Do I believe in fairies?
Well, I did,but sadly that is no longer the case.
I need to take you back to 1972. I had this brilliant friend, who was unfortunately also as mad as a march hare. (didn't realise at the time)
Anyway,he showed me what were at that time unpublished photos of the Cottingley Fairies,explaining breathlessly that KODAC had declared them genuine and that no less a person than Sir Arthur Conan Doyel declared the photos to be genuine,and had writen a book "The Coming Of The Fairies" (there have been two films of which I'm aware based on the events made in the last few years)
Imagine my surprise when one of the girls,in extreme old age, confessed to faking the photos, explaining how they did it. Seems obvious looking at the photos today in the age of photoshop,but probably less so in 1917.
Context: At that time the obscenity of WW 1 was still in full gore mode. Tens of thousands of people mourning their losses were desperate to believe in' something more' ( I understand Conan Doyle lost a son,which perhaps also explains his deep interest in spiritualism)
There is a brief excerpt from the Wikipedia article below.The entire article is worth reading,in my opinion.
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Conan Doyle's involvement
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a prominent Spiritualist, had been commissioned by the Strand Magazine to write an article on fairies for their Christmas issue, to be published at the end of November 1920. He was preparing this in June when he heard of the two prints of fairies, made contact with Gardner and borrowed copies of the prints.
He showed the prints to Sir Oliver Lodge, a pioneer psychical researcher, who thought them to be fakes, perhaps involving a troupe of dancers masquerading as fairies. One fairy authority told him that the hairstyles of the sprites were too 'Parisienne' for his liking. Lodge also passed them on to a clairvoyant for psychometric impressions.
Conan Doyle dispatched Gardner to Cottingley in July. Gardner reported that the whole Wright family seemed honest and totally respectable. Conan Doyle and Gardner decided that if further fairy photographs were taken then the matter would be firmly put beyond question. Gardner journeyed north in August with cameras and 20 photographic plates to leave with Elsie and Frances hoping to persuade them to take more photographs. Only in this way, he felt, could it be proved that the fairies were genuine.
Meanwhile, the Strand article was completed, featuring the two reprinted, better defined prints. Conan Doyle sailed for Australia, and a lecture tour designed to spread the gospel of Spiritualism. He left his colleagues to face public reactions to the fairy controversy.
That issue of the Strand sold out within days of publication at the end of November. Reaction was vigorous, especially from critics. The leading voice among them was that of Major Hall-Edwards, a radium expert. He declared:
“ On the evidence I have no hesitation in saying that these photographs could have been 'faked'. I criticize the attitude of those who declared there is something supernatural in the circumstances attending to the taking of these pictures because, as a medical man, I believe that the inculcation of such absurd ideas into the minds of children will result in later life in manifestations and nervous disorder and mental disturbances… ” Newspaper comments were varied. On 5 January 1921, Truth declared:
“ For the true explanation of these fairy photographs what is wanted is not a knowledge of occult phenomena but a knowledge of children. ” On the other hand the South Wales Argus of 27 November 1920 took a more tolerant view:
“ The day we kill our Santa Claus with our statistics we shall have plunged a glorious world into deepest darkness ” City News, on 29 January, stated:
“ It seems at this point that we must either believe in the almost incredible mystery of the fairy or in the almost incredible wonders of faked photographs. ” The Westminster Gazette broke the aliases used by Conan Doyle to protect Frances and Elsie and a reporter went north. However, nothing new was added to the story by the reporter's investigation. He found out that Elsie had borrowed her father's camera to take the first picture, and that Frances had taken a picture of Elsie and a gnome. In fact there was nothing he could add to the facts listed by Conan Doyle in his article "Fairies photographed–an epoch making event". The reporter considered Polly and Arthur Wright to be honest enough folk and he returned a verdict of 'unexplained' to his paper in London.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottingley_fairies
Classic case where some blinding under controlled conditions would be extremely interesting.50% reported heat during healing
I can't help but think as I read those excerpts, that it's all a bit pointless. Some properly blinded testing would be far more illuminating. Has she ever heard that some conditions can some times get better on their own?
I shouldn't really. Just over a week ago I was on hols in the Algarve. Walking back from a restaurant I had a bad fall - not tipsy, rough footpath. I lost about a square inch of skin on my right wrist - down to the flesh. Horrible. Do you know, a week later, new skin has grown and although it is still sore and itchy, the wound is about a tenth of the original size, and no reiki, crystals, magnets, homeotripe, religion, or (please don't make me laugh), psychic surgery involved. The only "magic" involved? - water, Germolene and Elastoplast.Originally Posted by FarSideOfTheMoon
You really ought to be more careful while practicing yourTipi Yoga
http://www.consciousliving.co.uk/
You really ought to be more careful while practicing yourTipi Yoga
http://www.consciousliving.co.uk/rainbows, I love your sense of humour.Holistic therapies available
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What's Mannion up to these days? Still coining it in and evading tax?
His new site is rather evasive.
http://www.parallelmanagement.co.uk/.../gary-mannion/
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Psychic Surgeon a rare industry
I was thinking about this again today, I just cannot get my head around how, if I had the ability to psychically heal people, I would not spend every minute of every day of the rest of my life bringing relief to people. Doing good to relieve suffering and only for living expenses.
Imagine the job satisfaction. It would be amazing.
And if you substitute "psychically" with "medically" does this affect the argument?
If you could actually heal people I would have no problem with you earning a salary comparable to a nurse/doctor/surgeon (delete as necessary dependent upon the level of your powers).
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But we know psychic healing is superior to medical? None of those nasty chemicals of anything. It's just the whole special powers thing, you'd be special and want to use it to the best of your ability. Anyone can train to be a doctor or nurse.
If the govt was willing to pay me a lot of money then great. Especially if it came from the cost savings of not needing a few consultants or surgeons as I'd be bring the waiting lists down quicker than anyone in history.
Playing dawkins advocate for a bit, if anyone can train to be a doctor or a nurse then that means that you too have this ability to heal people medically. Have you devoted your life to doing so for free?
Would you? It would take a pretty selfless person to do so. If in possession of said powers, (or indeed any supernatural powers) I would use them primarily for personal gain and maybe appease my conscience with weekly visits to the children's ward for a mass free healing session.
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I see no reason why if one was to possess this attitude towards an ability to heal that it should not also apply to any ability, be in paranormal or not.
So, (@farside) should a talented brick layer use his skills to the best of his ability and build houses for the poor for free?
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