• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

James Randi dead at 92.

Made this today. RIP Randi...
 

Attachments

  • The Amazing Randi.jpg
    The Amazing Randi.jpg
    48.5 KB · Views: 10
Good morning. I didn't see a thread on this and perhaps I missed it. He was 92 and fought the good fight for critical thinking. He changed my life.

ETA If there is another thread , feel free to delete it move this post.
He earned the name "The Amazing" Randi.
 
Last edited:
It's been a couple of days. Any reports of a deathbed conversion yet?

Surely there must be a few mediums by now who have been in contact wanting to share Randi's new views about how sorry he is and now knows the truth of it all.

Well, it will be along eventually, I suspect.
 
Randi's work was a major influence in me becoming a skeptic. Back when I was in my late teens, I was interested in the supernatural, UFOs and things like telekinesis and related woo. I encountered a website affiliated with Randi (don't remember exact details), when I was looking to find what would convince those skeptical of the things I believed in.

To my surprise, I found that the evidence they wanted, with the clear standards, wasn't an unreasonable ask at all. And so I started to look for evidence that would qualify. I suffered (still suffer, but rarely) of the phenomena of awareness during sleep paralysis (ASP), and my researches revealed that the ASP state could be, with practice, used as a launching off point for OBE (Out of body experience).

AHA! There was the proof - so I first looked for OBE research, that would offer clear proof that a "soul" had left a body. Things like placing an item high up in a place where someone would have to climb up to see what it was to know what it was... or float up there while "out of body" to see what it was.

I found one account but "mysteriously" the subject who was able to pass that test had disappeared, and it could not be repeated. Furthermore I found the test woefully badly supervised.

Disappointed that I could not find any good evidence of anything leaving the body in an OBE, I engaged in a period of practicing to induce the experience in myself, which started with increasing my chances of experiencing awareness during sleep paralysis.

After weeks of trying, I succeeded, and managed to induce an OBE from the ASP state. Immediately after I was kicking myself because I hadn't prepared a test. I did prepare a test after that, having a friend place some item without me knowing what it was, in the back of a high shelf in my room.

After more trying, I managed to repeat my OBE, and floated up to look what was on the high shelf - I saw a low vase.

After the experience, I climbed up to see what was there; it was a pair of scissors. I was quite disappointed, but didn't try to make excuses, but concluded that even if it felt very real, the OBE was probably a hallucinatory experience, or a lucid dream.

A few experiments further confirmed that for me. That was a beginning of me questioning my previous beliefs critically, and soon becoming a philosophical naturalist, and a skeptic.

So Randi was one of the major sparks for me in making me who I am today.

I am grateful for his contribution, and his passion in spreading rationality. I'm just one of many people he influenced, around the world. His was truly a life well lived!
 
Much like the rest, I’ve been a big fan of Randi for many years. I forget which book I read first.... May have been “Flim-Flam”.
But I also read a couple of his lesser-known works, like “Masks of Nostradamus” and “The Faith-Healers”.
I enjoyed that PBS special he did when he toured the post-Soviet Russia, and found both psychic scam artists and extreme gullibility in abundance.
 
Ron Obvious said:
It's been a couple of days. Any reports of a deathbed conversion yet?

Surely there must be a few mediums by now who have been in contact wanting to share Randi's new views about how sorry he is and now knows the truth of it all.

Well, it will be along eventually, I suspect.
Click to expand...

If there are mediums on this forum I have not noticed. But since I know we do survive death I think you are right. James Randi is awake in his spirit body, and was shocked to find his skepticism was wrong. It does not matter because in the scheme of things he did well in life, and it is not given to everyone to discover the truth while they are still incarnate.
 
I was introduced to James Randi and his work via KGO 81 radio in San Francisco on the Jim Eason show back in 1985. That was back when I was deep in the Woo. Over time I came to respect him and his important work. Today his outlook is my default position on just about everything.

I owe him a lot.

I don't waste time, money, or brain cells on silly things. I try to get multiple sources on a subject before I make up my mind. I'm happy leaving mysteries unsolved instead of assigning paranormal explanations to them.
 
Scorpion said:
If there are mediums on this forum I have not noticed. But since I know we do survive death I think you are right. James Randi is awake in his spirit body, and was shocked to find his skepticism was wrong. It does not matter because in the scheme of things he did well in life, and it is not given to everyone to discover the truth while they are still incarnate.
Click to expand...

**** off. -Randi
 
Ron Obvious said:
It's been a couple of days. Any reports of a deathbed conversion yet?

Surely there must be a few mediums by now who have been in contact wanting to share Randi's new views about how sorry he is and now knows the truth of it all.

Well, it will be along eventually, I suspect.
Click to expand...

I gathered together some skeptics, spiritualists, and psychics to contact Randi in the afterlife. To much amazement, we made contact!

Randi's message from the beyond was: "Of course there is no afterlife or spirits. Stop being silly."
 
I did a quick search yesterday to see which papers and sites covered his death and I was astonished at the number and variety that covered it. I didn't think it would have been covered so much as he's not been active in the mainstream for decades. He obviously had a great impact on a lot of people well beyond the "skeptic world".
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom