Dead" Physicist Explains Communication Difficulties
During a recent segment of the Lisa Williams show ("Talking with the Dead") on the Lifetime channel, two sisters and a brother appeared to be receiving a very evidential reading from Williams as their mother communicated through Williams' clairvoyance. The three were affirming nearly everything Williams said and the two women were in tears. When Williams said she was losing contact with their mother, one of the sisters asked if she had given her name. Williams paused and then said she had not.
No doubt the skeptics watching the program had a good laugh, asking how Williams could get so much evidential information and not get a simple name. Probably few of them stopped to think that the fact she didn't get the name works against both the fraud and telepathy theories. Certainly if she or her staff had done some research beforehand, as the skeptics allege, she would at least have the mother's name. And it is likely that the sister who asked the question had her mother's name in mind for Williams to telepathically receive, if that is the way she gets her information.
At times, Williams does get names; at other times she doesn't. The problem with getting names was discussed in a previous blog (see "Why John Edward Struggles with Names" listed under at right; click on "popular"). However, I recently came upon another credible source. It confirms and adds to the previous discussion.
Beginning July 26, 1925, Lady Barrett, otherwise known as Dr. Florence Barrett, dean of the London School of Medicine for Women, began receiving messages from her late husband, Sir William Barrett, who had died on May 26, 1925 at age 80, through the mediumship of Gladys Osborne Leonard, the renowned London medium. Sir William had spent nearly 40 years as a professor of physics in the Royal College of Science at Dublin and was knighted in 1912 for his scientific work, which included developing a silicon-iron alloy known as stalloy, used in the commercial development of the telephone and transformers, and also doing pioneering research on entoptic vision, leading to the invention of the entoptiscope and a new optometer. Sir William was also a psychical researcher when alive and was instrumental in the formation of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) in 1882.
Lady Barrett was not a gullible grieving widow. She went to see Mrs. Leonard only after a member of the SPR told her that her husband had communicated at a recent sitting with Mrs. Leonard. While Lady Barrett was well aware of Mrs. Leonard's reputation as a credible medium, she proceeded cautiously. As a respected obstetrician and Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, she had her own reputation to protect. At that first sitting on July 26, Lady Barrett received some very evidential information - information which she was certain could not have been known to Mrs. Leonard or researched - including details of Sir William's last moments in his physical shell and mention of a leg problem he had been experiencing just before his death. Over the next 11 years, Lady Barrett sat with Mrs. Leonard every few months, and in a 1937 book, Personality Survives Death, she published some of the transcripts of her sittings.
"Sometimes I lose some memory of things from coming here," Sir William told her in a February 8, 1927 sitting. "I know it in my own state but not here." He went on to liken it to having a dream in the physical state and to explain that when he goes back to the spirit world after a sitting he realizes that he did not get everything through that he wanted to. He further explained that when we die, the subconscious and the conscious join up, making a complete mind that knows and remembers everything. However, when he has to lower his vibration to communicate with her, he leaves the subconscious behind and must rely on what was his conscious memory. He said the subconscious is housed within the etheric body.
"There are two lives here: one I can tell you about and you can understand, and one I cannot tell you about till you come over," Sir William told his widow. She asked him which life was higher and he replied that it was the life he could not tell her about. "I cannot come with and as my whole self, I cannot," he added, saying that he cannot make his fourth dimensional self the same as the third dimensional self. "It is like measuring a third dimension by its square feet instead of by its cubic feet."
Lady Barrett occasionally visited mediums other than Mrs. Leonard. At one sitting, apparently with a clairvoyant, Sir William identified himself as "William" rather than "Will," as she knew him. This made her suspicious that it was not him. At a sitting with Mrs. Leonard on November 5, 1929 Lady Barrett asked him about this. Sir William explained the problem. "If you go to a medium that is new to us, I can make myself known by giving you through that medium an impression of my character and personality, my work on earth and so forth," he related. "Those can all be suggested by thought impressions, ideas; but if I want to say, ‘I am Will,' I find that is much more difficult than giving you a long comprehensive study of my personality. ‘I am Will' sounds so simple, but you understand that in this case the word ‘Will' becomes a detached word. If I wanted to express an idea of my scientific interests I could do it in twenty different ways. I should probably begin by showing books, then giving impressions of the nature of the book and so on, till I had built up a character impression of myself, but ‘I am Will' presents difficulties."
The same problem presented itself with her name when he called her "Florrie" at one sitting, whereas he had called her only "Flo" when alive. Sir William explained that he couldn't get "Flo" through the medium's mind.
