Speaker Identification

Speaker 1: Program Announcer / Opening Voice
Speaker 2: Bob Ginsberg
Speaker 3: Tom Gould
Speaker 4: Melissa Gould
Speaker 5: Marta

Speaker 1: Welcome to Signs of Life, exploring survival of consciousness, brought to you by Forever Family Foundation on the web at foreverfamilyfoundation.org.

Speaker 2: Welcome to The Gathering on Signs of Life Radio. We're back again. I'm Bob Ginsberg. I'm with Tom and Melissa Gould. Marta, unfortunately, can't make it this week, but she'll join us for the next show.

I wanted to start off by telling people that there is still time to register for the grief retreat in Connecticut later this month. Just go to the website, look under Events, and go to Summer Retreat. That will give you all the information. Great mediums will be there, so check that out.

As far as everything else goes, I think that's all the announcements I have. We have some people who sent in questions in advance. And before I forget, call us. We want to talk to you. The number is 888-627-6008. If you have a question or just want to join the conversation, give us a call. We welcome audience interaction.

We have some people who sent in their questions in advance. This first one is a little bit of a story. Sarah writes:

"When I was 12, I was walking through the woods with a friend and her dad. Her dad went to sit on a bench, and we went off the trail a bit. Out of nowhere, I said, 'There's a body out here.' I told my friend we needed to find the body. There were mounds of pine needles and forest debris. I told my friend to start looking there. I was going to walk into the forest to look for the body, and I found him - a 17-year-old who had been missing for about three weeks.

"I had no idea why this came into my mind. It was just a download. I wasn't scared. I don't know that I took it seriously. I was shocked when I found him. I now think that incident, and many more, were possibly given to me because I was open. I know that this boy had a single father who had been praying for his return.

"I asked, 'Why me?' Now, at 45, I've come to the conclusion that I may not have been the only person on the trail who heard, 'Look for the body.' Others may have looked into the woods and had this thought, then dismissed it as creepy or crazy and kept walking on the trail. But me, this impulsive 12-year-old girl with ADD, followed that message off the trail - that prayer that was carried on the collective to someone willing to listen.

"Does that make sense? I have had multiple similar experiences, especially around deaths. Just knowing. I used to think I was psychic. Now I think I'm just open to information. I hope it's not a gift I lose, although it has been a while since I had any downloads of information. It doesn't seem to matter where I am in life emotionally, whether I'm meditating or not, calm or not. It's something I have no control over. It comes when it comes. I feel like it's a privilege that I'm scared of losing forever."

Speaker 3: Wow. You know what, Bob? My first thought is that it was the deceased boy who was communicating with the 12-year-old to look for him. And seeing that now she's older and has lived with these thoughts, I was going to ask you at the start of the show to talk about what's happening in October. She might be a candidate for that.

Speaker 2: That's right. We are holding a psychic and mediumship development conference in California in October, and you can read about that on the website.

I saw Marta pop onto the screen, and we tried to admit her, but she seems to have disappeared.

Speaker 5: I hear her. Can you hear me?

Speaker 2: Oh, I can. We can hear you. Hello.

Speaker 5: I was waiting for the doctor, so I thought I'd call.

Speaker 2: Oh, hi. You better be careful talking about this stuff in the doctor's office.

Speaker 5: That's true. I hadn't thought of that. I'm sorry.

Speaker 2: We were just talking about a woman who, when she was a child, heard a voice or a thought and found a 17-year-old boy who had been missing for several weeks. It's interesting that she refers to the information she gets as downloads.

That's probably an accurate description. She is trying to figure out whether other people may have heard it but dismissed it. That is interesting, because a lot of us dismiss these downloads. We say, "That's my imagination," or, "It can't be." But she followed it. She is not fearful of her gift; she is fearful of losing her gift. I found all of that interesting.

Speaker 3: Which makes me want her to work on this a little bit more.

Speaker 2: Yes. She has some connection with the other side. I wonder why she suspects other people got that information also. I don't know what made her think that.

Speaker 4: I don't know, but I guess it's possible that people in spirit put things out there, and whoever picks it up, picks it up.

