See you in September...............Taking a break from all electronics for two weeks. Can I do it? What do you think?

It has been a busy summer and I have found that I have been more busy because of the pandemic. I had to learn as much as possible regarding this as well as adopting e-health. There were those who insisted in seeing me and I considered each case carefully and so began more research in preparing a safe office. Most of my books are waiting to be delivered to an old professor of mine who is now in a retirement home. He is looking forward to the amount of books so he can pick and choose and then share and finally bring my books to their resting place in their library. As I dispose of more items, I am beginning to feel like a minimalist. My office looks bare but it is safe. Most of the time I place an item outside on my sidewalk and someone picks it up and brings it home. I enjoy the idea that someone else can love an item I have decided to dispose of. This way the recycling continues. I haven’t had a garage sale in years. I seem to always be behind in my paperwork these days but that is ok. I realized that I was so busy that suddenly August arrived and I had not taken a holiday. I normally like going on a short trip to the States but that is not possible now. I also like to take short bus trips here. However, that is not really possible at the moment. COVID has made me very cautious. I love life and don’t want to tamper with it. I have noticed that though our numbers are decreasing, not all are going by the rules. At a hair salon, one chair away from me and well below the six feet distance a woman took off her mask at the endorsement of the stylist and I was a bad person for telling the person to put the mask back on. My own stylist returned and I informed him that I would not be coming back until the pandemic is over. He assured me it wouldn’t happen again. I believe in giving people chances. This is a time where people have to work together for the greater good. That can be difficult in a “me, me, me world.” It takes only one contact. So, as one of my old supervisors commented it must be difficult for me because I am a very social person. Yup. I am. However, because most of my work now is on a computer I am still part of a weekly group with my colleagues that wouldn’t have happened happened otherwise. If I miss a session, I am missed. That is nice to hear. I have been attending more virtual lectures than ever because normally I prefer to attend. So, I have been able to pack more into my life regarding work. I have also attended sessions with “Sisters of Crime.” When we didn’t have the pandemic I consistently missed the weekly talks and dinners because it was on a week night when I was either working or too tired to go out. So, I got to see what I am doing wrong and right about my writing. I need an agent. I need patience etc………Obviously my own marketing isn’t working. In view of all this, I haven’t had the time to reflect on my own books I am writing. I am also pondering if I should write about therapy. I can incorporate it in my mystery books or horror for that matter. How do I do it all. I cannot. I have two loves. My writing has always been my passion. Is it a hobby or should I get serious? How do I maintain a balance? Should I retire and just focus on my writing books? How will that look like? I am always re-evaluating every so often when it stops being fun. So, I am taking holidays from the 17 Aug 20 to the end of the month inclusive. I am back to work 1 Sept 20. My gift to myself is to hide away all my electronics. No answering my business phone but I have left a message that I shall be doing that. Also, I will not be using my computer. That means for the next two weeks you will not receive a blog from me. However, I have been here for a bit, so there is plenty to read. This will probably be challenging. After all especially during this pandemic we do so much on line. So what will that look like? I’ll let you know when I come back. I will be doing other things which I have been giving little attention to and I shall find some fun. My camera will be coming out of hiding. So, thank you for reading my blog. Now I have my final weekly self/client care with one of my associations. I have one final seminar and I am completing my work with my clients this week. Next week is me time……….What do you think? See you in September……………

