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Dreams and Life After Death: Ask Joshua Black!


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Gene Steinberg

Gene Steinberg

Forum Super Hero
Staff member
We're off UFOs, conspiracy theories, and potential political implications for the episode due to be recorded on Thursday, September 14th, from 2 PM until 4 PM Pacific.

Our guest:

Joshua Black is one of the leading academic researchers in the field of dreams of the deceased. He has focused all of his graduate work on investigating this neglected topic (MA and PhD). He continues to publish scientific research in the field as he finishes his PhD at Brock University (Ontario, Canada). To raise awareness about the topic, he started a website (www.griefdreams.ca), Instagram page (@griefdreams), Grief Dreams Facebook Group, and the Grief Dreams Podcast (with co-host Shawn Ram). Additionally, he frequently gives presentations and workshops on the topic to the bereaved and those who work with them.
 
Well, we asked him alright! Hopefully some of the questions will resonate with anyone who may have missed getting their questions in. Also, ATP is being recorded tomorrow ( Friday ). Not sure if Joshua will be there, but people can still get questions in in time for that show.
 
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Great show guys. Randall, I wanted to reach into my earbuds and kiss you when you called out his handwaving.

But, great job stretching the kinds of guests that you have on, and I have to say I was ready to give up on this guest... he seemed only interested in having folks who lost loved ones 'feel good' and 'feel loved.' As someone who lost a parent recently, I have to say that's not what I needed at all and was a bit thrown off by that.

But Randall man you took a different tack, a more human angle, but one that still had critical thinking involved - and you swayed me and brought the conversation to a different level. Nicely done!
 
marduk said:
Great show guys. Randall, I wanted to reach into my earbuds and kiss you when you called out his handwaving.

But, great job stretching the kinds of guests that you have on, and I have to say I was ready to give up on this guest... he seemed only interested in having folks who lost loved ones 'feel good' and 'feel loved.' As someone who lost a parent recently, I have to say that's not what I needed at all and was a bit thrown off by that.

But Randall man you took a different tack, a more human angle, but one that still had critical thinking involved - and you swayed me and brought the conversation to a different level. Nicely done!
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Comments much appreciated! I wasn't sure how this episode would resonate with the Paracast listeners.
 
Usual Suspect said:
Comments much appreciated! I wasn't sure how this episode would resonate with the Paracast listeners.
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TBH, I was about to stop listening to the show until you called him on the hand waiving. He was going down a pure 'if it feels good, then do it' path.

Which is fun if you're Caligula but not so great for everybody else, especially those grieving.
 
marduk said:
TBH, I was about to stop listening to the show until you called him on the hand waiving. He was going down a pure 'if it feels good, then do it' path. Which is fun if you're Caligula but not so great for everybody else, especially those grieving.
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Indeed. I could have pressed the issue further, but wanted to leave room in the forum for ideas and comments. Plus there are a lot of people who are sympathetic to belief in the afterlife, especially when they lose someone. Top that off with religious faith, and it's almost impossible to get through to the believers, and if one appears to be unsympathetic or expresses outright disbelief ( like I did ), it can actually completely backfire and end up creating adversaries instead of getting people to think. It's a narrow fence to walk.

So I see that interview as a small success in that I don't think I came across as insulting, while at the same time calling attention to a valid issue. Personally, I think there's a serious problem with engaging people while in the middle of their grieving process and consciously reinforcing religious or other nonsense of any kind. I see it as exploitation, and I was trying to expose that danger in as diplomatic a way as is possible. Joshua seems to have his heart in the right place, but ignoring what I was saying could come back to bite him someday if he continues to remain dismissive.
 
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