Speaker 3: And 99% of the time, people dismiss it. That's probably why. I'm sure the spirit who wanted them to find the body was trying any way he could, saying, "Look for this. Look for this." As you said, I think a lot of people probably heard it in their heads as a thought and just brushed it away. The fact that she was young, 12 years old - children have more of a sense for that kind of thing, and it gets trained out of them. So, yes, she asked if that was unusual. Actually, no, it is not unusual. What is unusual is that she responded to it.

Speaker 2: That's right. I like the way she said, "I used to think I was psychic." Well, if it quacks like a duck.

Here is the next question. If people in the next realm can go wherever they want by thought alone, shouldn't they be able to visit us in the physical world whenever they want?

Speaker 4: I think they do.

Speaker 3: Yes. That goes right back to the last question. Yes, they can. The difference is that people in the physical world often dismiss it. They do not recognize it as being such.

Speaker 2: Right. I guess the only question is whether they want to visit us only at special times or whether they want to visit us a lot. People want to know that. I think they visit when they feel a pull, when it is meaningful. And we like to say that when we talk about them, it brings them closer.

Speaker 4: Why not?

Speaker 5: In reading your book, you say that people are busy. They start doing things and working, so they can't always be available.

Speaker 2: That's true. That explains why communications and visitations seem to wane through the years. People on the other side are advancing, learning, helping, and doing all sorts of things. Time is a different element on the other side.

Traditionally, they try to reach back when they have just crossed over to let their loved ones know that they are okay, that they are with them, and that they will see them again. Then we on this side get that message and say, "Wow, that's great." A week or two goes by, and we say, "Well, we want another message." But a week or two is nothing to them. It is not that they are ignoring us. They come around occasionally, and as the messages often say at first, they will be there when we get there.

Speaker 3: Right. Two weeks is a human term for the physical world. Where they are, as Tom said, everything is happening at once. There is no two weeks. It is just thought.

Speaker 2: Here is a question we have had before. How do people in spirit remember things if they no longer have a brain?

Speaker 4: That's a good question.

Speaker 2: The only explanation is that memories are not all stored in the brain. We know they remember things, because otherwise mediums would not be able to do what they do. How would they communicate what people are remembering? Then the question becomes: Where are memories stored?

Speaker 4: That's a good question. I know Tom is going to say the Akashic Records and zero-point fields.

Speaker 3: I was thinking of the Akashic Records, and in deference to Liz, I would say the zero-point field.

Speaker 2: Give Liz a plug while you are saying that. Say why you said that.

Speaker 3: One of our volunteers, Liz Enten, who has written a couple of books called the WTF books, is the skeptic of all skeptics.

Speaker 2: She has found the evidence to believe that something is going on, but she has more questions in terms of quantum physics that she is trying desperately to get answered. Most of us here on the pedestrian side of things cannot answer those questions.

Marta, are you still there?

Speaker 4: I think Marta went in to see the doctor.

Speaker 5: No, I'm still here. I was muted for some reason.

Speaker 2: Oh, okay. You might be interested in this question: I never knew my birth parents. Will they be there when I cross over?

Speaker 5: Interesting.

Speaker 2: What do you think, as somebody who knew your birth mom later, but not originally?

Speaker 5: I only knew my birth mom after many years. I was raised by two people who were my parents, but I was five when I was adopted. I don't know. I told you once that I think my birth father came to me.

I had seen a picture of someone. The cat meowed. I was standing at the stove or washing dishes, and I turned around after the cat meowed. There was a man with curly, dark blond hair and wire-rim glasses. He just smiled from ear to ear at me. I said, "Who are you?" I turned back to wash the dishes and said, "I'm really scared," but then I turned back again. He was still there and smiling away. I turned away again, and then he was gone. I think that was him.

Speaker 2: I really like that. It is very likely. Obviously, you loved your parents, and you did not know your birth parents very much, but there is a connection. They made you, in a sense. I think your adopted parents and your birth parents will be there when you reach the other side.

I know the next question would be, "Well, I loved my adopted mother and father a lot more because they raised me." But it is the same kind of question as when people say, "I've been married three times. Which one of my husbands is going to be there?" I think they will all be there, because I do not think there is jealousy or competition. It is just pure love connection.

Speaker 5: Yes, I think so too. The Chinese have a parable that we are all connected with a red string. They say that children who are adopted are actually even closer to their adopted parents than to the birth parents. It could be because you are chosen, somehow, in the universe. I suppose we are all chosen by the universe, but consciously, in life, we are chosen. So that string is really tight, strong, and deep in Chinese thought.

Speaker 2: Beautiful. I have a question: How does a soul release from the body?

Speaker 4: We have heard different stories from people who were with their loved one when they were passing. Recently there was a story, not someone I knew personally, but someone said they knew when the person exited his body. What we experienced with Tom's mom was sort of a whoosh.

Speaker 3: Yes. I felt her.

Speaker 4: I think it is an interesting way to phrase the question. I do not think it is necessarily that the soul releases from the body. I think the body is just done, and that is it.

Speaker 2: The body relinquishes the soul.

Speaker 3: Right. I often think of our physical bodies as our vehicle while we are here on this physical plane. It is basically a rental car. We drive it and drive it, and sometimes the car breaks down. What do we do? We get out and walk away. That is what the soul does. The soul rides this vehicle until it breaks down, and then it walks away - or whooshes away, if you will.

Speaker 2: You mentioned the whoosh, and that is a lot like the way people describe it. Some people see a mist coming from their loved one's body. Some people see light. From reading spiritual books, people probably recognize the silver cord, the idea that there is a cord attaching your ethereal body or soul to the physical body. When the body is released, that cord breaks. I think of it as a helium balloon rising up.

It reminds me of old movies, where someone dies and suddenly you see their mystical self rising and sitting up.

Speaker 4: Maybe I'm just an old person, but I remember those films - not in person, of course.

Speaker 3: As a child.

Speaker 2: Even in modern films, they always depict that ethereal part of the person interacting with others. People who have had NDEs feel that all of a sudden they are in an operating room, they flatline, and the next thing they know they are hovering above and watching everything going on. That is a form of that.

That is very real. The other people in the operating room did not see the person floating above them, but maybe if some of them were more attuned, they would.

Here is a related question: Dying people often have visions of deceased loved ones to help them. Do people ever have such visions when they are not dying?

Speaker 4: Yes.

Speaker 2: We always hear about people in a twilight state seeing somebody at the foot of the bed. They have these visions, and they are not near death. It is not a near-death experience. It is just a visitation, and I guess the frequency was right for the two parties to meet.

Of course, there are dream visits, where you get a vivid dream of a loved one coming and talking to you or hugging you. I think that is just as real as if you were awake.

Speaker 5: I've got to go.

Speaker 2: Okay, good luck.

Speaker 4: Thank you.

Speaker 5: Thank you. Bye.

Speaker 2: Bye.

Speaker 4: Bye.

Speaker 3: Bye.

Speaker 2: I'm sure you are going to laugh when I read this question. It says, "I have a weird question."

Speaker 4: Okay.

Speaker 2: I love it. "I have known and seen many mediums, and it dawned on me that I have never seen a medium who smoked cigarettes. I wonder why."

When I read that, I tried to think back. We know a lot of mediums. Can I really say that they do not smoke? I have never seen them smoke, but then again, we are usually in settings where smoking is not allowed.

Speaker 4: We have been in social settings with them too. I know a few mediums who smoke pot, but not cigarettes. Maybe that's true.

Speaker 2: We should do a survey one day. Are mediums more health-conscious? I don't know.

Speaker 4: I haven't seen any evidence of that.

Speaker 2: We'll see. Some people seem to attract otherworldly phenomena. Why do you think that is? I guess that goes with people who get more after-death communications, visions, EVPs, and all that. It does seem that some people are more receptive or more open. Then again, there are people who desperately want it and say they are open, but maybe forcing it to happen gets in the way.

Speaker 3: I know for a fact that forcing it does not work, because when I first started experimenting with these sorts of things, I used to close my eyes really tight, tense up my hands, and say, "Come on, come on, come on." That never worked.

Speaker 2: No, it doesn't. With EVP, we know some mediums who get them all the time, whereas other people might try for a year or two and not get anything. Mediums seem to be more receptive to getting electronic voice phenomena. Why? Is it resonance or frequency?

Speaker 3: We have been told that if you get a message or a sign and you know it is coming from spirit, the important thing is to acknowledge it, be grateful for it, and say thank you. A lot of people get a sign and say, "Oh, that was great," and then go about their day. Worse still, they get a sign and disregard it as their mind playing tricks on them.

Spirit is us. If you are a spirit trying to get through and somebody acknowledges that you got through, you are more likely to go back to that person and say, "Okay, you got my message. I'll give you another." That is what it is all about. Going back to the word we talked about, you have to be open. Being open, acknowledging it, and being grateful are keys to receiving more signs.

Speaker 4: I know my mind is always thinking of a zillion things at once. But when I practiced nightly meditation, just for five minutes, night after night, I wrote down my findings. I recall it was almost more than a month before I really felt, "Whoa, I'm really tuning into something." It was only five minutes a night, which you would hope most people could manage. It doesn't have to be nighttime. It can be any time. Just quiet your mind.

Speaker 2: It is not only being open. When the information comes, do not judge it. Do not let your mind start saying, "Am I really doing it? Am I really getting it?" We have talked about the rule of some people feeling uneasy when information comes, as if it is not natural. There is sometimes an element of fear, which is kind of ridiculous.

Speaker 4: It must be why people seek out mediums. Even though we are told we can make those connections for ourselves, we question what we think we are getting. But if another person mentions a name or an incident, then it seems more valid.

Speaker 3: Patience is a great tool in this regard. Recently, I was struck by an interview or discussion about a spiritualist in the UK who got together with a group of people. On a regular basis, they sat in a room and tried to bring something through. I was amazed when they said that after about 10 years of this, they finally got something. Nothing is instantaneous.

Speaker 4: That is true perseverance.

Speaker 2: That takes dedication. Is there free will for spirits in another dimension? Do they make decisions that affect their existence?

Speaker 4: I hope we will always exist, but we do not know. We do not have all the answers to it. That is something we have not gotten evidence of.

Speaker 3: I agree with Melissa. I believe that you have free will at every stage of your existence.

Speaker 2: I believe that too. As far as whether it affects their existence, that is difficult. We do not know exactly what their existence entails. We do know that there are different levels. If you pass this physical life and are in the spiritual world, there are other levels of the spiritual world that you can aspire to.

I think that is where free will comes in. If you put in the work, you grow. But if your free will is telling you, "Wow, I can go to the 1800s. I can go to outer space. I can do this," and you do all of that instead of working on your growth, you will not grow as fast.

Speaker 3: Right. I think free will is a different kind of free will. Here we talk about having a gut feeling, making a right turn instead of a left, and either avoiding an accident or getting into one. There are not accidents and death on the other side in the same way. I guess free will affects you in other ways, probably in your growth.

Speaker 2: Free will affects your growth. I think you have the free will to come to the physical world in the first place. That is a decision you make on the other side - the apparent contract that you agree to come back to this world for some purpose.

Speaker 3: Right. We are not privy to it until after we leave.

Speaker 4: True.

Speaker 2: Then we know what it was all about.

Speaker 4: Exactly.

Speaker 2: Do we feel pain when we die?

Speaker 4: No pain.

Speaker 2: No pain. The consensus is that the actual moment of death is pain-free. There may be pain and suffering leading up to that point, but once you reach that point, the pain disappears.

Speaker 4: I am the only one in this group who has delivered a baby. That pain reaches the unbearable point, but once the transition happens and the baby comes out, the pain is gone. Maybe it is similar to that.

Speaker 2: There is also a medical explanation. If you get shot, for example, I have heard many stories where people do not know they have been shot until they say, "Wait a minute, I'm bleeding." Medically, when you suffer a trauma like that, your body goes into shock. If you are in shock, you are not feeling pain. That is why you are still alive. I think if the trauma is so great that it is going to kill you, shock has pretty much taken over and you will not feel the pain of death.

