Best-selling author Dr. Raymond Moody returned for a discussion on near-death experience (NDE), and his work contacting departed spirits via a room with a mirror. He noted that NDE reports have a "remarkable uniformity" around the world, as studies have shown in Holland, Great Britain, Japan and Africa. Some of the nine common experiences: traveling out-of-body, drifting into a tunnel, meeting relatives that have passed away, and a life review or panoramic memory (an "instantaneous hologram" of all one's memories).
Moody studied the ancient Greek's Oracles of the Dead in which people were kept in darkness for 29 days before attempting contact with deceased loved ones. He set up a room, illuminated by candles, with a mirror placed high (so that one's reflection isn't seen in it) and a chair that a person sits in for 60 – 90 minutes. About 50% of the subjects who went into the room (such rooms are often referred to as a Psychomanteum) saw and communicated with the desired departed person, and 30% heard an audible voice of the deceased, Moody reported.
The Psychomanteum can be a useful tool for dealing with grief, and researchers such as Arthur Hastings of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology have successfully replicated these types of experiments, Moody detailed.
Asteroid Deflection
First hour guest, astronomer David Morrison commented on a plan to possibly construct an asteroid deflector. Such a device is risky, he said, but it might be an effective choice if a large asteroid was on a collision course with Earth.