CHAPTER FOUR.
A SURVEY OF EARLY SPIRITUAL, BIBLICAL FIGURES EVALUATED IN A MEDIUMISTIC CONTEXT.
Introduction. Chapter Four will commence with a brief reiteration of the overall aims of this research and then state the aims of this particular Chapter in contributing to the achievement of that overall objective. As stated at the outset, this research seeks to answer the question of whether the ostensible psychically sensitive faculty of mediumship can be associated with the facilitation and acquisition of spiritual and eschatological insights and knowledge. To reiterate, the implications of these experiences may be enormous. Beliefs are very personal and subjective regarding the implications of this subject matter, however, if it is argued that these phenomena do not demonstrate beyond doubt, proof of survival after physical death, they may at least demonstrate the existence of a very real other dimension beyond the physical due to their apparent demonstration of the utilisation of senses beyond the recognised, known senses. Chapter Four followed by Chapter Five will successively review Old and then New Testament biblical primary sources which will be presented predominantly in chronological order; first ascertaining whether the narratives might be referring to the demonstration of categories of psychic experience associated with the receipt of mediumistic communiqués and secondly evaluating whether these reported mediumistic experiences have a spiritual focus. If it is ascertained that the review of psychic, mediumistic experiences can be related to the spiritual this Chapter will have made its contribution to the overall theme of this research to bridge the gap between psychical research into the ostensibly paranormal phenomena of mediumship and that of the realm of humankind's apparent receipt of spiritual beliefs; as to negate the former, largely negates the latter, which represents much of humankind's rich spiritual heritage. As stated at the outset, it is the belief of the writer that the realm of parapsychology and that of transformative psychic, mediumistic religious experiences and subsequent experience-based beliefs may remain impoverished if both areas of thought remain detached and distanced from one another. Chapter Four will continue to support the aims of this research by making a contribution to improving the perspective and context for viewing these phenomena by continuing this examination of them as part of a cross-cultural, historic, ongoing continuum, that have therefore made a significant impact on humankind's evolving spiritual quest. Chapters Four and Five will review the biblical Old and New Testament narratives that describe the lives, practices, beliefs and events surrounding historic, spiritual figures of the Judaeo-Christian tradition. The experiential testimonies of these ostensible mediums of old, will be evaluated in the light of a continuum of psychic, mediumistic accounts and evaluated as to whether they can be viewed as having a spiritual focus, further evidencing the natural and pervasive nature of this area of human experiencing. These narratives will be explored noting the relatedness of these human experiences narrated by, and of, esteemed historic, spiritual, biblical figures. The biblical writers familiarity with these categories of experiences will also be noted. It will be established that these accounts of experiential testimonies testify to communiqués from and dialogues with a being or beings from an authentic, co-existent, etheric realm. If the association of psychic, mediumistic experiences with the spiritual can be found it will make a contribution to reducing the gap between the discourses of parapsychology and their frequently abbreviated analysis of these experiences as mere imaginings, leading to future evaluation in the broader and improved context of their immense experiential contribution to the birth of many profoundly elevated, global spiritual philosophies. This discussion will evidence that the following narratives, which commence with an evaluation of the events, practices and beliefs described with reference to the lives of Abraham and Moses can only make sense if they are understood, in contemporary terminology, in a psychic, mediumistic context. This Chapter commences a survey, which includes in particular the biblical books entitled Genesis, Exodus, Numbers and Leviticus . 1 Before commencing this biblical survey, several valuable points will be stated as follows. The Scottish and English branches of the Society for Psychical Research and similar organisations across the globe receive and research reports made today by mediumistic individuals who currently receive communiqués apparently from otherworldly sources. The following exploration of a series of spiritual leader's experiences of conversations with the surviving consciousnesses of non-physical beings echoes those alleged mediumistic examples discussed in earlier pages, which have been evidenced as ranging throughout the centuries to more contemporary times. A more detailed example of more contemporaneous mediumistic experiences will be discussed in Chapter Six, which will further demonstrate the relatedness of these mediumistic practices. This Chapter evidences that such phenomena have occurred historically, which supports the belief that they should be viewed in a historic, on-going and universal context. This Chapter does not attempt to offer proof of existence beyond physical death. However, it will provide evidence of the long established tradition of reports of experiences of communication between the inhabitants of the material world and a co-existent, populated, invisible other world. This Chapter will offer evidence to indicate that these reports of other world communiqués influence and encourage increasingly mature spiritual behaviour and therefore testify to the spiritual focus that is contained in some mediumistic experiences. The belief in communiqués from the invisible other world, must inevitably make a contribution to the birth and on-going nature of religious beliefs and due to their occurrence in the days of antiquity, must lie at the source of humankind's evolving spiritual history. In the vein of evolving and on-going spiritual insights, apparently obtained from otherworldly sources, such inspirations and revelations, lay at the source of enhanced spiritual behaviour but also with regard to the progressive accumulation of eschatological knowledge. These include beliefs in the existence of inhabited otherworldly topographies, the existence of the Divine, a Divine Plan for all of Creation, and forms of judgement after the transition is made from the physical life to the non-physical life. This Chapter, in turn, with each of the following chapters, progressively evaluates the supportive evidence that there is a spiritual focus to many examples of mediumship whether historic or more contemporaneous. A point worthy of processing throughout the following discussions is that some present day psychologists, philosophers and theologians are overtly and covertly indoctrinated by the modern western, materialist, reductionist traditions. Furthermore, many of humankind's most illuminated, enlightened, creative, spiritual beliefs and philosophies, were initially born of reports of communiqués and manifestations of beings from non-physical realms.
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