FUTURE LECTURES

 

 

Please note that all lectures will be held in the Boyd Orr Building at Glasgow University and will start at 7.30pm, unless otherwise stated.

 

 

Thursday 1st March 2012
The Psychic G.P.

Dr Ian Rubenstein

Dr Ian Rubenstein is a GP with a medical practice in Enfield, north London. His scientific training meant that he didn’t take paranormal matters seriously – that is until 2003 when his dead Grandfather popped into his surgery for a chat. This sent Dr Rubenstein on a journey: “a mad dash through territory populated by mediums, psychics, poltergeists and ghosthunters”.

 

 

Thursday 22nd March 2012
Demonstration of Mediumship 

Extra Fundraising Event

Tickets/Pay on Door £10

Ricky Martin, Irene McGilvray & Andy Byng

Boyd Orr Building Lecture Theatre 2

The society will host a fundraiser evening: bringing together 3 spiritualist mediums with good reputations together to demonstrate their mediumship. Whether you're a believer or a sceptic, our Mediumship evenings are both popular and entertaining, so book or come early to avoid disappointment. This event is outside the usual lecture programme and will incur an additional fee.

 

 

Thursday 5th April 2012
The Hole in the Sky

Brian Allan

Brian Allan is a writer, investigator and Editor of 'Paranormal Magazine'. He has written many books on the paranormal and has spoken to the society before on Rosslyn Chapel. This presentation, 'The Hole in the Sky' [also a book by Mr Allan, published by Hidden Mysteries] concerns the possibility that 'gateways' and 'portals' exist between our version of reality and a range of others. Mr Allan speculates that these 'alternate realities' "may be the location of what, for want of a better term, we call the 'spirit world'". The author’s opinion is that, "they might even be where ET's originate and I demonstrate that if this is the case, then ET's do not and cannot originate in this universe because the periodic table precludes it".

 

Thursday 3rd May 2012
The Amazing Psychic Art of the Bang Sisters

Steven Upton

Steven Upton has been involved with spiritualism for most of his life. He was a council member of PRISM (Psychical Research Involving Selected Mediums), working with psychical researchers, for a year or so. He is now a Minister for the Spiritualists National Union. Mr Upton and his wife, through their publishing business SDU, have been active in reprinting many important books on mediums & spiritualists.

 

Thursday 6^th of Sept 2012

Synchronicity and a New Science of Consciousness

David Lorimer

David Lorimer, MA, PGCE, FRSA is a writer, lecturer, editor and educationalist.  Originally a merchant banker then a teacher of philosophy and modern languages at Winchester College, he is the author and editor of twelve books, including ‘Whole in One – The Near-Death Experience and the Ethic of Interconnectedness’, ‘Thinking beyond the Brain’ and ‘Science, Consciousness and Ultimate Reality’.

David is also Programme Director of the Scientific and Medical Network, the Executive Vice-President of the Wrekin Trust, Vice-President of the Swedenborg Society and of the Horizon Research Foundation  (The International Association for Near-Death Studies UK).

David has spoken to the SSPR before about ‘Science, Consciousness and the Ultimate Reality’ and we welcome him back to share with us his fascinating insights into synchronicity and consciousness.

 

Thursday 4th October 2012
The Psychology of the Sceptic

Robert McLuhan

The ‘psychology of the believer’ is a common topic for sceptics, covering such things as unreliable memory, tricks of the mind and wishful thinking. But what about the sceptics themselves? The confusion and hostility often manifest in their responses to psychic claims attest to the presence of unacknowledged psychological pressures. Robert McLuhan will look at the some of the effects of cognitive dissonance on the strongly disbelieving mind, including the need to invent ‘confessions’, deny their own experience and discredit the source of a paranormal claim by any means possible in order to restore sanity.
Robert McLuhan has been a foreign correspondent for the Guardian and a dance record producer, and now works as a freelance journalist. He blogs about paranormal topics at Paranormalia (www.paranormalia.com) and recently published Randi’s Prize: What sceptics say about the paranormal, why they are wrong and why it matters.

 

Thursday 1st of November 2012

Telephone Conversations with The Dead   

Cal Cooper

Born and raised in Nottinghamshire, Cooper was interested in hauntings and the paranormal from a young age.  He completed a BSc in psychology from the University of Northampton and a MRes in psychology from Sheffield Hallam University.  He has received scholarship awards and research funding from the Parapsychology Foundation (USA) and the Alex Tanous Foundation for Scientific Research (USA).  Cooper is currently based at the University of Northampton working on his PhD and many other projects including the investigation of accounts of alleged 'phone calls from the dead'.