Almost forgot. I also did a review of his book, Reaching to Heaven for the State Journal-Register back in 1999, a little while after it came out. Here it is, copyright 1999 and all that:
James Van Praagh hit the big time, not to mention the best-seller lists, following his book, “Talking to Heaven.” His new book, “Reaching to Heaven” (Dutton, $22.95) aims to follow up with more of what his fans are apparently looking for.
And if those fans are looking for more New Age/spiritual mumbo jumbo than they can already get from daytime TV talk shows, this is the book for it. Van Praagh gives mention to almost everything—past lives, angels, auras, karma, chakras, alternative medicine, and astrology; he even approvingly mentions discredited claims like animal magnetism (as “discovered” by Franz Anton Mesmer) and Kirlian photography.
Admittedly, his message is hard to argue against. He says he wants to uplift the reader’s heart and give comfort and support. He discusses how people can guide their children and better live their lives by nurturing self-esteem, teaching and practicing self-respect and responsibility, being more patient, and bringing joy and love into our lives. Certainly these are all things people should strive for.
Also, the tale he brings is a reassuring one. Who doesn’t want to hear that we all live forever and that all our dreams will eventually come true? Most people already hold some version of this belief through their religion. But Van Praagh goes beyond most Western religions. If we make mistakes in this life, he says we can correct them in our next life, and we continue to do so until we reach a higher plane of spiritual awareness.
This is the heart of the message he preaches—and also the way he became famous, by supposedly talking to dead people and passing on their thoughts to those wanting to contact them.
Here is where the message gets muddied up with the method. Van Praagh describes a number of his readings or seances in the book. In every case, he always hit it on the nose, getting names, places, and incidents absolutely correct. Reality, though, may be somewhat different.
For example, when Van Praagh appeared on “20/20” last year, Michael Shermer, of the Skeptics Society, explained that Van Praagh appears to use a magician’s tool known as “cold reading” much of the time. As with other “psychics,” the participants tend to remember only the “hits” and forgive the “misses.”
In one case, “20/20” showed how Van Praagh had to do quite a bit of fishing before determining how an older couple’s son had died. In another, they caught him in a sticky situation when he thought the cameras were off. He claimed he had not asked a woman who she wanted to talk to, but the tape showed him asking that very question. After the break, he seemed to get a direct hit when he told the woman that her grandmother was there with her.
The reader won’t find that episode here. In fact, some of his discussions appear to give possible excuses should he fail to be accurate. For example, he says that he can often tell when somebody is a healer. But then he gives himself a huge target by noting that a healer can be anybody who is empathetic and helps others—not just doctors or nurses. He also claims that as some souls gain in spirituality, they progress to such a high level of being that it is difficult to get details from them during a séance. Thus, he has a built-in excuse if he should be unable to do a good reading for somebody.
But Van Praagh doesn’t like this type of analysis. At several points, he talks about how people need to avoid being rational. The incidents he discusses involving skeptics always end up having the (now former) skeptic turning into a true believer. One breaks down in tears during a reading while another comes back from the dead to apologize for not believing.
The reader may not be surprised by his opposition to rational analysis. For example, Van Praagh claims that spirits have told him Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) occurs because the souls inhabiting those babies’ bodies found life too difficult. It is therefore rather strange that SIDS has decreased so much in recent years, apparently due to people putting babies to sleep on their backs instead of their stomachs. If Van Praagh’s spirits were correct, such a change should have absolutely no effect on SIDS.
Additional analysis of Van Praagh’s claims turn up what appears to be a dark side to his otherwise spiritual message. He says that, in effect, we reap what we sow. If we harbor thoughts about illness, illness will come; if we think positively, we will be “reap harmony and abundance.” This seems to put the blame for disease on the person who is suffering from it. Thus, if you have cancer, it’s because you were harboring bad thoughts. He, of course, emphasizes the idea of having only good thoughts, but how would this make a person feel if they tried to live the best life they could and still fell prey to disease?
Van Praagh wants his readers to suspend the rational mind. But at the same time, his conclusion tells that same reader to “Seek truth even when many attempt to fill your head and your heart with falsehoods.” Any reader seeking the truth in “Reaching to Heaven” is unlikely to find it.
