The following is an interview with psi researcher, spiritualist and trained magician James Webster. I thank James for kindly accepting the interview. Enjoy.
1)James, tell us a little bit about your background?
From an early age I have been fascinated by the mysteries of life. The appropriate start was made in 1935 when I was born into what I was later to experience as a 'haunted' house in Kent, England. As a child and teenager I and also members of my family witnessed plenty of paranormal phenomena in our home. Accounts of this are written about in my first book 'Life Is ForEver' (Woodside Publications 2000 ISBN: 0-9538073-0-4). At grammar school I played and enjoyed plenty of sport and took an interest in music and in watching and studying stage magicians and conjurors which intrigued me to the point that I wanted to take up and learn this as an interesting hobby and find out the modus operandi for myself. This led eventually to becoming a professional in show business for a time with membership to the distinguished Magic Circle and other societies. This experience brought me into the International scene of show business which was full and exciting to the extreme. However, I did eventually decide it was time to settle down to a 'proper job' and my medical studies took me to becoming a qualified surgical chiropodist which I have found most satisfying and enjoyable right up to this present day when I still practice in semi retirement.
2)Do you think the training as a magician is useful to research and test mediums and psychics?
Yes I certainly think that it is a great advantage, if, as in my own case one is open minded and seriously interested in researching the paranormal, mediumship and psychics. I had the added advantage also of realising my own mediumship and psychic abilities as well as being an exponent of conjuring tricks.
3)Do you think that, for a highly trained magician, is easy to expose fake mediums and psychics?
No I do not think that it is necessarily easy for a highly trained magician to expose all fake mediums and psychics because some of those mediums/psychics are highly experienced in the art of magic and conjuring themselves. Also it must be remembered and realised that some 'so called' mediums and psychics are deluding themselves without intent or realising it.
4)In your experience, are most magicians hard-nosed skeptical of the paranormal?
Yes they are generally as I have discovered in my experience. However, there are on record certain famous stage magicians who have most certainly accepted psychic phenomena and mediumship such as for example the American magician and member of the Inner Magic Circle Howerd Thurston and founder of The Magician's Club William Goldston. Also the famous escapoligist Houdini. I included an interesting chapter (chapter 6 Magic and Mystery) about these magicians in my book 'Life Is ForEver ' (Woodside Publications 2000 ISBN: 0-9538073-0-4).
5)Your lastest book is "The Case Against Reincarnation: A Rational Approach". Can you tell us a little bit about it?
The best thing I can say about my new book The Case Against Reincarnation: A Rational Approach is to obtain a copy and read it thoroughly. It took me a considerable time to research and write the material for this essential book. So much has been and still is being written to promote the teachings of reincarnation and my book confronts head-on this most misleading theory and doctrine which leads billions into the 'psychic jungle' and loses them. My book explains with good evidence from a wide and fine input of knowledgeable contributors past and present, why so many are duped into this reincarnation hoax.
6)Supporters of reincarnation mention Ian Stevenson's research with children who appear to remember past-lives as one of the best evidence for the reincarnation hypothesis. What do you think of Stevenson's research?
I am often asked this question. Children are particularly sensitive spiritually and pick up other spirit entities who overshadow them and impress themselves. Also many of the children Stevenson researched were from Eastern countries who practiced religions and belief systems (e.g. Hinduism and Buddhism) soaked with reincarnation, past lives and karma.
As a researcher myself I must say that I have a real respect for what Ian Stevenson, as a researcher, attempted to achieve. However, he had to admit that he had not discovered a “watertight case” to prove reincarnation even though his enormous amount of work did appear to many to deliver much evidence. In my opinion I think it was a pity that he did not spend more time following up spiritual philosophy in the footprints of his mother who was evidently a spiritualist. No amount of research will prove reincarnation as the theory is false to begin with.
7)What's the best evidence for an afterlife or survival of consciousness?
It is impossible to point to one example as being the best evidence of the afterlife or survival of consciousness. We are all sensitive in various degrees of awareness and there is nothing quite to compare with a personal experience to witness for oneself. The individual conscious personality is now and continues without the physical body, so in fact we are already experiencing the evidence of the continuation of consciousness. Life is a continuum it does not stop here and then start again over there.
