...A medium is a person who is conscious to psychic influences or forces (Dictionary). There are many different characteristics of mediums. Furthermore, different sources provide evidence that mediums exist. Many different aspects of mediums cause skepticism. The media has played a huge role in popularizing mediums. Finally, the existence of mediums has been popularized by the media’s role in enhancing this paranormal even though skeptics continue to say they don’t exist. Mediums originated numerous years ago. “Spiritualism, the first demonstration of modern mediumship, started in 1848 after the spirit world made contact through the mediumship of the Fox sisters at a small house in Hydesville, USA. The first public demonstration of mediumship was held in New York.” However, in the beginning of mediumship, it was considered illegal to practice channeling spirits, so most early mediums did it in secret. Also, a vast majority of mediums are women because back when mediumship originated, most women wanted...
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...R. Lee Continuity and change in Chinese spirit mediumship in urban Malaysia In: Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 142 (1986), no: 2/3, Leiden, 198-214 This PDF-file was downloaded from http://www.kitlv-journals.nl RAYMOND L. M. LEE CONTINUITY AND CHANGE IN CHINESE SPIRIT MEDIUMSHIP IN URBAN MALAYSIA The spirit medium occupies an important position in popular Chinese religion. As an arbiter between the spiritual and the mundane world, he not only provides services in healing and divination but also performs vital roles at temple and spirit festivals. The history of Chinese spirit mediumship can be traced to the Shang Dynasty of the second millennium B.C., where priest-shamans (wu) were accorded high official standing in the imperial courts, until their decline in the late Chou period in the third century B.C.1 However, spirit mediumship did not become obsolete but continued to be practised at the popular level (Yang 1967: 106, 303). Few reports of spirit mediumship in modern China have appeared in print, except for the detailed observations of De Groot (1964) made in the southern provinces in the late nineteenth century. Since then, most anthropologists have studied Chinese spirit mediumship in various Chinese communities, particularly in Taiwan (Jordan 1972, Seaman 1978, Kleinman 1980) and Hong Kong (Potter 1974). Spirit mediumship is also practised in various Chinese communities in Southeast Asia, but few ethnographies have been published...
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...While on the walk around the river, Antonio not only learns the difference between herbs and plants, Ultima also helps him open up spiritually to the world and nature; Antonio no longer views the river as something negative but rather as something positive and beautiful. Before the walk, Antonio would get a negative vibe from the river and usually would not go around it because he did not like the feeling it gave him. Antonio felt that the soul of the river was awful and made him feel unwelcomed. “My soul grew up her careful guidance” (pg 15), proves that Antonio feels spiritually attached to nature now that Ultima has given him a new perspective on life and the nature around him. This new sense of spiritual connection between Antonio and nature...
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...Managing a supply chain implies the integrated management of a network of entities, that begins with the suppliers' suppliers and ends with the customers' customers, for the production of products and services to the end consumers. Supply chain case studies analyze how companies seek to achieve cost reductions or profit improvements and make the supply chain more competitive as whole. These cases are intended to provide wide-ranging information, management education, background information and leadership on the most relevant topics in business. Why Wal-Mart's supply chain is so successful? The key to Wal-Mart's supply chain Wal-Mart is committed to improving operations, lowering costs and improving customer service. But the key to retailer Wal-Mart's success is its ability to drive costs out of its supply chain and manage it efficiently. Many supply chain experts refer to Wal-Mart as a supply chain-driven company that also has retail stores. Wal-Mart's company philosophy ('The Wal-Mart Way') is to be at the leading edge of logistics, distribution, transportation, and technology. The Wal-Mart business model would fail instantly without its advanced technology (Wal-Mart has the largest IT systems of any private company in the world) and supply chain (Wal-Mart has made significant investments in supply chain management). Wal-Mart's business model and competition Wal-Mart's business model is based on a low price strategy and low transportation costs allow it to sell its products...
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...belief in matter, whereas dualism is not its opposite and "vs" has no relevance or meaing because materialism cannot vs dualism. Those who are deprived of the spiritual insights undersand dualism in a lower pedestal than the meaning it has or indicates. Dualism is a state of being or existence in two seemingly opposite entities. Dvaita (dualistic) as clearly defined in Sankhya Philosophy as opposed to Advaita (non-dualistic) monism as clearly defined by Adi Shri Shankaracharya. Though Plato did believe in Dualism and reached a stage of defining the fifth element Ether but he could not grasp the spiritual essense of it completely due to lack of spiritual progress in life. That pertains to matter is materialism. That pertains to Spirit is spiritualism. Spirit and matter are dual states of existence, like night and day, black and white, good and evil and all such seemingly opposites. But, the fact remains that the seemingly opposites cannot exist in isolation from the source and remains within or connected to the source and therefore everything in the world is one unit of undifferentiated Brahman or Sat Chit Ananda (Truth(Existance), Consciousness and Bliss). If the cosmos is a one Monistic Unit of Undifferentiated Brahman, due to the illusion of the senses, the undifferentiated brahman is seen by human beings as differentiated and having separate entitties. Here the division begins, the pattern of two is dualism, then the pattern of three, the pattern of four and the pattern of five...
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...clever attempt made by depraved mankind in his ongoing quest to be his own God. I will examine the opinions of scholars and come to the conclusion that the New Age Religion is actually the Old Religion repackaged. This paper will show that the New Age Religion leads to an unfulfilled life in contrast to Christianity which leads to eternal life. The New Age Spiritualism worldview is a hodgepodge of beliefs that combines many beliefs together into a sweet, appetizing, appealing sounding religion. But drinking from this “fountain” is detrimental to the soul. A little bit of cyanide in the Kool-Aid will kill (Martin, 1989, pg. 52). Cult leader, Jim Jones, was heavily influenced by New Age spiritualism. As a result of this, 915 people died in Jonestown, Guyana at his indirect hands in a standoff between authorities and his New Age cult group (Martin, 1989, pg. 47) According to Jeremiah, the New Age Spiritualism is growing faster than most religions of today (Jeremiah, 1995, pg. 18). It is the oldest form of religious cultism today and is equally as dangerous (Martin, 1977, pg. 199). Involvement in spiritualism will certainly bring the judgment of God upon those who delve into it (Martin,...
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...the Royal Society in London, and became one of the best scientists in his era. Crookes brother Philip passed away in 1867, therefore people believe this is why he began his research and study into Spiritualism. Spiritualism is a believe based on communicating with the dead. During his study of Spiritualism his first contact was when Crookes was sitting with Mary Marshall. (Encyclopedia. (2001) Crookes, Sir William) Sir William Crookes later became superintendent of the meteorological department at Oxford in 1855. He done various work and experiments in his private laboratory in London, his researches on electrical discharge through a rarefied gas led him to observe the dark space around the cathode. It is now known now as the “Crookes dark space”. He invented many devices to study the behavior of cathode rays, but his theory of forth state matter, proved incorrect in many respects. During his studies of thallium, he discovered the principle of the Crookes radiometer. This is a device that converts light radiation into rotary motion. The principle of this discovery has found numerous applications in the...
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...theories: naturalism, and behaviourism form the basis of why I am a materialist. Dualist approaches offer counter-arguments to Materialism, such as Spiritualism and Interactionism but both empirically fall short. Current research materialistically concludes that mental states are nothing but physical states. As a materialist I would say: There are no souls, the mind is just the brain, everything can by expressed or explained physically. The naturalist in me would more thoroughly assert that nothing exists beyond the natural world, that natural laws are the rules that govern the structure and behavior of the natural universe. That the changing universe at every stage is a product of these laws and this is what forms the basis of my material beliefs. I do not believe in the supernatural, or souls. I believe that biology, neurology and psychology fulfill the soul's supposed function and that the universe developed naturally, without any "creator". inversely, a popular rebuttal to Naturalism is Spiritualism. The Spiritualist would assert we do indeed have souls, and that when we die our soul’s survive the death’s of our bodies by ascending into a spirit existence. While this can be argued for theoretically and rationally, there is no empirical evidence to support such a belief. That leads me to doubt in the validity of Spiritualism all together. The behaviorist in me postulates no mental substance, whose interactions with the physical world are mysterious and problematic. Because...
