The Premise

Psychic mediums who claim to be able to talk to the dead have been debunked numerous times by skeptics all over the world.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the services that these individuals charge significant fees for do not deliver on the main implied promise made to their paying customers (i.e. conveying messages that come from beyond the grave), so debunking the phenomenon once more would be a redundant task at this point, but there is something else that I find worthy of critical analysis: the message they use to convince potential clients that their readings are worth the money and the emotional investment.

In the end, this is what keeps them in business and in the media headlines for so long.

The way in which a psychic medium or any other pseudo-science or absolutely-no-science supporter delivers his or her message is the key factor in keeping the specific field’s memes alive.

They do not remain in the social consciousness due to their intrinsic relevancy – there isn’t any, but because the ‘psychic reading’ meme and all other nonsensical memes are really good at ‘convincing’ both main host and unintentional carrier that they are worth spreading.

Although the “talking to the dead” business is based on beliefs and not an ounce of data that can be tagged reliable, scientific or true, it does not mean that the process is completely unhelpful for those reaching out to mediums in search for answers or emotional comfort – I wrote about the benefits of the hoax here -, even though the advantages are not linked to the supernatural claims or environment and similar results can be achieved through other means.

This being said, not all psychics are alike. I believe a vast majority know and actively engage in maintaining the idea that their abilities and connected services are real, a smaller segment actually believe that their ‘powers’ and results are true – due to ignorance, wishful thinking, or narcissism levels, and only a handful honestly label their craft, even if in very small print, entertainment (yes, legal reasons may also play a significant role in their choice of disclosure).

My goal for this website segment is to critically analyze the message of some of the people, businesses, and organizations that deal with this type of content and claims and try to figure out the level of deception (if any), the type of manipulation involved (if any), the methods in which the manipulative tactics are being employed (if the case) and the level of potential harm the specific content poses for the target audience, in particular, and society as a whole, in general.

The underlying reason is not only to expose the deception, where it exists, but mainly to provide an alternative interpretation of the message being analyzed.

Scientific facts may not influence a believer’s choice to support a certain unscientific claim, but alternative interpretations may find their way into non-radical minds and who knows, maybe a different conclusion will follow.

Let’s see where it all leads.

Note: This analysis is not meant as a personal attack on the individuals whose content or craft make the subject of the series. By no means do I intend to trigger through my content any type of aggressive (re)actions toward them, their collaborators or supporters. We are all entitled to our own beliefs, however foolish they may be considered by others, and we are also entitled to practice them, the only limit being, in my opinion, causing any type of harm to another being or to our common environment. I believe all of our activities could, in theory, be deconstructed and less than perfect characteristics may be revealed in the process, so nitpicking is not my aim. Some of these people and organizations may have good intentions, but may also deliver messages and provide services that can do more harm than good to individuals or social environments. This is what I want to reveal.

SKEPTIC’S REVIEW #1: John Edward – Psychic Medium – Website

Who is John Edward

John Edward is one of the most known psychic mediums, especially due to his various TV projects and psychic reading live events (at least the events are live, but I suspect the ‘readings’ are a whole different story). As a teenager, I used to watch his show “Crossing Over with John Edward” and liked his overall presence. However, like many other occasional viewers, I did not believe the claims made by the producers and Edward (pseudonym; full name John Edward McGee Jr.) on the show and mainly watched for entertainment purposes or out of skeptic curiosity.

But that was definitely not the case for the majority of people watching Edward conveying messages from beyond the grave (his claim) to members in the show’s audience.

To have an idea of what John Edward does during these readings, take a look at this short clip from daytime show Cityline.

People everywhere reacted positively to his alleged psychic skills and the emotional snowball led to a phenomenon that lasts to this day: John Edward is still one of the most sought-after psychic mediums and many of his events go into “Sold Out” mode year after year.

But how does he do it? What is his official message to his audience and potential supporters? And is it an honest presentation of a dishonest trade or a deceptive, even manipulative environment meant to directly prey on the extremely gullible or those in need of emotional comfort? Let’s take a look.

THE REVIEW

• The material used for this analysis is John Edward’s official website.
• The review applies exclusively to the content that was live on the website and on the connected online platforms at the date of writing this article.
• I will not post screenshots since the last kind of discussion I would be willing to have regarding this type of content is copyright-related. Commentary and criticism would most likely constitute fair use, but that can only be established after you go to court and win. I’ll spend my time in other ways.
• The article is not meant as a general commentary on his career or craft.
• The comments refer to the social/professional persona and not the private individual (I do not hold information to make such comments, nor would they be fit for such a task such as the present one).
• This review is an opinion. Mostly grounded in critical thinking techniques and abilities (hopefully), but an opinion.

From the get-go, the content featured on the homepage leads you to four things – The Psychic (show on social media; free), the Evolve community (subscription-based online community; includes free plan), his private readings and events (paid services).

• The Psychic John Edward – a show hosted on a social media platform whose name shall never be mentioned on this website. Access to see the videos is free. The trailer is rich in emotional elements (jokes, audience member reactions when being given their readings, gossip-like content linked to personal disclosures, testimonials). ‘Out of this world connections‘ is one of the claims mentioned in the trailer. Official presentation: ‘This season on The Psychic….lives impacted, questions answered, skeptics turned believers…..you will be changed‘.

Yes, they did suggest that his readings are so powerful that even skeptics turn believers. But from the materials I have seen previously (the above Cityline clip included), I am not even sure believers stay believers after those encounters.

Anyway, my overall impression regarding his show on social media is that the 5 episode season (a total of circa 75 minutes of ‘usual reading’ context) is rather just an easy way to create the illusion of significant free content. It’s a promo more than a way to connect with the audience. Actually, he does not seem to engage at all on that show’s social media page, so his fans have to do with his PR team or assistants. If they want to connect with Edward, they have other ways. Read on.

• Events. Plenty of them. I counted over 40 for 2019, and that’s just half of the year since the tour seems to end in August. No description for these events, except for the brief explanations you get right before you buy the tickets from an external platform. In short, events last 2 hours, the regular ticket price is $100 and the VIP version sells for $175. The regular attendee is promised to witness ‘question and answer sessions and messages from the other side‘. The overall event is described as “A John Edward “group” event” that is “reading intensive“. Things change drastically for VIP ticket holders: they get not only to attend the event, but also a long list of freebies and perks – one year membership for the Evolve community (described below), access to ‘an intimate conversation, question and answer session with John and the other Evolve members‘ called Just Five More that lasts ‘a minimum of 20 minutes right after the regular scheduled event‘, they get to bypass the regular line and go to a VIP ticket holder line  🙄 , and the most important thing of it all, they get their photo taken with Edward (a photo which will be available on his website as ‘free digital download‘). Also, no one is guaranteed a reading during the event, which may also be filmed. The Evolve community members get some goodies too – discount coupons for Edward’s store, online access to view his weekly show “Evolve with John Edwards” and the following opportunities: they may be called to be on the show, may be offered free tickets to attend as studio audience members, the chance to win one of the 5 awarded monthly private readings, one of the 5 free event tickets offered each month, or appreciation packs with products from the John Edward store. But wait, there’s more!  😯 They will also have “instant access to the numerology, tarot cards, symbol cards, meditations, discussion boards and more”, the opportunity to participate in members-only events and contests and… they also get a weekly email to let them know “what’s new and happening!“. No refunds (understandably).

I will address the Evolve Community next, but let’s take a bit more time to analyze the events.

Basically, the entire event description is this:

“A John Edward “group” event is reading intensive. There will be question and answer sessions and messages from the other side. ” & “Just Five More” is an intimate conversation, question and answer session with John and members of Evolve.“

The rest is technical stuff and notifications.

Those three phrases over there are supposed to convince you to buy a ticket. They may work with people who are familiar with Edward’s activity, but for the persons who are just now being exposed to this kind of craft and environment? Actually, the scarcity of information will be discussed a bit later on.

The math. Without analyzing the Evolve community here, let’s do some basic math:

Regular ticket holder: $100 – no reading, no photo, no gifts, no discounts, no extras. If they want to join the Evolve community, that would be $99/year. Total $199 for a value of $199.

VIP ticket holder: $175 – no reading, photo, private event, Evolve membership valued at $99, all benefits that come with being an Evolve community member  😐 and other stuff. Total: $175 for a value of more than or equal to $199.

That’s an at least $24 incentive to buy a VIP ticket and most importantly, to become a member of an online community with a recurrent subscription fee. That’s what seems to make you a VIP: the perspective that you may become a recurrent paying member. All that other stuff can be seen as a way to a) justify the subscription fees to existing members and increase brand loyalty and b) overdo the incentives part to increase the chance for people to say yes to the proposal of becoming a member.

Also, since Evolve members are not guaranteed a private reading either – private readings are a rather rare occurrence in John Edward’s practice (like I will present later), I believe the Evolve members, more than anything, win a chance to get to pay a private reading.

So, event-wise, plenty of people want to attend, but they are not promised a reading. I understand that since it involves a numerous crowd, but the thing is that although some audience members may gain the chance to witness a good-enough John Edward live performance – jokes, emotional stories, (alleged) random readings etc, I think that a big number of them will walk out with nothing more but a subscription to the online community. Edward and his team make those members feel special (and that in itself is not a bad thing, brand loyalty is a powerful aspect and should be rewarded), but the approach may also make everyone else believe that unless they too join this exclusive circle, there’s no way for them to ever interact with Edward… and get their answers.

• Evolve. The Evolve community page is pretty direct. The first thing you see are the four ways in which you can become a member: two free account types, one paid and one non-existent… yet. The first free account type allows you to… join the newsletter. That’s it. The second free account type signs you up as a follower of John Edward on an external platform that deals with ‘audience management‘ and ‘business growth‘ for the people who take their fan base there. With this account, you get access to the free content and “a few premium posts/videos podcasts and more“. The paid 1-year subscription costs $99 and gives the users access to premium content on that platform and they will also get a welcome package mailed to them as a ‘token of appreciation’.

Unlike most of the services and products available on the website, the Evolve community has a more detailed description. It is mainly presented as an environment where members can learn more about their own abilities (intuition and energy-wise) and where they can connect with other like-minded people and even Edward. Actually, the main reason for creating the community is linked to Edward’s extremely limited availability to do more private reading or more shows around the world.

They also list the goals of Evolve Interactive (the full name of the community). The first one on the list is opportunity, which according to the website, means “to provide people with as many chances for a reading as possible“. Then they list access (to Edward’s show), affordable (they mention Edward “insisted upon the membership being less than the price of one movie ticket a month for access to all membership benefits“), educational, interactive (two-way interaction instead of exclusively broadcasting out), continual (ongoing conversation), and community.

There is also a first-person presentation from Edward for the Evolve Interactive community. Basically, he says this is a way of making a newsletter interactive and reiterates the idea that this is another way in which he can interact with his audience.

And then there’s this: “Now, as much as I would like to create it for free, it’s not something that I can realistically afford to do in the way that I want to do it. So, YES… there is a charge if you want to join and NO… you don’t have to.“

🙄 (3rd, I know). I understand his projects need investments, but from what I’ve been able to grasp on this website visit, the biggest project is the show. I am not a member of Evolve, but if that show is anything close to The Psychic, then that is just basic video production, the kind most YouTubers can afford. “It’s not something that I can realistically afford to do in the way that I want to do it” – Well, making members pay for your dream instead of lowering your expenses and still get good-enough results seems to me a strange way to justify the membership fee. I think the justification could’ve been skipped from the presentation entirely. No need for emotional elements. It’s a service, it’s paid. That’s it. Own your decision.

And the “NO… you don’t have to [join]” is… useless. Thanks for letting me know I have the right to not buy something. To me, it seems that that is an attempt to convey empathy (“I understand you may not want/afford to join”), but there was no need for any in the first place. I believe the secondary message is meant to lessen the potential negative impact the first may have on some readers (as it often happens in commercial contexts).

They also mention that the yearly membership fee will be lower starting with the second year (from $99/year to $59/year) and list what is included in the membership (most of the things already mentioned as perks for buying VIP tickets for the live events and various types of content).

The way the Evolve Interactive community links to the psychic readings and psychic environment: The presentation mentions that “a message from the other side is not therapy or meant to replace the healing process” and that “we all gain by getting the confirmation that our loved ones are ok and that they are always with us“. This is true and I also mentioned the confirmation benefit in my article on the benefits of ‘talking to the dead’.

The thing that I find problematic in the presentation is this though: “And even if you never get personally read during your membership, simply being present and a part of the process will help you know that they are there as well.“. I think the wording conveys a sure-thing, intrinsic type of benefit for joining the community and it may lead to self-fulfilling prophecy phenomenon (We expect a certain outcome, change our behavior and this also changes the way others see and react to us – or even the way we see ourselves, and it all leads to a confirmation of the outcome we expected in the first place. This will reinforce the initial belief.). Nothing bad in this context, just some automated emotional comfort by proxy – you watch others and the reactions they exhibit become your reactions as well. It’s emotional contagion – it may work, it may have great effects, but I do not think you can/should guarantee it. A slight change in wording would’ve solved that issue and eliminate this last interpretation. The self-fulfilling prophecy stays, especially if the suggestions become repetitive.

In other words, “if you witness someone else’s reading, then this is a sign/confirmation that your loved ones who crossed over are also here and/or OK” may trigger the belief that you yourself got a message from the other side also. I think the takeaway should be that it is highly likely that you never get a reading during your paid membership. They never claim you will, and that’s fair, but I would definitely factor it in before joining and reconsider my goals. (No, I’ll never join, but you know… critically thinking about the process).

Evolve Interactive is also described on the website as a “passionate, supportive community“. I can see that being the case when the main thing that brings people together in this type of contexts is the common factor of having lost someone.

• Private Readings. Now, this should be interesting. There are several types of readings that you can (try) to get through this page. Private readings, and readings for various types of groups and contexts. There are also workshops and classes.

The private reading. The first thing mentioned: the price – $850. For $100 more per person, four more people “related or looking to connect with the same family” may also attend. Readings cannot be audio- or video-taped. They advise you take notes. You cannot simply book a reading. One must sign-up for their Newsletter and check off a box that refers to an interest in having a private reading with Edward and then you will have to wait. It’s a random selection process.

Small intimate groups readings. $650. None happening at the moment.

Group readings. These are the events. $100-$175.

Double medium event. I am not sure what these are. There is no information on that. None happening at the moment.

Workshops & Classes. $795. None happening at the moment.

On the page that covers a type of reading for which there are no scheduled events, you are given the opportunity to sign up for the newsletter and check off the box regarding your interest for that specific service or visit the events page.

There are also comments from website users. Most of them request a private reading, some mention having missed their opportunity to acknowledge it was *their* loved one who came through at a certain event [Edward’s method of working with large groups is to say what his interpretation or ‘sign’ is and then someone in the audience who is/thinks he/she is related to that symbol, context or person would raise their hand and acknowledge the connection and thus the reading begins. Or continues, to be more specific.], and some of them even seem to believe a reading was intended for them, since the data connected to their own context, but someone else got it instead [The problem with vague stimuli, I guess]. It’s obvious there is a big interest in the phenomenon, in general, and in Edward’s work, in particular.

