Berserk2 wrote on Mar 18th, 2012 at 4:14pm:Focus 27 is fundamentalist in mentality and, as such, does not want to be confused with the facts. As a result, he has read no literatures on paranormal phenomena associated with Ouija boards. For example, Professors William James (Harvard) and James Hyslop (Columbia U) made a pledge that whoever died first would try to contact the other from the other side. WJ died first, but nothing happened for a year. Then JH was contacted by a couple from Ireland. The couple had been regularly ing with a Ouija board, when someone named William James repeatedly broke through, urging them to bring a message to James Hyslop. The couple did nothing because they know nothing of either man and becasue the message seemed silly: "Remember the red pyjamas." Finally, William James provided information through the Ouija board about how to contact Hyslop. They tracked him down and conveyed the message. When WJ and JH had gone to Paris for an academic conference, their luggage was delayed. Since it was winter, they needed pyjamas for the cold, but Hyslop had bought gawdy red pyjamas and William had teased him mercilessly for his lapse in taste! WJ had dramatically kept his promise to demonstrate his postmortem survival to his friend.
I can find no reference to the 'Houdini' like 'Afterlife Message' confirmation message of Jame's past physical life to his friend, Hyslop. How about some links, Don? Jame's parents were Swedenborgians, and he, James, was educated(medicine) and also taught at Harvard(other subjects).
James dabbled in mind and mood changing chemicals like Chloral Hydrate, Amyl Nitrate, Nitrous Oxide, Peyote. James suffered extreme depression and it was most likely caused by his consumption of mind and mood altering substances, undeniably confirmed by modern research today, and by those who consume and are addicted to these chemicals:
"The James children traveled to Europe frequently, attended the best possible schools, and were immersed in culture and art, which apparently paid off - William James went on to become one of the most important figures in psychology, while brother Henry James became one of the most acclaimed American novelists.
Early in school, James expressed an interest in becoming a painter. While Henry James Sr. was known as an unusually permissive and liberal father, he wanted William to study science or philosophy. Only after William persisted in his interest did Henry permit his son to formally study painting.
After studying painting with the artist William Morris Hunt for more than a year, James abandoned his dream of being a painter and enrolled at Harvard to study chemistry. While two of James' brothers enlisted to serve in the American Civil War, William and Henry did not due to health problems.
Career:
As the family money began to dwindle, William realized he would need to support himself and switched to Harvard Medical School. Unhappy with medicine as well, he left on an expedition with naturalist Louis Agassiz, although the experience was not a happy one. "I was, body and soul, in a more indescribably hopeless, homeless and friendless state than I ever want to be in again," he later wrote.
Suffering from health problems and severe depression, James spent the next two years in France and Germany. It was during this time that he studied with Hermann von Helmholtz and became increasingly interested in psychology.
After graduating from Harvard Medical School in 1869, James continued to sink into depression. After a period of inactivity, the president of Harvard offered James a position as an instructor. While he famously commented that "the first lecture on psychology I ever heard being the first I ever gave," James accepted the job and went on to teach at Harvard for the next 35 years. James also founded one of the first experimental psychology laboratories in the United States.
His classic textbook The Principles of Psychology (1890) was widely acclaimed, but some were critical of James' personal, literary tone. "It is literature," psychologist Wilhelm Wundt famously commented, "it is beautiful, but it is not psychology." Two years later, James published a condensed version of the work titled Psychology: The Briefer Course. The two books were widely used by students of psychology and were known to most as "the James" and "the Jimmy" respectively.
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