Why do some people and not others say they receive messages from ‘the dead’?
It’s horrible. Right?
But why is this happening?
A new study by Durham University explains the reason. The study found that spiritualistic mediums are more prone to engrossing spiritual activities and unusual auditory experiences earlier in life.
Spiritualism is a religious movement that depends on the possibility of human spirits surviving after death and speaking to the living through a medium or psychic.
It is believed that a medium that hears the dead person experiences a clear-sounding communication instead of clear-sighted (‘see’) or a clear (‘feel’ or ‘feel’) communication.
The study covers 65 clairaudient spiritualist mediums of the Spiritualists’ National Union and 143 members of the general population.
Spiritualistic mediums have completed an online questionnaire that assesses the timing, nature, and frequency of their auditory (clear-eared) spiritual communication – including scales that measure paranormal beliefs, absorption, hallucinations, and aspects of identity. These measures were compared with a general population group.
They found that these spiritualists strongly tended toward absorption – a trait associated with deepening in spiritual or imaginative activities and altered states of consciousness.
Eighteen percent revealed that they had ‘clairaudient’ experiences ‘as far back as they could remember’, and 71% had not yet experienced Spiritualism as a religious movement before their first experience.
Many who experience hearing dead voices experience spiritualistic beliefs as they search for the meaning behind, or heavenly meaning of, their own and unusual experiences.
Spiritualists tend to report unusual auditory experiences that are positive, start early in life, and are often capable of controlling.
To understand how it develops, it is important to teach us more about disturbing or uncontrollable experiences of voices and how you can support those whose voices are linked to psychosis or other mental health problems.
Magazine reference:
- Adam Powell et al. When spirits speak: absorption, attribution and identity among spiritualists who report ‘clear-sighted’ voting experiences. DOI: 10.1080 / 13674676.2020.1793310