Have you ever felt the presence of someone who had died? Or dreamed something before it happened? Or had an uncanny sense that "I've been here before" about a place you're visiting for the first time?
Sylvia Fraser is one of those people to whom mysterious events often happen - weird coincidences, glimpses into the future, apparent communication with the dead. In The Quest for the Fourth Monkey, Fraser not only shares these incidents but she also tries to understand them.
In each chapter, she deals with a "supernormal" topic, such as reincarnation or telepathy, by recounting her own experience, and then by searching for rational and scientific evidence to support the principles involved. Her research takes her into Western philosophy, Eastern mysticism, quantum and astro physics, biology, parapsychology and holistic medicine. Her range is astonishing. Historic figures such as Buddha, Hippocrates, William James and Carl Jung share the stage with today's physicists and Nobel laureates.
Along with her own provocative anecdotes, Fraser recounts the remarkable stories of others whose experiences took them into startling realms. Nor does she shy away from re-examining the evidence supporting persons whose stories have been mistreated by history. These include psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich who discovered an energy called "orgone" that he believed could be used to treat cancer by boosting the immune system; Edgar Cayce who, in a trance, could diagnose illnesses and prescribe treatments for people hundreds of miles away in languages he didn't know when conscious; Bridey Murpy, an eighteenth-century colleen who may - or may not - have reincarnated as a Colorado housewife. Then there are the identical twins, separated at birth, who coincidentally gave their dogs the same name, married and divorced women of the same name, married second wives of the same name, gave their first sons the same two names, had the same jobs, hobbies, likes and dislikes, even though they'd had no contact whatever until age thirty-nine.
In her process of self-discovery, Fraser not only invites us to share her journey, but she also challenges us to reexamine our own lives for the psychic and spiritual clues that we may have been missing. In so doing, we open a skylight to a Universe more wondrous and illuminating and exciting than we ever dared to imagine.
CONTENTS:
Telepathy: THE FAX OF NATURE
Psychic Power: HEALING THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN
Holistic Healing: IN SEARCH OF THE FOURTH MONKEY
The Self: WHO IS THAT CROWD IN THE MIRROR?
Coincidence: THE SOUND OF COSMIC LAUGHTER
The Future Foretold: WARPS AND ALL
Friendly Ghosts and Soulful Journeys: IN GOOD SPIRITS
Possession: THE DEVIL TO PAY
Reincarnation: SHADES OF THE PAST
Summation: THE NEW MYSTICISM
The Quest for the Fourth Monkey (originally published as The Book of Strange) was awarded a 1994 American Library Association Booklist Medal.
"Fraser's undeniable talent . . .is everywhere in evidence. Relax and prepare to enjoy a fantastic, sometimes astonishing tale, expertly told." - Quill & Quire
"An ambitious work in which Sylvia Fraser acts as a guide in the catacombs of the collective unconscious. In probing the world of the unseen, Fraser deftly explores the fallacies of a Western civilization blinkered by rationalism and the twin gods of science and technology." - Joe Fisher, author of Hungry Ghosts.
Sylvia Fraser is one of those people to whom mysterious events often happen - weird coincidences, glimpses into the future, apparent communication with the dead. In The Quest for the Fourth Monkey, Fraser not only shares these incidents but she also tries to understand them.
In each chapter, she deals with a "supernormal" topic, such as reincarnation or telepathy, by recounting her own experience, and then by searching for rational and scientific evidence to support the principles involved. Her research takes her into Western philosophy, Eastern mysticism, quantum and astro physics, biology, parapsychology and holistic medicine. Her range is astonishing. Historic figures such as Buddha, Hippocrates, William James and Carl Jung share the stage with today's physicists and Nobel laureates.
Along with her own provocative anecdotes, Fraser recounts the remarkable stories of others whose experiences took them into startling realms. Nor does she shy away from re-examining the evidence supporting persons whose stories have been mistreated by history. These include psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich who discovered an energy called "orgone" that he believed could be used to treat cancer by boosting the immune system; Edgar Cayce who, in a trance, could diagnose illnesses and prescribe treatments for people hundreds of miles away in languages he didn't know when conscious; Bridey Murpy, an eighteenth-century colleen who may - or may not - have reincarnated as a Colorado housewife. Then there are the identical twins, separated at birth, who coincidentally gave their dogs the same name, married and divorced women of the same name, married second wives of the same name, gave their first sons the same two names, had the same jobs, hobbies, likes and dislikes, even though they'd had no contact whatever until age thirty-nine.
In her process of self-discovery, Fraser not only invites us to share her journey, but she also challenges us to reexamine our own lives for the psychic and spiritual clues that we may have been missing. In so doing, we open a skylight to a Universe more wondrous and illuminating and exciting than we ever dared to imagine.
CONTENTS:
Telepathy: THE FAX OF NATURE
Psychic Power: HEALING THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN
Holistic Healing: IN SEARCH OF THE FOURTH MONKEY
The Self: WHO IS THAT CROWD IN THE MIRROR?
Coincidence: THE SOUND OF COSMIC LAUGHTER
The Future Foretold: WARPS AND ALL
Friendly Ghosts and Soulful Journeys: IN GOOD SPIRITS
Possession: THE DEVIL TO PAY
Reincarnation: SHADES OF THE PAST
Summation: THE NEW MYSTICISM
The Quest for the Fourth Monkey (originally published as The Book of Strange) was awarded a 1994 American Library Association Booklist Medal.
"Fraser's undeniable talent . . .is everywhere in evidence. Relax and prepare to enjoy a fantastic, sometimes astonishing tale, expertly told." - Quill & Quire
"An ambitious work in which Sylvia Fraser acts as a guide in the catacombs of the collective unconscious. In probing the world of the unseen, Fraser deftly explores the fallacies of a Western civilization blinkered by rationalism and the twin gods of science and technology." - Joe Fisher, author of Hungry Ghosts.
Used availability for Sylvia Fraser's The Quest for the Fourth Monkey