Review of Jeffrey Mishlove’s BICS Essay

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BICS 2021 Essay Contest – Proof of Survival

Rules of Evidence – Survival

Review of Jeffrey Mishlove’s BICS Essay

Review of Pim van Lommel’s BICS Essay

Review of Leo Ruickbie’s BICS Essay

Review of Runner up BICS Essays

My (unselected) BICS Entry: Case for the Survival Hypothesis

Mishlove, Jeffrey. “Beyond the Brain: The Survival of Human Consciousness After Permanent Bodily Death.” Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies. 2021.

Reviewed by Tom Butler

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Brief

Robert T. Bigelow sponsored an essay writing contest asking, “What is the best available evidence for the Survival of Human Consciousness after Permanent Bodily Death?” Bigelow noted in Issue 3, 2021 of the “Magazine for the Society for Psychical Review” interview that:

“Proving whether the other side exists or not is actually just the first step. The research community going back to the 1800s has been dominated by the effort to prove the existence in one way or another, or another, or another… so it has been dominated by the necessity of trying to prove the other side exists and that has gone on for almost two centuries, so at some point here, I want to move on and go to the next level up, which is probably much more profound than simply whether or not some aspect of your consciousness is going to survive your bodily death.” (Page 7)

As co-director of the Association TransCommunication (ATransC), and to help provide guidance to the paranormalist community, my intention is to review the twenty-nine winning essays while asking if they further the educational efforts of the ATransC and if they meet Bigelow’s objective?

Full Disclosure – The BICS essay contest offers an important opportunity for the paranormalist community to learn how parapsychologists and learned laypeople approach the Survival Hypothesis. My intention in reviewing the winning essays is to keep the lay community’s focus on survival-related phenomena from the perspective of the study of Instrumental TransCommunication (ITC).

As you read this review, please be mindful that I was one of the 204 entries accepted for the BICS essay contest. Mine was not one of the 29 selected essays. While my intention is to focus on the evidence, the fact that I entered but was not selected should warn you of the possibility that I may be too critical. So please, read this with discernment. (My qualifications are at the end.)

Assessing the Jeffrey Mishlove Essay

The winning essay is titled “Beyond the Brain: The Survival of Human Consciousness After Permanent Bodily Death.” Jeffrey Moshlove indicated that he has been conducting “Thinking Allowed” video interviews with people involved in the study of things paranormal for thirty-five years. For $8.95 a month or $79.95 a year, you can subscribe to view the interviews at https://thinkingallowed.vhx.tv/.

Here is how I rated the essay based on the six standard questions I proposed in the preamble to this review series:

1. Is the essay easily understood by a lay audience? A grade of 6

I had a hard time keeping track of what was the author’s input and what he was quoting from his many inline references. Having the references on each page, rather than at the end, makes the essay a difficult study guide. Using video clips as part of the exposition is a tedious way to acquire useful information.

2. Does essay account for alternative explanation? A grade of 7

The author does discuss how some thinkers view consciousness. He mainly focused on the idea of metaphysical idealism. In parapsychology, the Super-Psi Hypothesis is often cited as an alternative to the Survival Hypothesis. He dismisses Super-Psi with five reasons that are more popular wisdom than science.

3. Does the essay include support for why the proof is evidential? A grade of 4

The author depends on what might be described as a complexity argument. He noted the apparent proof of survival from nine kinds of experiences, such as mediumship and possession, collectively make a strong argument for survival. However, many researchers argue that the cited phenomena are often best explained as psychic access of information from still living minds. The essay did not effectively answer that criticism.

4. Does the essay further the reader’s understanding of survival? A grade of 8

The author makes an argument for the need to integrate survival research into the mainstream and then briefly discusses the nine areas of proof. He also explained the need to put the evidence in a rational system of thought. I would rate this part higher if he had not depended so much on the opinions of pioneers and had he not been so dismissive of the Super-Psi Hypothesis.

5. Does the essay meet Bigelow’s objective? A grade of 3

If Robert Bigelow wants to “go to the next level,” this essay is not going to help. In essence, it is a compilation of mostly old opinions and accounts of phenomena. As it is presented, the evidence seems more a compilation of anecdotal accounts and public-facing expert opinion than an academically rigorous presentation of evidence.

6. Overall value for the paranormalist community? A grade of 4

The essay has been written in a way that attracts the reader to Mishlove’s video library which appears to be behind a paywall. The sometimes out of date material and confusing way that it is presented in the essay will likely not serve the community as I think Bigelow Intends.

Total Score 32 of a possible 60

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Review

Jeffrey Mishlove’s BICS essay is titled “Beyond the Brain: The Survival of Human Consciousness After Permanent Bodily Death.” It is an attractively written compilation of mostly historical references. Many short segments of interviews with noted researchers are used to make his points.

Mishlove began the essay by recounting a dream-state visit form his uncle. He was unaware at the time that his uncle had just transitioned. He wrote:

“There is only one reasonable way to account for this event, the most earthshaking and unforgettable of my young life. Uncle Harry actually visited me in a dream when he died. Extrasensory perception alone doesn’t account for the overwhelmingly potent emotions associated with his presence. Uncle Harry’s visitation convinced me, beyond all doubt, the soul exists and survives the physical body’s death.”

In what I refer to as the Complexity Proof, people might argue that an experience was paranormal because its apparently paranormal content was so clear and detailed. On close examination, it is usually clear that the experiencer underestimates the mind’s potential for storytelling. In tandem with the vivid detail, it is sometimes argued that the person gained information that they could not have previously known—the death of his uncle, for instance.

While I will not argue that such a dream cannot be caused by a discarnate personality, as I discuss in the Rules of Evidence – Survival essay, there are a number of important factors that suggest such an experience might be better explained with Super-Psi. Here are some of the main considerations (I am using First Sight Theory as an example reference. Other references can be found in Dean Radin’s Selected Psi Research Publications.):

• Nonlocality suggests that family members who were aware of Uncle Harry’s transition are in the same psychic “space” with Mishlove. (First Sight Theory – Ubiquity Corollary Part 1: Psi sensing is not limited by time or distance.)
• The Global Consciousness Project has shown that people seem to express an intense psychic “dread” of impending catastrophic events. (First Sight Theory – Summation Corollary: The content of conscious experience, emotional states and behavioral choices are constituted in a summative way by unconscious thought.)
• The link of Rapport between Mishlove and his family heightens the probability that he would at least unconsciously experience their dread. (First Sight Theory – Personalness Corollary: The unconscious processes that constitute consciousness are personal and deliberate. (The more important it is to us, the more we unconsciously pay attention. And Weighting and Signing Corollary: The importance of sensory and extrasensory information is weighted as being more or less important before it is acted upon.)
• Mind as storyteller can produce unconscious perception that emerges as very real-seeming conscious experiences. (First Sight Theory – Integration Corollary: Other preconscious processes are processed together with psi in a rapid, holistic, efficient, unconscious manner to format experience and action.)
• The Psi Hypothesis is a relatively well-establish model suggesting that it is reasonable to argue Mishlove psychically sensed his family’s dread and then unconsciously composed a likely story about his uncle based on prior experience. (First Sight Theory – Inadvertency and Frustration Corollary: Information gathered via psi is not available to conscious experience but does contribute to the formation of conscious experience by the arousal of anticipatory networks of ideas and feelings (assuming that they are heavily weighted, afforded slow switching and approached with the intention of assimilation). Because of this arousal, their action can be glimpsed consciously only by observing thoughts, feelings and behaviors that are inadvertent; that is, not intentional and not obviously caused by any current experiences. Someone who has become skillful in interpreting them is thought of as relatively psychic.)

Introduction: Some White Crows

Mishlove points out that “We have had excellent evidence for postmortem survival for over 160 years.” (Page 13). While he talked about his and other people’s “White Crow” experience related to survival, I especially like that he took space in the essay to establish scientism as an obstacle to serious study of survival.

He argued that there is a need for a “framework” for the study of survival and gave a node to some of the currently popular theories of consciousness such as a hyperspace theory of consciousness and quantum action in microtubules within neurons. Of the three dominant metaphysical points of view—materialism, Dualism and idealism, he appears to favor idealism:

“A hyperspace approach to consciousness could explain postmortem survival evidence within all these metaphysical approaches. However, as I elaborate near this essay’s Conclusion, metaphysical idealism is the most economical and logical approach. It resolves the paradoxes associated with materialism and dualism, with no unnecessary assumptions. Metaphysical idealism is also consistent with the primordial tradition.” (Page 17)

The Evidence

Mishlove discussed nine forms of phenomena that seem to support survival. He proposes that the nine combine to produce a convincing argument for survival. From the essay:

“The arrows in the Great Seal refer to political strength. However, the same principle holds about the invincibility of the evidence for postmortem survival. This is basic, inductive reasoning.” (Page 21)

Mishlove presents a potpourri of examples related to the nine sources of proof. All are impressive but are presented with little examination of their applicability. The “arrows” in his proof quiver are:

1. Physical Mediumship
2. Mental mediumship
3. Xenoglossy
4. Instrumental TransCommunication
5. Possession
6. Peak in Darien Experiences
7. Reincarnation
8. After-Death Communication
9. Near-Death Experiences

The evidence for each form of these phenomena is mostly presented in the form of researcher testimonial and metanalysis-like assessments of the evidence. For instance, about reincarnation, Mishlove states:

“The most solid reincarnation evidence comes from the totality of the 2,500 cases in the database, instead of from the strength of particular cases.” (Page 33)

Mishlove indicates that encounters with loved ones are a common part of many of these phenomena. He Argues that it is when the experiencer has no previous knowledge of the encountered personality’s recent transition that the experience becomes seen as most evidential.

I am most familiar with audio and visual Instrumental TransCommunication (ITC). Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) is a more common name for the audio form of ITC. Mishlove stated that:

“[Willis] Harman concludes the video [interview] by suggesting we will take Instrumental TransCommunication seriously, ‘because it is not going away.’” (Page 46)

I have a great deal of respect for Willis Harmon because he seemed to understand the deeper meanings of the then unfolding New Age. He was president of the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) for years. To this day, IONS appears to be focused on human potential and has exhibited little interest in ITC. With that said, Willis Harmon simply was not a player in the ITC community. As such, I would argue his ITC testimony is irrelevant.

Mishlove uses the several phone calls attributed to the discarnate Konstantine Raudive as a proof of survival. We have always been reluctant to discuss the Raudive phone calls because there is more reason to doubt their authenticity than to accept them as genuine evidence of survival. In fact, Mishlove’s treatment of ITC in his essay betrays a substantially limited understanding of the implications of ITC. What of the other arrows?

Making Evidence Evidential

For the offered “evidence” to be evidential, it is necessary to show how and why it is evidential. Evidence typically exists in a framework of prior understanding which is mostly missing for survival related phenomena. Lacking prior understanding, a useful approach to the study of metaphysical concepts is development of a cosmological model implied by the proposed metaphysics.

Toward a Cosmology?

Mishlove briefly discusses many points of evidence such as terminal lucidity and brain scan studies of people under the influence of psychedelic drugs. Each kind of phenomena does seem to support survival in the same sense of his bundle of arrows analogy. Some interesting points:

• Mishlove began by arguing that mind is fundamental to reality. “We each have direct knowledge of our mind. Nothing is more immediate and intimate.” (Page 82). This assumption has colored much of the essay.
• He reminds the reader about the Parsimony Principle, also known as Occam’s Razor. As he defines it: “The preferred explanation is always the one with the fewest assumptions that can account for all the relevant facts.” (Page 82)
• He emphasizes Bernardo Kastrup’s Metaphysical Idealism as the most parsimonious. From the essay: “Idealism, the position the universe is essentially mindlike, satisfies the parsimony requirement in the metaphysical domain. Metaphysical idealism is a worldview where postmortem survival is both natural and expected.” (Page 82)
• Mishlove noted that research into psychedelic drugs shows that “… conscious experience increases while the brain’s metabolic activity decreases, showing consciousness doesn’t depend upon brain function.” This supports the argument that mind is not a bioelectric process of the brain.

Super-Psi Hypothesis

I agree that each of the nine forms of phenomena Mishlove cited as proof of survival has some characteristics seemingly best explained with the survival hypothesis. Like a bundle of arrows, he argues, they collectively present a strong argument for survival. However, it is important to note that many observers of those phenomena argue they could also be explained with the Super-Psi Hypothesis.

Mishlove does address the Super-Psi Hypothesis, but only dismissively with five reasons it does not apply (Page 89-90): (I comment in blue that the applicability of these phenomena to proof of survival depends on assumptions that are not well-supported by the evidence)

Reason 1 – “Psychic abilities alone cannot account for the powerful, life-transforming encounters we find in postmortem survival evidence.”

Mishlove uses his dream encounter with his uncle as an example proof for which psychic ability alone cannot account. I have addressed plausible alternatives to survival Hypothesis for this argument on Page 2.

Reason 2 – “… living humans exhibit greater psi more often when working with discarnate agents than otherwise.”

This is probably not correct. Remote viewing and healing intention are Psi practices. Poltergeist activities have been shown to often be associated with the apparent Psi expressions of an emotionally disturbed child living in the home. We see in First Sight Theory that research is showing that everyone has psychic ability. If this is true, people likely express psychic ability for even the most incidental actions.

Reason 3 – “Most people exhibit very little Psi when in the physical.”

Mishlove quoted philosopher Michael Grosso in saying that psychic abilities “… are unnecessary, rarely used abilities …” (Page 90). First Sight Theory is a direct contradiction to this view. Most people are almost entirely guided by their human survival instincts. As long as they remain under that influence, expressions of psychic ability are likely focused on gene-dominant goals.

Reason 4 – “Virtually all individuals gifted with demonstrable psi abilities claim a firm afterlife belief typically based on direct knowledge.”

This may be a true claim; however, there may be natural selection in how psychic awareness fosters more openness to alternative cosmologies. A good psychic will also know to take a moment to assess the source of sensed information. As a certified medium, I will argue that the assumption of survival comes only after alternative cosmologies have been considered. One of those alternatives is Super-Psi.

Reason 5 – “In its extreme form – i.e., psi has no known limits – we cannot falsify or disprove it as an explanation for the data pointing toward postmortem survival.”

I mostly agree with this one in that we apparently cannot distinguish psychically accessed information originating from a discarnate personality from information originating from a physically living person. However, that absence of proof cannot be used as proof. First Sight Theory and the nonlocal characteristic of the hypothetical Psi Field imply that we psychically sense information from everyone but ignore or filter that which is of no interest. We tell the difference based on information content.

Criticism

As I read this essay, it became clear that I mostly agreed with Mishlove points. It is just that the winning essay of a global contest concerning postmortem survival is going to be held in high regard by the paranormalist community. Discernment is not the average person’s strong suit. If a $500K winning essay tells the reader that the Super-Psi is never an explanation for the information reported by a medium, then from then on out, every mediumistic pronouncement will be seen as truth.

Many of the people I have communicated with over the years tend to take information literally when it is expressed under cloak of academic authority. This can be seen in how one of the most commonly cited explanation of consciousness amongst laypeople has become that it is a product of quantum mechanics.

One takeaway from this essay is Mishlove’s statement that “We each have direct knowledge of our mind. Nothing is more immediate and intimate.” I encounter this idea with people as a variation of “Spirit told me.” Probably the most important realization people can come to in regard to personal potential is that they do not directly experience their world. Instead, they experience it as their sensed information is unconsciously translated to best agree with their worldview. Given that this is true, the “Spirit told me” belief would be more correctly understood as “This is how I understand what I believe spirit told me.”

Model of Reality

I give Mishlove credit for including a discussion of how evidence of survival from nine kinds of paranormal experience lends credibility to the Survival Hypothesis. This is in the sense that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. However, as with the rest of the essay, it is difficult to follow his point. Mostly, he offers arguments for the idea that consciousness is universal. While it is arguable that universal consciousness implies that mind continues after bodily death, a useful model for how universal consciousness equates to survived sentient self is not made clear.

He dismissed metaphysical dualism in favor of metaphysical idealism. As he explained, metaphysical idealism is “… the position the universe is essentially mindlike.” (Page 83) Does he intend universe in the sense of “universe = physical” or “universe = physical + nonphysical”? Does he accept the Psi Field Hypothesis? If so, does he accept the idea that it is emergent from the physical or the idea that it is an aspect of some greater reality? It is necessary to understand such considerations to understand how to consider Mishlove’s mind-like universe.

Metaphysical models lead to cosmological models, which in turn, lead to hypothetical explanations that can be tested. A proposed cosmological model is necessary to show how a particular proof of survival makes sense. Such models also help theoreticians think through their related concepts.

For the obvious reason of our physical sense of central position, the Survival Hypothesis is usually framed from the perspective of a physical person. If survival is correct, a physical person can be described as a physical human (avatar) and an etheric personality (symbiont). Logically, the most useful perspective for a cosmological model for survival is the physical person. Based on the essay, Metaphysical Idealism favoured by Mishlove does not seem to be supported by a useful cosmological model

I argue in my work that, metaphysically, reality consists of life fields and the expression of life fields. That is conceptually the same as a conscious mind-like reality (Metaphysical Idealism). The difference is expression. Consciousness is a quality derived from the perception-expression functions of life. Again, any theory of consciousness and mind requires a model that at least conceptually shows how these elements combine to make mind.

Psi Functioning

In what I refer to as Physical-Dualism, the Psi Hypothesis is seen as correct, but survival is seen as only survival of memory. The BICS essay contest called for proof of sentient survival: “What is the best available evidence for the Survival of Human Consciousness after Permanent Bodily Death?”

Postmortem survival of consciousness calls for a Strict-Dualist point of view. Mind is either incarnate in a mind-human entanglement or it is discarnate as an unentangled mind. Our aspect we think of as “I think I am this” is seen as our primary consciousness. Our human is considered a physical organism organized by its morphogenic mind, which includes instinctual behavior representing our secondary consciousness.

Psychically accessed information comes to our primary conscious perception via the same worldview filter as normally sensed and mediumistically sensed information. The usual way we tell the difference is message content and our intention. In a sense, we steer our attention with our intention.

Here is an interesting If-Then:

If: People psychically sense and express.

And if: Mind exists in the Psi Field, independent from biological brain

Then: A dead person = a living person – body.

When we say mind-to-mind access of information (aka Psi functioning), we are talking about communication between two sentient, self-aware minds. It does not appear to matter if the mind is incarnate or discarnate. If this is true, the Super-Psi Hypothesis would be an exaggerated version of the Psi Hypothesis. The only “super” characteristic of Psi Functioning is hypothetical access to hypothetical Akashic or life records. However, if survival is correct, the supposed life records would simply be the memory (aka worldview) of the incarnate or still sentient discarnate mind.

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Closing Comments

Jeffrey Mishlove’s BICS essay is a good-looking document that, on close examination, falls short of doing much more than presenting a compilation of testimonials, reports and learned opinion.

The essay is an excellent advertisement for Mishlove’s substantial library of video interviews. While it is a comprehensive compilation of expert comments, having the references integrated into the essay like footnotes make it difficult to use as a study guide.

Mishlove did well by telling us what so many learned thinkers had to say about his point. I routinely refer to material authored by researchers to help explain my point. It is important that we, in some small way, speak with one voice and referring to others saying what we intend is a good way to find that voice.

These are conceptually abstract ideas that need to be made relevant with sound cosmological models. For instance, it is useful to think of who we are in terms of our metaphysical anatomy. Telling someone that people are naturally psychic only leads to faith-based points of view if the relevant concepts are not organized in some kind of conceptual model. Survival of sentient mind is difficult to grasp if we do not have a sense of what survived and not survived means.

Robert Bigelow enabled this entire process for the noblest of reasons. I have yet to read all of the essays, but so far, it seems clear that the winners, including Jeffrey Mishlove, did their best to answer Bigelow’s question. Without a cooperative community of collaborating researcher, it is difficult to know if “Proof for me” is also “Proof for you.” We all do our best.

That seems to mean the judges let Bigelow down by not having an in-depth sense of the metaphysics and current science.

This review is for your consideration. It is for you to accept or reject my comments. It would be good if you also let me know your thoughts.

 

Tom Butler

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My Qualifications

• BS Electrical and Electronics Engineer
• Ordained by the National Spiritualist Association of Churches (NSAC)
• NSAC National Spiritualist Teacher
• Trained in several psychic and mediumship modalities. Certified medium with the NSAC.
• Trained in several healing modalities (healing intention) including Reiki Master and NSAC certification.
• Co-director of the Association TransCommunication (ATransC) since 2000. (ATransC was formally known as the American Association Electronic Voice Phenomena (AA-EVP)).
• Conducted several lay studies of ITC characteristics, including:

4Cell EVP Demonstration

EVP Online Listening Trials

EVP Online Phantom Voices

Information Gathering Using EVPmaker With Allophone: A Yearlong Trial

Perception of Visual ITC Images

Radio-Sweep: A Case Study

Using EVP to find a Missing Person Page 16, Winter 2007 ATransC NewsJournal

Sponsored: EVPmaker with Allophones: Where are We Now?

Sponsored: A Research Study into the Interpretation of EVP

Books

Co-authored:

There is No Death and There are No Dead. 2003.

ATransC NewsJournal. 2000-2014.

Authored:

Handbook of Metaphysics. 1994.

Your Immortal Self: Exploring the Mindful Way. 2017.

Exploring the Mindful Way. 2018.

Good to Know About the Paranormal Answers by Tom Butler to Quora.com Questions. 2020.

Useful Papers:

Transcommunication White Paper with Emphasis on Electronic Voice Phenomena Updated 2020

A Model for EVP 2017

Case for the Survival Hypothesis 2021 BICS essay