Review from an old paper "Life After Death" by Dr Moody

LIFE AFTER DEATH by: Silva Redigonda People search for answers to what is not fully understood. Death is not only puzzling, it has a mysterious finality to it. There are people who determine death to be the end for themselves and for those who they have loved and died. Others find death to be a passage towards some other chance at life such as re-incarnation. There are also those who believe that they will go to their creator – God. There are endless possibilities to the creative mind. Life After Life by Raymond Moody promises a dimension between life and death. This paper will list what the author has gleaned from his interviews with or about people who have died or were near death. At the same time the reliability of what is disclosed will be examined. Life After In Dr Moody’s Life After Life the author explains that he writes primarily about reports, accounts or narratives which others have provided verbally and includes third parties. These reports involve being able to see and hear what is going on when people are pronounced dead but not able to talk, feel others, or feel pain. There are reported sensations of peace and comfort. There are sounds which are pleasant (14-19) and sounds that are disturbing. There are also recordings of a passage through a dark tunnel with a floating sensation, of weightlessness to their new spiritual bodies (pp 21, 35). Dr Moody indicates that he is not trying to prove that there is life after death (xxvii). This seems clear in how he presents his information. Dr Moody will report two people having a similar experience of a voice telling them that they have to go back [to life] (p 48). He will report one other person who associates heat with the light who talks to him (p54). In another he will report the observations of another, sole person, “It was a fun person to be with! It had a sense of humor, too- definitely.”(p55). There seems to be general sense of vagueness regarding the information that is provided. As an example, there is no explanation for the humour or what the humour is. There seems to be a consistency of unanswered questions. Who is each participant? What are the backgrounds of these people? The author does report listing the findings from 50 cases (p 9) so why isn’t he more specific with each case and why is it common for the author to report similar findings from only one or two cases as mentioned? The author begins his study with one man’s particular experience. This man states that he heard himself being pronounced dead by his doctor. The participant then hears a loud ringing or buzzing and feels himself moving rapidly through a long dark tunnel. He subsequently finds himself as a spectator as he watches himself being resuscitated at a distance from his physical body which is different from its’ physical form. He also has different powers from its’ former self. Spirits of dead relatives and friends come to meet and help him. A beam of light also approaches and speaks to him “nonverbally” so that he may question his life. The man then finds himself at a “barrier or border” from this life to the next. He returns to his body which he resists. He experiences intense feelings of joy, love and peace (p 11-12). The aforementioned is documented as an actual account from one person. However, the author concludes that it is not intended to be a representation of anyone person’s experience but a model of common elements found in many stories. In Dr Moody’s “abstract model,” each element occurs in many separate stories”(p 12). Providing an abstract model and not indicating such at the beginning of the description of events, becomes distracting. There is an aura of trickery by what is eventually disclosed. However, one cannot ignore the thought provoking ideas that is encouraging. Dr Moody reports that one participant who suffers a heart attack finds himself in a grey mist, with wonderful lights and people and perhaps buildings. He is told by his “Uncle Carl” (who died years earlier) to “go back” because his “work on earth is not completed”(pp 68-69). One is left wondering if that is what life is about? Is it about completing our work? Then what is my work, one may ask? Life After Life reveals that some of the participants have a change of attitude for the better. Dr Moody indicates that, “almost every person has expressed” that he no longer fears death (p 88). Though it is unknown exactly how many participants are religious and from what faiths, Dr Moody does indicate that, “Others say that although they had read religious writings, such as the Bible, they had never really understood certain things they had read until their near-death experiences (p 129). What that is, is never clarified but one may presume that if a person experiences death, than life in general would have more meaning. The author does provide comments from individuals and extends this to “a small number of cases” without indicating exactly how many have an altering life experience. These changes include life being more precious, the mind being more important than the body, and in a “small number of cases” acquiring or noticing intuition bordering on the psychic (pp 84-87). The author indicates that there seems to be no difference in experiences reported by the men or women, though women seem to be able to talk about their experiences more. Since Dr Moody never provides a gender demographic, there is again an element of inconclusiveness. It should be noted that when Dr Moody reveals that, “almost every person has expressed…” (p88), these persons are referred to as “…he…”. How many men actually were hesitant to report the findings from the 50 cases? It appears that women may be the minority in the cases presented if the author is to be taken literally. This continuous vagueness of where the information is from, is at times difficult because it gives the reader a feeling of incompleteness. However, this feeling is also often replaced by genuine curiosity when cases seem to become more real, even proven. “In quite a few instances” many persons report being out of their bodies for extended periods and these could be verified by what they saw when they should not have been able to as they were dead or close to death. Several doctors have reported being baffled that patients with no medical knowledge could describe in details the resuscitation “attempts” when the patient was “dead” (p. 93). This is interesting because Dr Moody also indicates that in only one of the cases, did a physician reveal any familiarity at all with near-death experience (p.80). Reliability is put to the absolute test when Dr Moody provides an account of authenticity for his participants. “I have detected in their voices sincerity, warmth, and feeling which cannot really be conveyed in a written recounting. So to me, in a way that is unfortunately impossible for many others to share, the notion that these accounts might be fabrications is utterly untenable.”(p 126) This belief in his participants continues with they, “are not victims of psychosis. They have struck me as emotionally stable, normal people who are functional in society. They hold jobs and positions of importance and carry them out responsibly. They have stable marriages and are involved with their family and friends…” (p160). It appears that Dr Moody’s idea of honesty from his participates is very subjective. How sure can one be that every participant is truthful? Is there at least an acknowledgment of a margin of error? - Apparently, not. There is a sense of truth due to the similarities of information cited but the reader must take the word of the author for everything that is provided. There is also at times a climate of what seems incredulous, such as one participant’s report of a spirit in the shape of a ball of light, globe like with a hand reaching out of it (p 96). This seems to be the extreme from what is usually reported. The author indicates that his study is not scientific because his sample of participants is not a random sample of humans. His definition of random sampling is restricted to an example of demographics of “Eskimos, Kwakiutl Indians, Navahoes, Watusi tribesmen, and so on. However due to geographic and other limitations, I have not been able to locate any (p 133).” One wonders if the author understands the definition of “sample”. A sample is a set of individuals selected from the population, usually intended to represent the population in a research study. For example one study might examine a sample of 10 children in a preschool program or use a sample of over 1000 registered voters. The End Life After Life has sold over 13 million copies worldwide. A phone consultation with Dr Moody is $200.00 per hour. This demonstrates that people hunger to know about experiences after this life time. Someone may read this book and realize that a dream she had was not a dream but a life after life experience. She in turn can soothe her ill mother with that knowledge. People need to believe that there is something more, that there is a God and another place that can be called home. Sometimes people need more than the written word. They need proof that there is more than this. Dr Moody has successfully teased the brain to want to know more about life after death. But, Dr Moody has also failed to demonstrate a satisfactory degree of reliability.