Essays

What Do We Know?
By Tom Butler

Many people in this world know beyond believing that there is more to reality than can be measured by any physical sense or scientific instrument. These people understand that there are levels of existence that are marked by differing rates of vibration of an energy, from which all of the components of reality are formed. It is clear to them that a universal intelligence imbues this energy with a set of controlling principles and emanates it into reality, thus assuring a certain order in its operation. They are happy to know that they are luminous beings, formed of this energy and existing on many levels of reality. Finally, they respect life wherever and however they find it, because they understand that all things are part of this divine intention.

Individually, the people of whom I speak may not use these same words to describe what they believe, but I have found that almost without fail, they will recognize these concepts and agree that they are descriptive of their worldview. Although they hold these beliefs in common, this surprisingly large segment of the world population is not organized into a religion or community of like-minded people. You may know them as New Agers, but since that name has fallen from favor, let us refer to them as Realists. They are Realists, in that they seek to see reality for what it is. They are also seekers and metaphysicians, but unfortunately, few of them are Spiritualists.

Two behaviors set Realists apart from the rest of the population. First, their worldview embraces the concepts I have described. More important though, they behave as if these concepts are true. Second, they actively seek to understand this greater reality and to live in it as good citizens. For most, this seeking includes the search for a community of like-minded people who can help them in their pursuit of spiritual maturity.

Of course, you as a Spiritualist, are a Realist. However, unlike the others, you have found a community of like-minded people. Consider yourself for a moment and be proud. Consider your church and the network of like-minded friends around you who have come to the Church. Feel the energy that moves within this community. As someone who frequently ventures into the spiritual wilderness, I can assure you that the energy you gather into such a community is strong and positive, even as it is beneficial for the larger community. You are so fortunate to have found this community, for it is a powerful tool for your spiritual growth.

The message I wish to bring to you is that you are different from other Realists only in that you have found the Spiritualist Church. Yes Spiritualism has institutional goals, such as proving that life continues beyond the change called death, but as far as the pursuit of spiritual maturity goes, there is really no other difference.

When you speak to Realists, you can be confident that you share an understanding of reality with them that will give you common ground for friendship. In keeping with the Church goal of making this information available to the larger population, you can tell them that you have found a way of learning that fulfills your need for contact with Spirit. Tell them that they can come and learn without needing to sign up for a course or pledge their loyalty to some religious leader. Tell them that they will always be welcome in the Spiritualist community.

What of those people who do not believe in a nonphysical reality? In a way, it is the people who are not Realists who most need to know about Spiritualism. These people are usually proud of their rationalism. So rather then referring to them as Illusionists, I will refer to them as Rationalists.

What can we say to the Rationalists of this world that will permit them to make sense of our realist worldview? Is there a way that we can express our understanding of reality that would appeal to their rationalist way of thinking?

Allow me to use myself as an example. I am an electronics engineer. As a child I was building rockets and telescopes, and planning to be the first man on the moon, while my friends were playing ball games or building forts down by the river. I cannot answer a question without adding a caveat specifying the possible variations of my answer, for as an engineer, I know that nothing is absolute. In the same way, I am compelled to be as specific as I can be when speaking about nonphysical reality. My motto is: “Believe what you will, but know what you believe.” If I tell you that there is such a thing as spirit communication, trust me, I am itching to tell you the whole story until your eyes glaze over. I would not tell you such a thing if I did not believe I could make a good logical case for its truth. So you can see, I was born a Rationalist. Yet, I am quite comfortable, even proud to acknowledge to other engineers that I am a Spiritualist. If I am a good example, then Rationalists are good candidates to become Realists. All it takes is an explanation of what we believe, expressed in rational terms.

This is a good time to acknowledge The Declaration of Principles of the Spiritualist  Church  . Principle Five states that, “We affirm that communications with the so called dead is a fact, scientifically proven through the phenomena of Spiritualism.” In my study of Spiritualism, it has become clear that spirit communication through mediumship, and the continuation of life, have been proven. However, most Rationalists either have no knowledge of this proof or do not accept it because it has not been demonstrated under proper scientific controls. I believe it has, but there is little use in pursing this line of logic.

Another line of logic that does not work with Rationalists is anything that references the Bible or a need for faith. These are power words that generally push a Rationalist’s stubborn button. Also understand that Rationalists are very good at compartmentalizing their beliefs. They may hold a strong faith in God and the Bible, but when it comes to what they believe to be true about reality, they keep God and the physical universe in two categories. It is no contradiction to them to believe in a God, but to doubt that anyone may be able to communicate with discarnate entities.