8)Do you think the best evidence for an afterlife suffices to convince an open minded skeptic?
As I have said before there is no best evidence to convince anybody. One could point to a whole collection of various types of phenomena as hearsay or second hand but it is personal experience or an inner awareness which brings about conviction. There are related incidents which will help to substantiate conviction for the open minded skeptic.
9)What do you think of the super-ESP hypothesis?
ESP (Extra Sensory Perception) is just another representation of spirit-mind-brain function.
10)Materialists argue that the strong mind-body dependence shown by contemporary neuroscience strongly undermine the survival hypothesis. What do you think about this opinion?
Total nonsense. What these materialists do not or will not understand is that the brain and mind are separate. That is the true hypothesis. They will argue that when the physical body dies the mind dies with it. In other words when you are dead you're dead! The fact is that when the physical body packs up, the mind (soul/spirit) is unaffected and continues with a finer etheric/astral body vibrating at a faster rate.
11)Have you had any personal, direct, first hand experience of some paranormal phenomena?
A great deal. Apart from the experiences of physical phenomena I witnessed as a child in our family home, I later sat with many fine and famous mediums including Estelle Roberts and Leslie Flint, then became a member of the Noah's Ark Society and sat many times with physical mediums Colin Fry and Stewart Alexander. I also had some memorable sittings, with a great deal of phenomena produced, of which I reported upon, with the Scole Experimental Group (five years of scientific study into life after death). Excellent evidence of a personal nature has been provided through the different types of mediumship; physical, clairvoyance and clairaudience. I must also add that my own personal mediumistic and psychic abilities over the years have been self evidential indeed and are included in my books and many articles and correspondences.
12)What do you mean by "Spiritual Science" and how it is related to science and religion?
That which is not orthodox material science. It is certainly not related to religion of any kind. It incorporates quantum/sub-atomic physics. The science of fine etheric matter and makeup of the spirit worlds. Spiritual science explains how other finer planes of existence operate in a comparison of like to the physical earthplane.
13)What do you think of near-death experiences? Do you think they provide strong evidence for an afterlife?
NDE (Near Death Experience) and also the OOBE (Out Of Body Experience) certainly present further evidence of the continued afterlife. A great deal of research is going on in this field with Dr Parnia and others investigating through hospitals the NDE with patients. I have attended lectures on these which I have found most interesting and illuminating.
14)What's the most important lesson to be learned from the afterlife communications?
That life continues after this earthly experience and how we live and behave now is all important to our ongoing spiritual progression.
15)In your opinion, what is the best way to convince academics, intellectuals and professional scientists that the evidence for psi and afterlife is worth studying seriously (or at least to get them interested in it?
Those of us who are researching the subject must keep presenting the evidence and repeatable scientific experiments, where possible, in an objective manner. We must give full support to those qualified scientists, academics and intellectuals who are already convinced and brave enough to admit it. Unfortunately too many are in fear of their professional status and public position to open up with their honest convictions. More pressure on the media will also help.
16)What books or literature on the paranormal, afterlife, magic or any other topic would you like to recommend to the readers of this interview?
Look out for old out of print books in the secondhand bookshops on mediumship and spiritualism. You will sometimes come across some gems. Books by Dr Carl Wickland (Thirty Years Among The Dead and The Gateway Of Understanding also the Arthur Findlay books are real treasures Some of them have been reprinted by Psychic Press, Stansted Hall, Stansted, Essex England. I must certainly recommend my own books which are available online from Amazon, WHSmith etc or from most bookshops or better still you can order them from my website. I also strongly recommend The Abu Trust which presents many compact discs of fine spiritual teachings in philosophy and science to listen to. Also a number of informative and excellent books. I am one of the trustees and administrators of The Abu Trust.
17)Something else you would like to add to end the interview?
I would like to add the following websites information for books, Cds etc. which I earnestly recommend to your readers to refer to:
http://www.jameswebster.woodsidepublications.co.uk/
1)James, tell us a little bit about your background?
From an early age I have been fascinated by the mysteries of life. The appropriate start was made in 1935 when I was born into what I was later to experience as a 'haunted' house in Kent, England. As a child and teenager I and also members of my family witnessed plenty of paranormal phenomena in our home. Accounts of this are written about in my first book 'Life Is ForEver' (Woodside Publications 2000 ISBN: 0-9538073-0-4). At grammar school I played and enjoyed plenty of sport and took an interest in music and in watching and studying stage magicians and conjurors which intrigued me to the point that I wanted to take up and learn this as an interesting hobby and find out the modus operandi for myself. This led eventually to becoming a professional in show business for a time with membership to the distinguished Magic Circle and other societies. This experience brought me into the International scene of show business which was full and exciting to the extreme. However, I did eventually decide it was time to settle down to a 'proper job' and my medical studies took me to becoming a qualified surgical chiropodist which I have found most satisfying and enjoyable right up to this present day when I still practice in semi retirement.
2)Do you think the training as a magician is useful to research and test mediums and psychics?
Yes I certainly think that it is a great advantage, if, as in my own case one is open minded and seriously interested in researching the paranormal, mediumship and psychics. I had the added advantage also of realising my own mediumship and psychic abilities as well as being an exponent of conjuring tricks.
3)Do you think that, for a highly trained magician, is easy to expose fake mediums and psychics?
No I do not think that it is necessarily easy for a highly trained magician to expose all fake mediums and psychics because some of those mediums/psychics are highly experienced in the art of magic and conjuring themselves. Also it must be remembered and realised that some 'so called' mediums and psychics are deluding themselves without intent or realising it.
4)In your experience, are most magicians hard-nosed skeptical of the paranormal?
Yes they are generally as I have discovered in my experience. However, there are on record certain famous stage magicians who have most certainly accepted psychic phenomena and mediumship such as for example the American magician and member of the Inner Magic Circle Howerd Thurston and founder of The Magician's Club William Goldston. Also the famous escapoligist Houdini. I included an interesting chapter (chapter 6 Magic and Mystery) about these magicians in my book 'Life Is ForEver ' (Woodside Publications 2000 ISBN: 0-9538073-0-4).
5)Your lastest book is "The Case Against Reincarnation: A Rational Approach". Can you tell us a little bit about it?
The best thing I can say about my new book The Case Against Reincarnation: A Rational Approach is to obtain a copy and read it thoroughly. It took me a considerable time to research and write the material for this essential book. So much has been and still is being written to promote the teachings of reincarnation and my book confronts head-on this most misleading theory and doctrine which leads billions into the 'psychic jungle' and loses them. My book explains with good evidence from a wide and fine input of knowledgeable contributors past and present, why so many are duped into this reincarnation hoax.
6)Supporters of reincarnation mention Ian Stevenson's research with children who appear to remember past-lives as one of the best evidence for the reincarnation hypothesis. What do you think of Stevenson's research?
I am often asked this question. Children are particularly sensitive spiritually and pick up other spirit entities who overshadow them and impress themselves. Also many of the children Stevenson researched were from Eastern countries who practiced religions and belief systems (e.g. Hinduism and Buddhism) soaked with reincarnation, past lives and karma.
As a researcher myself I must say that I have a real respect for what Ian Stevenson, as a researcher, attempted to achieve. However, he had to admit that he had not discovered a “watertight case” to prove reincarnation even though his enormous amount of work did appear to many to deliver much evidence. In my opinion I think it was a pity that he did not spend more time following up spiritual philosophy in the footprints of his mother who was evidently a spiritualist. No amount of research will prove reincarnation as the theory is false to begin with.
7)What's the best evidence for an afterlife or survival of consciousness?
It is impossible to point to one example as being the best evidence of the afterlife or survival of consciousness. We are all sensitive in various degrees of awareness and there is nothing quite to compare with a personal experience to witness for oneself. The individual conscious personality is now and continues without the physical body, so in fact we are already experiencing the evidence of the continuation of consciousness. Life is a continuum it does not stop here and then start again over there.
8)Do you think the best evidence for an afterlife suffices to convince an open minded skeptic?
