Human Interaction with the Divine, the Sacred, and the Deceased brings together cutting-edge empirical and theoretical contributions from scholars in fields including psychology, theology, ethics, neuroscience, medicine, and philosophy, to examine how and why humans engage in, or even seek spiritual experiences and connection with the immaterial world. In this richly interdisciplinary volume, Plante and Schwartz recognize human interaction with the divine and departed as a cross-cultural and historical universal that continues to concern diverse disciplines. Accounting for variances in belief and human perception and use, the book is divided into four major sections: personal experience; theological consideration; medical, technological, and scientific considerations; and psychological considerations with chapters addressing phenomena including prayer, reincarnation, sensed presence, and divine revelations. Featuring scholars specializing in theology, psychology, medicine, neuroscience, and ethics, this book provides a thoughtful, compelling, evidence-based, and contemporary approach to gain a grounded perspective on current understandings of human interaction with the divine, the sacred, and the deceased. Of interest to believers, questioners, and unbelievers alike, this volume will be key reading for researchers, scholars, and academics engaged in the fields of religion and psychology, social psychology, behavioral neuroscience, and health psychology. Readers with a broader interest in spiritualism, religious and non-religious movements will also find the text of interest.

Human Interaction with the Divine, the Sacred, and the Deceased brings together cutting-edge empirical and theoretical contributions from scholars in fields including psychology, theology, ethics, neuroscience, medicine, and philosophy, to examine how and why humans engage in, or even seek spiritual experiences and connection with the immaterial world. In this richly interdisciplinary volume, Plante and Schwartz recognize human interaction with the divine and departed as a cross-cultural and historical universal that continues to concern diverse disciplines. Accounting for variances in belief and human perception and use, the book is divided into four major sections: personal experience; theological consideration; medical, technological, and scientific considerations; and psychological considerations with chapters addressing phenomena including prayer, reincarnation, sensed presence, and divine revelations. Featuring scholars specializing in theology, psychology, medicine, neuroscience, and ethics, this book provides a thoughtful, compelling, evidence-based, and contemporary approach to gain a grounded perspective on current understandings of human interaction with the divine, the sacred, and the deceased. Of interest to believers, questioners, and unbelievers alike, this volume will be key reading for researchers, scholars, and academics engaged in the fields of religion and psychology, social psychology, behavioral neuroscience, and health psychology. Readers with a broader interest in spiritualism, religious and non-religious movements will also find the text of interest.

A healer removes the pain of a broken wrist in fifteen minutes. Another removes an ovarian tumor in a couple of weeks. Still another, from thousands of miles away, regenerates the nerves of an injured spine for a patient on whom the doctors had given up. These sound like tabloid stories but could they be true? They are just three out of millions of instances in which healers have claimed to manipulate energy fields to cure the body.

Books on vibrational medicine, prayer, and spiritual healing present readers with an array of historical and current discoveries and techniques. But so far nobody has addressed the reality of healing through comprehensive scientific research. "The Energy Healing Experiments" fills that void. Harvard- educated Dr. Gary E. Schwartz provides scientific experiments and evidence to reveal the truth about the existence of energy fields and unlocks their potential for enhancing your health.

In the Preface to the third volume, we described the evolution of this Series and the changes that have taken place in the field since the first volume appeared. The contents of the current volume continue the com mitment to a broadly based perspective on research related to con sciousness and self-regulation which was embodied in the previous three volumes. Chapters are included which consider the role of con sciousness in cognitive theory and clinical phenomena. Several of the contributions to this volume are concerned with the nature of self-reg ulation and the role of conscious processing in the mediation of self regulated behavior. Most of the authors adopt a psychobiological ap proach to their subject matter. Our selection of contributors with a bias toward this approach reflects our own views that the psychobiological approach is a very fruitful one and that the "architecture" of the nervous system places important constraints on the types of theories that are possible in this emerging area. While the subject matter of the chapters in this volume is quite diverse, the contributions are united by their emphasis on the impor tance of consciousness and/or self-regulation in the understanding of behavior and experience. We have selected what we believe is repre sentative of the best theory and research in the diverse areas which bear on the theme of this series, maintaining a balance between basic and clinical research."

"Afterlife Communication: 16 Proven Methods, 85 True Accounts" contains descriptions of methods people are using today to communicate with loved ones who have passed away. The authors are acknowledged experts in afterlife communications who developed the methods, are using them, and are teaching people how to use them. The book contains actual accounts of people's connections with their loved ones on the other side using the methods.

The authors are the presenters at the upcoming New Developments in Afterlife Communication conference presented by the Academy for Spiritual and Consciousness Studies in Scottsdale, Arizona, July 11-13, 2014. It is the first conference ever to present all of the cutting-edge methods people are using successfully today to connect with loved ones in the afterlife.

Afterlife Communication Accounts in the Book

Gary E. Schwartz, Ph.D., author of "The Afterlife Experiments" and "The Living Energy Universe," describes the soul phone, through which people in the afterlife answer questions and indicate their presence

Rochelle Wright, M.S., author of "Guided Afterlife Connections," a state-licensed grief and trauma psychotherapist, describes the connections clients have had during psychotherapy sessions

R. Craig Hogan, Ph.D., author of "Your Eternal Self" and co-author of "Guided Afterlife Connections" and "Induced After Death Communications," provides the journals written by people who have connected with loved ones using the Self-guided Afterlife Connection method

Maria Pe, Esq., attorney and author of "Journey to the Upper Realm," describes using meditation to connect regularly with her two sons living in the afterlife

Victor Zammit, Ph.D., retired lawyer from Australia, author of "A Lawyer Presents the Case for the Afterlife" and "Friday Afterlife Report," describes physical materializations, reunions with loved ones, and clear voices manifested through physical mediums

Sonia Rinaldi, M.S., pioneering researcher in instrumental transcommunication (ITC), presents three accounts of her use of a PC to record voices of people in the afterlife speaking to loved ones on the phone and PC

Mark Ireland, author of "Soul Shift" and "Messages from the Afterlife" describes how he was able to heal his grief through communication with his son in the afterlife

Suzanne Giesemann, M.A., former Navy Commander and talented medium, describes how a husband in spirit persisted and finally connected with his wife still on Earth

Rosemary Ellen Guiley, author of 50 books on afterlife and paranormal subjects, describes accounts of dream visits with people in spirit

Bruce Moen, workshop presenter, describes accounts of people he trained to go to the afterlife to rescue souls who were lost or stuck

Karen Herrick, Ph.D. president of the Academy and author of "You're Not Finished Yet" describes the making of a medium

Irma Slage, medium and author of "Phases of Life After Death: Written in Automatic Writing," describes her own connections using automatic writing and the connections others have made using the method

Carol Morgan, describes how she uses a pendulum to communicate with her son in spirit, who explains remarkable truths about the afterlife

Joe Higgins, medium, describes accounts of people receiving signs from loved ones in the afterlife and how to be open to the signs

Herb Puryear, Ph.D., and Anne Puryear, D.D., authors of "Stephen Lives , The Edgar Cayce Primer," and "Messages from God, " explain the varieties of connections people have experienced in a specially designed room they describe

Susanne Wilson, M.A., medium, presents two accounts written by parents in which Susanne was able to connect them with their children on the other side