Personal Experiences of Communication with the Departed, the Sacred, and the Divine A Self-Science Approach

Claims have been made throughout recorded history of individuals being able to communicate with the Divine, the Sacred, and the departed. Debates about the metaphysical reality of such communications have persisted in philosophy, theology, science, and religions. Scholars and laymen alike vary to the extent that they have personally experienced such communications (first-person accounts) versus approaching these claims from an external (third-person) perspective. This chapter presents first-person evidential accounts of communication with the departed (including distinguished academics like William James), the Sacred (e.g. angels), and the Divine. The author illustrates how core scientific methods of observation, analysis, and interpretation can be applied to the laboratories of our personal lives. These evidential personal experiences provide the background for a subsequent chapter (13) that presents controlled laboratory experiments that validate and extend them.