Poll
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Do you believe in the paranormal?
Before we discussed aliens, now it's time to move on to the paranormal. So when I say "paranormal" I mean things like ghosts. But also things some more metaphysical stuff..astral projection, other dimensions, etc.
Is there anyone who believes in God/the afterlife, but not in actual spirits?
If you answered "yes" to believing in the paranormal, was this due to a personal experience?
I believe in God, so by extension, I believe in a spiritual realm. I've never seen a ghost with my own eyes, but I have witnessed unexplained events.
I visited the Myrtles Plantation(in Louisiana)and took the weekend mystery tour which discussed all the ghost sightings witnessed in the house and on the property. The plantation is a bed and breakfast now, so I snuck upstairs after the tour was over. Only overnight guests are allowed upstairs. I peeked into the large keyhole to one of the bedrooms and saw something rush by my field of vision. A few seconds later, the other door leading into the bedroom popped open on its own. I looked inside and no one was in the room. Kind of freaky!!!
Not particularly. Interesting to see I still had a tentative belief in reincarnation when I made that thread, though. I was somewhere in the middle of my journey from devout Catholic to materialist atheist.
Whenever I read "spiritual realm" I think of 10 dimensional physics where everything that we cannot experience exists all around us and can influence us without any upheaval from us... even though we will never experience it. Sort of like how a fish can never see water. It's mystical and fascinating, but it almost definitely exists.
Originally posted by Tattoos N Scars
I believe in God, so by extension, I believe in a spiritual realm. I've never seen a ghost with my own eyes, but I have witnessed unexplained events.I visited the Myrtles Plantation(in Louisiana)and took the weekend mystery tour which discussed all the ghost sightings witnessed in the house and on the property. The plantation is a bed and breakfast now, so I snuck upstairs after the tour was over. Only overnight guests are allowed upstairs. I peeked into the large keyhole to one of the bedrooms and saw something rush by my field of vision. A few seconds later, the other door leading into the bedroom popped open on its own. I looked inside and no one was in the room. Kind of freaky!!!
Re: Do you believe in the paranormal?
Originally posted by Surtur
Before we discussed aliens, now it's time to move on to the paranormal. So when I say "paranormal" I mean things like ghosts. But also things some more metaphysical stuff..astral projection, other dimensions, etc.........
If you answered "yes" to believing in the paranormal, was this due to a personal experience?
I believe that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence -- and I've yet to see that regarding the *paranormal*. However, I also believe in reality's deep interconnectivity, and accordingly, I have had my generous share of what I call Suspicious Coincidences, some highly suspicious.
Latest case in point: Last year, for a few months, my wife and I talked about going to Colorado. We finally got serious about it in May, wherein I said I wondered if my friend from graduate school (my friend and I both attended in California) still lives there (ie, in Colorado). I haven't seen him in 30+ years but we have communicated about 3x over this span, the last, by email, being about 9 years ago. Anyway, I mentioned this to my wife on May 12. On May 17, out of the blue, I get an email from this friend, which starts out with, "I don't know what made me think this, but the other day I was thinking of you and wondering if there was some way to get you to come out to Colorado..."
Needless to say, I immediately contacted my friend and told him of our very, very recent plans.
Sidenote: this was the friend with whom I had made the following plans before going back to NY: every Thursday night we would try to meet in a lucid dream and exchange a number. If one of us felt actual contact had been made, we'd call the other and compare notes. Well, this never happened (a bummer; it would've fit the bill of extraordinary evidence, imo), but I thought this Colorado *coincidence* sure came close.
Originally posted by Raisen
laugh if you want.
Not at all. But...
Originally posted by Raisen
i've seen three shadow spirits.
...is unsupportable, and could have been caused by a host of cognitive biases we all possess. However,
Originally posted by Raisen
i saw something unexplainable to me
...is a much more tenable position, and is probably the statement that I would use, if I had the same experience.
Originally posted by Mindship
I believe that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence -- and I've yet to see that regarding the *paranormal*. However, I also believe in reality's deep interconnectivity, and accordingly, I have had my generous share of what I call Suspicious Coincidences, some highly suspicious.Latest case in point: Last year, for a few months, my wife and I talked about going to Colorado. We finally got serious about it in May, wherein I said I wondered if my friend from graduate school (my friend and I both attended in California) still lives there (ie, in Colorado). I haven't seen him in 30+ years but we have communicated about 3x over this span, the last, by email, being about 9 years ago. Anyway, I mentioned this to my wife on May 12. On May 17, out of the blue, I get an email from this friend, which starts out with, "I don't know what made me think this, but the other day I was thinking of you and wondering if there was some way to get you to come out to Colorado..."
Needless to say, I immediately contacted my friend and told him of our very, very recent plans.
Sidenote: this was the friend with whom I had made the following plans before going back to NY: every Thursday night we would try to meet in a lucid dream and exchange a number. If one of us felt actual contact had been made, we'd call the other and compare notes. Well, this never happened (a bummer; it would've fit the bill of extraordinary evidence, imo), but I thought this Colorado *coincidence* sure came close.
I encounter this sort of thing a lot. Not the particulars, but the "amazing coincidence." And specifically, the "I thought of this person, and then they contacted me" variety. It's compelling when you experience it firsthand, but ultimately unconvincing, imo.
Lots and lots of people experience this. So what's more likely, that the universe just wants us all to catch up with our childhood friends, or that we tend to think of people from our past with some regularity, and the hundreds of millions of communications that occur every day will invariably produce some connections between people that have thought of one another recently? It becomes less paranormal when presented as a math problem. Is it unlikely? Absolutely, but multiply the billions of people on the Earth by the hundreds of millions of calls, emails, FB messages, snail mail, random meetups, etc. that occur each day, times the number of days in a life. Now add in that our brains are, by their very nature, pattern seeking, so we have an innate tendency to extrapolate random occurrences into patterns that have a certain coherence or animus behind them.
At that point, it would actually be more surprising if this didn't happen a bunch of times every day on the planet. And equally as surprising if something like this didn't happen to every person once or twice in their life.
I think you realize all of this, Mindship. But many haven't encountered this type of rebuttal to their personal experience, so a paranormal explanation is the only one that makes sense to them. Like you said, extraordinary claims and all...I just think this sort of claim comes woefully short, and actually has very grounded explanations that require no paranormal assumptions.
You're super, thanks for asking. But you cannot feel so sorry for him now!
Because you're feeling, so insanely super.
Everything is super when you- don't you think I look cute when I troll?
Originally posted by riv6672
Yes, thanks for asking.
Originally posted by RaisenDeep.
i know i troll but my answer was serious. i've seen three shadow spirits.
laugh if you want. i saw something unexplainable to me
Originally posted by DigiPersonal synchronistic/contiguous events are compelling, but I agree, not convincing. Exchanging numbers whilst lucid dreaming would've been better.
I encounter this sort of thing a lot. Not the particulars, but the "amazing coincidence." And specifically, the "I thought of this person, and then they contacted me" variety. It's compelling when you experience it firsthand, but ultimately unconvincing, imo.Lots and lots of people experience this. So what's more likely, that the universe just wants us all to catch up with our childhood friends, or that we tend to think of people from our past with some regularity, and the hundreds of millions of communications that occur every day will invariably produce some connections between people that have thought of one another recently? It becomes less paranormal when presented as a math problem. Is it unlikely? Absolutely, but multiply the billions of people on the Earth by the hundreds of millions of calls, emails, FB messages, snail mail, random meetups, etc. that occur each day, times the number of days in a life. Now add in that our brains are, by their very nature, pattern seeking, so we have an innate tendency to extrapolate random occurrences into patterns that have a certain coherence or animus behind them.
At that point, it would actually be more surprising if this didn't happen a bunch of times every day on the planet. And equally as surprising if something like this didn't happen to every person once or twice in their life.
I think you realize all of this, Mindship. But many haven't encountered this type of rebuttal to their personal experience, so a paranormal explanation is the only one that makes sense to them. Like you said, extraordinary claims and all...I just think this sort of claim comes woefully short, and actually has very grounded explanations that require no paranormal assumptions.
Originally posted by Mindship
Personal synchronistic/contiguous events are compelling, but I agree, not convincing. Exchanging numbers whilst lucid dreaming would've been better.
Agreed. Though even with that, you'd probably have to cross-reference the number thoroughly to see if it's something you both encountered recently. Think of, say, Ouija boards, where people will form entire coherent conversations and have no idea that they're actively involved in its creation. The subconscious mind can be sneaky.