Soul Shift: Finding Where the Dead Go - Spiritual Journey Book for Afterlife Exploration | Perfect for Meditation, Grief Healing & Paranormal Research

My background contains years of reading books about the afterlife, mediums, reincarnation, psychic abilities, and other woo-woo stuff that I tend to believe overall, but take with a grain of salt. (Not sure how reliable the evidence, or how often these phenomena occur.) Personal experience has shown me that people will believe all kinds of craziness simply because it makes them feel better, and they rarely put much effort into figuring out why they choose to be brainwashed by cultural, fundamentalist, or New Age "facts". To compound the problem, there's no shortage of people who take advantage of human gullibility to make money. So...I expected to read another book of interesting possibilities about what happens on the "other side", but didn't expect to find a story I could put my faith in. Maybe I'd agree with 90% of what the author had to say if I was lucky. After finishing this book, it feels like a weight has been rolled off my back. It was great to find an author who explores the nature of consciousness without making me want to interrupt his pontificating every fifteen minutes with an alternate viewpoint or commonly recognized fact. (Dean Radin is the only one I can think of offhand who didn't frequently bring out my doubting side. I enjoy listening to people like Wayne Dyer, but I sometimes wish he would drink poison to illustrate how it's not what we put in our bodies so much as what we think about the whole situation.)Anyhow, I'd just about lost faith in mediumship after seeing and reading about the materialistic values and "slight of hand" actions of Edwards, Van Praagh, and others. (I'm really disgusted at some of the things they and their employees do to make themselves more "successful", but I'm going to avoid that side topic.) I wasn't having confidence that "inner knowing" or psychic ability could tell us a whole lot, either. I figured the best we could hope for there was a few good hints at reality. Reading about Mark's father Dr. Richard Ireland, and seeing the YouTube videos changed my mind. I'm happy to say my faith in the "sixth sense" has been rekindled after reading Soul Shift.However, I feel like I have to point out this was not a real "page turner" for me like it was for some. I've already read many accounts of mediums talking to those who have passed on. I can't say that was anythig new. What was new is Mark Ireland's unique personal experience, and how that lead him to talk about, study, and question so many aspects of spiritual "knowing".If I had one complaint about the book, it would be the subtitle, Finding Where the Dead Go. (Seeking connection is the main topic, IMO.) At least 75% of the book is devoted to helping the reader understand Mark's background (which is necessary to the purpose of the book) and what he went through trying to validate that his son's consciousness survives and is able to communicate with those in the flesh. I sometimes had to force myself to read all the details there, because I already believe in afterlife communication (I'm just not sure how accurate it is most of the time, or how long the personality survives.) I'm hoping in his next book he's able to spend more time questioning exactly "where" it is the "dead" are at, and what life is like for them on the other side. But, as he says, it may be about impossible for those who have passed on to communicate an experience occuring in dimensions we can only dimly imagine.The last two chapters were the most interesting to me, and I found myself reading, rereading, and underlining MANY points that validated my own sense of truth. I especially appreciated how well Mark put ideas into words and incorporated an assortment of short ancedotes and references to back up his speculations. I mentally breathed a sigh of relief at how he wasn't going to go off in an "indulgent tangent" on quantum physics. Yeah, I think quantum physics could explain much of what is "paranormal" and "miraculous", but I'm tired of New Age wishful thinkers taking bits and pieces of the theory, physicist's words out of context, and proclaiming scientific fact proves their point. Mark Ireland talks about how modern scientific theories and facts broaden his understanding of spiritual leaders and their truths. (Personally, I think just because our physical world is actually 99% "space", and all energy at the smallest level, doesn't mean it is "illusory". But that's a minor difference of opinion.) I loved many of the Buddhist metaphors, but I have to admit, I was glad to know Mark Ireland's experience is predominately from a Christian culture that I can relate to. I would love to know more about how Richard Ireland became a minister and convinced of some of his beliefs. It's not that I doubt what Mark quoted from his father near the end of the book, just that I have a LOT of questions.Although I realize part of Mark's gift as a "wounded healer" is to help others with their grief, I'm really hoping his next book deals less with Brandon's death and more with the exact nature of the afterlife...although I admit I have no idea how he or anybody else would really know. Regardless, I enjoy his down-to-earth style of writing, his open-minded questioning, and look forward to learning updates of his spiritual discoveries.