Channel
Definitions
1. The bed of a stream or river.
How many times has Michael said he is the water of life; who then would not delight to have him flowing through their life slaking the thirst of our world?
2. The deeper part of a river or harbor, especially a deep navigable passage.
How many times has Jesus referred to the safe harbor of salvation; who then would not desire to be a way of such passage for our fellows?
3. A broad strait, especially one that connects two seas.
Did not our Master refer to his life as the pattern of union between humanity and divinity; who would not desire to link these respective 'seas' that we are?
4. A trench, furrow, or groove.
Are we not encouraged to dig into the depth of divinity, burrow beneath the surface of a jaded consciousness and get into the 'groove' of doing the will of God, and who would not thereby delight to be an encouragement for others.
5. A tubular passage for liquids; a conduit.
Who does not wish to serve as a conduit for the liquid of our Father's love and affection warming the hearts of all we encounter as 'we pass by'?
6. A course or passage through which something may move or be directed: new channels of thought; a reliable channel of information.
Are we not encouraged to explore new ways of thinking such that would challenge the world with the quality of our thought, and who does not delight to be a 'channel' whereby another might learn of the 'information' that has encouraged us to love?
7. Often channels . A route of communication or access: took her request through official channels.
Who when they pray does not know in faith that every sincere petition is carried aloft through appropriate 'channels' to lay our heart's desire before the one who will answer with an everlasting effect?
8. Electronics. A specified frequency band for the transmission and reception (see TR) of electromagnetic signals, as for television signals.
Who among us does not look forward to and aspire to receive the reflectivity broadcasts directed by Majeston even as we look with interest to news of hope in the 'communications' of our own design?
9. The medium through which a spirit guide purportedly communicates with the physical world.
And what is mind if not the medium through which our spirit guide works in and through us to communicate with the physical world?
Cultural Application
Mediumship is a term used mostly in Spiritualism to denote the ability of a person (the medium) to produce psychic phenomena of a mental or physical nature. The term is usually used to denote a person who is thought to be able to facilitate communication with spirits of the deceased, either by going into a trance and allowing a spirit to use their body, or by using extrasensory perception to relay messages from the spirits. Some mediums (or the spirits working with them) are also said to be able to produce physical paranormal phenomena such as materilizations of spirits, apports of objects, or levitation. 'Skeptic'[1] Skepdic's Dictionary by Robert Todd Carroll, on Mediums Retrieved March 23, 2007 "In spiritualism, a medium is one with whom spirits communicate directly." [2] Parapsychological Association website. Glossary of Key Words Frequently Used in Parapsychology]. "Materialization: A phenomenon of physical mediumship in which living entities or inanimate objects are caused to take form, sometimes from ectoplasm." Retrieved January 24, 2006.[3]
Skeptics say the phenomena of mediumship are the result of self-delusion, unconscious influence, or of magician's techniques such as cold reading, hot reading, and conjuring.Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many Studies are conducted by VERITAS have been approved by the University of Arizona Human Subjects Protection Program and an academic advisory board.
Critics dispute the existence of genuine mediums, arguing that individuals who claim to possess this ability are either self-deluded or charlatans who engage in cold or hot reading.[4]
Critics say that Gary Schwartz's studies such as The Afterlife Experiments have not provided competent scientific evidence for survival of consciousness or that mediums can actually communicate with the dead. In the January/February 2003 issue of the Skeptical Enquirer, Ray Hyman charged that the research Schwartz presented is crucially flawed in a number of ways, including inappropriate control comparisons, inadequate precautions against fraud and sensory leakage, reliance on non-standardized, untested dependent variables, failure to use double-blind procedures, inadequate use of double-blind protocols, failure to independently check on facts the sitters endorsed as true, and the use of plausibility arguments to substitute for actual controls. [5] How Not to Test Mediums1 Critiquing the Afterlife Experiments By Ray Hyman "The studies were methodologically defective in a number of important ways, not the least of which was that they were not double-blind." Schwartz and Hyman debated these points in the March 2003 issue of the Skeptical Enquirer.[6] Follow Up: How Not to Review Mediumship Research By Gary Schwartz The Skeptical Enquirer May 2003 [7] Hyman’s Reply to Schwartz’s 'How Not To Review Mediumship Research In January 2007 Julie Beischel and Gary Schwartz published the results of a triple-blind study in EXPLORE The Journal of Science and Healing that also had positive results.[8] Anomalous Information Reception by Research Mediums Demonstrated Using a Novel Triple-Blind Protocol by Julie Beischel, PhD and Gary E. Schwartz
External links
- Channeling, by Jon Klimo
- Who Translates: Translator Subjectivities Beyond Reason, by Douglas Robinson
- A further point-by-point response by Gary Schwartz to Ray Hyman's article How Not to Test Mediums
- After Death Communication Research Foundation, Jody A. Long, J.D. and Jeffrey P. Long, M.D.
- The Scientific Proof of Survival After Death
- Allan Kardec Educational Society website: The Book of Mediums
