We noted with interest the cover page of MACLEANS magazine dated May 13-2013.

“What if Heaven is real?  Why so many people – including scientists  – suddenly believe in an afterlife.”

The article quotes Eben Alexander (neurosurgeon), amongst others.  I recently read Dr. Alexander’s book and highly recommend it.  Dr. Alexander personally experienced a near death experience, which completely changed his thinking.  I found many of his current views to be congruent with our own.  What makes this book interesting is that Dr. Alexander approaches the topic of NDE’s scientifically. 

We find it reassuring when so many of our conclusions match those of this well respected medical scientist.  Of course, there are other scientists out there who also acknowledge other planes of existence….or at least admit their possibility.

To reiterate some of our conclusions: there is a connectedness to all of existence and all planes of existence; and there is an afterlife with concurrent planes of existence.   To read more about this, see Dr. Alexander’s book,   ”Proof of Heaven.”    We also highly recommend our own book: “It’s A Metaphysical World”  which deals with a wide range of extraordinary true stories (above and beyond near death experiences), which we believe fall within our natural abilities to experience, even though they are more traditionally viewed as being supernatural.

Do ghosts fascinate you?  Are you intrigued by the paranormal?  How do you feel about halloween?

What could be better than listening in to some ghost stories on a cold, Halloween night!

Check out Von Goodwin’s blog radio show this Halloween at: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/vongoodwin/2012/11/01/halloween-night-with-lisa-tarves-and-von-goodwin.

The show starts at 10 pm central time, and 11 pm eastern standard time.  Both Elena and I will be guesting on the show and telling a few stories of our own.  This is a talk-back show and a lot of fun—so join us!

For Artwork See:                                                                                                                   www.bing.com/images/search?/q=free++images+angel&qpvt=free++images+angel&FORM=GRE

Do you believe in Angels?  We do.  Of course, in the yesteryear Christian tradition angels were a longstanding belief, and this is a concept that both Elena and I accept. The Bible also reports many angelic interventions.    We believe that angels are more than mere flights of fancy and mythology. 

We realise that nowadays angels are a suspect topic, but sometimes our own experiences top popular beliefs… at least in our minds.  Aside from our experiences, we keep hearing about extraordinary events from other people, where angelic interventions seem to be the most plausible explanation.

What sorts of things are we talking about?  What extraordinary events? 

In her story “Divine Intervention at Play” in our book “It’s A Metaphysical World” Elena talks of a stranger approaching her while she was parked at a coffee shop, to inform her that the inside rim of her tire was defective.  Her mechanic later deemed it pre-blowout.  Had this person (angel?) not intervened, Elena would have experienced a blow-out on the highway with potentially tragic consequences.   But how could this individual know about the defective tire?  The only way to see the damage was to put the vehicle on a hoist!  The reality is that he could not have known.  After imparting his important message, this individual left as suddenly as he had arrived. 

On another occasion, Elena’s car was picked up and physically moved  (not driven!) further to the right on the highway, and out of harm’s way.  Impossible?  Maybe!  But it happened!

In our book we explore these stories and more.  We also report the stories of hospice workers who tell us that hospital rooms fill with angels before an individual passes, and that no-one ever dies alone.   We have stories where grieving relatives receive unexpected physical support as they move from deathbed to respite room.  There is a report of someone falling down a full flight of stairs, yet landing uninjured, and in our new book (still in process) there is a truly extraordinary tale of a vehicle being driven in what can only be described as stunt maneuvers in order to avoid an accident.  Yet the driver had no such training, According to her, she just clutched the steering wheel, screamed and prayed.  There was an intervention of some sort in this case.  She believes it was angelic.  We think she’s right.

With these stories, and many more, do we believe in angels?… You betcha!

As we speak to various individuals about our book “It’s A Metaphysical World – Extraordinary Stories from Everyday Life” we hear the same comments – “wow, the stories in the book are fascinating, but I have never had anything like that happen to me!”

However, after talking for a while, these same individuals quickly discover that they may indeed have had one, two or more experiences that are metaphysical or paranormal in nature. Sometimes it is an event that stands out as something “unusual” that happened, but nevertheless it is something they have never forgotten.

Interestingly, in some cases, it is also something that they have chosen not to talk about to others for fear of being labelled as unstable or fear of violating their religion. And for others, our book has made them feel it is safe to talk about those experiences.

It is not necessarily seeing a ghostly apparition that tells us we are seeing something extraordinary, but it is the numerous and sometimes more subtle things that occur. It could be thinking about someone and at that precise moment they call you. It could be having a dream or a gut feeling that comes true. It could be seeing a loved one after they die or a series of events that are so unbelievably synchronistic that you question: how on earth did this happen? On the other hand, it could be something far more obvious such as a spirit that manifests or makes its presence known to you.

Stories such as “The Bridge” by Marion which details the numerous events that led up to the death of a mother and wife and how her body was found, to “Synchronicity in Dying” by Elena where she shares the unfolding of her own father’s passing – including a message from him after death, show us that extraordinary events happen in everyday life.

