Sylvia Brown

[LosingMyReligion]

Even though I don't believe in Bible God and all that stuff I'm still into the afterlife, angels, spirits, and psychics.

 

Anyway, I am a huge fan of Sylvia Brown; I was even when I was a X-tian. Now, I am starting to realize something peculiar about her.

 

Even though she says that god is impartial and that no one is going to rot in hell and etc...I notice that she always invokes the name of The Holy Spirit, Christ Consciousness, AND in one of her books she talks about Jesus being Lord...But later, in the same book, she contradicts herself and states that all great religious figures(Buddha, Jesus, Ghandi, and Dali Lama)are all avatars of god...

 

Sometimes I think she's forreal, but I keep wondering is she pushing a Christian agenda...Most psychics don't point to certain religions...

[Asimov]

Sylvia Brown is a kook who needs to be shot.

[xrayman7040]

Oh yea she is the real deal. That is why she refused to take James Randi up on his Million dollar deal. If she could prove any supernatural ability, One Million was hers. Hmmmm I wonder why she didn't do it. Probably because she is another very successful con person laughing all the way to the bank. She sounds like she spends plenty of her money on non filter cigarettes for sure. How the fuck can anyone buy into that bullshit?

[Guest JP]

It was funny...I was watching Montel with my cousin when Sylvia Browne was on, and she was telling an audience member that name of the ghost that was haunting her house was...

 

"John!" I exclaimed.

 

..."John," Syvlia said.

 

See? Anyone can do it!

[Thackerie]

Sylvia Brown is a kook who needs to be shot.

 

More like a clever con-artist who is bilking naive people and laughing all the way to the bank, as are all professional psychics.

 

But, I had to laugh the other day when I was channel surfing and caught a few minutes of her on the Montel Williams Show. She was saying that she had a message for someone from a man whose name starts with J -- "Jim, John ... " -- and that's when someone in the audience shouted out that her deceased father was named John. "Yes, John, that's it!" (Of course, in any group of more than a few people, someone is bound to have a deceased male friend or relative whose name started with J, and someone always supplies a name to go with the initial, not realizing they've been set up.)

 

Anyway, Brown described John as a handsome young man of about 30. When the audience member objected that her father was over 80 when he died, Ms. Brown informed her that "Over there, we are all 30." Asked why, she said, "That's just the way it is."

 

Well, I thought, that might create a problem for me. My parents were in their late 40s when I came along. Not sure I'll recognize them "over there."

[HadouKen24]

See... when I look at people making extraordinary claims, the first thing I ask myself is if what they're saying is coherent. Can this possibly make sense? Do the words this person is using have any meaning?

 

I've run into a lot of weird ideas that pass that test. Most of them don't pan out in the end.

 

Sylvia Brown, on the other hand, can't make it even that far. I can't make heads or tails of what she says. It's all a lot of white-light blather, as far as I can tell.

[DeathWorship]

http://www.randi.org/media/sylviabrowneagrees.mov

 

it has been 280 weeks since she accepted it and she still hasn't proven dick. she is a fraud.

[LosingMyReligion]

Yes, I keep thinking the samethings you all have mentioned...

 

As I become more skeptical about certain things I keep wondering whether or not she's full of shit now...

 

All of her ideology seems to be an amalgamation of: christianity, eastern philosophies, and whatever else...

 

Everything was just vague and in general sometimes...And more than not it seems like she fishes for answers...

 

And she ALWAYS tells people in the audience something positive...She never tells someone they are going to die in a few years...Moreover, she tells every hag in the audience that she'll meet the man of her dreams in a few months...

 

I don't know. But I am getting disillusioned by her.

[Dhampir]

Sylvia Brown, Authentic or Fraudulent?

... ... You have to ask?

[Variable]

Sylvia Brown claims she is a gnostic Christian

[Ouroboros]

http://www.randi.org/media/sylviabrowneagrees.mov

 

it has been 280 weeks since she accepted it and she still hasn't proven dick. she is a fraud.

Don't you know? It proves that she's real! She have premonitions about the Randi Test. She's avoiding it with purpose, because she's psychic and knows that she will fail it!

[Guest Egregore]

See... when I look at people making extraordinary claims, the first thing I ask myself is if what they're saying is coherent. Can this possibly make sense? Do the words this person is using have any meaning?

 

I've run into a lot of weird ideas that pass that test. Most of them don't pan out in the end.

 

Sylvia Brown, on the other hand, can't make it even that far. I can't make heads or tails of what she says. It's all a lot of white-light blather, as far as I can tell.

 

Yeah, she's fluffier than a wiccan on ecstacy. I think she takes to long to come up with these GENERIC first names, and it's always "Umm.. [insert name here]". Anyways, I read a few of her books, and I thought her ideas are novel, but she's too Christian-like, with al the good vs. evil stuff. I don't believe in an absoulte evil, or an absolute good; I believe in polarity. That's just me. Don't believe anything I say.

