General Chat

Valley and Terri have identified the right conditions for receiving telepathic messages. It is when one is absent-minded or day-dreaming. It is called a meditational state. An everyday example of this is when drivers on a longish journey realise they cannot recall part of the journey and wonder if they are cracking up and should not be driving. Actually, they were on auto-pilot and their subconscious had taken over. Probably they were driving better and more safely than when their conscious mind was in charge. Arthur Koestler once did a study of about 600 scientists or researchers who have made ground-breaking discoveries and most of them seem to have made their inspiration (the "Eureka - I have it !" syndrome) when they were more or less giving up and and had relapsed into a day-dreaming state. Apparently, Einstein got his theory of relativity in a sudden flash of inspiration after months of arduous mathematics. The sub-conscience or right brain is sometimes referred to as "the problem solver" and it often sorts out problems during sleep, hence the saying "Let's sleep on it". What happens is that the conscious mind closes, stops interfering and the subconscious comes into its own. This often happens when dozing, just before going into full sleep. I would suggest that the mind is more receptive to other minds when in meditation and hearing one's name called is a direct contact with another mind, maybe living (as we understand it) , maybe not . Having done transcendental meditation I confirm this is a fact and would recommend meditation to everyone as a means of enlightenment - although some people seem to be better at it than others. Sorry to keep harping on about it but Dr Stephan Schmidt and Researchers at Freiburg University have recently published a paper in the British Journal of Psychology confirming the existence of paranormal abilities in humans. There was quite a splash about it in the Sunday Times of 27th June (and other newspapers and I am surprised that not more people have realised the full implications of this. Len

No-one calling my name, but something heappened at my dad's funeral a few years ago. My dad had suffered heart problems for years and it was not that much of a surprise when he finally gave up the fight to a massive heart attack. We never really got on brilliantly, but the loss hit me hard at his funeral, and I broke down in the pew. Someone put a comforting hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. I turned round to thank whoever, thinking it was my auntie or a cousin, and realised it hadn't been any of them. I like to think that dad and I made our peace that day. Steph x

Valley Thank you for your kind words. I guess the knack of marshalling thoughts and putting them down in some sort of order comes from years of having to write reports. It is a technique which can be learned. Of course, it is far better to be able to talk face to face as only about 10% of meaning is transmitted by spoken or written words, the other 90% being by facial expression and body lanquage. Unfortunately, written words are very easy to misinterpret - hence people can get entirely the wrong meaning by reading a "tone" into written words which was not intended by the author. My most memorable flash of inspiration came when I was sitting on the toilet. I had been sent to a large shipping company, with an assistant, to sort out a problem with a pre-computer electronic accounting system which was consistently showing small (to them) but serious discrepancies and no one could figure out why. After several days of investigation I had more or less given up hope when, sitting on the throne, somewhat forlorn when, for no apparent reason, the answer popped into my head: the machine was printing out half pence but not registering them. Within half an hour we had proved this to be the case and called engineers to fix the problem - and 10 brownie points to Len and assistant. Len Ps Have you looked into Tracy Blackburn's thread "Life after Death, How Many Believe?" I have added quite a few thoughts to that which may interest you, if you have the time

This anecdote is a bit off-track but there is a connection, I believe. When I was about 8, I had my only known experience of sleep-walking, witnessed by many people and vividly remembered by me. I had been in bed asleep for maybe 3 hours when I came down two flights of stairs in my sleep and was woken up with my arms round my sister Joan, who was enjoying a party with friends. I explained, rather bemusedly, that I was saying goodbye to her She was 18 and a nurse in a hospital within walking distance of our house and was due to return there before midnight. On her way back to the hospital that night she was killed by a hit and run driver. Len