The best approach I have found when I share ideas with my Rationalist friends is to point out the modern research into nonphysical reality. Remember, all you need to establish the existence of a nonphysical reality is evidence of nonphysical phenomena. All you need for proof of the reality of mediumship is proof of the extension of awareness beyond the physical body. All you need to prove continuation of life is meaningful, verifiable communication with nonphysical entities.

So here is what Rationalist can know because their good rational scientists have found these concepts to be true:

Healing: Research has shown that touching in many forms can aid in the healing process. Some hospitals have even established therapeutic touch training programs for care-givers. Therapeutic touch, and a form of this known as noncontact therapeutic touch, is very similar to the form of healing we use in church. While there are strong arguments that therapeutic touch is beneficial because it relaxes the patient, one can argue that the effectiveness of the noncontact form must require some form of energy that passes between the healer and the patient. 

Prayer has also been conclusively shown to provide health benefits, even when the patient is unaware of the prayers. As with noncontact therapeutic touch, some form of energy passing between the healer and the patient is required for prayer to be helpful.

The nature of this energy has not been described to the satisfaction of the scientific community, but they are coming close. These phenomena have been demonstrated convincingly enough that parapsychologists must select between the extension of consciousness and the extension of a nonphysical body for an explanation. (You will note that the psychic explanation, while out of the questions only a few years ago, is now more acceptable than the possibility that our body may somehow extend beyond its physical form. After all, if this is true, then it would provide the linkage between our physical body and a nonphysical reality that is necessary for the proof of continuation of life. Score one for the Realists!)

Psychic Awareness: It has been demonstrated that we can sense when someone is watching us. In one experiment, person A was isolated in a room with a video camera trained on him. In another room, person B was able to watch person A with a video monitor. Scientists were able to draw a direct correlation between when person B was watching and when person A felt that he was being watched. This experiment strongly suggests the extension of awareness beyond the physical body.

Clairvoyance: Accounts of police departments using psychics to help find missing persons makes good programming for television. You can find stories about psychic investigators on nearly every television channel. These stories alone do not prove the fact of clairvoyance; however, there have been enough well documented cases of apparent clairvoyance in modern times to establish the likelihood that there are people who have this ability. As you probably know, the Federal Government experimented with what they referred to as remote viewing. These experiments conclusively established the fact of clairvoyance. Perhaps more important to our interests, these experiments established that clairvoyance can be learned as a skill. Once again, this ability to extend awareness beyond normal physical knowing establishes the logical foundation for the existence of some form of nonphysical energy. To a lessor degree, it also establishes a foundation for the existence of a nonphysical aspect of Self.

Mediumship: Ghost hunting also makes good television programming. Today, there is a growing awareness of, and acceptance in, the possibility that there is such a thing as ghosts. Of course, there is no general agreement about what ghosts are. For instance, rather than accept the possibility of continuation of life, parapsychologists are prepared to accept the more agreeable possibility that important events can be psychically impressed into the very fabric of a place. However, most hauntings seem to contradict this conclusion. Hauntings investigating teams usually employ mediumship as one of their investigative tools. It has been well established that many forms of hauntings can be dealt with by psychically communicating with the ghost. Even if you ignore the long history of research into mediumship, this verifiable information obtained by mediums must be given serious consideration as proof of mediumship. And if mediumship is proven, then there is little room for doubt that we continue in some form after physical death.

Electronic Voice Phenomena: If psychic communication with discarnate people is not proof enough that we continue beyond physical death, perhaps Electronic Voice Phenomena will be more convincing. EVP, as it is known, does appear to require some mediumistic ability, but the essence of the phenomena is that the words of nonphysical entities can be recorded onto an audio recorder, or even into a computer. This is apparently a difficult task for the entities, because most recordings contain only one or two word messages. However, these messages are convincing because they can be very evidential.

You may know that a project has been founded by a Mister Dale Palmer to formally establish the scientific validity of this concept. I know that through Mister Palmer’s efforts, people who are important to, but only casually interested in this project, are now avid supporters because they have experienced evidential messages with the help of one of our researchers. Your strongest proof that we exist on many levels of reality, and that we survive the death of our physical body, is EVP. You will have to wait for a time while the scientists satisfy themselves that EVP is real, but I am confident that it will eventually precipitate a decisive change in worldview for our Rationalist friends. There is little more convincing to a Rationalist than having evidential messages issue forth from an electronic device, rather than the mouth of an undependable human.

I expect you will be able to add to this list after some careful consideration. What I would like you to notice though, is that none of my comments concerned traditional religious arguments. You see, Spiritualism is not about faith at all. It is about an understanding of a reality that is larger than that which you can know with your physical senses. Natural Law is about understanding how this reality operates, while mediumship is about being sensitive to the information that is able to penetrate the veil.

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