Still on the Home Page: Presentation Video and One interesting menu.

I think things have been pretty clean until now, but this part is where it all gets interesting and a little murky if you were to ask me.

• John Edward – presentation video. Short presentation of Edward’s previous work, mission, and present projects. According to this video, Edward’s mission or main goal is “to teach people that life and love are eternal“. The viewer also finds out about the many TV shows he’s been on (“a go-to media psychic source“), the best-selling books he wrote, his media production company and more. They talk about his first TV show, “Crossing Over with John Edward” and they mention this was “the first psychic hosted television program” and that it marked “the creation of unscripted paranormal genre“. The video also highlights the international impact of John Edward’s television shows. They end by presenting the Evolve community (where they mention that the members have the chance to be part of the audience for Edward’s show and even “be the person he’s reading“). The video ends with information about Edward’s social media accounts.

Obviously, just like any of us, he is entitled to mention the television shows and collaborators he has worked with throughout his career, but it is also valid that in all of these cases (not just for his trade or professional work) using the names of brands and known individuals may lead to what is called authority bias, if these professional links are interpreted as endorsements. They do not make such claims in the video, just mention his presence in the programs.

As for the “unscripted paranormal genre”, I believe that may be partly valid since he seems to do a lot of cold reading (using the information given by the person being read, in a way that seems to come from the psychic), but I also believe hot reading is involved (foreknowledge of the person’s environment or personal story, obtained directly or indirectly, prior to the ‘psychic reading’). That may not result in an official script, but it wouldn’t be spontaneous either.

• The website menu that follows is, to me, the real treat of the website. Not because it’s special in itself, but because several of the tabs lead to content I initially thought it’s been carefully left out of the website. There are six tabs – one leads to the readings page, two lead to the events page and there are also these three little gem-containing tabs:

“I feel like I was led here“. This triggers a pop-up window that contains segments of text that may seem bizarre to most people, but which are a skeptic’s delight (or at least this skeptic’s delight 😆 ).

Gem #1: “Nothing happens by coincidence and odds are you stumbled onto this site (me) for a reason.”

Okay, this may be a tiny pebble, not a gem, but still. Actually, many things are coincidences, but yes, I too would say that it is very likely that a visitor spending time on his website has some sort of intention or reason. Even if it’s just to debunk or analyze it or pure curiosity-driven behavior.

They suggest you should try and find the reason that got you there and offer you several options: maybe you’re interested in a reading (links to Readings Page), learning about spiritual things (links to Evolve) or maybe you have no clue but may want to stick around (links to Newsletter).

And among those options…

Gem #2: “ I am a psychic medium – work with energy – talk to dead people – (yes… for real).” 

I’m thrilled!  😀 This is the first time I see on this website any direct mention to what John Edward’s psychic ability is actually all about… without using some sort of metaphor I mean (‘crossing over’, ‘connect with people one loved and lost”, “Other Side” etc). Plain English, in writing, lies the claim that John Edward talks to dead people. The prediction of future events, the energy work… these can be subjected to various interpretations. Talking to dead people, not so much. Although, he does not claim that they talk back to him. I too mentally talk to those whom I loved and lost. They say nothing to me. I am not a psychic medium. Why is Edward?

“I want to learn more“. This tab triggers a pop-up that presents Evolve, highlights its benefits and once again mentions the chance “Evolvers” have at winning free private readings. Seriously, the community members are self-called Evolvers. Take that, Darwin!

“I’m curious“. Pop-up again. Various reasons for why you’re on the website, again. And a questionable and limiting definition of curiosity, but I won’t go into detail, because I said no nitpicking.

Gem #3: They mention spirit guides. “A team of energies that are working with you to help you navigate this lifetime“. The yumminess of it all! “Team of energies”, “this lifetime”. But this is all placed in the “feelings” section of the website visitor. Again, no claim from Edward. Your thoughts, your feelings, your action, your interpretation of it all.

