~ Nov 2009 ~

Dear Friends, Happy New Year! Welcome to the QFAS Newsletter. Forthcoming events "New Light on Survival : The Legacy of Arthur Conan Doyle Saturday, April 24th, 2010, 10.30 – 4.00 Friends’ House, Euston Road, London, NW1 2BJ QFAS member Roger Straughan will speak about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s pioneering work in proving survival. Roger will also talk about his new book A Study in Survival and his own experiences of communication from Sir Arthur. A review of Roger’s book appears later in this newsletter. A booking form is enclosed with this newsletter or is obtainable from Angela Howard. The QFAS Residential week-end in 2010 will be held at Charney Manor from 29-31 October. "Why I believe in life Beyond Death” A weekend at Charney Manor with Tricia Robertson Tricia Robertson is a tutor in psychical research at The University of Glasgow, the Hon Sec of the Scottish Society for Psychical Research and a speaker who has been invited to many other societies, including providing the keynote lecture, twice, for the Society for Psychical Research, London. She has researched 'survival' for over 25 years by examining many different avenues, both in actual research and in studies. Tricia assures us that her lectures will not be boring, but will give us much food for thought Booking forms for this event will be sent out in the Spring. The QFAS Summer Conference The QFAS residential Summer Conference was held from 17 to 19 July at Woodbrooke. The theme was "The Afterlife: How good is the evidence?” Four speakers, Cherry Simpkin, Don Mason, Roger Straughan and David Britton, all gave their own slant on this question. Cherry spoke about "Communication: Evidence of Survival or Wishful Thinking?” She acknowledged that it is difficult to prove survival using strict scientific evidence criteria since paranormal phenomena rarely occur under laboratory conditions. She suggested that the legal criteria is more appropriate, whereby personal witness statements are backed up by supporting evidence. She gave various examples of incidents where there was such evidence, such as experiences shared by more than one person or instances where something has occurred which links with the communication and which cannot be a mere coincidence. Don Mason’s talk looked at "How Good is the Evidence for an Afterlife?” from the scientist’s point of view. He suggested that modern scientists often reject evidence for the afterlife because it does not fit with their own materialistic view of reality. Also, they are usually only interested in looking at objective evidence and dismiss personal experience as too subjective. They fail to consider the effect of the mind on events. It is often those who believe in the possibility of the psychic who have experiences whereas those who disbelieve do not because they are not open to them. Scientists investigating the paranormal are frightened to reveal their findings for fear of losing their professional reputation [see, also, "email quote” below]. Roger Straughan spoke about "The After-Life and Religious Experience: Problems of Assessment” and considered the reliability of communications giving details about the afterlife. He acknowledged that by their nature it is difficult to verify such accounts independently since we on our side of life have no personal direct experience of the afterlife and cannot check the facts ourselves. Nevertheless, we should consider the reliability of different independent accounts by considering their similarities and whether the communicator has also given accurate information about incidents in this world, such as predictions of events that subsequently come true. He reminded us that, over the years, research has supplied a lot of convincing evidence and asked the question: "why after 150 years of detailed and thorough investigation of spiritual/psychic phenomena are we still asking - how good is the evidence?” David Britton spoke on "The Spiritual, Moral and Evidential Basis for Immortality”. He suggested that some people these days prefer not to link spirituality with a belief in immortality and look down upon those who believe in the latter as being spiritually backward, despite the fact that most of the great mystics believed in immortality. He was concerned that many modern Quakers regard belief in the afterlife as irrelevant to spiritual growth. He had, himself, often felt ostracised by Quakers for his interest in immortality. Yet, he said, the evidence for the afterlife is overwhelming as evidenced, for example, by the work of the Society of Psychical Research and many published accounts of research and personal experiences. He stressed that it is important that QFAS members should share the evidence we have with others. The Conference ended with a very stimulating "Any Questions” session with the speakers. QFAS will be producing a booklet of the talks from the Conference in due course. Here are some of the comments on the weekend: "It is so happy an experience to be able to talk abut the paranormal and about survival without being met by a response that feels like the shutters of the mind being closed in the person with whom one is talking.” "Excellent all round. Wonderful to have it at Woodbrooke. I do hope it can happen again?” "Being at Woodbrooke with more Friends from the North was such a valuable experience. It is good to be in a more central centre. Thank you to everyone who has made this weekend possible.” Another weekend is booked at Woodbrooke for 23 – 25 September, 2011. Yearly Meeting Gathering at the University of York, July 25th – 1st August. Three committee members, Angela Howard, Ros Smith and Cherry Simpkin, led two interest groups on the work of QFAS at the Yearly Meeting Gathering in York (25th July – 1st August). Attendance at both was excellent, with 30 people coming to each group (the maximum number we had specified). We also had a space at the Informal Groups Fair with a table for inquiries and literature. Many people said they were glad to discover that QFAS existed and that it was good to find others with whom to share their experiences and discuss any concerns they had about them. The QFAS Autumn conference The one-day Autumn conference in 2009 was held on Saturday 26 September at Friends House. The subject of the Conference was "The Art of Dying- A Journey to Elsewhere?” The sessions were led by Dr Peter Fenwick, honorary senior lecturer in psychiatry and President of the Scientific and Medical Network, and his wife, Elizabeth Fenwick, writer and expert on family issues and childcare. They are also joint authors on books on near death experiences and reincarnation. They gave us a very interesting talk on their research into attitudes to death and the spiritual experiences of the dying and those around them. Peter Fenwick began by talking about modern society’s attitudes to death. Death is less of an integral part of life and society than it was in the past. People do not like talking of their own death but prefer to "sweep death under the carpet”. It is treated as an embarrassment not to be referred to, and is often seen by health professionals as a medical failure rather than a natural occurrence. Consequently, the spiritual care of the dying and their loved ones is poor. Carers have no training in dealing with dying as an experience of life. The Fenwicks’ research concerned looking at examples of "end of life experiences” (ELEs) through carrying out interviews with palliative care staff in hospices and nursing homes and studying over 1000 emails from the public. The ELEs studied were those experienced by the dying themselves, as witnessed by those around them, and those experienced by others in relation to the dying. Those in the first category included visions of deceased relatives coming to meet them. These usually gave great comfort to the dying person. Occasionally, the deceased relative was also seen by others, especially children, although rarely by the medical staff. Those in the second category included experiences of those witnessing the death, and of those who were absent from the person at the time of death and often did not know about it. There were a number of cases of people seeing the dying person’s soul leaving the body. One person, talking of his father’s death, described something like smoke going up out of the head. Others talked of the dying person glowing with light and then the light leaving the body and going upwards as the person died. Examples of experiences of those absent from the dying person included visions or dreams of the dying person, or a sense of the person’s presence, at the time of, or shortly after, death. One women dreamt that her son told her he was dead but that he was fine and then she subsequently learnt that he had been drowned. One man, who had been estranged from his father, suddenly felt guided to go to him and, on discovering his father was dying, became reconciled with him before his death. There were also reports of animals behaving strangely at the time someone known to them died, such as a normally quiet dog howling like a wolf. There was the cat in a nursing home which paid particular attention to residents who died soon afterwards, as though the cat knew who was going to die next, even though there was no reason to think their death was imminent. There were cases of mechanical items behaving oddly, such as clocks stopping at the time of death and the alarm in a ward sister’s office which went off whenever someone died. The Fenwicks’ research showed that ELEs are not uncommon but that people are frightened to talk about them for fear of being thought mad. As carers are not trained in this area, they do not know how to deal with patients and/or their relatives who want to talk about ELEs. People need to be helped to die well. A good death is one where the person has died as he/she wanted and where any unfinished business has been resolved so that the person can die in peace. ELEs can play an important part in this. People should be allowed to talk about their feelings about dying and have any