Letters to the Forum

- 1 November 2015

Cosmic Meditation

At first I thought this was a windup (my emphasis) – then I realised it was for real! (and happening in Auckland in September):

“Do you feel you struggle with your vitality? Are you eating healthy and doing all the right things but still feel not quite right? Or would you just like to give your precious organs an extra boost? Join us for the upcoming Cosmic Meditation to give your organs some extra care and experience a powerful evening of an energetic Cosmic Flush…of the slush in your organs.

This unique experience is guided by the all-knowing Quantum Vortex Scalar Wave Photon Pulse (QVSWPP), the Supreme Grace of Source-Void, Shunya Bindu.”

Judith, 12 Sep 2015

Count the Blessings

Just to bring to your attention Brian Rudman’s excellent column today [NZ Herald, Brian Rudman column, 17 Sep 2015]. I know he has won an award from Skeptics before, and this deserves recognition in my opinion.

Janelle Wallace, 18 Sep 2015

Carrie in New York

Hi, a reliable friend sent me a link to a video [Youtube, Telekinetic Coffee Shop Surprise]. Shows how some simple ‘telekinetic’ stunts can be done to fool people. It came with the following comment:

“Scaring people is hard. Scaring New Yorkers is even harder.”

It’s clear that the folks behind the prank in this video know a thing or two about how to successfully freak out even the most skeptic seen-it-alls. And what they execute is as impressive as anything you’d find on a high-budget Hollywood set.

Louette, 1 Nov 2015

Your Cells are Listening

I regularly listen to my liver screaming after I have exceeded my daily alcohol limit… but seriously … [Riseearth.com, Your Cells Are Listening] This has all the hallmarks of hokum – somebody suffering and then having an “insight” – what psychologists refer to as “the power of vivid instances”. The author’s chronic pain was most likely functional (ie. psychogenic) and therefore likely to respond to an attitudinal change of thinking. The reference to Backster and the Polygraph is complete nonsense considering that polygraphy is a pseudoscience. Responses of a plant to thoughts of burning it shows just how random and spurious are the recordings of a polygraph. Whenever the word “quantum” appears you can be sure the person writing it hasn’t any idea about quantum theory which is frequently roped in to explain all sorts of hokum. Bastyr University promotes homeopathy as part of its degree program and that condemns any qualification as completely and utterly meaningless.

John Welch, 3 Nov 2015