And then you are again offered the options to either visit the Readings Page, the Events Page, or the Newsletter sign-up page.

The Home page also hosts a list of future events and the presentation of Evolve (already covered in this article).

Let’s move on. What else is out there? On John Edward’s website, I mean.

The About Page is pretty much what you would expect, a presentation of his abilities and work, but again, gem-filled.

Gem #4: They start by saying Edward has brought a “fresh, honest and thought-provoking attitude” to the world of psychic phenomena. I agree with ‘fresh’ and ‘thought-provoking’.

They also label his approach as ‘down-to-earth”. Funny choice of words.

Gem #5: The presentation mentions the fact that Edward exhibited psychic abilities from an early age, an occurrence which made some of his family members to label him “special“, and the thing that “solidified that fact” was that “he would uncannily know family history and events that took place prior to his birth“. Wait, what?

So, I assume they had no family photos, no written notes, and no one ever talked about the experiences they had with family members who passed? I get a hindsight bias symbol for this one. John, can you relate to it?

Hindsight bias refers to assigning to events that have already occurred a higher level of predictability than they actually had before they took place.

My assumption: No one noticed when the young John Edward was present during conversations between adults in the family, on various subjects. Maybe not even Edward was aware of assimilating the information. At some later point in time, he mentions some of that content. Everyone’s impressed. “He could have never known that”, “We never told him”. And that last part may be true. And then, the biased conclusion: he has psychic abilities, he gets the information from the dead.

But they made “no fuss“, and he had “as normal a childhood as possible“, according to the presentation.

The whole psychic medium career started when another psychic made him aware of his abilities and pretty much outlined his mission: “teaching people about it“. I guess spirit guides did not offer any career counseling prior to this meeting.

Then the presentation states once again what Edward’s work is all about: [it] “enables him to bring comfort and hope to people by reuniting them with those who they loved, lost…and crossed over“.

Connect is one thing. Reuniting seems to me a stronger, definitive word.

The presentation ends with some personal information about John Edward.

The website also hosts a themed store. Your usual merchandise (t-shirts, calendars, some jewelry and ornaments etc), nothing of interest for me here.

Conclusions

I actually like John Edward’s overall message, as I understand it through his website’s content. I know this may seem a counterintuitive conclusion from a skeptic, especially when shared publicly, but here is the reasoning behind it.

I am mainly interested in revealing the abusive or maladaptive side of a practice or set of beliefs. That, to me, is what makes a belief dangerous. When it directly harms the believer and/or the groups of people who do not share the same system of beliefs or when it promotes abusive attitudes or behaviors.

This is not the case in John Edward’s practice or message. Not in the way I see them.

However, in no way is this an endorsement for him, his website or the psychic mediums environment.

I do not believe he can talk to the dead. I don’t believe anyone can. With the scientific data we have so far, there is no reason for me to believe there is a soul or some form of conscious energy that survives an animal’s physical death. Human or not. It’s a nice story and a great source for metaphors though.

I would not recommend anyone going through the process of grief to try to solve it by seeing a psychic medium. But I do understand that in certain circumstances, these events may bring comfort, closure, self-forgiveness, and other emotional and psychological gains. I strongly believe they can be reached in other ways without relying on unsubstantiated beliefs, but not everyone may want to go through those processes.

I think John Edward’s skills work for the people who believe they do. In the end, they are those who find meaning in his readings. And that meaning may be enough for them to gather the strength to move on after traumatic events. Again, this can be achieved in other ways as well, but as long as there is no harm done, then it’s a choice, and we should maintain freedom of choice in such contexts. We are entitled to any beliefs.

Edward’s message seems to be pretty honest. That is when you take the whole “talking to the dead” claim as a right to hold and act on a belief. The rest is just marketing. The main techniques that I could spot are those usually used in most marketing strategies and campaigns: using scarcity, exclusivity, incentives as forces to drive conversions.