As I have said before there is no best evidence to convince anybody. One could point to a whole collection of various types of phenomena as hearsay or second hand but it is personal experience or an inner awareness which brings about conviction. There are related incidents which will help to substantiate conviction for the open minded skeptic.
9)What do you think of the super-ESP hypothesis?
ESP (Extra Sensory Perception) is just another representation of spirit-mind-brain function.
10)Materialists argue that the strong mind-body dependence shown by contemporary neuroscience strongly undermine the survival hypothesis. What do you think about this opinion?
Total nonsense. What these materialists do not or will not understand is that the brain and mind are separate. That is the true hypothesis. They will argue that when the physical body dies the mind dies with it. In other words when you are dead you're dead! The fact is that when the physical body packs up, the mind (soul/spirit) is unaffected and continues with a finer etheric/astral body vibrating at a faster rate.
11)Have you had any personal, direct, first hand experience of some paranormal phenomena?
A great deal. Apart from the experiences of physical phenomena I witnessed as a child in our family home, I later sat with many fine and famous mediums including Estelle Roberts and Leslie Flint, then became a member of the Noah's Ark Society and sat many times with physical mediums Colin Fry and Stewart Alexander. I also had some memorable sittings, with a great deal of phenomena produced, of which I reported upon, with the Scole Experimental Group (five years of scientific study into life after death). Excellent evidence of a personal nature has been provided through the different types of mediumship; physical, clairvoyance and clairaudience. I must also add that my own personal mediumistic and psychic abilities over the years have been self evidential indeed and are included in my books and many articles and correspondences.
12)What do you mean by "Spiritual Science" and how it is related to science and religion?
That which is not orthodox material science. It is certainly not related to religion of any kind. It incorporates quantum/sub-atomic physics. The science of fine etheric matter and makeup of the spirit worlds. Spiritual science explains how other finer planes of existence operate in a comparison of like to the physical earthplane.
13)What do you think of near-death experiences? Do you think they provide strong evidence for an afterlife?
NDE (Near Death Experience) and also the OOBE (Out Of Body Experience) certainly present further evidence of the continued afterlife. A great deal of research is going on in this field with Dr Parnia and others investigating through hospitals the NDE with patients. I have attended lectures on these which I have found most interesting and illuminating.
14)What's the most important lesson to be learned from the afterlife communications?
That life continues after this earthly experience and how we live and behave now is all important to our ongoing spiritual progression.
15)In your opinion, what is the best way to convince academics, intellectuals and professional scientists that the evidence for psi and afterlife is worth studying seriously (or at least to get them interested in it?
Those of us who are researching the subject must keep presenting the evidence and repeatable scientific experiments, where possible, in an objective manner. We must give full support to those qualified scientists, academics and intellectuals who are already convinced and brave enough to admit it. Unfortunately too many are in fear of their professional status and public position to open up with their honest convictions. More pressure on the media will also help.
16)What books or literature on the paranormal, afterlife, magic or any other topic would you like to recommend to the readers of this interview?
Look out for old out of print books in the secondhand bookshops on mediumship and spiritualism. You will sometimes come across some gems. Books by Dr Carl Wickland (Thirty Years Among The Dead and The Gateway Of Understanding also the Arthur Findlay books are real treasures Some of them have been reprinted by Psychic Press, Stansted Hall, Stansted, Essex England. I must certainly recommend my own books which are available online from Amazon, WHSmith etc or from most bookshops or better still you can order them from my website. I also strongly recommend The Abu Trust which presents many compact discs of fine spiritual teachings in philosophy and science to listen to. Also a number of informative and excellent books. I am one of the trustees and administrators of The Abu Trust.
17)Something else you would like to add to end the interview?
I would like to add the following websites information for books, Cds etc. which I earnestly recommend to your readers to refer to:
http://www.jameswebster.woodsidepublications.co.uk/
Links and info of interest:
-James Webster's website.
-James Webster's new book "The Case Against Reincarnation: A Rational Approach"
-Article by George Hansen entitled "Magicians who endorsed psychic phenomena"
-Another article by George Hansen entitled "Magicians on the Paranormal"
