Berserk2 wrote on Jan 5th, 2012 at 11:31pm:heisenberg,
When I read van Dusen's chapter on "Minor Miracles," I was expecting very little. After I finished, I thought, "Wow, those experiences were the most impressive evidence for an afterlife I have ever read in a book. What's up with the term "minor?" If you read through this thread, you'll see that I have encountered many individuals whose experience replicates one of ES's incredible feats. I am also impressed by the absence of anything like our New Age movement in ES's day. Yes, he has his own biases, but I see in his experiences unvarnished originality generally untarnished by cultural expectations. His classic book, "Heaven and Hell," is a tedious read. But in scattered excerpts its telling discoveries ring true and impress me more than any modern books on the nature of the afterlife. But patience is required to mine these nuggets from ES's tedious prose.
To me, what makes ES so unique is his paranormal ability to gain verifiable information at will from the deceased that cannot easily be dismissed as mind-reaching. For example, consider his astral conversation with the deceased Dutch ambassador about the hidden compartment in the upstairs bureau where the sought after jewelry receipt was hidden. The ambassador had constucted this compartment himself and never told his wife. Or consider his public accurate declaration of the exact miinute and hour at which Olof Olofssohn was destined to die and his dlsclosure to John Wesley that they could not meet at the contemplated date because ES had rightly been told that he would cross over shortly before that date. Then consider his discernment and disclosure to a businessman of the factory fire where no one was present to have their minds read. Or consider his detailed reconstruction of the last conversation between the merchant of Elberfield and his recently deceased friend. To my knowledge, no medium or psychic has demonstrated a competence to even remotely replicate that feat. Much of this is covered on page 1 of this thread in replies (3) and (4).
Then it would appear that you haven't looked much into Edgar Cayce's work, for his was one of almost everyday providing verifiable psychically received info--most often in the altered state, but plenty of times while fully conscious, and over about a 30 year period.
But, since his work espouses the truth of reincarnation, and since that concept you have so much issue with, it's convenient to more or less just overlook him altogether in lieu of sources which more agree with your own personal philosophies and prejudices. Or perhaps it's even easier to say he just communicated with "demons" or the like?
But, that's just how we humans work, until we approach becoming PUL incarnate like Yeshua was and is. We think ourselves so much more "objective" than we really are or tend to be. We cannot be but semi-blind and quite subjective until we start to become fully attuned to PUL.
We all face and are limited by this, to some degree or other (directly proportional to how clear and PUL we are attuned within the moment, and especially by our "average" which relates to our overall "spiritual development"), something to keep in mind before becoming overly attached to one philosophy/creed, approach, source, etc.