Paul O'Donoghue's Letter in Irish Times 23/03/06

Yossie

LOGIC AND LIFE'S PROBLEMS
Madam, - I was intrigued by the letter from Dr Áine Tubridy (February 16th) which called for more logical approaches to helping people to deal with their life problems.

While I agree with much of what it contained and agree totally with her call, I cannot help but wonder how she might reconcile this position with some of her own writings.

She has written a glowing testimonial on the website of Walter Makichen, who has recently produced a very disturbing book entitled Spirit Babies: How to Communicate with the Child You're Meant to Have, in which he claims that, in conversation with Jesus one day in his apartment, he was told that his role would be to communicate telepathically with the spirits of unborn babies and to guide them in to their prospective parents.

He works with couples who are experiencing significant fertility problems and who are therefore extremely vulnerable. He is described in the publicity for his book as a leading clairvoyant and medium.

Dr Tubridy's assessment of him is indicated in her testimonial: "Walter Makichen is a forerunner in the area of vibrational medicine. Through his unparalleled clairvoyant ability he grounds our spiritual quest in the relationship between our own chakra system and the universal mind".

I have sympathy with the statement in Dr Tubridy's letter that "there is a level of insanity creeping in when problems of living are subtly being medicalised and re-labelled as diseases and disorders". But is it any saner to reinterpret mental illness as being due to imbalances in the chakra system (a non-existent, immeasurable, esoteric energy system), or as a consequence of episodes that occurred in a past life (as posited in a book by Dr Tubridy and Dr Michael Corry)?

Dr Tubridy's arguments for a more logical approach would carry a lot more weight if they were not so thoroughly contradicted in much of her written work.

This seems to me a clear case of the pot calling the kettle black. - Yours, etc,

PAUL O'DONOGHUE, Principal Clinical Psychologist.........

.....and ISS fame

Here! Here!

Well done Paul!

PS Does anybody know if Paul is still writing for the health supplement the 1st Tuesday of each month?

Myksyk

Yes he is. Another article has gone in and should appear in the next couple of weeks.

Yossie

Myksyk wrote:

Yes he is. Another article has gone in and should appear in the next couple of weeks.

Great!:) If you remember and if it's not too much trouble, will you give me a heads up when it's out. I don't like to feed the hypercondriac in me by unnecessarily reading the health supp;) Cheers.

robindch

From the Irish Times today:

Madam, - Paul O'Donoghue (February 23rd) questions my logic, in terms of supporting esoteric healing methods. Is he unaware that the two serpents of the caduceus, the ancient symbol of medicine as a healing art, represent the chakra system and acknowledge a spiritual dimension to both our consciousness and to healing?

I feel it behoves us all as professionals to continue seeking ways to help those clients whose problems happen to be of an existential or spiritual nature, and I see it as eminently logical to use methods which I have seen work, provided they do no harm. I can only think it must be different for him as a psychologist, but the doctor in me is primarily interested in pain relief and healing, and sees it as illogical to withhold such useful methods while we await the evidence he is obsessed with.

There is a mocking tone in Mr O'Donoghue's reference to the spiritual dimension and those who draw on it. I wrote the "glowing testimony" he refers to on the website of Walter Makichen, because I am very familiar with all aspects of his healing work, including his clairvoyant ability to facilitate individuals becoming parents. Why mock what works, especially if a child is born?

Some questions for him: Did infra-red, ultra-violet and x-rays exist before they were proven to? Did the earth become round only on the day the evidence was found? Did the force of gravity begin operating only after Newton documented it? The truth is that all these phenomena existed well before our limited human brains had found the means to prove them.

There will always be those who, in the face of the unknown and inexplicable, automatically react with fear and suspicion. Great minds like Einstein, Galileo, and many contemporary scientists, such as Bohm, Heisenberg, and Tiller are made of different stuff, at all times keeping their mind open to the unusual, the unpredictable, the seemingly illogical.

History shows that it was in such a mind-set that many of the ground-breaking discoveries were made, as the previously "non-existent and immeasurable" crossed the threshold into the "provable and evidenced-based", and the Paul O'Donoghues of the non-scientific community were reassured.

A word of caution to sceptics. Cries of "Prove it! Prove it!" become embarrassing when referring to phenomena which already have been extensively documented in quantum physics literature, where mystics and the scientists are now reading off the same hymn-sheet. Mr O'Donoghue is evidently still unfamiliar with these, but I would be happy to provide him with references, though their content might render his favourite hobby horse redundant. Is he brave enough to take such a step into the unknown? - Yours, etc,

Dr AINE TUBRIDY, Institute of Psychosocial Medicine, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.

"mystics and the scientists are now reading off the same hymn-sheet". Really?

Barnowl

Paul's reply to Tubridy, mailed today. May or may not appear in print.

Madam,

Aine Tubridy raises some interesting issues and questions in her letter of March 01. I note that she continues to defend her position of support for the work of Walter Makichen, including “his clairvoyant ability to facilitate individuals becoming parents”. Claims of clairvoyant ability have been extensively investigated for more than a century and a half. There is no evidence to support their existence except in people’s imaginations.

Couples who attend Makichen with fertility problems and conceive consequently, are in all likelihood receiving mainstream treatments, and these most likely account for any pregnancies. These are most certainly not due to Makichen telepathically calling in spirit babies at the behest of Jesus, as he claims in his book. Tubridy here confuses correlation with causation, a common logical error.

Further confusion is evident when she posits questions concerning the existence of x rays, gravity etc., before these were described scientifically. Of course they existed prior to being named. The role of science is to investigate and elucidate natural phenomena which it does exceptionally well. It has demonstrated the properties of x rays and gravity, but has found no trace of clairvoyant ability.

In science, when data are not forthcoming in support of a theory, or when contradictory data are consistently delivered, the theory is abandoned. Many alternative practitioners cling to their suppositions despite a consistent lack of objective support and in the face of significant contradictory evidence.

Her suggestion that there will always be those who react with fear in the face of the unknown does not apply to those who practice science. The opposite is clearly the case. Scientific researchers face the unknown on a daily basis, often with exceptional courage, with the goal of finding out more about the world and its wonders. These activities define science and account for its progress.

Clinging to superstition and esoteric, discredited phenomena such as clairvoyance, can serve only to ensnare us in the past, when fear, pain, poverty and premature death were commonplace. Scientists and mystics, despite Dr.Tubridy’s suggestions to the contrary, very rarely read off the same hymn-sheet.

Findings from quantum physics, while often vigorously debated, are a constituent part of mainstream science, and despite pleas to the contrary lend no support whatever to esoteric mysticism.

I am greatly concerned that Dr. Tubridy sees it “as eminently logical” to use methods that she has seen work, provided they do no harm. Presumably this includes Makichen’s methods and the many other questionable treatments detailed in her book coauthored with Michael Corry.

As there is no objective evidence to support these interventions, the only indication that they “work” must come from patients who claim they feel better following such treatments. This is a flawed basis on which to judge efficacy.

A patient with terminal cancer, if told by a doctor that she can eradicate her disease by thinking about it, or a couple who are told that their fertility issues can be resolved by communicating with spirit babies may feel better. However, in reality, neither the cancer nor fertility problems will be influenced in this way.

In such cases, the end (feeling better) does not justify the means. The patient may well experience significant psychological distress upon realising that they have been misinformed. This is not to imply that it is the intent of the therapist to misinform the patient, as they may truly believe what they are recommending. However, such recommendations are without meaningful foundation.

Further harm may well result, as patients may avoid proven therapies in pursuit of dreams of miracles. They may also be led to depend on mystical treatments in the future if they mistakenly attribute mainstream successes to alternative treatments.

Dr. Tubridy states that “there is a mocking tone” in my “reference to the spiritual dimension and those who draw on it”. This is a misinterpretation on her part. I have every respect for the rights of people to subscribe to whatever spiritual beliefs they choose.

My difficulties arise from the claims of some, that on the basis of their belief systems they can effectively and systematically treat serious and significant illnesses and distress. They cannot. Mystical ministry, while it may be important to those receiving it and may provide comfort, does not constitute nor substitute for medicine.


Paul O’Donoghue.

dreamingoak

A quote from Albert Einstein, a scientist and a mystic:

. A human being is a part of the whole, called by us Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest-a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole nature in its beauty.

This task of Einsteins describes exactly what, in my experience, Walter attempts in his work, And it is that expansion of compassion that his clients find to be so very healing.


And an article from Thomas A. Beardshall, explaining clearly how Quantum Physicists and mystics do, in fact sing from the same hymnsheet.

Spirituality And Quantum Physics
By Thomas A. Beardshall
Last edited: Saturday, September 01, 2007
Posted: Thursday, August 30, 2007



At the edge of the scientific frontier, researchers are in the process of proving that Thoughts DO create reality and that God DOES exist.

SPIRITUALITY AND QUANTUM PHYSICS

(previously published in Point Of Light magazine)


Not so long ago, talking about spirituality and physics (or any "science") in the same breath would have been the mark of someone who was guilty of hopelessly outdated thinking, a benighted soul clinging to an obsolete faith because they didn't understand that science had banished their quaint delusions to the realm of irrelevance.

How times do change! Today most of the internationally known physicists who are in the forefront of their field are writing about their research in terms which sound more and more like New Age metaphysics and esoteric spirituality. They talk about a vast, universal ether of thought energy which acts like a single, unified mind and which manifests everything in the material world out of nothingness through a mysterious process of creative thought. (Am I imagining things, or does this sound suspiciously like God?) They talk about this universal energy changing its behavior in response to our thoughts---changing in a way, moreover, that seems to be trying to meet our expectations and give us what we want, even to the extent of changing how the material world is manifesting. (New Thought has been telling us this for the past hundred years in various teachings about how you could change yourself and the world around you through affirmations, positive thinking, and creative prayer.)

When did science start talking like this? Most of us "laypersons" (people who don't talk in pure math and gobbledygook jargon) still think of science the way we learned it in high-school and college physics or chemistry classes, which explained the world in terms of the mechanistic philosophy which was solidified by Newton and Descartes several centuries ago: They said that the entire universe is made up of particles which have characteristics such as mass and momentum and energy, and we can eventually come to understand, predict, and even control everything as we get better at observing these particles and work out the mathematical formulas that govern their movements. God and spirituality became anachronisms in the eyes of the scientific community because such concepts would soon no longer be needed to explain any aspect of our world. Originally the scientists who followed in the footsteps of Newton and Descartes believed that atoms were the basic "particle," and then that belief gave way to the idea that the basic particles were electrons, neutrons, and protons which made up the atoms. Even when it began to dawn on the physicists that there was another layer down, an even more basic something which made up the electrons, neutrons, and protons, they assumed it would simply be an even smaller particle (and if there was something below that, it would be an even smaller particle, etc.). The study of the basic particles became known as Quantum Physics or Quantum Mechanics because a "quantum" is a quantity of something, and "mechanics" is the study of how things move and interact.

When research experiments began to indicate that the next layer down from electrons, neutrons, and protons was a light phenomenon, they named it the photon and defined it as the basic particle of light, or the basic "quantum" of light. Research was indicating that different combinations of photons made up the phenomena which had been called electrons, neutrons, and protons, as well as a whole range of other particles which had been discovered. (Genesis 1:1-3 "In the beginning, when God created the universe…God commanded, 'Let there be light,' and light appeared.") The problems began when they realized that the photons weren't acting very much like particles of any matter or energy which they had worked with before. The photons seemed to disappear and reappear in ways that were incomprehensible for a "particle." This led to theories of other dimensions of time which we mere humans cannot detect but which can be traveled by photons. Then there was the business of the photons responding to the thoughts of the researchers when they tried to do experiments; they couldn't get their experiments to have consistent outcomes because these rascally little critters kept changing their behavior in accord with who was doing the research and what their expectations were! In addition, the photons seemed to be communicating with each other. Information seemed to be able to travel from photon to photon regardless of the distance separating them, and, what's more, the information seemed to be travelling faster than the speed of light (which shouldn't be possible for any "particle" phenomenon.) It began to dawn on physicists, such as the prominent Denmark researcher in quantum physics, Neils Bohr, that they weren't dealing with a particle at all here, but rather with some new and unfamiliar kind of causative power which had no mass and didn't really "exist" in the way that they were used to thinking of things in the material world existing. As research results kept adding more pieces to this puzzle, they realized that the entire material world that we exist in is underlaid and caused by a vast invisible field of thought which holds our "reality" together and which has many unusual properties. London physicist David Bohm's experiments caused him to conclude that every part of this field is interconnected to every other part, and every part of the field knows what is happening everywhere at once; as a result, all objects and events in the universe are interconnected and respond to each other. (The corollary of this concept is that there is no "external world," something that is "out there" and "not me." We are inextricably intertwined in the rest of the universe, and our every deed and thought interacts with the entire world.) The physicists have also realized that the so-called empty voids of outer space are in fact packed full with this invisible causative energy, but that it just happens to be energy which at the moment chooses not to play any part in our material level of existence.

