There are so many internet site now that relate to Spiritualism, and there are many, many more that look fairly at the sort of experiences that lead people to want to learn more about Spiritualism. On this page we shall look at some of the best of this latter category. They are not specifically Spiritualist websites, but they are sensitive to topics such as psychic and mediumistic abilities and experiences, near-death experiences, out-of-body experiences, deathbed-visions, lucid dreams and so on, which strongly suggest, as Spiritualism does, that a human being is much more than his physical body, and will survive physical death. There are other pages in this section for links to specifically Spiritualist websites.
Members and friends of YSC are very welcome to suggest quality links for this page.
Near Death Experiences
Across the world, NDEs have been reported by thousands of people who have been close to death, but have been resuscitated or brought back to life by medical intervention. It is estimated that many millions of people alive in the world today have had these experiences, (over 12 million people in the United States alone). They have occurred and been reported throughout history, but are perhaps more common now because of improvements in medical resuscitation techniques. They have a common theme of a shift in the location of consciousness to a point outside the body, meeting loved-ones who have passed over before them, and an encounter with spiritual being or beings, who comment on their lives and underline its moral and spiritual purpose. NDEs are recounted on many websites but arguably the best three websites concerned with their study are listed here.
IANDS is a large site and a major internet resource for studying NDEs. It carries many case histories, and gives valuable links and details of books and research. Well worth exploring.
NDERF - The Near Death Experience Research Foundation This is another large site packed with information, links, news of research and books, articles, and much related material. It carries a large archive of case studies. The maintainers of this site, Dr Jeffrey Long and his wife Jody are not afraid to draw the out the moral and spiritual lessons from the NDE evidence.
NearDeath.com is a third very large site devoted to this subject, which containins a wealth of information. It gives details of the most notable NDEs, has articles on the scientific evidence for life after death, describes the most prominent NDE researchers, discusses the implications of NDEs for religion and spirituality, looks at sceptical arguments, and much more besides.
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Out of Body Experiences
Out of body experiences - OBEs - are part of the Near Death Experience, but OBEs can occur in normal healthy people too. In fact aboout one person in 10 will have an OBE at some point in their lives. Both OBEs and NDEs provide the experiencer with strong prima facie evidence that their soul, or seat of their consciousness, can separate from the physical body, and is neither identical to, nor totally explained by the workings of the brain. Some OBEs contain spiritual and mystical experiences, others do not. Many OBEers travel away from the physical body to another physical location, some gaining information there which they are later able to verify as correct.
OBERF - The Out of Body Experience Research Foundation Another of the trio of related sites run by Jeffrey & Jody Long. It contains many fascinating case histories arranged in different categories. There are pages dealing with related phenomena such as death bed visions and lucid dreams, explanations of what these different states are, and a full links page.
The Monroe Institute is named after its founder, Robert Monroe, who in his earthly life was able to have out of body experiences at will. He felt that the spiritual ramifications of what he learnt through these experiences were so important that wanted to find a way of inducing these experiences in others. He was a radio and sound engineer, and by a process of experimentation and research lasting many years, he developed a sonic method of doing this, which he called "Hemisync". The work of the institute has continued and grown since Robert Monroe's physical death. It offers many carefully structured and monitored programmes for those interested in experiencing an OBE. Their large site explains what "Hemisync" is, gives details of the Institutes current programme, discusses their research and education programmes, and has a large archive of scholarly articles on their research and on the nature of consciousness. A sober and responsible organisation, their website is a good place to begin your exploration into this fascinating subject.
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Members and friends are invited to suggest links to interesting, uplifting or helpful Spiritualist or spiritual pages that they would like to share with others.
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