that, next time I’m down in C’ville. Meantime, well, a gal can dream . . .
Are you ready for a paradigm shift? Are you even open to one? Why is a shift in paradigms so threatening to so many? And what does it mean to have a paradigm shift, anyway? Calling all those who are interested in REALLY “following the science,” regarding the metaphysical—phenomena such as the continuation of consciousness after death, intuition, mediumship, remote viewing, telepathy, and much more. Have I got a book for you!
As those of you who have surfed the waters of YouTube know, it has its own algorithmic elves who pop up recommended content that relates to other videos you’ve recently viewed. That’s how I came upon Mark Gober, and this “Buddha at the Gas Pump” interview conducted by Rick Archer. Mark Gober is the author of several books with “Upside Down” in their titles, the first being An End to Upside Down Thinking: Dispelling the Myth That the Brain Produces Consciousness, and the Implications for Everyday Life. After watching this interview, and several of Gober’s others on YouTube too, this book jumped to the number-one spot on my personal to-buy list.
Why? Reader, I loved Gober’s story. Like me, he’d launched into his own exploratory expedition, and written a book that I would have loved to have written myself, if only I could have. Gober reminded me of the smart, nerdy (in a good way) “kids” who went to Stuyvesant, my math-and-science specialized New York City high school, with me, many of whom, I’m sure, think I’m crazy for believing in the phenomena I wrote about in Adventures of a Soul. But here’s the thing I’ve always said to them, and to others who roll their eyes indulgently when I tell them what my book is about: There has been SO MUCH RESEARCH on SO MANY OF THESE PHENOMENA that many of them have actually already been proven—using the standards by which all NON-“suspect” types of scientific phenomena are typically judged—and yet, hardly anyone in the world of mainstream media, nor the scientific community, talks about or even acknowledges this. I know this. And others like me who have sought out this information know this. (It’s not hard to find it!) But Gober didn’t know it: Until he did! And it rocked his world.
But, Reader, I’m getting ahead of myself.
Gober had me hooked with his tale of how, as a Princeton graduate working at a “technology-focused investment bank and strategy firm” in Silicon Valley and commuting long hours each day in his car, he’d tuned into a health-related podcast, only to find that the featured guest, Laura Powers, was talking very matter-of-factly about psychic intuition and her ability to communicate with nonphysical entities—things which Gober had no absolutely awareness of. Gober was a self-described “materialist” at the time, who believed that consciousness was a product of the brain, and that when the body—and thus the brain—died, well . . . that was it (although, as he states in this interview, he’d had an interest in “big existential questions for a long time”). When Powers mentioned her own podcast, “Healing Powers,” where she interviewed other people who had abilities and experiences similar to hers, Gober was left with a dilemma: What he was hearing, from these people who sounded intelligent and credible to him, didn’t fit in with his own long-held beliefs about reality. Unlike many who would simply dismiss such information as rubbish, and move on with their day, Gober grew extremely curious.
Gober ended up, on his daily commute over the next few weeks, listening to every single episode of Powers’ podcast—at that time, five years’ worth of shows. Hearing so many independent individuals’ convincing accounts of their own experiences, experiences that so fully contradicted his own materialistic worldview, he grew more curious yet, and plunged deep into his own “obsessive” research on these and other such topics. (Sound familiar, dear Reader?) Gober looked at the science—experiments and research that had been conducted about which he’d never read or heard—and also eventually worked firsthand with people who had these types of abilities themselves, finding that what he witnessed in doing so backed up what the science claimed. The results: His vigorous investigations brought him to the point of a total “paradigm shift” in terms of his beliefs about reality, which, he says, “rocked” and, for a time, disoriented him. After sharing what he was learning about topics like psychic abilities and life after death with some friends, many of whom had been as skeptical of such things as Gober had, they encouraged him to write about it. And thus, Gober’s amazing first book!
In An End to Upside Down Thinking, Gober tackles not just the scientific and academic studies that are proving that so much of what a good part of the world considers “woo-woo” is real—with many notable physicists and other scientists, including Nobel prize-winners, chiming in—he discusses the implications of that conclusion for our world and our future. He also discusses why it is that so much of this work and information is ignored, dismissed out of hand, or ridiculed sight unseen by so many in the scientific community—including the fact that most scientific journals refuse to publish studies, no matter how professionally and rigorously done, to do with topics such as psychic ability, even when the studies have proven that these things are real; that university faculty won’t generally pursue such studies until they are tenured, for fear of losing their jobs; and the tendency of many in the scientific community to even consider ideas that they don’t personally feel—without any study or investigation of them—could possibly be real.