At first the rest of the world of science didn't want to believe the quantum physics research results which supported these strange theories, but as evidence has continued to pile up most scientists working in areas related to quantum physics have "signed on" and concur with the above conclusions. So now the physicists are in general agreement that our visible universe is merely a projection of a larger invisible dimension that has no material reality to it and yet which acts just like a vast, conscious mind. We, as humans, are an integral part of that mind, and our observation of the world around us somehow
participates in causing the world to exist. In a very real sense, we create our own "reality." Some of the physicists wouldn't use the terms "god" or "spirit" to describe their conclusions, but most mystics and theologians would recognize the concepts being presented by the physicists as being the same things to which those spiritual terms refer.

What does all of this mean to you? Chances are, you probably didn't wait to get permission from the scientific establishment to start believing in the creative power of thought and the underlying spirituality of the universe. Does the idea that the realm of quantum physics is validating what many of us already believed have an effect on us? Yes, in at least a couple of areas:

First: Welcome home, New Age space travelers! You may have been barely aware that your ship was in motion, and yet you have traveled all the way from the lunatic fringe through the avant-garde and are now nearing the mainstream. Can you believe it? There will be some drawbacks in this for some of us (how will I annoy my family-of-origin with my weird beliefs if my favorite eccentricities become the norm?)

But seriously, folks….The findings of the quantum physicists give a new impetus and a new urgency to what many of us have "sort of" known but may have only been giving half-hearted energy to: There is a God. Our souls do exist. Thought does create reality. There are forces with mind and will overseeing and guiding life on earth. Our lives are purposeful. Now it behooves us to get more pro-active in re-ordering our lives to align with what we can finally know to be the truth (rather than just hoping or wishing it to be the truth).

But how do we bring this knowing into our lives? There are a number of ways. There is research which indicates that the brain-wave states of deep meditation and hypnosis are conducive to bringing us into stronger contact with the underlying layer of creative mind-energy, and so developing a daily practice of meditation would be a good foundation. Another area we could start to pay more attention to is the use of affirmations and positive thinking; if our thoughts participate in the underlying causative/creative layer, let's pay more attention to what we are thinking! Finally, it seems fairly certain that the human energy system (the aura, the chakras, the meridian system) provides the mechanics of how we interface with that mystery layer of invisible mind, and so a better knowledge of spiritual/energy anatomy suddenly moves from being a mere theoretical head-game and becomes a very practical field of study.

Understanding the metaphysical "nuts-and-bolts" of meditation, positive thinking, the human energy system, and how we interact with the underlying creative God-energy of the Universe are, I believe, the keys to leaping up to a new plateau of human development and have become the main thrust of my own studying and teaching. Achieving such an understanding has a powerful transformational effect on people's lives, and this is the frontier which the findings of quantum physics challenge us to explore with renewed confidence that we are, after all, being "scientific," in touch with the true "reality," and practical in our focus.

Thomas A. Beardshall is the author of the popular new book, Steering Your Way Through Life.

jtsuited

christ on a bike!
Tubridy and Michael Corry are really 2 of the most harmful people out there.

Having had first hand experience of Corry's chakra/mystic/anti-medication&logic mumbo-jumbo, it's good to see these people are being publicly criticized for their wacko approaches to medicine.

Zombrex

dreamingoak wrote: »

At the edge of the scientific frontier, researchers are in the process of proving that Thoughts DO create reality and that God DOES exist.

Which researchers?

dreamingoak wrote: »

They talk about a vast, universal ether of thought energy which acts like a single, unified mind and which manifests everything in the material world out of nothingness through a mysterious process of creative thought.

Oh dear ..

I presume he is talking about the ideas around concepts like the Higgs field, which is possibly responsible for giving certain particles the property that what we experience as "mass." It is theorized that without this field all particles would simply be energy.

I've never heard of a single scientist describing the Higgs field, or any other energy field, as a "ether of thought energy" (what is thought energy?), or as a "unified mind". A mind implies intelligence and purpose and I've never heard of any scientists attributing intelligence to the Higgs field.

dreamingoak wrote: »

They talk about this universal energy changing its behavior in response to our thoughts

Who talks about this energy field changing properties based on "our thoughts"?

dreamingoak wrote: »

they couldn't get their experiments to have consistent outcomes because these rascally little critters kept changing their behavior in accord with who was doing the research and what their expectations were!

That is nonsense.

The particles changed their behavior based on how they were being observed, ie observation of a particle cannot happen without some form of interaction with alters the location or momentum of the particle. This is to do with the equipment that is used to observe the particle, and nothing to do with the expectations of the scientists.

The rest of the article seems to be based on this nonsense idea that the particles are being effected by the thoughts of the researches, so I imagine you can figure out what I think of it ....