Missed the boat

Here's a short article about Mary Hooper, who wrote a novel entitled Velvet. She set it in Victorian London during the "height of the spiritualist craze", and one of her characters is a medium. Like most writers would do, she researched mediumship. Based on the article, it looks like she spent most of her time with ectoplasm. She said that she "saw a selection of rather ludicrous photographs showing something which purported to be it, coming from a medium's nose or mouth." There are indeed a number of photographs out there that are purported to show ectoplasm, and I agree, many/most of them are not ectoplasm at all. Bad or fake photography does not prove that ectoplasm is fake. But it doesn't matter, really. To be honest, I don't think that ectoplasm is important at all. People get so obsessed with physical manifestations such as ectoplasm and the like. I think it's because they have faith in the tangible and "solid", something that they can show others, point to and say "see ... here it is!" I think displays of knowledge and intelligence, based on experience, are much more valuable and interesting. When a medium tells you something only you and the spirit person know of ... now that's interesting. When your loved ones in the spirit world give you a message that is unmistakably characteristic of their personality, and touches you in a profound way ... that's interesting. When you learn a life lesson from the spirit people, and grow because of it ... that's interesting too. Ectoplasm, orbs, and other physical manifestations may be "true" in some cases, but all of it pales in comparison to experience - that which touches the heart, the mind, the spirit! When you're looking for something in the wrong place, you won't find it. Even if you're looking for the right thing, when you're in the wrong place, you won't find it, because it's not there ... it's the wrongplace. The last line of the article is particularly sad. She missed the boat. It sailed away and she never even knew it was there, because she was looking in the wrong place.