Summary: Two teachers of A Course in Miracles have differing views on the validity of channeled wisdom. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Gary Renard, author of, The Disappearance of the Universe, and Robert Perry, author of Signs: A New Approach to Coincidence, Synchronicity, Guidance, Life Purpose, and God’s Plan. During the interview Mr. Tsakiris and Gary Renard discuss verification of his work: Alex Tsakiris: One of the points in your book where I really had to stop and go — wait a minute — is when you say that you had these two beings, “ascended masters” show up in your living room. Amazing, amazing. But not unique in that other people have claimed similar kinds of things. So I’m not willing to dismiss that out-of-hand, but Gary, they showed up 17 times… you don’t have a photograph? You don’t have videotape? You don’t have any kind of record of this? Gary Renard: Well actually, they’re still showing up today. We’re going to do a fourth book together. They do show up and they said that for me to try to prove that they existed would be entirely missing the point. Yes, I could take pictures of them but what would prove, Alex, that those weren’t two actors in the pictures? If I recorded them, what would prove that those weren’t two actors speaking on the tape? Gary Renard’s website Robert Perry’s website Play it: Download MP3 (41:00 min.) Read it: Welcome to Skeptiko, where we explore controversial science with leading researchers, thinkers, and their critics. I’m your host, Alex Tsakiris. On this episode, I’m going to tell you why I’m a skeptic. You know, this show’s been pretty critical of the skeptical community and the skeptical position on a lot of topics, but lost in all of that sometimes can be the fact that I really am a skeptic in a lot of ways. From that position I do understand, I think, why folks are skeptical. This show is going to give you all the reasons you need to understand why people become skeptical and why people even cross over a little bit and become dogmatically skeptical. I hope to also get at a larger, deeper question that’s really been rattling around in my head for a while and that’s that if we accept the science that’s been presented on this show, psi science, near-death experience science, parapsychology science-the best of it-that really leads us to understand that our world is quite a bit different than we normally experience it. That consciousness does seem to survive death. That things like telepathy and interconnectedness are real. Well, if we accept all that then how do we deal with all these very strange accounts we have and how do we adjust our filter to let some of it in but keep some of it out? And that’s going to lead us to Gary Renard, my first interview today, who’s the author of several best-selling books based upon A Course in Miracles. Then we’re going to have a follow-up interview and even more interesting interview with Robert Perry, who’s quite an interesting guy, and who has written some very interesting books but is also approaching things from this A Course in Miracles perspective. I think you’re going to find it very interesting to see how all of this plays out. Here’s my interview with Gary Renard: Alex Tsakiris: Today we welcome Gary Renard, whose best-selling books document his spiritual experiences with two ascended masters who, as we discover, appear to him in physical form to tell him the true meaning of Jesus’s teachings and that you, Gary, in a previous life, walked with Jesus as the Apostle Thomas. Gary, thanks so much for joining me today on Skeptiko. Gary Renard: Thank you, Alex. Alex Tsakiris: I want to go back and say I wasn’t quite sure how to handle that introduction. You know, of course, that’s going to be jarring to a lot of folks, especially my li[...]