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...The Adventures of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle “As a rule, the more bizarre a thing the less mysterious it proves to be…” –from The Red-Headed League (Doyle, “The Adventures of…” 26). Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a Scottish doctor, author, and poet. He is most remembered for his stories involving the world famous detective, Sherlock Holmes. Although his fictional crime stories revolutionized the detective genre, he also wrote a great deal about spiritualism. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was an intelligent child who wrote his first novel at age six. Though initially educated at home, his wealthy uncles soon realized his potential and enrolled him at a Jesuit Preparatory School (Carr 5). Soon after he graduated to Stonyhurst College he began writing long letters home to his mother and adventure stories that he would read aloud to his classmates. They ended up serving as models for Conan Doyle's most famous characters, in particular two brothers named Moriarty and Sherlock (Person 10). After attending Stonyhurst, he entered Edinburgh University as a medical student in 1876 where he received his medical degree in 1882. In his spare time, however, he began to write stories published anonymously in various magazines (Person 11). In 1885, he married Louise Hawkins and moved to London, where he began his small practice in ophthalmology (Carr 10). His practice, however, remained small since patients were slow in coming. So, Conan Doyle wrote to pass the time. After a few of his short stories...
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...Thomas Robinson Hazard (1797-1886), also known as Shepherd Tom was a nineteenth century manufacturer, American author, egalitarian, social reformer, abolitionist, and spiritualist. In his activities and writings Hazard promoted women's rights, the improvement of public schools and medical institutions, the care of the poor and infirm, argued against the death penalty, and sought the relocation of former slaves to Africa. Throughout his life he frequently sought to give voice to the downtrodden and underprivileged. Following the death of his two daughters and wife, Hazard began investigating spiritualism and spiritual communication, a topic which he later published on. In addition, Hazard also produced texts on local history, Rhode Island folklore, and agriculture. Given the scope of his activities and writings Hazard leaves behind a large corpus of writer and personal correspondence which reflect the ideas, industriousness, and political perspectives of the period in America....
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...reincarnation creates the foundation of alternative therapy, there are however, many PLT therapists who prefer to focus their treatment on the behavioral issues rather than centering on the ethereal approach. Nevertheless, it would be accurate to suggest that roughly all theory’s regarding PLT adhere to the basic idea of karma and that of reincarnation. In 1875, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, also known as Madame Blavatsky, co-founded the Theosophical Society. Her esoteric writings and teachings provided a wealth of information on “theosophy” and a renewed interest in the concept of reincarnation to the Western world. During the 19th century, the French practiced Spiritualism years before the Theosophical Society became popular, under the guidance of French educator and author, Allan Kardec. Having shown interest in Spiritualism as well as past lives, he published his first book “The Spirits Book” in 1857, in which he describes patients with whom “spirits” spoke about reincarnation and karma, while in a mesmerized state. It is believed that psychiatrist, Dr. Denys Kelsey is quite possibly the first to introduce regression as a form of therapy. In 1967, he co-authored with his wife, Joan Grant, the book, “Many Lifetimes”, centering on his belief that the psychiatric issues in patients are likely to be derived from previous lifetimes and the therapeutic benefits that can be achieved with regression therapy. The concept of PLT has brought about many differences of opinions between those...
