Saturday, August 17, 2013

audio conversation with Suzanne Gordon, Ph.D.

I stumbled on Suzanne Gordon through an interview she did on Mysterious Universe. She spoke about her research into the Near Death Experience (NDE) something she had experienced herself.

During the interview she listed off some things reported as after effect of their NDE. Everything on this checklist closely matched what is being reported by people who claim UFO abductions, enough so that I realized I needed to talk with her. I listened a second time and made a list:
~ sense of renewed life purpose
~ changes in religious ideas
~ a sense of mission in life
~ life direction shifts, priority shifts
~ awareness of planetary issues
~ shift in attitudes and feeling accountable for the planet
~ psychic experiences
~ paranormal experiences
~ weird synchronicities
~ difficulties
She even described these folks as suffering from the trauma of enlightenment, that was something that really hit home for me.

 one-click audio download HERE 
[ two options for listening ]



The audio posted here wasn’t meant to be a public podcast, it was just our initial hello after exchanging a few emails. By the end of two hours we both realized that we had achieved something really powerful. I am amazed at how deep we managed to dig during our conversation and I am so glad I recorded it.

During our conversation she uses an acronym I had never heard before, but I like a lot. She referred to STEs (Spiritually Transformative Experiences).

Here’s a quote from Suzanne that sums up the tenor of our conversation:
My real interest is consciousness and culture, but what the hell is goin’ on here?
Suzanne's interview on Mysterious Universe linked HERE. And, another excellent interview on Skeptiko linked HERE.

Suzanne references a lot of articles and essays and they come rapid fire. Here are a few, but not all of ‘em. This link is to an article abstract on the Political Theory journal site titled Sovereignty and the UFO. Here's a Huffington Post article on UFO research.

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Bio for Suzanne Gordon, Ph.D.
Dr. Gordon's research is the first near-death-studies project to use the ethnographic method, and a health-education and culture-studies framework, to situate near-death experience (NDE) survivors as the insider-experts on the first-hand experience of dying. Her research was supported by research grants from the University of Maryland and the International Association of Near-Death Studies; and it was recognized with an international graduate research award for cross-cultural scholarship in death and dying by the Association for Death Education and Counseling. She is a founding member of the Board of Directors of the American Center for the Integration of Spiritually Transformative Experiences (ACISTE), and a founding member of the National Women's Studies Association's International Task Force on Women's Spiritualities.  She is a lecturer in the Departments of Communication and American Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park.
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9 comments:

Tim Brosnan said...

Excellent interview, Mike! I'd never heard of Suzanne Gordon, so thank you for introducing her!

Red Pill Junkie said...

Alas, the MU podcast is no longer freely available. Ben & Aaron's prerogative.

But, once again a superb conversation Mike, with lots of juicy content.

This concept of the trauma of enlightenment is fascinating, which should encourage us to review our current understanding of depression.

Which prompts me to ask you: did your 1st episode of depression occur before or after your experience of observing the 'flying coffee can'?

Also, the way you discuss your current state of physical isolation, living all alone by yourself in a little wooden cabin, reminds me of the path of the hermit who one day goes to the desert to live inside a cave. All my life I thought this was a very selfish thing to do, to renounce social life & seek your own salvation when Christianity should be about giving yourself to others.

But now, listening to you makes me wonder whether the hermit has any real choice in the matter. Does he DELIBERATELY decides to go to the desert, or is he drawn to the desert by an external force?

Mike Clelland! said...

reply to RPJ:

The first unmistakable feelings of clinical depression happened while I was in Jr, High School, in 7th or 8th grade, I can't know for sure. I remember thinking I had some sort of stomach disease because I was so tense.

The coffee can sighting happened sometime in 1974 when I was in 7th grade, the Orange flash and missing time was right around that same time, probably a little bit after.

So, all these events happened during junior high school, no real way for me to remember what came first. But the closeness in time is telling.

-

The isolation (of myself) happened slowly, almost with out me even realizing it. This seems to go hand in hand with depression.

Mike C

Anonymous said...

Great energy & information here.

I really like your interviewing style Mike, most enjoyable.

Lucretia Heart said...

I'm going to comment now, and then again after listening to the interview. I am wondering-- what about people who have had BOTH alien abduction AND a NDE? I have. Posts in relation to that HERE:

Commentary about my own near death experience-- http://lucretiasheart.livejournal.com/951219.html

Commentary over peak experience that involved "the other side"--
http://lucretiasheart.livejournal.com/930686.html

Finding photos of myself in a past life--
http://lucretiasheart.livejournal.com/918541.html

Another flashback of a past life death scene--
http://lucretiasheart.livejournal.com/824371.html

Oddly, I don't think I've yet written about the actual Near Death experience itself. I don't know why... I'll have to remedy that someday soon.

Lucretia Heart said...

I'm fascinated to compare and contrast E.T. experiences with N.D.E. experiences, by the way. This is SO interesting, so thank you for bringing this up and posting this interview!

Oh! And shamanic awakening as well! I've also been looking into this aspect for obvious reasons...

In regards to the craft that don't seem to act entirely material-- wow. Yeah. I've said it before and I'll say it again... they tear holes in our reality and leave behind a 'thinned veil.' I also suspect they can use force fields of sorts to diminish their physical effect upon reality as well. (Why a craft can take off at high speeds and NOT create a sonic boom for instance.)

About the shamanic experience she discussed with the "data download"-- so familiar! That the "reality perception gatekeepers" are corporate and political interests I just have to say HELL YEAH to-- because how ELSE do you get people to think that "he who dies with the most toys wins" and status should be based on STUFF!?

What's interesting to those of us who are aware of other realities (rather than the question of whether there are other realities) -- how did it affect your life? Keel, to my knowledge, was the first cross-over researcher who noticed things like poltergeists after UFO sightings. But the WHY behind that is what drives me, totally...

Lucretia Heart said...

It took having multiple alien-related experiences as well as multiple spiritual experiences to begin to compare/contrast with any kind of confidence. I will say now however that my NDE and my abductions WERE different, especially in regards to the "other beings" with me in both. Grays can be so mercenary and pragmatic, whereas the light beings (whatever they are-- guides? angels?) were beings of compassion. Stark differences there. One of many. Yet I've noticed both experiences seem to SPAWN other oddities and 'bleed-through' reality-bending phenomena.

The connection between deep clinical depression and abduction events is also something I've noticed. (Including, obviously, 2006-- though I am still not sure what all triggered that and keep changing my mind.) I can't help but wonder WHAT exactly could be the trigger for something that comes on and lingers for months? Just being taken doesn't do it to me, because I've been taken plenty of times without depression resulting. But maybe sometimes something particular happens, or information of a certain type is imparted, and whatever it is disturbs us on a level so deep that we react to it, even though we have no conscious memory of what it was. That's my suspicion.

The culture shock and counter shock thing..? YES! Like I said in my first comment above (first link) I often feel like I'll disappoint people when or if I share my own NDE because though I understand many things from it, having to then come back HERE (physical plane Earth) is so awful in so many ways. I want to be able to say I came back with love and joy-- but its more like I was shown immense love and joy (and RELIEF at not being alive anymore) and so coming back the contrast was so stark it just hurt and keeps hurting. How mean, selfish, and materialistic people are-- and it was really hard to reconcile that and live in peace afterwards. I got depressed for the first time AFTER my NDE (on and off for nearly 5 years) as a teenager.

Needless to say, I'm glad that Suzanne brought this aspect up, because I haven't heard as much in the NDE literature about the DEPRESSION after NDEs. Everyone wants to talk about how wonderful it is "over there"-- no one talks about how hard it is to know that and yet stay here. In a body (especially one that doesn't work very well if you're ill). Surrounded on all sides by needless cruelty. I have had MASSIVE issues ever since my NDE with these things. SO good to hear this and know I'm not alone!

John said...

Interesting thread here. After my NDE in 2005, I loathed being back here in this cumbersome meat sack. It's like trying to play soccer in a old Mark V dive suit. In 2011, I met Dr. Raymond Moody and told him a bit of my experience and he referred me to Dr. Gordon and I am so glad he did.

My volunteer work with ACISTE began in July 2012 and I had over 100 accounts / questionaires from those who were interested in ACISTE. I was stunned to see the nature of the "re-entry turbulence" and how it had manifested in my life. This simple act of validation spurred me on to change my job, marital status, and my state of residence. I was booting up Me 2.0.

I am going to DC the 1st weekend in October to ACISTE's Annual conference to meet some of these researchers, "experiencers" and by Monday, I hope to be certified in being a spiritual guidance counselor for ACISTE.

The largest experiencer request, by far, was to have someone to talk to who had been through the same experience. Sounds familiar to anyone who has been involved with veteran affairs, PTSD, rape victims and UFO abductees.

I have other tools in my tool box (reiki, OBEs) and I suspect that disclosure, not Disclosure with the capital D, could be happening here. It would be interesting if those who have been physically abducted were still thinking the mind and the brain are the same thing. Conversely, how many STEs happen to those who have grasped that consciousness is just sharing the ride with the body. YouTube search MelodySheep and The Big Electron for a better explanation.

~ John said...

PS Mike, my long ghost story follows your podcast on MU. I'm curious if you know of anyone who does astral projection into haunted places to communicate with the spirit energy? I got the idea from both Swedeborg and Tesla biographies.

I am thoroughly enjoying your website and appreciate your willingness to share your thoughts. I'm not quite there yet.