Noli me tangere

"Reunions" is an interesting book by Raymond Moody, whose books on near-death experiences are almost common knowledge. In "Reunions", he deals with another paranormal phenomenon: apparitions of dead relatives.

The phenomenon as such certainly exists, but is it real or some kind of hallucination? Sceptics, obviously, suggest the latter. Moody suggests the former. However, his way of doing so might be seen as controversial even among those who do believe in the reality of apparitions. Moody has experimented with methods which induce apparitions in a seemingly "artificial" manner. Essentially, he uses scrying to make the dead appear to the living. Many Christians are absolutely opposed to any attempts to conjure up the spirits of the dead - witness the story of Saul's visit to the witch of En-Dor. Moody tries to save the day by pointing out that the patriarch Joseph was a scryer, but I'm not sure whether that works, since Joseph apparently didn't communicate with the dead.

Be that as it may, "Reunions" is interesting, even intriguing. Moody has built a room he calls the psychomanteum in which visions of the dead and departed can be induced by a kind of self-hypnosis. He tested the device on himself, and it worked in a somewhat unexpected manner. Moody wanted to conjure up his maternal grandmother, but instead his *paternal* grandmother showed up in the room. The experience was very "real" and didn't seem to scare Moody, who conversed with his deceased relative in a seemingly casual manner. Incidentally, Moody still uses the psychomanteum for therapeutical purposes (it's mentioned on his website).

I admit a certain scepticism to artificially created visions. Even if you believe in the immortality of the soul, shouldn't the soul be in Heaven, Hell or reincarnated as another human being, rather than being present in Moody's chamber in Alabama or wherever he resides at the moment?

Still, I'm fascinated by "Reunions". Weirdly, apparitions of the dead seem to have certain things in common: the deceased always look younger than at the time of his or her actual death, their loved ones don't recognize them immediately, they are fully dressed, and its strictly prohibited to touch them.

Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Noli me tangere...