Speaker 4: Interesting.

Speaker 2: It is often said that our loved ones in spirit look over us and protect us, yet bad things happen to us all the time. How is this explained? That is an age-old question. People often put that in the context of God. We talk about it all the time. Loved ones do remain part of our lives. They look after us, try to help us, and try to protect us, but they can only do so much in this world of free will, where so many things are out of their control. They give us little nudges and downloads and send their love, but nobody can really prevent bad things from happening. Actually, that is why we are here: to experience difficult things.

Speaker 4: I was about to say that growth comes out of it.

Speaker 2: That's it. That is where the growth comes from. We have talked about this in the past: the other side, from what we have heard, is a beautiful, loving existence. Where is the growth there? No pain, no gain. You come to the physical plane, to Earth, and there is a lot of pain. There is your gain.

Yes, your loved ones are looking over you. They do not want you to be in pain, but they do want you to grow. Any parent will tell you that you let your child do things within the realm of safety, but you do not go into their classroom while they are taking a test and show them all the answers that you already know. They have to get the answers for themselves.

Speaker 4: I am recalling a family member who was going through a tough time. I won't name names. He had a terrible car accident, and the car was described as being wrapped around a tree, but he was okay. Tom's dad had already passed, and people said, "Wow, Dad's spirit somehow must have helped save him." Again, if he had not had this event in his life to shake him up and shake him out of his ways - perhaps ways that were harmful - he might not have said, "Wow, how did I survive that? There must be some reason."

Sometimes when we are in the middle of all this bad stuff happening, we say, "I don't want to grow. Leave me alone."

Speaker 2: We actually answered this question before: Do we stop getting signs and communications because loved ones want us to get on with our lives? We did not exactly address that, but it could be one reason. They do not want us to be too attached to them. They want us to live our lives in the best way possible.

Speaker 4: I think we often hear people say they have never gotten signs from their loved ones, but maybe they have heard too many amazing stories and do not realize how subtle a sign can be. They ignore it because they expect something big to happen.

I have told this story before. Many years ago, Fran, another friend, and I traveled to New Jersey to sit with one of our mediums and try developing our own abilities. With her guidance, we each took turns connecting with someone on the other side. It was so subtle. It was not, "Whoa, what did I just do?" It was extremely subtle.

At one of our retreats in Chester, Connecticut, a medium helped us develop our own skills. We were paired with people in the room and asked general things, such as what kind of animal they like or whether they like to travel. When I was paired with one gentleman, I knew from Fran that arranging to get to the retreat had been a big hassle for them. So when I was asked whether this person liked to travel, my left brain kicked in. I thought, "Well, no, they must not like to travel because it was a big problem getting here." It turned out they loved to travel. I was listening to my brain.

When it came to an animal, the wild animal I named turned out to be his thing. I don't know where that came from.

Speaker 2: So when are you applying for the medium certification?

Many of the world's religions teach an afterlife based on sacred texts and spiritual experiences. Is that considered evidence of an afterlife?

It is interesting that all these religions, from different stages in our history and different parts of the world - Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and others - believe this. Is it just wishful thinking? Was it a religious way of gaining control? Or were people having spiritual experiences that were very evidential to them and then gathering together to foster those beliefs?

Is it proof of an afterlife? I guess not. But there is something to it. It has been going on for thousands of years.

Speaker 3: I often quote that Jesus said that whoever follows him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Speaker 2: Yes, and I always say, was he kidding? That is a basic tenet of the religion: follow the way and have eternal bliss. I have read the Quran and know of different religions as well, and they all seem to have that tenet that you survive. Except, is atheism a religion?

Speaker 3: It is not acknowledging one.

Speaker 2: Do atheists believe in an afterlife? They do not believe in God, but do they believe in an afterlife? That is a good question. If you are an atheist, call in and let me know.

Speaker 4: At our next panel at the end of our grief retreat, I will have to remember to ask that question.

Speaker 2: You do not have to believe in God to believe in an afterlife. You can believe in an afterlife based upon the evidence. I bet some atheists do believe in life after death.

Speaker 4: I was never raised to believe in a God. I was always raised to believe that there is something greater than ourselves, but in my family we never called it God. Even now, my grandchildren, without influence from me, seem to be raised the same way.

Sometimes I feel like a little bit of knowledge would help. Tom is so knowledgeable because he was in church during his youth. I thought, "If their friends are talking about these things, they should have a little knowledge about it." But they say, "No, Grandma, we don't believe in that."

Speaker 2: Okay. Do grudges or unresolved emotions stay with the spirit?

Speaker 3: They remember them, but they do not harbor them.

Speaker 2: I like that. We have seen many readings where a spirit comes back who had serious issues on the physical plane, and they come back to apologize because now they see the error of their ways. I do not think they continue with those unresolved emotions.

Speaker 3: Right. Those unresolved emotions are human emotions, not emotions they still have in the same way. They are immaterial.

Speaker 2: Our pets can sense when their owners are about to arrive home, suggesting a link between animals and humans. Is that the same way people in spirit stay connected with each other and with us?

Consciousness is what connects us, so I think that is exactly what it is. Knowing when their owners are about to come home does not have anything to do with spirit, necessarily. It is psychic phenomena, but it is inherent to us all. It is what connects us all.

Those interesting studies that Rupert Sheldrake did come to mind. They would purposely have the pet owner take a different route home than usual, and they would also have the owner come home at different times. It was not always a set time. The pets always knew when the owner was about 10 minutes out, whether it was noon or five o'clock. They would go right to the door. Something that binds across species is amazing.

Speaker 4: There was a news story yesterday on Long Island, near New York, about a family that had their dog with them in Florida while visiting. The dog got loose and was lost. They could not find the dog. They came home, and just yesterday the dog showed up on their doorstep.

Speaker 3: Wasn't it something like 10 months?

Speaker 4: Yes. About a thousand miles, and this dog came home.

Speaker 2: To me, it is even more amazing because I have no sense of direction. Do I turn left or right? Doggy GPS.

Is there a period of limbo or purgatory after we die?

I guess that gets into what you believe, and religion sometimes plays a part in that.

Speaker 4: Maybe the life review is part of purgatory.

Speaker 3: Yes, that could be the purgatory.

Speaker 2: We have often talked about the book Testimony of Light. The woman who was writing the book was receiving information channeled from another woman on the other side. The woman on the other side had a job assimilating people who came to the other side. One chapter talked about a person who had been a very bad person. That person had to be taken aside and put into a room, basically, to be dealt with personally. He needed more attention.

In that sense, the fact that some are not simply set loose into the energy of the universe, and may need to be dealt with or perhaps return to Earth to learn more lessons, could be what you might call purgatory. They are not released to the heaven people talk about.

Speaker 4: It could be.

Speaker 2: We sometimes talk about periods of adjustment. That could be something like purgatory. But mediums tell us they have never encountered anybody who was in limbo or stuck. Of course, that also raises another question: If they are in what we call purgatory, maybe they are not able to communicate. Who knows? It is a question I do not think we can answer.

Speaker 4: I can ask it during that panel.

Speaker 2: Write it down. As mentioned before, people who were not nice here do come back and communicate, so somewhere along the line they learn how to do that.

This person's son passed away six years ago, and she says, "I occasionally see him in our woods out of the corner of my eye. I am wondering if he is attempting to communicate with me when this happens. Is there something I can do to help him communicate better with me?"

Speaker 4: She just has to acknowledge it, sit quietly, and focus. Calm her mind down and see what comes to her, but do not force anything. Calm your mind and thank him. Say, "Was that you? I hope you show yourself to me again or make yourself known."

Speaker 2: What about seeing him in the woods? Maybe he liked the woods, so that is where he is.

Speaker 4: I would relate to that a lot. Look for me in the woods, honey.

