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Channeling: Investigations on Receiving Information from Paranormal Sources
In this study of channeling, earlier called spirit communication or mediumship, Klimo, who teaches at Rosebridge Graduate School in the San Francisco Bay Area, writes with clarity about "the communication of information to or through a physically embodied human being from a source…on some other level or dimension of reality other than the physical as we know it." He profiles recent channels and their sources, goes back to preliterate societies and the advent of monotheism and identifies as channels such figures as Moses, Solomon, Muhammad, Merlin, Nostradamus, Swedenborg and Edgar Cayce. He discusses the sorts of people who are channels, kinds of information channeled, sources of information channeled and varieties of channeling like clairvoyance and automatic writing. According to Klimo, few people tap into their abilities to perform channelingand for those who think they can, he serves as guide.
496 pages, Paperback
First published April 17, 1987
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 19, 2017
A definitive book about a strange subject. I found it engaging. I was interested in the historical context of channeling in different times and cultures in particular. Klimo has read very widely. It's clear that the book has been many years in the making. It contains an impressive and interesting bibliography.
The volume of material Klimo has amassed is daunting -- it's bigger than a PhD thesis. I can understand why one or two chapters would still benefit from an edit.
The book is very much of the time he wrote the original and then this version of it -- the 80's and 90's. The very detailed sections on possible explanations for the channeling phenomenon from the point of view of psychology, biology and physics are still germane. I'd like to know what a contemporary physicist with an interest in the nature of consciousness would make of some of this.
I'd expect readers without a scientific background to skip over much of it -- these chapters are pretty technical, even Klimo if makes it clear that his research is not comprehensive by scientific standards. It is still very comprehensive.
By the time I finished the book I saw channeling as a much more normal thing (ordinary is probably still not quite the the word). Klimo considers whether artistic inspiration (such as when an author says 'The book just wrote itself') is an aspect of channeling -- he thinks it is.
He takes on a lot of thorny questions, like: If not everyone who channels is a charlatan (he pays lip-service to that view) and there is a genuine source of channeled material, where does it come from? Is it from the channeler's subconscious? He looks at the work of people who believe that. Is the material from another person's mind, picked up somehow by ESP? He has found researchers who explored that idea, too. If there are other beings communicating through a channel, what does that mean for our understanding of reality? Who or what would such beings be? He reviews different opinions from within channeled material and from those who had an interest in it.
His work on the common threads within channeled material across time and cultures was intriguing. What does a Siberian shaman have in common with a Victorian spiritualist?
Klimo has pulled together a lot of interesting research, casting a critical eye and an open mind upon it. He declares his own biases and opinions without demanding that you agree with him.
A worthwhile read if life has led you to an interest in channeled material.
The volume of material Klimo has amassed is daunting -- it's bigger than a PhD thesis. I can understand why one or two chapters would still benefit from an edit.
The book is very much of the time he wrote the original and then this version of it -- the 80's and 90's. The very detailed sections on possible explanations for the channeling phenomenon from the point of view of psychology, biology and physics are still germane. I'd like to know what a contemporary physicist with an interest in the nature of consciousness would make of some of this.
I'd expect readers without a scientific background to skip over much of it -- these chapters are pretty technical, even Klimo if makes it clear that his research is not comprehensive by scientific standards. It is still very comprehensive.
By the time I finished the book I saw channeling as a much more normal thing (ordinary is probably still not quite the the word). Klimo considers whether artistic inspiration (such as when an author says 'The book just wrote itself') is an aspect of channeling -- he thinks it is.
He takes on a lot of thorny questions, like: If not everyone who channels is a charlatan (he pays lip-service to that view) and there is a genuine source of channeled material, where does it come from? Is it from the channeler's subconscious? He looks at the work of people who believe that. Is the material from another person's mind, picked up somehow by ESP? He has found researchers who explored that idea, too. If there are other beings communicating through a channel, what does that mean for our understanding of reality? Who or what would such beings be? He reviews different opinions from within channeled material and from those who had an interest in it.
His work on the common threads within channeled material across time and cultures was intriguing. What does a Siberian shaman have in common with a Victorian spiritualist?
Klimo has pulled together a lot of interesting research, casting a critical eye and an open mind upon it. He declares his own biases and opinions without demanding that you agree with him.
A worthwhile read if life has led you to an interest in channeled material.
June 12, 2022
Whether you believe in "channeling" or not ; this book is an investigative work that has a lot of documented cases; as far back as to the beginning of man. This book does a great job at stating the facts; ones documented and proven; that even scientific minds can't argue with. The big question that it doesn't answer is; who or what are the channelers receiving the actual messages from? Highly recommend this book for people who believe or even don't believe in the spirit world; . The ending pretty much lets you draw on your own conclusion.
May 8, 2008
A friend. The most comprehensive book on the phenomenon you'll find--and the most footnoted.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews