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arGee
That's a nice little advertisement for your blog...
posted by
Antipodean
on November 17, 2006 at 2:05 AM
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editormum - I think we can all make a list of things that we cannot explain
I've seen people have erie preminitions first hand, deja vu is a common human experience but I find most of the explanations for these types of things unsatisfactory.
posted by
gomedome
on November 16, 2006 at 2:06 PM
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I've seen some pretty spooky things...
...in my time, and I'm generally a skeptic. I'm definitely not superstitious. My friends never could get me to believe that the silly tricks they played were for real. And there was the time my friend claimed to have seen a ghost in the theatre attic (she came down the stairs white and shaking and refused to go back up there. When I told her it was nonsense, she insisted that I spend the night up there to prove there wasn't one. (I did; there wasn't.)
But then there was the weird occcurrence on my first contact with a Ouija board. There was the practising witch that I shared a room with in college that caused all sorts of strange (and sometimes frightening) things to happen until she and all her paraphernalia moved out. There was the 1996 dream that I didn't understand (at the time) that showed me leaving my husband when our sons were 3 and 2; it happened exactly as the dream had showed, and in the exact time frame, right down to the rainy, autumn afternoon. And what about deja vu? I've had that happen on lots of occasions.... These are things I cannot explain.
Anyway, believe or not, superstition or not, at least you don't generally insult people who believe differently from you.
And that's Tourette's Syndrome, not Turet's. 
posted by
editormum
on November 16, 2006 at 9:08 AM
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Aren't you a "believer," Parnell...
Given that you proclaim to be a Socialist, and that everything you do stems from that perspective? Fortunately for you, you have the freedom to express your views, contradictory, disproved, and silly though they be. When you start to speak of revolution, however, (as you have done here on Blogit), be ready for people like me to ensure your revolution never happens. Speaking your mind is one thing – using force to make other people accept your beliefs is another altogether. Do yourself a favor and read my article,
Through a Glass Darkly.
posted by
arGee
on November 16, 2006 at 7:44 AM
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Interesting Post
There are some people who are just
believers. They'll believe in anything, from ghosts, to demons, 'energy', the Lochness Monster, political conpiracy theories. There's absolutely no reason, of course, that anyone who believes in the Lochness Monster should also believe in ghosts, and yet they
almost certainly will...
posted by
Antipodean
on November 14, 2006 at 6:25 PM
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Let's see, now, Xeno...
The Psychic predicted frozen water lines, you left a door open to freezing weather, and the lines froze...Hmmmm...
As I mentioned in my earlier comment, if you really believe you have touched the paranormal, there's a lot of real money just waiting for you to grab it...go for it! What do you have to lose?
posted by
arGee
on November 14, 2006 at 7:07 AM
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even though there is no possession
i have experienced paranormal.
some experiences i have related in my blog about the great unknown.
it seems ludicrous to say such.
i have had prophetic dreams -- wanted to dream about a future -- the dream was about an undesired, negative future, but it came about pretty much exactly as the dream portrayed it.
I tested a parapsychologist, who made predictions -- she was inaccurately accurate -- but mainly correct -- the one was that she saw water lines freezing where I lived -- I moved away from the dump where I thought that would happen to escape it and into a place kept up well where i thought it would not happen. left a door ajar and the wind blew it open and the water line froze.
you can see why i feel there is something beyond the material experience.
posted by
Xeno-x
on November 14, 2006 at 7:00 AM
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arGee - it amazes me how these ideas are clung to when all
"proof" is just heresay or based on anecdotal evidence.
Faith healing falls into this category, as does any number of phenomena from weeping statues to stigmata. Yet otherwise reasonable people will speak of these things as if their existence is an accepted truth. There is certainly much that we do not understand about any number of experiences or manifestations that we may encounter but why are people so intent on looking to the observations of primitive man to explain them? I tend to be in the Michael Persinger camp where all manifestations of the paranormal are derived from influence on the human brain, both subliminal and direct. Prior knowledge coupled with expectations prompted by physical stimuli can explain the vast majority of paranormal experiences. Those that are proponents of the existence of a spiritual realm are really only using the observation of human reactions to certain types of stimuli to define this realm. There are better explanations for many of the so called paranormal experiences, modern scientists working from an immensely greater knowledge base than ancient man could ever dream of have answered enough questions pertaining to the paranormal as to render the ancient explanations as redundant, yet people resist. They continue to speak of things that aren't true as if they are true.
posted by
gomedome
on November 13, 2006 at 10:55 PM
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James Randi has a cool million for anyone...