Then we are left with the ethical part. Edward is entitled to believe he talks to the dead. He is also entitled to claim he does even if he would know he doesn’t. We can all claim anything and act on those claims if we do not infringe anyone else’s rights in the process. Over here, people are entitled to assess his claims. Some believe him, some don’t.

And here’s the catch. The main reason why I do not think his message is dangerous is that his actions would only be directed toward those who actively seek them. It’s the person’s choice to go through a reading, to be present at an event and put themselves in the situation in which they can be singled out and become the focus of the group reading, even for a little while. This is also why I do not think this is emotional exploitation. He is not stopping people in the supermarket telling them their dead relatives want to connect with them. At the moment of writing this article, I have no knowledge of such things – my perspective would be severely modified if this were the case.

And from my own memories of watching “Crossing Over with John Edward”, he does not convey stress-inducing messages. I am not sure about his ‘predicting the future’ professional side, but when it comes to ‘connecting with those who have crossed over’, he is basically conveying simple facts, already known to the person receiving the reading. Since it is, in my opinion, mostly cold reading, these are confirmation-driven messages, not revelatory ones.

The only potentially negative effect that I can infer from what I read on his website, refers to people who may join the online community with the sole hope of getting a private reading. I think it is up to them to lower their expectation in this regard and focus on the supportive community idea.

Also, I think it is worth noting that since the people who have the highest chance of getting a reading – private or during the show – are those who are members of the online community Edward owns, it would not be unreasonable to consider this a gateway for the hot reading hypothesis. In their Terms of Use, one of the rules for using the website and related services is to provide your real name. It is my understanding that users engage on the platform and one can already see from their public comments that some definitely share their personal stories in detail. You can see why I believe this may lead to foreknowledge about a person who is going to receive a reading. I am not saying Edward does that, I am just stating a possibility I observed.

I think John Edward is a fairly good entertainer. Nothing more. The rest is the significance assigned to him and his work by his audience members. And there is nothing wrong with that. It affects you – positively or negatively, as much as you let it. In this sense, I believe he is a medium: he transports one’s own beliefs, hopes, expectations and solutions right back to them, mirror-style. In some contexts he may express what the person being read cannot or would not at that point. And it would be unfair for me not to recognize that there is value in doing that.

In short, John Edward’s message is a collection of disclosures about his personal beliefs, about the world and himself. The rest is user-generated.

P.S. I did not subscribe to any of the services presented on John Edward’s website, even though doing that could clarify some things for me when writing this article, but I did not consider that a good enough reason. I also did not want to be disruptive to the community (were I to choose in favor of engagement), that was not my intention. I think we should not enter communities that hold beliefs different from ours and confront them unless those beliefs can be proven as (potentially) harmful to believers or outsiders. This was not the case, so I didn’t make that step. Nor do I encourage anyone to do so.

UPDATE (10.02.2019): John Edward reacted to the publication of this article. His reaction was elegant, friendly and, just like myself and many of you, he seems to be more interested in building bridges than burning them. Another thing that I think it’s fair to mention is that the community built around his practice and beliefs also reacted. Until now, I have good reasons to believe that more than two hundred readers of this article can be linked to that community (those who come from social media platforms where my presence is not robust, my main website traffic source being search engines and direct visits) and not even one of those persons – repeat, not even one, engaged in any type of personal attacks or otherwise negative interactions with me or my website’s accounts. This, to me, is additional proof in support of the conclusions mentioned in the article. They are a nice, inclusive group of people.

UPDATE (30.04.2019): Connected article and update: What Brings People With Opposing Views Together? It’s Not Tolerance. Also, Revisiting SKEPTIC’s REVIEW #1.

UPDATE (17.05.2019): [VIDEO] Saying “Hi” to John Edward and Evolve | PSYCHOLOGY CORNER