ELEs they experience accepted and validated. There is a hospice in Rotterdam called De Fier Vogel ( the 4 birds) where this is encouraged. Here, death is treated as natural rather than as a medical failure. Staff in this hospice say that ELEs happen frequently and are discussed openly. There is a deep feeling of love in the room of the dying. The Fenwicks concluded that, while death may be the shutting down of the body physically, their research had provided strong evidence that it may not be the end but the beginning of a "journey to elsewhere”. Peter and his fellow researcher Sue Brayne, a psychotherapist, have produced 2 excellent booklets. These are Nearing the End of Life – A Guide for Relatives and Friends of the Dying and End-of-Life Experiences - A Guide for Carers of the Dying. These have been sent free to every hospice and primary care trust. Copies of these can be obtained by emailing brochures@d-word.co.uk or downloaded as a pdf document from www.d-word.co.uk. If any one who is not on the internet would like copies, please ring Cherry Simpkin (details at top of this newsletter). Here are some of the comments on the day: "Thank you for arranging such an interesting day on Saturday, with such gentle, amiable and interesting speakers too!” * "A thought-provoking day filled with love and light. A sensitive and professional presentation.” * "Out of this world! A good opportunity to share ideas and experiences!” The QFAS Annual General Meeting The QFAS AGM was held at the end of the Autumn Conference. Highlights were as follows: The existing Committee Members were all reappointed, with the exception of Beryl Spence, who has asked to stand down. Roger Straughan was appointed to the Committee in her place. The requirement for Committee Members to stand down after six years has been removed from the QFAS Constitution to allow Friends to serve for as for as long as they are required and are willing. The funds currently stand at around £1500. Publicising QFAS A small card about QFAS which could be placed on Meeting House notice boards is now available. If you would like some cards, please contact Angela Howard. Book Review - Rosalind Smith A Study in Survival by Roger Straughan. O-Books.2009. ISBN-978-1-84694-240-2. £11.99 How many of us have opened a book at random and found therein a meaningful message which has, perhaps, ‘spoken to our condition’ at that time? Certainly some people will have had this happen to them, and it may have meant something quite profound or even enlightening. But I feel that very few will have received messages similar to those which came to Roger Straughan, the author of this fascinating book. Roger is a Quaker, a writer with many books to his name, a doctor of philosophy, teacher and lecturer, and a long-time researcher into the paranormal. He is a man of integrity and not likely to succumb to anything ‘woolly’ or ‘airy-fairy’! So when he eventually realised, after much heart-searching and deliberation, that he was in direct spiritual contact with a well-known author, who had died eleven years before Roger was born, it took quite a bit of accepting on his part. Over a span of many years it became apparent that if he needed the answer to certain questions he would find it within the pages of one of Arthur Conan Doyle’s books. He just needed to put the question, mentally or verbally, and select, at random, one of the many books by this distinguished author that he had on his bookshelf, open it anywhere, and the answer or comment would ‘pop’ out at him. Sometimes his questions might have seemed mundane, at others they were more profound – and the answers fitted the questions – often demonstrating an understanding of whatever was in the media at the time, and proving that this communicating mind knew what was going on, even to the dramatic events which happened to the author in 2004 and which are described towards the end of the book. Conan Doyle, (or ACD) as he became known, was an early member of the Society for Psychical Research, a medical doctor, a war correspondent, a leading figure in advocating military, naval and divorce reform, an outstanding sportsman, a prolific writer, and – as most of us might know him – the creator of Sherlock Holmes. And it is with true Holmesian detective skills that he seems to have set up this innovative way of communication by referring, and guiding, Roger to passages in books, which spoke immediately ‘to his condition’. For anyone seriously wondering about the possibility of life after death, here is positive and gentle proof. And there is an extensive reference section which adds to this proof. Email Quote Friends will recall Don Mason’s review in the January newsletter of Bob Anderson’s book You Can’t Die for the Life of You. David Hodges has commented in an email as follows: "Bob's statement that paranormal phenomena can be seen to be compatible with modern physics (as quoted by Don Mason) is becoming more true almost daily, and many physicists are beginning to accept this. However, the mainstream materialist explanation for the universe and everything remains the only "acceptable" theory and it can be career-damaging or even career-destroying to promote any alternative (I can think of at least one recent case where the latter has happened).But change is slowly taking place, with the old ideas gradually being undermined; radical change in science is usually a sluggish process because the older people who can't accept change are usually those at the top of the 'pile'. We need to be patient and keep plugging away where we can.” A Grandmother Visits from Beyond the Grave - Barbara Krol Marjatta Bryan has sent me the following story from Barbara Krol, an attender at Wandsworth Meeting: Over the years I’ve read many people’s accounts of the contact they had with those who have died and how they have been comforted and moved by them, so I gladly share my experiences in the hope that they bring comfort to others. On 26 July 2009, it was my mother’s name day and I phoned her. She is 82 and lives in Poland. During our telephone conversation, she told me that on 9 July she went out without her glasses and fell in her street. A caring neighbour saw my Mum and immediately drove her to her doctor. The fall was not serious, thankfully, but my Mum was shaken. At 11.50 pm, she was lying in her bed when, suddenly, she felt her mother’s hands on her shoulders. Granny had been dead since January 1973. My Mum looked up and there was Babcia ("granny” in Polish) looking at her, not saying anything. My Mum told me: "She made sure she consoled me on the day of my fall – with 10 minutes to spare. I couldn’t stop crying for gratitude, and I cried most of next day, too.” My mother’s experience of Babcia reminded me of my own – 10 years ago. I last saw my grandmother alive on 2 July 1970. I was leaving Poland to come to England. I thought it was for a few months only; to stay with my aunt, earning my living and helping my family financially. When I was hugging Babcia before leaving, she kissed me tenderly. I was 19. As it turned out, I didn’t return to Poland after a few months. I met John, fell in love, got married in June 1972 and applied for a British passport. I was still waiting for the passport, when John was offered a job in Grenoble, France, and moved there. I lived with his parents in Leicester and worked there in an old people’s home until my passport arrived in December 1972. At the beginning of January 1973, I moved to Grenoble to be with John. Later that month, I received a gentle letter from my father from Poland. He wrote that Granny had died and was buried some days before. I was sad that I couldn’t be there and wouldn’t see Babcia again, but, at the same time, I understood that obtaining a visa would be complicated, considering my move to France only a few weeks earlier. In the summer of 1974, John and I went to Poland (we were back in England by then) and I visited Granny’s grave. Years went by and then suddenly in 1999, I was lying in bed quietly – meditating and praying - when Babcia came to me. I was taken aback at first but then found myself saying with gratitude and sudden comprehension: "Babcia you came so we could say goodbye.” We embraced warmly – no words, just a feeling of love. There was a big circle of yellow-orange light up on the left, clearly visible, some distance away. After the embrace, and with me with warm tears of gratitude running down my cheeks, Granny floated gently up towards the light and disappeared into it. I felt a sense of quiet, wonderful completion: 26 years after her death, Granny and I, finally, had a chance to say goodbye.” A Grandfather Shows He Cares - Rosemary Carthew A longer version of this story appears in the QFAS anthology: The Not Unfamiliar Country. Rosemary would like to hear from anyone who has had a similar experience. Please write to her c/o of Angela Howard. My late first husband, a Russian, has communicated with me since September 1984 until now by removing small objects and bringing them back in hours or days. Each time the event was quite unexpected and I was certain the object had not been moved by me or others. Once I literally saw something slide down the side of a bed and vanish. My second husband saw, with me, how a bedside clock was in its place, then half an hour later gone, and then about three minutes later, back. There was nobody else in the house but us and we were together all that time so we each knew the other had not touched the clock. Twice over the years my Russian husband has brought me small objects that I needed, out of nowhere. The Russian peasants always believed in a house spirit, or grandfather of the house, who took things like that and returned them – their grandfather watched over the house and family. A Buddhist Incarnation? - John Lawton Looking back at this current "life/after life” what do we recognise and has it anything to tell us about where we have "come from” and where we are "going to”? I was educated at a Church of England boarding school. One day, the school chaplain asked us in the Divinity class: "which is more important, compassion or wisdom?” I was the only one who opted for wisdom. It was, of course, a silly question. I shall come back to it later. Whilst at school, I had some kind of spiritual longing stimulated by organ music and stained-glass windows within a miniature St.