In a 1931 sitting, Sir William could get only the letter "B" through to describe her brother from Bristol who had recently passed over (his actual name is not stated in the book, so it is unclear as to whether "B" stands for his name, brother, or Bristol). He told her that he was helping her brother adjust to his new reality, mentioning that her brother kept saying "But you are dead, you are dead, you are dead," and assumed he was dreaming. It was not until several other "dead" relatives and friends greeted him that he began to realize that he had "died."
On another occasion, Sir William tried to explain that a message would reach his widow from Leonora Piper of America. However, he could only get "P" from "oversea" through the medium's mind. It was not until the message was delivered from Mrs. Piper in Boston that Lady Barrett understood the reference. "The actual phrasing, therefore, in some places cannot be regarded word for word as that of the communicator himself, but as that of the control operating through the medium," Lady Barrett explained in the Introduction to the book.
All the while, Sir William was able to get bits of personal information through to Lady Barrett so that she would know it was him For example, at one sitting, he told her that he saw her take down a picture from the wall a few days earlier. There was much personal information that came through, but Lady Barrett did not feel it should go in the book.
Sir William explained that the ability to communicate between planes depended upon the ability of the spirit communicator to lower his vibration and for the "living" person on earth to raise her or his vibration. Some people can raise their vibrations better than others and some of them are called mediums. On the subject of vibration, Sir William said that he now understood the so-called physical resurrection of Christ. "Through living in the most spiritual vibration, He was able to raise the vibrations of the physical so that there was no body to dispose of at His death - or as we prefer to say, at His transition," he explained.
Most of the communication came through Feda, Mrs. Leonard spirit control, as Sir William often struggled to lower his vibrations, and it was necessary for Feda to act as a go-between. Occasionally, however, Sir William was able to lower his vibrations and directly control Mrs. Leonard. At those time, Feda's high-pitched voice, which was nothing like Mrs. Leonard's, gave way to Sir William's deeper voice. On several occasions, when it appeared that Sir William was very emotional, he broke through in the direct voice (his actual voice emanating from outside the medium's body). On one such occasion, Lady Barrett recorded him as saying, "Life is far more wonderful than I can ever tell you, beyond anything I ever hoped for; it exceeds all my expectations."
During a recent segment of the Lisa Williams show ("Talking with the Dead") on the Lifetime channel, two sisters and a brother appeared to be receiving a very evidential reading from Williams as their mother communicated through Williams' clairvoyance. The three were affirming nearly everything Williams said and the two women were in tears. When Williams said she was losing contact with their mother, one of the sisters asked if she had given her name. Williams paused and then said she had not.
No doubt the skeptics watching the program had a good laugh, asking how Williams could get so much evidential information and not get a simple name. Probably few of them stopped to think that the fact she didn't get the name works against both the fraud and telepathy theories. Certainly if she or her staff had done some research beforehand, as the skeptics allege, she would at least have the mother's name. And it is likely that the sister who asked the question had her mother's name in mind for Williams to telepathically receive, if that is the way she gets her information.
At times, Williams does get names; at other times she doesn't. The problem with getting names was discussed in a previous blog (see "Why John Edward Struggles with Names" listed under at right; click on "popular"). However, I recently came upon another credible source. It confirms and adds to the previous discussion.
Beginning July 26, 1925, Lady Barrett, otherwise known as Dr. Florence Barrett, dean of the London School of Medicine for Women, began receiving messages from her late husband, Sir William Barrett, who had died on May 26, 1925 at age 80, through the mediumship of Gladys Osborne Leonard, the renowned London medium. Sir William had spent nearly 40 years as a professor of physics in the Royal College of Science at Dublin and was knighted in 1912 for his scientific work, which included developing a silicon-iron alloy known as stalloy, used in the commercial development of the telephone and transformers, and also doing pioneering research on entoptic vision, leading to the invention of the entoptiscope and a new optometer. Sir William was also a psychical researcher when alive and was instrumental in the formation of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) in 1882.
Lady Barrett was not a gullible grieving widow. She went to see Mrs. Leonard only after a member of the SPR told her that her husband had communicated at a recent sitting with Mrs. Leonard. While Lady Barrett was well aware of Mrs. Leonard's reputation as a credible medium, she proceeded cautiously. As a respected obstetrician and Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, she had her own reputation to protect. At that first sitting on July 26, Lady Barrett received some very evidential information - information which she was certain could not have been known to Mrs. Leonard or researched - including details of Sir William's last moments in his physical shell and mention of a leg problem he had been experiencing just before his death. Over the next 11 years, Lady Barrett sat with Mrs. Leonard every few months, and in a 1937 book, Personality Survives Death, she published some of the transcripts of her sittings.
