On the Threshold of the Unseen
An Examination of the Phenomena of Spiritualism and of the Evidence of Survival after Death
01st Edition
Published on 16. June 2011
Book
Paperback/Softback
362 pages
978-1-108-02850-9 (ISBN)
Description
In this 1917 publication English physicist Sir William Fletcher Barrett (1844-1925) purports to rescue psychical research from the scorn of his colleagues and provide indisputable evidence for the existence of psychic phenomena. A successful scientist (he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society and was honoured with a knighthood), Barrett was better known for his psychical work and his attempts to reconcile it with his scientific pursuits. Certain that the human spirit could linger after bodily death, in this book Barrett examines a wide range of spiritualist practices including levitation, spirit photography, mediumship, automatic writing, the ouija board, clairvoyance, and telepathy, carefully considering the evidence for each phenomenon in the hope that they will in time be recognised as scientifically established facts. This book is a much-revised edition of Barrett's 1908 publication On the Threshold of a New World of Thought, republished to include more 'trustworthy' evidence.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
510 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-108-02850-9 (9781108028509)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Professor William Barrett was a distinguished physicist and was knighted in 1912 for his contributions to science. He was also one of the founder of the Society for Psychical Research. Sir William spent much of his life investigating mediumship and the possibility of life after death until his own death in 1925.
Content
Preface; Part I: 1. Introduction; 2. Psychical research and public opinion; 3. Conflicting objections of science and religion; Part II: 4. Physical phenomena of spiritualism; 5. Ditto; 6. Levitation and immunity from fire; 7. On certain more disputable phenomena of spiritualism: ectoplasms, direct voice, materialization, spirit photography, the aura; Part III: 8. The canons of evidence in psychical research; 9. Theories; 10. The problem of mediumship; 11. Human personality: the subliminal self; Part IV: 12. Apparitions; 13. Automatic writing. The evidence for identity; 14. Proof of supernormal messages. The ouija board; 15. Further evidence of survival after death; 16. Evidence of identity in the discarnate; 17. Evidence from abroad of survival; Part V: 18. Clairvoyance, psychology of trance phenomena; 19. Difficulties and objections considered; 20. Cautions and suggestions; Part VI: 21. The lesson of philosophy in the interpretation of nature; 22. The mystery of human personality; 23. The divine ground of the soul, reincarnation; 24. Telepathy and its implications; Appendices; Index.