Week 2 - Charles Miin

I believe I can draw a parallel in terms of the perception of the experiences of the Silicon Valley mediums and those individuals who experience near-death experiences (NDEs). I believe these have the potential to be as real as the people who experience them describe them to be, but they are the types of events that are difficult to understand if a person does not experience them personally. Another theme I see that connects the two is the idea that they are very closely related to trauma, stress, and overall challenge in one's life. When people are close to death in an NDE and likewise when mediums endured the stress of fleeing their home country, these spirits came forth and influenced their lives. As science endeavors to discover the simplest reasons to explain any phenomenon, I can't help but question first if perhaps trauma evokes the imagination of spirits to help endure stressful situations as opposed to being truly caused by the actual presence of spirits; in other words, could this be a case of correlation versus causation where stress simply causes one to imagine an alternate reality in order to endure it. Another aspect that fascinated me is the idea that mediumship is hereditary and somehow able to advance from one generation to the next. As a student of genetics and biological principles, I do not outright dismiss this connection but question what genetic attribute is able to transfer with such veracity and evoke such a power in individuals. And if not a genetic matter, is this connected to something larger like the cell-soul pathway also previously discussed? Further along, when the Californian mediums visited Hanoi and experienced a very intense possession that shocked even the Vietnamese mediums, it was reasoned that they simply experience possession differently. This then leads me to question why possession would be different based on something as generally arbitrary as location or country. Interviews of the California mediums described that the changes caused by medium interactions are often positive and can even be temporarily physical depending on the strength of the possession and the possessing spirit. In many cases, the spirit will base their actions on the personality of the medium and teach lessons to help enrich the individuals life. With my knowledge that the human body is at times able to alter things such as its own metabolic rate and functions, if not at will then in response to strong stimulus, such as stress in order to survive. This causes me to infer that there may be a possible connection with the constant role of trauma and stress with these abnormal experiences. In the case of spiritual possession, I believe that one's culture adds an additional layer of interaction which is beneficial as one is able to link one's healing and experiences with one's heritage. Understanding the pride elicited at times when I am able to discuss and share my knowledge of my cultural heritage with others, I believe that this may explain why individuals such as Cau Be play such a big role in helping to developing and further the abilities of people. These people may simply be developing themselves but under the guise of ancient figures such as the Young Prince. This is not to diminish the veracity of this practice but to offer what I believe to be a simple explanation for such a strong cultural phenomenon. I believe much more stands to be understood on this topic.

Is the existence of spiritual interaction necessarily bound to the experience of trauma or other distress? Why do these experiences not occur with such abundance when these negative stimuli are not present?

References:
Karen Fjelstad and Lisa Maiffret. “Gifts from the Spirits: Spirit Possession and Personal
Transformation among Silicon Valley Spirit Mediums.”