![\"hand](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/97\/2015\/05\/hand-on-the-mirror-195x300.jpg\")
<\/a>I was having a chat with my mom recently about making a will and telling us any plans for what she wants us to do with her \u2026 after she \u2026 you know \u2026 moves on to the next adventure.<\/p>\n\u201cDo you want to be buried in Massachusetts?\u201d I asked, because that\u2019s where she\u2019s from and I wondered if she\u2019d like to be back with her family.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t care,\u201d was her reply.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you even want to be buried?\u201d I asked. \u201cWould you rather be cremated?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t care what you do with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOK,\u201d I said with a laugh,\u201dI\u2019m going to have you cremated and then we\u2019ll sprinkle your ashes on top of Mt. Greylock.\u201d That\u2019s near her childhood home in the Berkshires.<\/p>\n
She laughed. \u201cThat sounds fine. I don\u2019t care.\u201d<\/p>\n
I gave her an evil little giggle. \u201cOK, then, since you don\u2019t care, I\u2019ll carry your ashes around with me all the time. Mwahahah! You\u2019ll be with me twenty four hours a day! You\u2019ll never escape me! How\u2019s that sound?\u201d I assume not so great, since my mom can be finicky about spending time with me.\u00a0 The last time I asked if she felt like doing something she said, \u201cNah, I\u2019m going away with you next week. That\u2019s enough time together.\u201d<\/p>\n
By now we were both laughing. \u201cDo whatever you want,\u201d she said. \u201cI won\u2019t be around so I won\u2019t know anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n
That conversation was on my mind as I read Janis Heaphy Durham\u2019s \u201cThe Hand On The Mirror: A True.s Story of Life Beyond Death.\u201d<\/p>\n
Durham is the former publisher of the Pulitzer prize winning Sacramento Bee, a woman with a strong journalistic sense that relies on facts rather than emotions. After her husband Max died in 2004, she began to experience strange phenomena that she began to suspect were Max reaching out to her from the afterlife.<\/p>\n
Lights flickered. Rugs moved. Clocks stopped at the exact time of Max\u2019s death. A powdery hand print appeared on a bathroom mirror for three years in a row, on or close to the anniversary of Max\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
This woman, trained to look for verifiable facts, found herself at a spiritual crossroads. Could these experiences be real, or was her grief interfering with her ability to deal with Max\u2019s death in a reasonable manner?<\/p>\n
Like the journalist she is, Durham set out to investigate the possibility that those we love can reach out to us from beyond the grave. Talking to scientists, mediums, and spiritual practitioners, she began to form her own opinion of the supernatural experiences.<\/p>\n
She talked, for example, to Dr. Robin Van Doren, who specialized in the neurological basis for learning before embarking on a spiritual journey after a near-death experience. Van Doren helped Durham understand the idea that our brains act like radios for our conscious energy. After we die, our energy remains.<\/p>\n
Dr. Dean Radin, chief scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciencises (IONS). IONS was founded in 1973 by Apollo astronaut Edgar Mitchell, who holds a PhD in aeronautics and astronautics from MIT. The institute is dedicated to exploring consciousness, both its power and its potential.<\/p>\n
Think \u201cFringe\u201d in the real world.<\/p>\n
Dr. Radin\u2019s credentials include an undergrad degree in electric engineering from University of Massachusetts Amherst, a master\u2019s degree in electrical engineering and a PhD in educational psychology from the University of Illinois. He talked at length with Durham about how consciousness not only exists but has quantum properties that affect events and how, using that focus, we can actually harness the strength of that consciousness.<\/p>\n
The most fascinating parts of the book were her discussions with experts like physicists and even a rocket scientists. These are learned, educated, respected scientists doing research in brain function, consciousness, after death experiences, and they make educated arguments for the paranormal.<\/p>\n
Reading about Durham\u2019s experiences, I have to admit that I would have been a basket case had those things happened to me. An unexplained hand print on the mirror? Rugs moving on their own? While it\u2019s clear Durham is intrigued, I didn\u2019t get the sense she ran screaming from the house. Which is what would have happened if I\u2019d seen the same things.<\/p>\n
To be honest, I\u2019m fascinated with the paranormal. And I\u2019m equally as frightened by it. I think that most humans, regardless of their religious bents, are curious about what happens after we die. Is there a heaven? A state of spiritual being? Black nothingness? What do we know or see or feel or think after our consciousness leaves our bodies? Can spirits see me in the shower?<\/p>\n
I know I\u2019m not the only one who thinks about this stuff.<\/p>\n
If you grew up in a church like I attended as a child, you were taught that God sees everything. EVERYTHING. Not only that, he\u2019s the supreme mind reader, knowing your thoughts and intentions, hearing your prayers said aloud and silently.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no escaping God. Not even in the shower.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve spent much time in a Christian church, you were probably also taught that we\u2019re not supposed to seek mediums, to divine the future, to have fellowship with the occult. And yet the Christian faith is centered on supernatural beings who have the power to create and destroy, to bring life and death, to intercede and affect events and even physical items. (\u201cDear God, please heal this broken bone.\u201d \u201cDear St. Anthony, please help me find my lost car keys.\u201d \u201cDear Jesus, give me a sign.\u201d) Christians spend a great deal of time in communication with these supernatural beings, asking for protection and intercession, for guidance and direction, for signs and miracles.<\/p>\n
I was also taught as a child that the devil sits outside my front door waiting to pounce on me like a lion. And there was that other awesome lesson about the afterlife: that in heaven, I would spend an eternity looking down into hell to see the souls of those suffering because I didn\u2019t tell them about Jesus.<\/p>\n
This may be why Durham\u2019s experiences both fascinate and frighten me. If there are both good and bad beings that can see me and interact with me, how do you know the difference? And do I really want to be able to see from beyond?<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know what happens after death. But I believe there is something \u2013 and someone. I\u2019d like to think that I can talk to my loved ones, but it creeps the bejeepers out of me that they\u2019re always there, seeing and knowing everything.<\/p>\n
Which brings me round to the thing that I\u2019ve been mulling on for years: Angels or spirits? Soul and consciousness? Heaven and another realm? Prayer or communing with spirits? Is there a difference?<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t have the answers, but I can tell you this. If anyone is likely to speak to me from the great beyond, it would be my mother, if only to tell me to put her ashes in the closet so she can have a few minutes peace.<\/p>\n
Want to check out what other Patheos bloggers are saying about \u201cThe Hand On The Mirror\u201d? Visit the Blogger Roundtable!<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I was having a chat with my mom recently about making a will and telling us any plans for what she wants us to do with her \u2026 after she \u2026 you know \u2026 moves on to the next adventure. \u201cDo you want to be buried in Massachusetts?\u201d I asked, because that\u2019s where she\u2019s from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":199,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,22],"tags":[746,759,518,745,117,776,747],"class_list":["post-1932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-supernatural","tag-afterlife","tag-christianity","tag-god","tag-janis-heaphy-durham","tag-paranormal-2","tag-patheos-book-club","tag-supernatural"],"yoast_head":"\n
"The Hand On The Mirror": Can our loved ones speak to us from beyond the grave?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I was having a chat with my mom recently about making a will and telling us any plans for what she wants us to do with her ... after she ... you know ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/2015\/05\/the-hand-on-the-mirror-can-our-loved-ones-speak-to-us-from-beyond-the-grave\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""The Hand On The Mirror": Can our loved ones speak to us from beyond the grave?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I was having a chat with my mom recently about making a will and telling us any plans for what she wants us to do with her ... after she ... you know ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/2015\/05\/the-hand-on-the-mirror-can-our-loved-ones-speak-to-us-from-beyond-the-grave\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Heavenly Creatures\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-05-27T15:06:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-05-26T18:07:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/files\/2015\/05\/hand-on-the-mirror-195x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joanne Brokaw\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joanne Brokaw\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/2015\/05\/the-hand-on-the-mirror-can-our-loved-ones-speak-to-us-from-beyond-the-grave\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/2015\/05\/the-hand-on-the-mirror-can-our-loved-ones-speak-to-us-from-beyond-the-grave\/\",\"name\":\"\\\"The Hand On The Mirror\\\": Can our loved ones speak to us from beyond the grave?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-05-27T15:06:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-05-26T18:07:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/#\/schema\/person\/94bed5395fce7e743ffeee45a9d924e9\"},\"description\":\"I was having a chat with my mom recently about making a will and telling us any plans for what she wants us to do with her ... after she ... you know ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/2015\/05\/the-hand-on-the-mirror-can-our-loved-ones-speak-to-us-from-beyond-the-grave\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/2015\/05\/the-hand-on-the-mirror-can-our-loved-ones-speak-to-us-from-beyond-the-grave\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/2015\/05\/the-hand-on-the-mirror-can-our-loved-ones-speak-to-us-from-beyond-the-grave\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"“The Hand On The Mirror”: Can our loved ones speak to us from beyond the grave?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/\",\"name\":\"Heavenly Creatures\",\"description\":\"Joanne Brokaw on Animals, God, Faith & Life\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/#\/schema\/person\/94bed5395fce7e743ffeee45a9d924e9\",\"name\":\"Joanne Brokaw\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d580addf2c7c4b8b71371832be8d3d0c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d580addf2c7c4b8b71371832be8d3d0c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Joanne Brokaw\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/author\/joannebrokaw\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"The Hand On The Mirror\": Can our loved ones speak to us from beyond the grave?","description":"I was having a chat with my mom recently about making a will and telling us any plans for what she wants us to do with her ... after she ... you know ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/2015\/05\/the-hand-on-the-mirror-can-our-loved-ones-speak-to-us-from-beyond-the-grave\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"The Hand On The Mirror\": Can our loved ones speak to us from beyond the grave?","og_description":"I was having a chat with my mom recently about making a will and telling us any plans for what she wants us to do with her ... after she ... you know ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/2015\/05\/the-hand-on-the-mirror-can-our-loved-ones-speak-to-us-from-beyond-the-grave\/","og_site_name":"Heavenly Creatures","article_published_time":"2015-05-27T15:06:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-05-26T18:07:53+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/files\/2015\/05\/hand-on-the-mirror-195x300.jpg"}],"author":"Joanne Brokaw","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Joanne Brokaw","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/2015\/05\/the-hand-on-the-mirror-can-our-loved-ones-speak-to-us-from-beyond-the-grave\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/2015\/05\/the-hand-on-the-mirror-can-our-loved-ones-speak-to-us-from-beyond-the-grave\/","name":"\"The Hand On The Mirror\": Can our loved ones speak to us from beyond the grave?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-05-27T15:06:25+00:00","dateModified":"2016-05-26T18:07:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/#\/schema\/person\/94bed5395fce7e743ffeee45a9d924e9"},"description":"I was having a chat with my mom recently about making a will and telling us any plans for what she wants us to do with her ... after she ... you know ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/2015\/05\/the-hand-on-the-mirror-can-our-loved-ones-speak-to-us-from-beyond-the-grave\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/2015\/05\/the-hand-on-the-mirror-can-our-loved-ones-speak-to-us-from-beyond-the-grave\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/2015\/05\/the-hand-on-the-mirror-can-our-loved-ones-speak-to-us-from-beyond-the-grave\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"“The Hand On The Mirror”: Can our loved ones speak to us from beyond the grave?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/","name":"Heavenly Creatures","description":"Joanne Brokaw on Animals, God, Faith & Life","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/#\/schema\/person\/94bed5395fce7e743ffeee45a9d924e9","name":"Joanne Brokaw","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d580addf2c7c4b8b71371832be8d3d0c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d580addf2c7c4b8b71371832be8d3d0c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Joanne Brokaw"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/author\/joannebrokaw\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/199"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1932\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/heavenlycreatures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"hand](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/97\/2015\/05\/hand-on-the-mirror.jpg\")
<\/a>I was having a chat with my mom recently about making a will and telling us any plans for what she wants us to do with her \u2026 after she \u2026 you know \u2026 moves on to the next adventure.<\/p>\n