Our book is full of true stories from our own lives, or from the lives of family and close friends – in our view they all remind us that we are part of a grand master plan, that life continues after death, and that our energy never dies. They also remind us that if we pay close attention to what happens to us each and every day we might see something spectacular occur…we just need to open our minds and our eyes to the possibilities.

We published “It’s a Metaphysical World – Extraordinary Stories from Everyday Life” last summer, and since that time have often been asked the questions:

• How did you get your title? and,
• How did you go from talking about the paranormal to discussing the metaphysical?

They are both reasonable questions. To be honest, we were initially stumped over a title for our book. It was far more than ghost and angel stories. We deal with healings, hauntings, UFO’s, and all manner of psi phenomena – in fact, all paranormal events in the broadest sense of the word. We explore ways of being on many different levels including other planes of existence, and reasons for those ways of being. Finally, our Thesaurus yielded the answer. “Metaphysical” was the word we were searching for. We realized that we were exploring the mysteries of the metaphysical through the paranormal. We were searching for not only the “what,” but also the “why.”

You may or may not agree with some of our explanations but at least our book will challenge your thinking. ·

• Metaphysical – relating to the philosophical study of the nature of being and beings or a philosophical system resulting from such study – Encarta Dictionary ·
• Paranormal – unable to be explained or understood in terms of scientific knowledge - Encarta Dictionary.

So – we encourage you to read and enjoy It’s A Metaphysical World. At the very least, we think you’ll find it entertaining.

Recently, Canadian media carried a story about a study conducted by Ufology  Research which revealed that last year, UFO sightings in Canada neared a record high. In 2011, there were 986 sightings however in 2008 Canada peaked at 1,004 sightings.  Although the number of sightings hovers (excuse the pun) at close to the one thousand mark per year, let’s take a closer look at what people claimed to have seen.

Apparently, more than one half of the sightings were identified as some kind of odd light in the sky  and for those that reported more definably-shaped objects, such as a disc, sphere or boomerang, the majority said that the object made no noise.

It is hard to deny that there isn’t more to our universe than just we humans –however, diehard skeptics do exist. Not only do they refute the possibility of life on other planets, but it would stand to reason that they likely also deny that there is life after death.

In our book “It’s a Metaphysical World – Extraordinary Stories from Everyday Life” we debated about whether or not to include stories on UFOs.  We came to the conclusion, that stories of UFOs are just another example of how extraordinary events occur in everyday life, many that we still can’t fully understand or explain. It doesn’t mean that they aren’t real, they are just hard to rationalize within our scientific constructs.

Several stories in our book such as “Out of This World – hovering” by Elena and “Unidentified Flying Objects” by Marion were included as they were reported by two credible witnesses – Elena herself and Marion’s husband who was a police officer at the time! Both stories describe definable objects in the sky that were not a plane or a helicopter.  Since that time, Elena has witnessed two other events.

Ufologist, Michel Deschamps at http://www.noufors.com/index.html has some very interesting information on UFOs. He is the founder of NOUFORS – Northern Ontario UFO Research & Study which collects and disseminates information on UFOs.  Michel claims to have had 27 experiences involving UFOs, has been interviewed extensively by media, is a guest lecturer and continues to conduct research into sightings and interactions with extraterrestrial beings.  His website offers interesting information, UFOs that have been filmed and a range of pictures depicting the types of aliens that have been encountered.

While you may ask yourself – do I believe? It is hard to not believe with so much evidence around us.  Then again, even though many people believe in various paranormal phenomena, died hard skeptics are often not convinced, even though there is overwhelmingly evidence to the contrary.

The term “missing time” is sometimes used to describe a beat that was missed in music, but it also applies to time that can’t be accounted for in a metaphysical sense. Just think about it – what if one minute you were in your house and you drove to the mall which normally takes one hour to get to, but according to your watch only twenty five minutes had passed? Or the reverse happens and you leave your house, arrive at the mall only to find that time had actually gone backwards?  Most of us would shake our watch, change our batteries or think we simply misread the time in the first place.

But, what if it is possible to bend or alter time? Great theoretical physicists such as Albert Einstein thought we could. To put it simply, he believed that the past, present and future all exist simultaneously, in other words they are all occurring at the same time, and that time is really an illusion. As a result, it would be possible to move in and out of time, bend it, shift it or alter it.  Some even think that we have the ability to change time by willing it. Eldon Taylor award winning, New York Times bestselling author of over hundreds of books, audio and video programs and former criminalist shares stories of being able to slow time down at will.  He reports leaving for a meeting that he knew he would be late for by several hours, but believed he would arrive on time, which he did. Others, such as the authors of A Course in Miracles state that miracles undo the past in the present to change the future – in other words we can move between our conventional definitions of time to change how things unfold.

