Alex Tsakiris, interviewer of bestselling authors and world-class academics on his popular science podcast Skeptiko.com was the guest in the first half. He suggested that science is sorely lacking when it comes to understanding such profound issues as near-death experiences, and parapsychology that would lead us toward self-discovery. Many scientists, he pointed out, take a strictly materialist viewpoint that humans are nothing more than "biological robots" that behave mechanistically, and there is no room for God.
Such limiting stances cause mainstream science to ignore some of the powerful research related to such things as reincarnation, NDEs, and mind-body connections, and they refuse to put serious money and large-scale studies into them, he lamented. Even UCLA psychiatrist Jeffrey Schwartz who developed a groundbreaking technique called self-directed neural plasticity to help OCD patients rewire their brains did not receive a positive response in academia, Tsakiris noted.
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In the latter half, prayer researcher Bill Sweet presented his conclusions about consciousness, and prayer-- both positive and negative. He spoke about his involvement with Spindrift Research, an organization started by Bruce and John Klingbeil in 1969 to explore the connections between prayer, consciousness,and healing. Interestingly, their lab tests showed that "non-goal-directed prayer," where the intended result is intended to be "what is best for the situation," is typically more effective than "goal-directed prayer," he informed.
Non-goal directed prayer is more advantageous than when a group gets together for a specific result, as there are often unforeseen consequences to specific goals, such as bringing more rain to an area, he detailed. Alas, negative prayer, such as practiced by Islamic terrorists, can also be effective, leading law enforcement organizations and Homeland Security to further investigate the powers of prayer, Sweet reported.
Christmas Greetings
A variety of C2C guests shared their Christmas greetings throughout the evening, including Whitley Streiber, Kelly Sullivan Walden, and Karen Dahlman, and at the end of the show, George played a recording of Detroit broadcaster Lee Allan's reading of A Letter from Michael.
News segment guests: Catherine Austin Fitts, Peter Davenport