Robert Priddy vs Richard Dawkins

ROBERT PRIDDY VS RICHARD DAWKINS

Robert Priddy & Psychic Trance Medium Conny Larsson
Robert Priddy (a caustic critic and defamer of Sathya Sai Baba who once hailed the Guru as God Incarnate and thereby the Father who sent Jesus, Allah who sent Muhammad and the Creator of the Universe) is now being advertised on self-professed prophet & psychic medium Conny Larsson’s New Age Cult website Heart & Soul Expo.

Conny Larsson was one of the primary founding members to the Anti-Sai Movement who quickly began peddling himself as an internationally renowned trance medium, self-proclaimed Prophet & psychic healer just after he defected from the Sai Movement. Besides Conny Larsson’s vedicmasterclass.org and saibabaexpose.com domains, Conny Larsson is one of two “International Coordinators” (the other being Judith Bourque) for the psychic and New Age domain Heart & Soul Expo. The Heart & Soul Expo website solicits the following areas of expertise:

Heart & Soul Expo: Inspirational speakers plus: Acupressure, Angel therapy, Aura photography, Breath Work, Clairvoyance, Crystal Healing, Crystal Bowl Therapy, Diana Cooper School of Angel Healing, Energy Biofeedback Therapy, Environmental issues, Esoteric teachings, Feldenkreis therapy, Indian Head Massage Practitioner, Life Counsellor, Meditation, Oriental Dance Teachers, Pranic Healing, Psychic Medium, Reflexology, Reiki Practitioners / Masters, Shamanism, Tai Chi, Vedic Meditation Master, Yoga Teachers. Company products such as organic herbs, natural products, crystals, gemstones and gemstone jewellery, angels, fairies, Buddha’s. meditation CDs, incense and essential oils, meditation scarves and books. (Ref)

Although Robert Priddy continually attempts to con the general public into thinking he is entirely given to scientific reasoning, he is actually a true believer and a fierce defender, promoter, endorser, solicitor and friend to various self-professed psychics, trance mediums, reiki healers, guru wannabees, superstitionists, eccentric spiritualists, astrologers (including his own son, Kai Nicolai Priddy, who is heavily into astrology and is the webmaster for abacusastrology.co.uk) and other “lunatic fringe” Baba bashers.

ROUND ONE: Priddy vs Dawkins
Richard Dawkins wins with a knock-out punch to Robert Priddy’s pseudo-intellectual head. Robert Priddy’s adamant refusal to say one word against psychic medium Conny Larsson (although he trashed and bashed other psychics, mediums and channelers as “absurd charlatans”) thoroughly compromises his pseudo-skeptical rants.

Robert Priddy Hypocritically Cited Richard Dawkins
Robert Priddy (who can often be seen siding with and citing skeptics, atheists and rationalists against Sathya Sai Baba) wrote a hypocritical and deceitful article entitled “Sathya Sai Baba vs Richard Dawkins” and said (in part):

Robert Priddy: Richard Dawkins has some pertinent comments on how ‘personal religious experiences’ come about which the ‘blind believer’ should learn:-

“The human brain runs first-class simulation software. Our eyes don’t present to our brains a faithful photograph of what is out there, or an accurate movie of what is going on through time. Our brains construct a continuously updated model” and...

“Constructing models is something the human brain is very good at. When we are asleep it is called dreaming; when we are awake we call it imagination or, when it is exceptionally vivid, hallucination. As Chapter 10 will show, children who have ‘imaginary friends’ sometimes see them clearly, exactly as if they were real. If we are gullible, we don’t recognize hallucin­ation or lucid dreaming for what it is and we claim to have seen or heard a ghost; or an angel; or God; or – especially if we happen to be young, female and Catholic – the Virgin Mary. Such visions and manifestations are certainly not good grounds for believing that ghosts or angels, gods or virgins, are actually there.On the face of it mass visions, such as the report that seventy thousand pilgrims at Fatima in Portugal in 1917 saw the sun tear itself from the heavens and come crashing down upon the multitude, are harder to write off. It is not easy to explain how seventy thousand people could share the same hallucination. But it is even harder to accept that it really happened without the rest of the world, outside Fatima, seeing it too – and not just seeing it, but feeling it as the catastrophic destruction of the solar system, including acceleration forces sufficient to hurl everybody into space.” From ‘The God Delusion’ by Richard Dawkins, p. 115.