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...regulatory bodies had information about vaccines they were from the public. Orac (2014) states of how conspiracy in the Muslim world made people into believing polio vaccines were evil plans by the Western nations to sterilize Muslim youth and reduce them in number. In the same sense, 50% of websites stated of how the government purportedly protects vaccine manufacturers and doctors from possible harms caused by vaccines (Tuteur, 2011). Other researchers have tried to elaborate on how spirituality and paranormal is in essence in line with anti-vaccination campaigns by creating perceptions of reality and empowerment unlike conspiracy (Daum&Weibe 2010). Despite a wealth of research on the way anti-vaccination is predicted by paranormal, spiritualism and conspiracy, none has been bold...
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...Inner Life versus Outer life We all have two lives – outer and inner. Outer life is all about materialism – body, family, friends, country, studies, job, eating, playing, resting, entertainment etc. –this whole universe which we can see or perceive with our five senses of seeing, hearing, touching, tasting and smelling. Outer life is all about my body in relation to other bodies outside and around me. While Inner life is all about spiritualism – self inquiry, who am I, why have I come here, who is God, where is God, why do I feel in a particular manner about one person and differently for another. Inner life is all about inner conversation with self. We are mostly concerned about learning about ways and means to improve our outer life – studies, degrees, position in society, promotion at job, fame, money. All the time we are learning how to be successful in our outer life and if we are successful than we do not want anything more. We are full of pride and say ‘I am happy and content, I have everything I wanted’. Is this true???? We do not want to learn about ways and means to improve our inner life. We wait to get old for ‘such a waste of time’. But by that time it is late because now we are not left with sufficient energy to explore and know thyself. We should invest our time in self inquiry often. If we spend time with ourselves for some time of the day, it will not only refresh us but make us more stable and in control. If we are aware of how our...
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...Introduction Charles Darwin born 12 February, 1809 was an English geologist and naturalist. Alfred Wallace born 8 January 1823 was a British explorer, naturalist, geographer, biologist and anthropologist. Darwin and Wallace are highly regarded for their significant contributions to the theories of evolution. It is very important to compare the individual lifestyles, contributions, and beliefs of Darwin and Wallace in order to develop a clear and comprehensive understanding of their concepts of natural selection in evolution. According to Janet Browne (2010) in her biography of Darwin, she describes the similarities in the life experiences of Darwin and Wallace that led them to independently arrive at the theory of natural selection. Both Wallace and Darwin were inspired by the readings such as Charles Lyell and Thomas Malthus. Browne notes that, “Even so, the parallels between Darwin’s and Wallace’s ideas are no less remarkable for their cultural symmetry. Their similarities are further demonstrated by them sharing similar geographical exploration and travel experiences and their mutual appreciations of their marvels of nature and overwhelming desire to comprehend them…” (Browne 2010: 357). The two theorists examined the concepts of natural selection independently until its publication. By the 1958, Darwin had already developed his idea on natural selection but had not published it as he was still collecting more evidence. After his previous research had been destroyed in...
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...A Look Inside the Brain-Housing Area Amanda Marie Cervantes Philosophy100 Seungbae Park, Ph.D. 18 September 2010 The human mind is quite a mysterious machine. While we can break down and examine every detail and trait of the human brain, we cannot dissect the human mind. We can only observe its distinctive traits and behaviors. Brain states and mental states go hand in hand but do not equal each other. If they were identical, there would not be the case of whether they relate, but more so of how the relationship between the two works. Brain states and mental states have different characteristics than one another. The mind resides inside of the brain, but it is not the actual brain itself. The only way to prove that the brain and the mind are one, would be to perform a successful lobotomy to test whether or not the receiving person would assimilate the previous owner’s mind, memories and traits and characteristics. If this were if at all possible, the receiving person would no longer have their original mind or memory of being their original self or anyone else for that matter. Brain state regulates and controls the body’s activities, receiving and decoding sensory impulses and communicating information to the muscles and body organs. The brain employs the ability to live and function. It is but an involuntary organ within the body, the nucleus, which controls all of the vital organs automatically by default. We cannot will the brain to keep the heart pumping...
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