Nexus - 1903 - New Times Magazine-pages

Page Content (OCR)

SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE FOR LIFE AFTER DEATH SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE FOR LIFE DEATH AFTER New scientific methods and technologies are being used to research the age-old question of whether life exists after death. Rigorous studies of mediumship, near-death experiences and past-life memories suggest that consciousness indeed survives. ince time immemorial, human beings have wondered if there is something beyond life. Many cultures, religions and systems of knowledge have been based on the belief that the dead are raised up into another world, going to paradise or reincarnating. But what if science could show evidence that there is life after death? In the last few decades, many scientists and medical researchers from universities and institutions around the world have been revolutionising the paradigm, providing evidence that consciousness indeed survives physical death. Mediumship in the Laboratory Mediums claim that they can somehow feel the spirits of deceased people. According to spiritist terminology, these spirits are called "discarnate". The famous Brazilian medium Chico Xavier, who died in 2002, wrote more han 400 books by 600 spiritual authors but never took credit for being the author of any of them. Heavily influenced by the works of 19th-century French spiritist Allan Kardec, Xavier professed that his hand was guided by spirits who dictated to him. An estimated 50 million copies of his books ave been sold, and all the profits from these sales have been channelled into charity work. In 1981 and 1982, Xavier was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Furthermore, he attended to, free of charge, around 60 people per day in his modest home in the city of Uberaba. Apart from books, Xavier wrote letters from deceased people whose family members were visiting im. In 1991, Chico Xavier's mediumship was investigated by Dr Paulo Rossi. His study confirmed that 93.3 per cent of the people who visited Xavier had not known him beforehand. Information from the letters received through Xavier contained so many details about the deceased and their families as o make fraud impossible. Around 62.2 per cent of the messages showed more than six relevant facts each, and 71.1 per cent had detailed information about the deceased people which was subsequently confirmed by their amilies. Dr Rossi concluded that the information revealed by Chico Xavier actually came from the spirits of dead people and was not the result of any ind of fraud. In 2004, Alexander Moreira de Almeida gained his PhD degree from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, with his research focus on mediumship experiences. He studied 115 spiritist mediums with the aim of building their sociodemographic profiles and checking their mental health. His study was based solely on spiritist mediums who follow the doctrine founded by Allan ardec, because they only use their mediumship free of charge to help the spirits. It is important to mention that Moreira de Almeida and his team chose these mediums because the spiritism founded by Allan Kardec is well nown worldwide for its seriousness in studying the relationship between he spirit world and human nature. The researchers concluded that the by Mado Martinez, PhD and Elaine Vieira, PhD © 2012 Email: madomartinez@mac.com Website: http:/www.madomartinez.com by Mado Martinez, PhD and Elaine Vieira, PhD © 2012 Email: madomartinez@mac.com Website: http:/www.madomartinez.com APRIL - MAY 2012 NEXUS ° 41 www.nexusmagazine.com