Richard Dawkins FRS, FRSL (born 26 March 1941) is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and popular science author. He was formerly Professor for Public Understanding of Science at Oxford and was a fellow of New College, Oxford. Dawkins is an atheist, secular humanist, sceptic, scientific rationalist, and supporter of the Brights movement. He has widely been referred to in the media as “Darwin’s Rottweiler”, by analogy with English biologist T. H. Huxley, who was known as “Darwin’s Bulldog” for his advocacy of Charles Darwin’s evolutionary ideas. In his 2006 book The God Delusion, Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that faith qualifies as a delusion − as a fixed false belief. According to Dawkins, faith − belief that is not based on evidence − is one of the world’s great evils (Ref). Richard Dawkins is also a fierce critic of New Age alternative therapies, psychics, mediums, channelers, faith healers, angel therapists, aura photographers, astrologers, tarot card readers, homeopathists and water diviners.

The following excerpts were taken from an article published on the Times Online website entitled “Richard Dawkins And The New Age Fakers”:

This time, in The Enemies of Reason, he takes on the wider penumbra of the paranormal, New Age mystical mumbo-jumbo, and the often expensive spiritual services that bring succour to the sucker. His targets include astrologers, psychics, dowsers, homoeopaths and a woman called Elisis Livingstone who claims that in our Atlantean past we all had 12 strands of DNA rather than two...Much of the material may seem familiar to interested sceptics: the practice of cold-reading, whereby “psychics” pick up cues from their audience’s reactions to a scattering of vague words and phrases and use them to make people imagine they have been told something that relates specifically to them. Or the fact that homoeopathic remedies are claimed to work despite containing not a single molecule of the supposed active ingredient. The programmes feature a series of confrontations with assorted paranormal professionals who are asked to explain the basis behind their belief and whether it has ever been scientifically tested...So how many of these practitioners are crooks? “The psychics, I think, mostly are,” he says. “But with one spiritualist I couldn’t make out if he was a charlatan or not. It’s possible that they sort of know that they’re cold-reading, but they still think it’s the spirits channelling through them.” (Reference)

The following excerpts were taken from an article entitled “New Age Therapies Cause ‘Retreat From Reason’” and were originally published in the Sunday Telegraph UK on August 8th 2007:

Known as “Darwin’s rottweiler“, Prof Richard Dawkins caused a furore with a stinging attack on religion. Now the evolutionary biologist has turned his wrath on “new age” alternative therapies, describing them as based on “irrational superstition”. Prof Dawkins says that alternative remedies constitute little more than a “money-spinning, multi-million pound industry that impoverishes our culture and throws up new age gurus who exhort us to run away from reality.” The 66-year-old scientist has investigated a range of gurus and therapists, including faith healers, psychic mediums, angel therapists, “aura photographers”, astrologers, Tarot card readers and water diviners, and concluded that Britain is gripped by “an epidemic of superstitious thinking”....He laments the fact that half the population claims to believe in paranormal phenomena and more than eight million have consulted psychic mediums, while the number of students sitting physics A-level has fallen 50 per cent and chemistry by more than a third in the past 25 years....The professor reserves some of his most scathing criticism for homeopathy, used by 500 million people worldwide, and which, in the UK, benefits from taxpayers’ money even though it requires no qualifications.

Richard Dawkins has authored the following books:

1. “The Greatest Show On Earth : The Evidence For Evolution” by Richard Dawkins (To be released in September 2009)


2. “The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing ” by Richard Dawkins; Published by Oxford University Press 2008


3. “The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins; Published by Houghton Mifflin 2006


4. “The Selfish Gene” by Richard Dawkins; Published by Oxford University Press 2006


5. “The Ancestor's Tale : A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Life” by Richard Dawkins; Published by Mariner Books 2005


6. “A Devil’s Chaplain : Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science, and Love” by Richard Dawkins; Published by Mariner Books 2004


7. “Unweaving the Rainbow : Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder” by Richard Dawkins; Published by Mariner Books 2000


8. “The Extended Phenotype : The long reach of the gene” by Richard Dawkins; Published by Oxford University Press 1999


9. “Climbing Mount Improbable ” by Richard Dawkins; Published by W.W. Norton & Company 1997


10. “The Blind Watchmaker : Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design” by Richard Dawkins; Published by W.W. Norton 1996


11. “River Out of Eden : A Darwinian View of Life” by Richard Dawkins; Published by HarperCollins Publishers 1996

Despite his hypocritical citations to Richard Dawkins, Robert Priddy openly promotes, endorses and/or professes friendship with:

1. Trance Channeler & Self-Proclaimed Prophet Conny Larsson


2. Guru Promoter, UFO Conspiracist & True Believer PhD Timothy Conway


3. New Age Advocate & Reincarnator Alan Kazlev


4. Self-Proclaimed Spiritual Master ‘Ramana Baba’


5. Ramtha Devotee Ullrich Zimmermann


6. Fetishist & Hare Krsna Congregational Member Sanjay Dadlani


7. Reiki Master And Spiritual Healer Yaman Konuralp

As a matter of fact, when Robert Priddy attempts to defend himself against Joe Moreno (a Pro-Sai Activist) he directs his readers to either:

1. Psychic Trance Medium Conny Larsson’s website (located at saibabaexpose.com)


2. Reincarnator, New Age Advocate and Grungy Integral Philosopher Alan Kazlev’s website (located at kheper.net)

How’s that for “scientific” or “rational”? Robert Priddy is obviously a very gullible and naive “true believer” who is willing to give credence to non-scientific beliefs by claiming that trance mediums, self-proclaimed prophets, aura readers, séance conductors, New Age advocates, guru adherents, self-proclaimed reincarnators, New Age believers and the like are intelligent, honest, credible and reliable individuals worthy of being referenced by him (a so-called “scholar” and “academic” not given to lunatic fringe or superstitious beliefs)! To Date: Robert Priddy adamantly refuses to say one word about his promotion and endorsement of these “lunatic fringe” (Priddy's favorite slur) individuals.

Apparently, Robert Priddy didn’t read Richard Dawkins “pertinent comments on how personal religious experiences come about which the blind believer should learn”. By citing Richard Dawkins against “blind believers”, Robert Priddy effectively invalidates the credibility, integrity and honesty of Conny Larsson (an alleged meditation guru, mantra acharya, trance medium, yoga instructor, pet psychic, Vedic Master, psychic healer & self-proclaimed prophet), Alan Kazlev (a grungy integral philosopher, reincarnator, New Age advocate and an alleged alien exiled to Earth to save the planet), Phd Timothy Conway (a true believer in New Age beliefs & practices, a solicitor of psychics and oracles, a UFO advocate and an author promoting numerous Gurus and Eastern philosophies), Sanjay Dadlani (a Hare Krishna congregational member who advocates for the literal and historical accuracy of the miracles described in Hindu scriptures), Tony O’Clery (a self-professed psychic, demon trance channeler and promoter of shape-shifters), Paul Eno (a self-professed psychic, intuitive, past life reader, Angel advocate and afterlife preparer), Kai Nicolai Priddy (Robert Priddy’s son who is heavily involved with astrology and is the webmaster for abacusastrology.co.uk), Ullrich Zimmermann (a Ramtha adherent who believes in a 36,000 year old entity as channeled through the alleged psychic medium JZ Knight), David J. Lyons (a member of IONS and a believer in Edgar Cayce), Julian O’Donnell (a self-professed psychic with alleged vast powers to combat the forces of evil), Kyra Kitts (a self-professed psychic and channeler), Dhyani Jo Sinclair (a New Age advocate and promoter of pyramid power), Alexandra Nagel (a believer in psychic medium Jane Roberts and psychic Wolf Messing), Barbara Dent (a fanatic Christian, a self-professed visionary, an alleged channeler of Mother Mary, a past life reviewer and astral traveler with the alleged power to make men impotent), Dilip Rajeev (a homeopathist, Bach flower therapy practitioner, fanatic promoter of the Falung Dafa cult and a creationist highly critical of science and the fossil record), Rin Meddo (a clearly schizophrenic and mentally unstable defamer of Sathya Sai Baba who claims possession), among numerous other “lunatic fringe” individuals belonging to the Anti-Baba movement (Ref).

ROUND TWO: Priddy vs Dawkins
Richard Dawkins wins with an incapacitating jab to Robert Priddy’s yellow-belly. Robert Priddy’s intimate association with various self-professed psychics and New Age adherents undermines his so-called scientific temper.

Robert Priddy And True Believer Helen Fields
On Trance Medium Conny Larsson’s psychic website (Heart & Soul Expo), Helen Fields (a reflexologist, reiki practitioner and Angel advocate) published various articles from Robert Priddy’s book “Beyond Science”, which is critical of the scientific method. As a matter of fact, Psychic Conny Larsson (under whose direct supervision the Heart & Expo website operates) apparently obtained Robert Priddy’s permission to publish his articles (as Priddy constantly whines about his “copyrights”) and apparently directed Helen Fields to publish Robert Priddy’s articles on his psychic domain because he is attempting to use Priddy’s articles as a prop, defense and alternative philosophical explanation for the purported claims made by psychics, mediums, trance channelers, angel/spirit guides, etc.!