In our book “It’s a Metaphyscial World – Extraordinary Stories from Everyday Life” we also report on several stories where time was altered.  In one story by Elena “Out of this World” she and her former husband went backwards in time as they left their cottage and headed for home.  Both were astounded by the event, and in an effort to rationalize what had happened, even thought they may have been temporarily abducted by extraterrestrials and returned – which would account for the missing time.  However, when the event happened, it was not a joking matter…Elena recalls it being both “beyond our comprehension and scary at the same time.” Both vowed that they would not talk about their experience to others.

What if Albert Einstein is right when he states: “People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.” What do you believe – can we alter, bend  and move through time?

Why write about psi phenomena, or discuss it,  especially when it can have a negative impact on careers?  And what is it about psi that provokes such strong reactions in people?

The answer to the first question is simple – bad things happen when good people say or do nothing.  Some topics should not be swept under the rug.  They need to be aired because there are consequences when they are not.

The answer to the second question is more complex.  It has to do with the way we process information.  Perceptions vary.  Some primarily rely on sensory-received information, some are more intuitive, while others prefer logic-based information, and some integrate information from all sources.  Newsflash! No system is perfect.   No person is either.  We may think we know best, but that is only belief not certainty.

Our minds function as a beautiful coordination between left and right brain activity.  There is interdependence between these hemispheres and although general conclusions of function may be drawn, our interactions remain uniquely our own.  Some people may have well developed imaginative abilities and others logic skills, but in the normal course, no-one operates with half a brain.  Our brains are adaptable, flexible and complex.  They are the ultimate tool – capable of learning, relearning and/or reassigning function as required.

Variances in process give rise to the diversity of people and skill-sets.  We  need the skill-sets of imagination and logic to navigate life. Imagination allows us to advance beyond what is known, and we reason through logic.  Thinking, sensing, feeling, imagining – these are all tools to help with life’s complexities.

So why is that important?  Through time people have suffered for knowledge, and especially psi knowledge. Churches and governments at large have opposed this knowledge – causing it to become occult or go underground and remain hidden.  Societal taboos followed with ramifications for individuals.   Psi-sensitives through the ages have found themselves demeaned or, even worse, treated as mad for their  “truths.” Despite the fact that many universities have studied and continue to explore psi, as has the CIA, and other institutions, societal cautions remain in place.  Sensory perceptions are still considered secondary, or inferior, knowledge.This is a longstanding societal attitude dating back to Plato.  Plato was brilliant, outstanding, unforgettable -  but was he right?

Einstein had his own views on imagination.  He said:

 “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all
we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and
all there ever will be to know and understand.”[1]

We recognize full well that stories about the paranormal appeal to a niche market, and that our stories primarily reach those who already believe in psi.  Once anyone has experienced a paranormal event, there is no going back.  The scales drop from our eyes.  Conversely, those who don’t experience such things will likely remain skeptical – as well they should.  It is dangerous to be too accepting, to simply follow the herd in thought.  We all need to think for ourselves and experience life for ourselves. It is a personal journey and we owe it to ourselves to make it so.   But in this, as in all things, it is of the utmost importance to keep an open mind.  No one is omniscient.  One person cannot know it all.

It is not our job to persuade people – just to open the topic for meaningful discussion.

We live in a complex world, yet there is a fascinating order to everything – a “fractacality,” to coin a word!  There are patterns and patterns, and patterns within patterns to life and living, and even death and dying.

The same patterns that appear in the branches of a tree appear to mathematically replicate in the pattern of a forest.  We see fractals in snail shells. We see fractals in sea shells. Once we’re aware of fractals, we can see them everywhere.

Even more amazing is the fact that we appear to inhabit a world within worlds, and a dimension within dimensions, and a body within a body.  We have physical selves and soul selves.

There are afterlife dimensions, between life dimensions, other world dimensions – and who knows what else!  And each of these dimensions has sub-categories within it.  Science has identified 20 distinct spirit categories.  In our book, “IT’S A METAPHYSICAL WORLD“ we have identified, minimally, 7 transitional existences.

The transitional realm exists between the earthly and spiritual planes. From there we may proceed to the spiritual plane, or remain connected to the earthly plane.  It is this transitional bridging plane that we most often see or become aware of.

Occasionally we are aware of other realms - as in the case of angels.  Many hospital and palliative care workers report angelic appearances at or near the time of patient death. We have it on very good authority from our stories that no-one ever dies alone.  They all die supported, if not by loved ones in life, then certainly by angels from the other side.

Life is rich – a tapestry of existence.  Isn’t it reassuring, and isn’t it amazing!

Is this life all there is?   We think not!  The evidence is in: life goes on!

In IT’S A METAPHYSICAL WORLD we reported near death experiences. Diane met her deceased son in Diane’s Near Death Experience, and Martha had a life-affirming experience during her near death encounter (Martha’s Jump). In the Cassie stories there is ample evidence that loved ones return to assist or even just check up on family members.  Through past life regressions, we glimpsed some of our own previous lifetimes, (Evidence from the Past), and our stories even report the existence of pet-ghosts.  Can we ever doubt the complexity of our world and beyond?

This world, the next, and the previous, exist in one immense overlap. What a privilege it is to find confirmation of life after death in so many different ways!