Speaker 3: I can understand that too. If you are in the woods, immersed in nature, you are not distracted by the physicality of the material world, and you may be more open to seeing them. I have had that same experience in a grocery store. All of a sudden, I think, "Whoa, that looks like that person." It can happen anywhere, but in nature and in the woods, there are fewer distractions. As Melissa said, if you can clear your mind completely, you are in a better state for receiving messages.

Speaker 2: I thought it was interesting that the very first thing we read today was about a woman walking in the woods and finding that missing person.

Speaker 4: Remember that time we tried the spirit phone in the woods at the Chester, Connecticut retreat? I was going to recreate that again. The phone I purchased was a heavy dial phone. I thought maybe if I could get one of those little princess phones instead. I got carried away. I thought it needed protection from the rain if it rained, but I think it could be simpler than that. Pick up this phone and find yourself a quiet spot. At that retreat, there are woods all around. It sounds like I am plugging the retreat.

Speaker 2: Well, you should be, Melissa.

Speaker 4: It is beautiful. Talk about being in the woods. You are right in the woods. It is our only retreat that has the woods. I have had people say, "I'm not really grieving anyone right now." But everyone has lost somebody. You do not have to be in early grief and suffering. You have lost somebody. There is someone you miss. There is plenty to be gained from these retreats aside from grief.

Speaker 2: I do not have any fresh grief, if you want to call it that, but I get a lot out of these retreats every time I go.

Speaker 4: And just the wine and cheese is worth coming for.

Speaker 2: We're really selling this.

Someone wants to know what happens in a past-life regression. Have either of you ever done a past-life regression?

Speaker 4: I'm reading Jacob Cooper's book now. I know he does that for people. I have been toying with the idea of doing it, but I haven't.

Speaker 3: Same thing. Early on, I was intrigued by that idea, but I have never attempted it.

Speaker 2: The way it happens is that the facilitator hypnotizes you, puts you in a hypnotic state, and then brings you back to a period in your life. It could be before you were born. People describe, while in that altered state, seeing themselves in a previous life. Lots of times it is hard to verify, but other times it can be verified.

It is a bit controversial. A lot of people swear by it. We have talked to a lot of scientists in the field, and some are skeptical in terms of evidence because you are in a very suggestive state when you are hypnotized. But when you read books by Brian Weiss and Newton, there is a lot of evidence and it is very compelling. I do not know if I would try it because I do not think I can be hypnotized. My mind is too active.

Speaker 4: I am writing the same book with you.

Speaker 2: I would like to see it happen.

Speaker 4: Bob, I studied hypnosis for a short six-week program.

Speaker 2: You did?

Speaker 4: Yes. My intention was to work with a particular individual and take that person back to their childhood to figure out where things got a little crazy. But it was only a six-week course. I did not feel qualified to mess with that sort of thing, so I did not pursue it any further. I am definitely intrigued.

Speaker 2: Of course, we always see hypnotists on television putting someone under and making them do all sorts of stupid things. It is entertainment, and everybody laughs when they snap their fingers. But hypnosis can also be used for breaking habits, smoking, and all sorts of things. The mind and brain are pretty interesting in terms of what can be done.

Speaker 4: Definitely true.

Speaker 2: Did you ever try to put somebody under when you were taking the course?

Speaker 4: With the individual I wanted to work on, I thought I was doing a pretty good job of getting this person to go back. Then all of a sudden the comment was, "I know what you're trying to do."

Speaker 2: Tom, have you been in a hypnotic state for the past 20 years?

Speaker 3: I am in one right now.

Speaker 2: All right, Melissa, make him do something.

Speaker 4: Sit still for an hour.

Speaker 2: You did a good job. Congratulations. It worked.

All right. Now our global peace prayer:

Let us, as one consciousness, give our energy of loving thought by praying like this: to love one another, to treat others as we would like to be treated, to forgive others and return love for hate, kindness for anger, and to spread this feeling to everyone, to our fellow man, as well as to the Earth and its environment.

Speaker 3: I would like to say our loved ones are only a heartbeat away.

Speaker 2: And science is going to accept it.

Speaker 4: Hope so.

Speaker 2: Thank you all. Good night, everybody. We'll see you next time.

Speaker 3: Good night.

Speaker 4: Thank you.