Some priceless gems from pseudo-scientist and pseudo-rationalist Robert Priddy (one wonders what Richard Dawkins would think):

Robert Priddy: Having said all this, nonetheless, one must admit that there is no method by which the possibility of genuine divine revelation can be disproved, even though some sources can be largely discredited on sound research grounds. By carefully considering some of the content of many scriptures, one can well understand how the sublimity of conception and the resonance of ideas convince millions of their truth and their value as precepts, these convictions usually increasing with personal maturity. (“Revealed Truth”; Ref: Beyond Science (Without A Disclaimer As Of June 2009), by Robert Priddy)

Robert Priddy: We cannot perhaps be convinced that we are essentially nothing but truth, consciousness and bliss until, on some occasion at least, we experience it directly as such. The problem of truth is only fully resolved in Being. Meanwhile, faith of the kind rooted in experience inspires the understanding to move the spirit beyond the constraints of worldly attachments towards realisation. Through Vedanta we learn that only self-revealed truth, or of some aspect thereof, is universal. What is often called perennial or higher philosophy teaches that truth is to be found in the unsullied divinity shining through from deep within every being and each event. (“Transcendental Inexpressible Truth”; Ref: Beyond Science (Without A Disclaimer As Of June 2009), by Robert Priddy)

Robert Priddy: One also speaks of ‘intuitions’ that come ‘as a sixth sense’ and purport to reveal states of affairs that are hidden to normal perception. These cannot safely be ignored by truth-seekers, for some such intuitions have proven extremely accurate, as can be demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt from many of the countless recorded instances from all around the world throughout history. One cannot even discount all prophetic inspiration, nor any kind of ‘message’ from such supposed sources of information as trance and mediumism may contact, like disembodied minds or higher astral beings. (“Truth And Intuition”; Ref: Beyond Science (Without A Disclaimer As Of June 2009), by Robert Priddy)

On the Heart & Soul Expo domain, Helen Fields page states:

“Helen Fields is a Member of the Association of Reflexologists (MAR). She qualified as a Reflexologist in 1990 and have developed her skills alongside a career in nursing and health care education. Helen uses Reflexology as the starting point and then draws on her work with personal development coaching, NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), Reiki, Angels and EFT (Emotional Freedom Therapy).” (Ref)

On the Vedic Master Class domain, Helen Fields is listed under “courses” and “teachers” (Refs: 01 - 02) and her profile states:

Helen Fields, England/Cyprus - Registered nurse and healthcare educator. Reflexologist since 1990. Works holistically as a therapist, using Reflexology as a starting point and then drawing from training in NLP, EFT, Reiki, Spiritual Response Therapy and angels. Helen enables clients to become the best of who they are, allowing their bodies to remember wellness. At the Masters Class she presented reflexology along with some techniques for self treatment.

Of course, the big questions are:

1. Why is Helen Fields publishing Robert Priddy’s articles when he cited Richard Dawkins as a credible voice against superstition, New Age beliefs, reiki practitioners, gurus, true believers, blind believers, angel promoters and the “lunatic fringe” seen in cults, ashrams and new religious movements?


2. Why hasn’t Robert Priddy said one word against psychic medium Conny Larsson although he cited Richard Dawkins as a credible voice against psychics, mediums and channelers?


3. Why is Robert Priddy allowing Conny Larsson and Helen Fields to publish his anti-science rants on a psychic website when he is a fierce advocate for Richard Dawkins, Basava Premanand and other skeptics, atheists and rationalists who constantly belittle, ridicule and challenge people who claim paranormal abilities?


4. Why is Robert Priddy allowing Conny Larsson to use his articles to justify and bolster the notion that psychics and New Age believers may be bona fide and have genuine spiritual experiences, intuitions and gifts?


5. Why is Robert Priddy constantly citing psychic medium Conny Larsson as a credible voice against Sathya Sai Baba but purposely withholding any and all information about Conny Larsson’s psychic claims?


6. If Robert Priddy truly believes that psychics, mediums and channelers are “absurd charlatans”, why did he give a public lecture alongside psychic medium Conny Larsson?

Psychic Medium Larsson With Pseudo-Scientist Priddy

ROUND THREE: Priddy vs Dawkins
Richard Dawkins wins as a discombobulated Robert Priddy knocks himself out. Robert Priddy’s anti-science rants and the publication of his articles on a psychic website to bolster the integrity of New Age advocates undermines his loud-mouthed references to skeptics, rationalists and atheists.