"Sometimes I lose some memory of things from coming here," Sir William told her in a February 8, 1927 sitting. "I know it in my own state but not here." He went on to liken it to having a dream in the physical state and to explain that when he goes back to the spirit world after a sitting he realizes that he did not get everything through that he wanted to. He further explained that when we die, the subconscious and the conscious join up, making a complete mind that knows and remembers everything. However, when he has to lower his vibration to communicate with her, he leaves the subconscious behind and must rely on what was his conscious memory. He said the subconscious is housed within the etheric body.
"There are two lives here: one I can tell you about and you can understand, and one I cannot tell you about till you come over," Sir William told his widow. She asked him which life was higher and he replied that it was the life he could not tell her about. "I cannot come with and as my whole self, I cannot," he added, saying that he cannot make his fourth dimensional self the same as the third dimensional self. "It is like measuring a third dimension by its square feet instead of by its cubic feet."
Lady Barrett occasionally visited mediums other than Mrs. Leonard. At one sitting, apparently with a clairvoyant, Sir William identified himself as "William" rather than "Will," as she knew him. This made her suspicious that it was not him. At a sitting with Mrs. Leonard on November 5, 1929 Lady Barrett asked him about this. Sir William explained the problem. "If you go to a medium that is new to us, I can make myself known by giving you through that medium an impression of my character and personality, my work on earth and so forth," he related. "Those can all be suggested by thought impressions, ideas; but if I want to say, ‘I am Will,' I find that is much more difficult than giving you a long comprehensive study of my personality. ‘I am Will' sounds so simple, but you understand that in this case the word ‘Will' becomes a detached word. If I wanted to express an idea of my scientific interests I could do it in twenty different ways. I should probably begin by showing books, then giving impressions of the nature of the book and so on, till I had built up a character impression of myself, but ‘I am Will' presents difficulties."
The same problem presented itself with her name when he called her "Florrie" at one sitting, whereas he had called her only "Flo" when alive. Sir William explained that he couldn't get "Flo" through the medium's mind.
In a 1931 sitting, Sir William could get only the letter "B" through to describe her brother from Bristol who had recently passed over (his actual name is not stated in the book, so it is unclear as to whether "B" stands for his name, brother, or Bristol). He told her that he was helping her brother adjust to his new reality, mentioning that her brother kept saying "But you are dead, you are dead, you are dead," and assumed he was dreaming. It was not until several other "dead" relatives and friends greeted him that he began to realize that he had "died."
On another occasion, Sir William tried to explain that a message would reach his widow from Leonora Piper of America. However, he could only get "P" from "oversea" through the medium's mind. It was not until the message was delivered from Mrs. Piper in Boston that Lady Barrett understood the reference. "The actual phrasing, therefore, in some places cannot be regarded word for word as that of the communicator himself, but as that of the control operating through the medium," Lady Barrett explained in the Introduction to the book.
All the while, Sir William was able to get bits of personal information through to Lady Barrett so that she would know it was him For example, at one sitting, he told her that he saw her take down a picture from the wall a few days earlier. There was much personal information that came through, but Lady Barrett did not feel it should go in the book.
Sir William explained that the ability to communicate between planes depended upon the ability of the spirit communicator to lower his vibration and for the "living" person on earth to raise her or his vibration. Some people can raise their vibrations better than others and some of them are called mediums. On the subject of vibration, Sir William said that he now understood the so-called physical resurrection of Christ. "Through living in the most spiritual vibration, He was able to raise the vibrations of the physical so that there was no body to dispose of at His death - or as we prefer to say, at His transition," he explained.
Most of the communication came through Feda, Mrs. Leonard spirit control, as Sir William often struggled to lower his vibrations, and it was necessary for Feda to act as a go-between. Occasionally, however, Sir William was able to lower his vibrations and directly control Mrs. Leonard. At those time, Feda's high-pitched voice, which was nothing like Mrs. Leonard's, gave way to Sir William's deeper voice. On several occasions, when it appeared that Sir William was very emotional, he broke through in the direct voice (his actual voice emanating from outside the medium's body). On one such occasion, Lady Barrett recorded him as saying, "Life is far more wonderful than I can ever tell you, beyond anything I ever hoped for; it exceeds all my expectations."
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