-Paul’s-Cathedral-style chapel. Later, during National Service, I used to go to the Thursday night organ recitals in York Minster. In 1952, I met my late wife, Margaret, and we were married in Solihull Parish Church, which necessitated me being christened. We worshipped at our parish church and I became a member of the PCC. Yet, I was not settled. I became interested in Quakerism and Buddhism and the teachings of Meister Eckhart. I left the Church of England. The Buddhist teachings immediately seemed familiar and I felt at home in the loving atmosphere of Friends Meeting, so I joined both. About this time, I met an older Buddhist/Quaker attender and together we gave many public talks. Later, we started a monthly "seekers” group. I came across Tibetan Buddhism in 1968. In the late 60s/early 70s a young Friend approached me for advice. He had been asked by another young Friend to go with him to investigate a haunted house and he wondered what he should do. I suggested he should first go to a Spiritualist Church to see what he could find out there. He agreed and asked me to go with him. We went and, as a result, I became a spasmodic attender at the Church. Since my wife’s death in 2006, I have joined the Church and attended regularly. Over the years, I have received many apparently evidential messages from mediums. Two communications, in particular, stand out for me. In an open circle, the medium asked if anyone could take a "Polly”. I admitted that I could. At this point, the medium started to choke. My wife, who was sitting next to me, also choked. They both had to go out to get some water. What prompted this? My aunt Polly killed herself with gas in the house I lived in as a child. I believe she was the "Polly” referred to by the medium and the connection with gas was the cause of the choking experienced by the medium and my wife. The second example happened some years later. In 1977, a medium said to me: "you have been thinking of going on holiday.” I denied this several times. He then told me "they are saying that you should look in the top drawer of your bureau and you will find a brochure.” I then realised what "they” were referring to. I had received a brochure for a Tibetan Buddhist ceremony which was to be held at Friends House in Euston. I acknowledged this to the medium, who then continued: "they are saying you must go and you must go alone because the atmosphere will be rarified and stimulating.” At the time I was sufficiently in touch with Kargyutpa, a sect of Tibetan Buddhism, to know that they would be organising the event through the Kham Tibetan House at Ashdon near Cambridge. Feeling the Spirit wanted me to go, I decided to go there, even though they told me on the phone that there was no accommodation available. I arrived at 4pm on the day before the ceremony at Friends House. When I got there, I learnt that they were shortly expecting the Gyalwa Karmapa, the spiritual leader of their sect, His Holiness Rang-Jung-Rigpe Dorje, who was travelling down from another Buddhist centre in Scotland. Unfortunately, the car he was travelling down in developed mechanical problems and he did not arrive until much later. He consequently had no car to travel to London in, and when he saw my car he decided we would travel down to London together. Thus, everything fell amazingly into place. The following day we set off for London. The Karmapa was in the front passenger seat and another lama in the back acting as interpreter and navigator. Conversation was limited due to language, so I was turning my mind to a Buddhist mantra, "Om mani padme hum” when suddenly I became aware that I was telepathically hearing the mantra from another source. I turned to look at the Karmapa. As I did so, he turned from looking out of the passenger window, met my gaze, smiled and nodded. He had demonstrated his ability to project his mind. Later, as we travelled back to Cambridge, he told me through the interpreter that I was a Tulku (a reincarnated Tibetan Buddhist lama). I have no memory of any past life but I have recently wondered if this was why I was so attracted to Buddhism and whether a previous Buddhist life accounted for my choice of wisdom over compassion when asked, in my schooldays, which was more important. I now see that wisdom and compassion are two sides of the same coin. The journey I was sent on by the Spirit through the medium to the Tibetan Buddhist Ceremony was, as predicted, truly "rarified and stimulating." In friendship, Cherry Simpkin Clerk: Angela Howard – 01371 850423 e-mail: angela1@webbscottage.co.uk Webbs Cottage, Woolpits Road , Great Saling, Braintree, Essex , CM7 5DZ. Treasurer and Membership Secretary: David Britton, Captain’s Cottage, 35 Churchfield, West Mersea, Colchester , C05 8QJ.