FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Why did you begin doing research using the methods of science to address the question of a greater spiritual reality?

The brief answer was that it was partly professional, and partly personal.

Professionally, while I was a professor at Yale University, I came to realize that the science of astrophysics was made possible because information carried by light had a kind of immortality. 

What I mean is that optical and radio telescopes reveal replicable patterns in photons – be the patterns in the visible spectrum or outside the visible spectrum (e.g. radio waves or gamma waves) – and we see clear patterns such as galaxies or super-clusters of galaxies extending billions of years back in time.  In other words, in the so-called “vacuum” of space, “massless” quanta of energies – termed photons – which function also as waves distributed in space, maintain the integrity of their information.  If they did not, and it all became random over time, when we looked at the sky at night, all we would see is noise.

I realized that our energies and information – our photons – are no different that the photons of stars and galaxies.  They are just weaker in intensity.  But they also travel and persist in the vacuum of space – as documented by contemporary spy satellites.   I began to entertain the hypothesis that the probability that our energies and information – and hence our memories and personalities – might continue after we physically died, was the same probability that the light from distant stars continued after they “died.” 

Hence, contemporary quantum and astrophysics led me to become open to the possibility of survival of consciousness and the existence of a greater spiritual reality.

However, it was not until I came to know a number of special women, particularly Susy Smith who is featured in four of my books – and more recently, the late Marcia Eklund, the mother-in-law I never met in the physical (but through mediums I have “met from the other side” as described in Rhonda Eklund-Schwartz’s book Love Eternal) – I was encouraged to conduct research to determine whether their deceased loved ones were still here (and after they died, to determine that they were still here too).

The sound bite is that I was pushed to do the work by science and theory, but I was pulled to the do work because of special women who wanted to know if love continued beyond physical life. 

And when you are pushed and pulled in the same direction, it is very hard to resist.  

Hence I began the work.

Were you a believer in a greater spiritual reality when you began this research?

No.   I was raised in a reform Jewish household and my parents believed it was ashes to ashes, dust to dust, case closed.  I was also raised to believe this way through my training in Western science.

However, my parents encouraged me to keep an open mind about science and life in general, as did a number of inspiring teachers and professors (see “orthodox agnostism” on the True Skepticism page).

Are you trying to prove that the soul exists, or that Angels and Guides exist?

Absolutely not.  As I have written in multiple books, what I am trying to do is give [X], if it is exists – whatever [X] is – the opportunity to prove itself.

My philosophy is that metaphorically, good science is like good gardening.  If you want to determine if a given seed can grow, it is important to provide the seed with the optimal conditions for growth – including soil, water, light, nutrients, appropriate temperature, etc.  It is up to the seed, if it is a viable seed, to “prove” that it can grow.

When it comes to science, I to be a good gardener.

FYI, though I sometimes use terms like “proof-of-concept” and “proof-of-possibility,” I use these terms in the more general sense.  Laboratory scientists prefer not to use the term proof – rather, we collect data and draw conclusions about the probability that a given phenomenon or explain might be true (termed “rejecting the null hypothesis” in statistics).

What do you believe today?

After having published six books on the bridge between science and spirituality, I have come to the conclusion that there is a serious possibility - if not probability - that not only does a greater spiritual reality exist, but that it can play an important role in our individual and collective lives.

Moreover, as described in The Sacred Promise, I have come to conclusion that science is “on the path to proving” that a greater spirituality exists.   Any open minded and reasonable person who carefully studies the totality of the evidence reported in the collection of books I have written will likely reach a similar positive conclusion about the direction the research is going.

Moreover, as implicated on the Post-Materialism page, I (as well as other senior scientists) have come to the conclusion that the emerging shift from Materialism to Post-Materialism may become the single greatest transformation in the history of both science and society.

Though I use the word "belief" from time to time in my books for the general public, I prefer to use scientific terms like “working hypotheses,” “possibilities” (qualified from slight to substantial depending upon the circumstance), or “tentative conclusions.” 

Do you really believe that people like Albert Einstein or Harry Houdini are participating in this research?

If relatively unknown people like Susy Smith can be documented to be participating in this research, as well as completely unknown people such Marcia Eklund or Shirley Schwartz, then in principle there is no reason why very well known scientist and entertainers can be documented to be participating as well.  What matters here are not fame or fortune, but intention and sense of purpose (on “their” parts as well as ours).

The questioning scientist, and especially the super-skeptic, will be quick to challenge my statement that it is possible, both theoretically and experimentally, to determine whether a specific deceased person, or other spiritual being, is indeed participating in this research.   I wrote the book The Sacred Promise to demonstrate how this is possible.

Can any of us seek spiritual assistance for healing, guidance, and protection, in our personal lives?

The answer in principle is yes.  Just as anyone (who has eyes) can learn to see patterns of distant stars if they are willing to go outside on a cloudless and moonless night, away from the city lights, anyone can learn to invite the presence of helpful spirits for the best and highest good.

However, if you simply look at a cloudless sky during the day, you will not see the stars (because we blinded by the brightness of the closed star, which we call the sun). 

The take home message is “sometimes we have to go into the dark in order to see the light.”

Is seeking spirit sometimes dangerous, and can we sometimes fool ourselves?

Yes, and absolutely.  I discuss these possibilities at great length in Appendices B and C in The Sacred Promise.

Is there any one lesson that you have learned in the process of doing this research?

The answer is yes, and it is “always be prepared for surprises.”

As The Sacred Promise explains in great detail, the most important, memorable and meaningful discoveries I have witnessed over the years were ones which I did not predict, and often could not even have imagined.

It stands to reason that “They” – if “They” exist – know things that we do not know, and maybe cannot know because “we” (in physical life) are typically restricted to being in a material form (save for special states of consciousness fostered for example by certain drugs and meditation practices).

A related slogan I that came to me in 2009 is “Never underestimate the Universe.”

The big implication is for us to keep an open mind and remain humble to possibility.  This does not mean that we should become uncritical in our thinking, or blindly accept the appearance of the unexpected.  The key is the development of discernment.

Some people call me Mister If (because I am always asking “if” questions). 

What is especially exciting to me is that all of us, in our own unique ways, can use the laboratories of our personal lives – aided by the scientific method – to go beyond our current beliefs and understanding, and continue on the inspiring journey of inner and outer discovery.  I call this "self-science" - a set of tools we can all learn to use.