Why is this the case? Gober discusses that, too. Basically, he points out, if these phenomena were widely accepted as real, it would call into question the world’s currently established scientific views on . . . well, pretty much everything!
Now that’s a paradigm shift.
After devouring Gober’s book, I signed up for his mailing list at MarkGober.com, and received back a lovely letter from him and his “team,” thanking me for my interest and asking about me—who I was, what I was doing, and what had made me interested in his work! Reader, I loved that too. So I wrote and told him about myself and my book, and how much I loved how open-minded he’d been to have done what he did; how excited I was about it; and how this was the book I was going to give to all my “skeptical” friends! He not only wrote me back personally, but told me he thought my book sounded fascinating, and that he’d just bought a copy. (I knew I liked the guy!)
Whether self-proclaimed skeptic or committed, seasoned metaphysical explorer, I hope with all my heart that you’ll check out Mark Gober’s uber-important first book. (I’ve already bought one of his other three—about ETs and UFOs—which I can’t wait to crack.) You, too, may want to gift it to your skeptical friends and family for the holidays. Not only may they stop rolling their eyes and calling you crazy (well, a gal can dream), but, not too far down the road, when the mainstream media and the scientific community finally begin to admit that all of this stuff is real, you’ll be able to say, with a knowing grin, “I could’ve told you that!”
I first encountered Anita Moorjani some ten or twelve years ago, on a TV special featuring the now late Wayne Dyer, on PBS. For those who don’t know him, Wayne Dyer was one of the first New Age gurus, the best-selling author of a great many self-help/spirituality books. He was so popular as a speaker that PBS often ran his specials during their fund-raising weeks.
In the course of the show, Wayne introduced a petite, dark-haired, extremely “down to earth” and ordinary-seeming woman—someone you might easily strike up a chat with in the check-out line at the grocery store—whose apparently remarkable story had somehow come to his attention. And he invited her to share that story. She did, simply but profoundly—she was a natural speaker with true ease before this huge audience, with an engaging smile and an air of quiet confidence. And I, and the millions of viewers tuned in, were, I’m certain, simultaneously blown away.
Anita Moorjani has since gone on to become a best-selling author in her own right, and a fast-rising icon in New Age/metaphysically oriented media. Her first book, Dying to Be Me, which I purchased after watching the show, gobbled up, and passed on to my mother, as I knew she’d find it as provocative and uplifting as I had, was a massive hit. She quickly began to show up as a guest on New Age/spiritual talk shows, and not long after, as a featured presenter in New Age/spiritual conferences. She now has several other books under her belt, all quite popular as well.
What, you ask, was Anita Moorjani’s story? Obviously, Reader, I don’t want to give it away, but hope to entice you to watch it for yourself. Suffice it to say that it involves a horrific battle with stage-four, “terminal” cancer, a coma, a fascinating near-death experience, a fantastic voyage beyond the body, and a total recovery of her health that left her doctors astonished and perplexed.
Several years ago, I was surprised and pleased to be offered Anita’s latest book, Sensitive Is the New Strong, as a freelance copyediting gig. A copy editor’s job is to correct mistakes in spelling, grammar, punctuation, consistency, etc. But it also involves carefully reading a manuscript and making suggestions for how it may be improved—made clearer, more concise, more correct, etc. etc. etc.
Wow, I thought. I was going to be suggesting improvements for a best-selling author’s book?! Well, it wasn’t the first time in my freelance editorial career, I must say, but being a huge fan of Anita Moorjani’s, I was a little bit . . . nervous. I needn’t have worried, though. Anita loved and appreciated all my suggestions and fixes, according to the production editor who’d hired me. I asked that editor if she might pass along a personal note to Anita, as I was a fan, and she agreed—not a common practice, so I was thrilled. Since that note, I have been able to connect with Anita a number of times via email. She’s never been anything but friendly and gracious, and I know that she’s an extraordinarily busy woman, so I’ve always appreciated her answering my emails at all.
And so, it is my true pleasure to share this early TEX-X talk by Anita Moorjani with those of you who may not know who she is, and may not have heard her story. I count it among the really important stories of NDE’s, as near-death-experiences are often called. If you enjoy it, check out Anita’s Web site where she’s created a global online community called The Sanctuary, which she’s kindly invited me to join, when my own time permits (and I surely will).
I’d love to hear about any NDE you’ve had, Dear Reader, or anything else provocative you’ve experienced in the “invisible realms” that you’d like to share.