 

.. I believe in polarity. That's just me.

 

By the way, I meant total polarity, as in, no one existing thing is either way all the time. Just thought 'd clarify myself.

[-Demona-]

Sylvia Brown claims she is a gnostic Christian

She just rips off the Christ Consciousness part of Gnostic Christianity, and very little else. Real Gnosticism (ie. the classical Gnosticism that Neo-Gnosticism is based on) is a lot less fluffy. Gnosticism is more like the Satanist son that even the most liberally Christian family wouldn't acknowledge is a Satanist.

 

(Just as a side note: one of the beliefs I've assimilated into my own weird Pagan amalgamation is Luciferian Gnosticism. The ancient precursor to modern Levayan Satanism. Definitely not fluffy light stuff here.)

[Guest Ghost In The Machine]

Sylvia Browne is a HACK. Montel is an idiot.

[HuaiDan]

what happens if you die under the age of 30?

[HadouKen24]

You cease to exist. People under 30 don't have souls. That's when you get it. Usually in the mail. In a jar.

[Lizard]

I'm no fan of Sylvia's..nor am I a fan of Randi. I find them both disgusting.

 

There are things that are unexplainable and unprovable. Because an event is unprovable does not make it false-just unproven.

 

Have you ever watched Psychic Detectives? And there's one other...Haunting Evidence. Not sure how real they are, but they are fun to watch.

 

There have been psychics used on cold case type crimes. And, some very good hits too. My thoughts are why don't all these TV psychics put their "skills" to better use and solve all these cases? Perhaps find Bin Laden? Instead of telling every woman she will meet the man of her dreams soon..

[euphgeek]

I'm no fan of Sylvia's..nor am I a fan of Randi. I find them both disgusting.

I agree. I just love it when Randi's followers quote the million dollar challenge as if passing it would prove anything. I find Randi to be a lot like Kent Hovind in that respect. And Sylvia Browne may or may not have psychic abilities, but she makes a lot of the legitimate psychics and mediums look bad when she starts saying kooky things.

There are things that are unexplainable and unprovable. Because an event is unprovable does not make it false-just unproven.

 

Have you ever watched Psychic Detectives? And there's one other...Haunting Evidence. Not sure how real they are, but they are fun to watch.

I love Psychic Detectives. I try to watch it whenever it's on. I've never seen Haunting Evidence, though. What channel is it on?

There have been psychics used on cold case type crimes. And, some very good hits too. My thoughts are why don't all these TV psychics put their "skills" to better use and solve all these cases? Perhaps find Bin Laden? Instead of telling every woman she will meet the man of her dreams soon..

You know what I think? I think bin Laden was found and killed a few months after 9/11, and the government is covering it up in order to not make a martyr out of him.

[Variable]

She just rips off the Christ Consciousness part of Gnostic Christianity, and very little else. Real Gnosticism (ie. the classical Gnosticism that Neo-Gnosticism is based on) is a lot less fluffy. Gnosticism is more like the Satanist son that even the most liberally Christian family wouldn't acknowledge is a Satanist.

 

(Just as a side note: one of the beliefs I've assimilated into my own weird Pagan amalgamation is Luciferian Gnosticism. The ancient precursor to modern Levayan Satanism. Definitely not fluffy light stuff here.)

 

Really? I never made the connection between gnostism and Satanism. All I've ever heard about gnosticism is that they believe "salvation" comes through special knowledge and matter is evil. Interesting. I'd like to hear more about the relation. What is Luciferian Gnosticism?

[Guest Shiva H. Vishnu]

I just love it when Randi's followers quote the million dollar challenge as if passing it would prove anything.

 

Um, passing the challenge would be objective proof of whatever ability was being tested. And what do you mean by "Randi's followers"? Skeptics? People who aren't convinced by psychic cop shows on cable tv? I just love it when credulous woowoos speak of the JREF challenge disdainfully. Run and get your favorite pet psychic and see if they have any interest in the million dollar prize. Anything that is real is provable in some way. It's the burden of the lazy minded to assume anything different.

[vampyre]

I am undecided on most psychics. Perhaps psychic phenomena is true and we just don't have the technology to test it yet? Then again, maybe it is all false.

[Guest Neo-Agnostic - Vulgaris]

I am undecided on most psychics. Perhaps psychic phenomena is true and we just don't have the technology to test it yet? Then again, maybe it is all false.

Why would someone need technology to test a simple, verifiable/falsifiable claim? All one needs is to test their ability to get something right having never seen it before.

 

Many have tried, all have failed. Simple as that.

[euphgeek]

I just love it when Randi's followers quote the million dollar challenge as if passing it would prove anything.