Who can prove the existence of any paranormal event, including a working Ouija Board. If any of you guys think you do this, he will make you rich overnight.
And Randi isn't the only one. Here is a site with literally dozens of offers from around the world, just waiting for some lucky person to demonstrate what he or she already knows – that paranormal phenomena really exist.
In fact, such offers have been made for at least the last 150 years, with not one – let me say that again – NOT ONE person ever claiming the prize.
Do you think it's just possible that these phenomena don't really exist?
posted by
arGee
on November 13, 2006 at 9:52 PM
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no such thing as possession
you are right
medication takes care of a lot of these things
mental disturbances were not understood then as they are now. it was explained thorugh "demon possession"
It is amazing that so many people are so superstitious as to believe in such a thing.
posted by
Xeno-x
on November 13, 2006 at 3:02 PM
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I have heard but haven't seen first hand so I can't confirm.
posted by
A-and-B
on November 13, 2006 at 2:19 PM
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Yeah, I believe there are forces of evil, but I doubt that they're able to
just randomly posess the bodies of
Catholics at will.
They seem to be the only ones who believe in that hooey. I do, however, believe that there is definitely something that can attach itself to you through the improper use of the Ouija board. I leave them thangs alone, now. I hope today finds you well.
posted by
Schatz
on November 13, 2006 at 2:00 PM
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I was recently a guest, Gome...
At a gathering (party) that was put together by a friend specifically to juxtapose three ultra-conservative Roman Catholic clerics and me. My friend's intent was to highlight for his other invited guests the position of the most conservative branch of the Church, toward which he gravitates. He chose my reasoning and knowledge, which he had come to respect by reading my book, The Chicken Little Agenda – Debunking Experts' Lies, as a counterpoint to these clerics' thinking. My friend specifically asked me to come up with several thought provoking questions to pose to these gentlemen.
I reported on what happened – which is pertinent to this discussion – in my most recent post in my Thrawn Rickle blog, When Worlds Collide.
posted by
arGee
on November 13, 2006 at 7:48 AM
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Enlightened post .
posted by
afzal50
on November 12, 2006 at 11:38 PM
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Gome
I should add... No one who doesn't know what they're doing, should ever play with those things!
posted by
Afzal_Sunny7
on November 12, 2006 at 7:58 PM
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Gome
There was that time with the Ouija board, when I was about 15. I never did write that post, did I?
It's something, I can describe, but then I can't. There was a change in my friend's face. It's hard to explain. It wasn't like a transformation like you see in the movies, where the face contorts into something else. It was definetely her face, but it was different.
The laughing, the stare coming from her eyes. Not good.
I don't believe it was a possession by "Satan" or demons and such, even though I believed in these things at the time.
What I thought then, and what I think now, is that it was the spirit or energy of some not so nice deceased individual.
posted by
Afzal_Sunny7
on November 12, 2006 at 7:53 PM
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franciscan - finally you have said something that I agree with . . except >
I said it first.
There is far too much that we all do not know, there are certainly countless things in this universe that cannot be explained by my "philosophies" (I prefer "reasonings" if you must use an all encompassing word),.... or anyone else's for that matter.
posted by
gomedome
on November 12, 2006 at 7:42 PM
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SuccessWarrior - I am forced to look at my calender when I hear of things
such as this.
One becomes afraid for humanity if folks are still buying into these things. The entire scenario of a tent revival meeting, "dupes duping other dupes" is the best way to describe it. I envision those selling the bill of goods to a mostly confused audience leading the prayer. There had to be at least a few people in that audience that wanted to call an ambulance but group think and peer pressure held them at bay. Then one of the participants in this charade had the audacity to offer it as proof of Satan's existence to me. To me it sounded a lot more like an individual susceptable to a prompted epeleptic seizure was having a grand mal in a crowd. The poor sap, to find himself prompted to seizure by whatever level of heightened mass hysteria was in the atmosphere of that tent. . . . I am at a loss for further words....
posted by
gomedome
on November 12, 2006 at 7:23 PM
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gomedome,
"There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt up in your philosophy, gomedome".
posted by
franciscan
on November 12, 2006 at 5:23 PM
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I was saying a couple of days ago that Satan's power was lessening
This would tend to validate that. He just doesn't as much oomph as he used to and can't pull off the possession thing as much as he used to.
And I'm with you, if I get possessed, for god's sake call the EMTs.
posted by
SuccessWarrior
on November 12, 2006 at 5:09 PM
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