Robert Priddy Formerly Believed In Elementals, Elves And Fairies
In an article entitled “Belief and Manifestations” (which was first published in 1987 and left untouched until 2006) Robert Priddy professed belief in elementals, elves, fairies, mediums, leprechauns, UFOs and demons. After Joe Moreno found the article, Robert Priddy added a disclaimer giving a tongue-in-cheek denial about his former beliefs. Robert Priddy added the disclaimer because his former beliefs (like his use of LSD) clearly undermine his attempt to portray himself as a rationalist and intellectual.

BELIEF AND MANIFESTATIONS
The role of ‘elementals’ in visions and appearances by Robert Priddy

The existence of elementals that seek opportunities to take on any form that a living person’s mind or subconscious can provide for them could explain many otherwise incomprehensible ‘manifestations’, from ghosts and poltergeists to UFOs & extra-terrestrials and even the appearance of divine figures, the manifestation of deities (ishtadarshan) and religious personages. Some of these may be beneficial, some quite the opposite. Advaitic spirituality teaches that, ultimately, everything is a product of mind, which fits very well with this.

Among traditional forms of apparitions and visions in which many believed (and many still do) can sometimes be seen, conversed with and even touched by people are elves, fairies, leprechauns, gnomes, trolls, water spirits, animal and plant spirits or ‘devas’ , angels, invisible helpers', shaman ‘spirits’, ‘allies’ , UFOs, extra-terrestrials, possessive demons, Satan, Pan-figures and other demi-gods. Elementals may sometimes also assume the characteristics (voice, personality traits etc.), or even the physical form, of a departed person, as can allegedly be experienced in spiritualistic sessions.

I am well aware that most people who work in some scientific pursuit, or are involved with psychology and not least in psychiatry, will reject the views I air here, according to the supposed ‘scientific correctness’ of the times. Such professionals are very often too ensconced in their own beliefs to take notice that something is known of matters outside their ken, for they seldom set a foot beyond their mentally-furnished worlds into the uncomfortable realm of real uncertainties or self-risk.

I happen to have had a considerable number of experiences of otherwise inexplicable phenomena that fit with the thesis of elementals. Once, for example, when I was much attracted to nature mysticism, some wonderful synchronicities with creatures took place. (Ref)

ROUND FOUR: Priddy vs Dawkins
Richard Dawkins gives Robert Priddy whopping fat lips on both sides of the mouth he speaks out of. Robert Priddy’s flip-flopping from Anti-Science to Pro-Science, Pro-Superstition to Anti-Superstition, Pro-Psychics to Anti-Psychics back to Pro-Psychics, Pro-LSD to...well, Pro-LSD, etc., reveals his self-serving hypocrisy.

Robert Priddy Still Believes In Paranormal Powers
And to top it all off, Robert Priddy still believes (even to this day, after his defection) that Sathya Sai Baba possesses genuine paranormal powers.

Robert Priddy: “Nonetheless, it will surely surprise some that I am still almost certain - on the basis of extended personal observation - that Sathya Sai Baba can and does carry out apports, which therefore can appear as materialisations from nothing.”

Apports are said to be physical objects in existence that are dematerialized from one location and rematerialized to another.

Robert Priddy: “Some of what I experienced of SSB’s extraordinary and positive powers through many years is undeniable, even after the most rigorous skeptical investigations, and I do not regard him as any ordinary human being. I have simply had to realize that his actions in the worldly and human sphere are not infallible and are not always setting a perfect example for others.”

Robert Priddy believes that Sathya Sai Baba possesses genuine paranormal powers because the Guru cured him of a debilitating and chronic neck and spinal problem that no one else could cure and whose symptoms no doctor could alleviate. Robert Priddy claimed that Sathya Sai Baba cured him through a series of “dream-operations” that resulted in a literal and physical transformation of his spine, which was supported by x-rays and the testimony of Mr. Kylie (“an osteopath and master of various other disciplines”).

Robert Priddy also claimed that Sathya Sai Baba freed his mother from chronic pain and that a small speck of Sathya Sai Baba’s vibuthi instantaneously cured his paralyzed cat when it suffered from what appeared to be a stroke.

Trying to pass himself off as an intellectual who currently holds rationalistic and scientific beliefs, Robert Priddy miserably fails to explain away the enigma of Sathya Sai Baba. Instead, Robert Priddy appears very confused, conflicted and non-intelligent and ends up sticking his foot further into his mouth with his never-ending and very amusing equivocations. At least Richard Dawkins is consistent.

Robert Priddy vs Richard Dawkins: I think it is abundantly clear who the winner (i.e., Dawkins) is and who is the loser (i.e., Priddy).

These are the types of stooges and clowns who are attempting to “expose” Sathya Sai Baba. Next time you open your big mouth Mr. Priddles, make sure you don’t stick your big foot in it for the scientific world to see.