 

Um, passing the challenge would be objective proof of whatever ability was being tested.

Or possibly that they were good enough to fool Randi. Randi is no scientist, he is merely a man with a gimmick.

And what do you mean by "Randi's followers"? Skeptics? People who aren't convinced by psychic cop shows on cable tv?

I mean anyone who denies the existence of psychic phenomena based mostly on the fact that no one has won Randi's prize money. Also, anyone who believes that just because a person who claims psychic powers is not interested in the challenge, that automatically means they're a fraud.

I just love it when credulous woowoos speak of the JREF challenge disdainfully. Run and get your favorite pet psychic and see if they have any interest in the million dollar prize. Anything that is real is provable in some way. It's the burden of the lazy minded to assume anything different.

Speaking of being lazy, I just love it when self-proclaimed "skeptics" rely on the word of Randi to tell them whether or not to believe in psychic abilities and then get up on their high horse believing that they are the only ones who are rational. If a person doesn't want to believe it's possible, they should just say so. They don't need to use Randi as an excuse for their close-mindedness.

[-Demona-]

Really? I never made the connection between gnostism and Satanism. All I've ever heard about gnosticism is that they believe "salvation" comes through special knowledge and matter is evil. Interesting. I'd like to hear more about the relation. What is Luciferian Gnosticism?

Luciferian Gnosticism, basically, is the perception of the angel Lucifer not as an adversary to mankind but a liberator. Basically, the Judeo-Christian version of Prometheus. This article may help explain it a little better.

 

Oh, and not all Gnostics believed physical matter to be evil. That belief came from, IIRC, the Mandean Gnostics. Which is a whole 'nother animal. There's many different Gnostic traditions going back through the millennia that some traditions have very little in common with one another now. A few survived the Orthodoxy taking control of the Roman Empire, and others have been reconstructed from the texts the ancient Gnostics left behind. Luciferian Gnosticism is one of the ones that never completely died out.

 

(As an aside: One of the things that still gets me is the common misperception that you have to be a Christian to be a Gnostic. You don't.)

 

If Ms. Browne follows any Gnostic tradition at all, it's a fluffy new-age watered-down one. As I recall, she calls her fluff-bunny spiritual beliefs "Novus Spiritus".

[Guest Shiva H. Vishnu]

Or possibly that they were good enough to fool Randi. Randi is no scientist, he is merely a man with a gimmick.

 

What does that make you? A man with a keyboard? Have you read the JREF forum? Have you seen the people who apply floundering for a set of circumstances in which they might be able to pull the wool over someone's eyes? Have you seen them back away pridefully when it becomes clear to them that the JREF money will not be won by chicanery?

 

I've read hundreds of correspondence threads by folks who at one point thought they might be able to con that million dollars out of Randi. To date there have been few who could even agree on a testing protocol that didnt leave them huge backdoors for deceit. You mungbeas who poopoo the JREF challenge out of hand might be edified by a look at the JREF forums. No one would be more pleased with one of the woowoos actually being able to pay up than Randi IMHO.

 

I mean anyone who denies the existence of psychic phenomena based mostly on the fact that no one has won Randi's prize money.

 

Strawman, meet my cock. Say hello. Don't kiss him. Name someone whom you think you just described. I bet you a million dollars I don't know em.

 

Also, anyone who believes that just because a person who claims psychic powers is not interested in the challenge, that automatically means they're a fraud.

 

I don't know you. Perhaps you are performing some sociological experiment where looking like a complete stupid fucking moron actually will get you an A. If not, I'm sorry, bt you need to not say such stupid things. It leaves people with little recourse other than to assume you're a moron.

 

No one here is judging the claims of woowoos simply because they don't have the confidence in their abilities to submit to testing. But it sure doesn't help theiur case, now does it? Are you suggesting that because these charlatans refuse to submit to testing that they are somehoe legitimised by that fact? Sir, you must save yourself from the eddy of stupidity thats mixing your starbucks latte right now.

 

Speaking of being lazy, I just love it when self-proclaimed "skeptics" rely on the word of Randi to tell them whether or not to believe in psychic abilities and then get up on their high horse believing that they are the only ones who are rational. If a person doesn't want to believe it's possible, they should just say so. They don't need to use Randi as an excuse for their close-mindedness.

 

Seriously, doofus, if James Randi had never lived your heroes wouldn't be anymore substantial. I understand how vocal skeptics threaten your world view, but it doesn't inspire respect in me. Try to forget that James Randi exists, becaue you are far more enamored of him than enyone else I've met. Try to focus on the utter emptyness of your position, the complete lack of evidence for your side, the historical record which is your bane, the science of reality which confuses you at every turn. Your greatest fear is that you've wasted your lazy mind sopping up easy nonsense whilst others have been prying incessantly at the real fabric of reality. Enjoy your metaphysical Barbies.