Synchronicity

[Guest Davka]

Has anyone else had experiences that seem way beyond coincidence? Here are two examples:

 

- Hitchhiking through California in the springtime, I got dropped off in Mt. Shasta. It was snowing, which I was totally unprepared for. And I got dropped off a couple of miles from the only decent onramp in town, so I was trudging through the snow, freezing my ass off. This was way before I was a Christian, but I had a sort of pantheistic belief in god, so as I walked I kept repeating to myself in my mind, "God told me to talk to you." I was trying to send a message through the cosmos to another person somewhere, because I was seriously cold and hungry.

 

Got to the part of town where the onramp is. Went behind a grocery store to check the dumpster for something to eat (you'd be surprised what they throw away). Nothing. But as I started to walk away, this guy saw me. walked over, and said "God told me to talk to you." He turned out to be a New Ager kind of person, and he fed me nice hot food and gave me a spare pair of warm shoes to wear. Very cool. Or warm. Whatever.

 

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- Soon after getting married, our car was almost out of gas and we were flat broke. So we prayed for guidance on what to do: we had enough gas to either go into town or go to our P.O. box, in the opposite direction. I thought I heard God tell me to go to the P.O. box, because there was $15 waiting for us. I told my wife there was $15 in our P.O. box. So we drove to the P.O. box, and there was a letter from a long-forgotten relative, with a "congrats on your marriage" card and a check for $15.

 

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I can't explain these kinds of things. There are other odd stories as well, but these two stand out as really, really weird. They both seem beyond the realm of simple coincidence. Lots of the stuff I used to attribute to god is easily explainable, but a few of them are just - weird.

 

Anyone else have similar stories?

[♦ Fuego ♦]

Yep. I was once considering marrying a particular woman and she was definitely interested in me. I asked some friends and they basically gasped and said Noooooo, bad idea. I didn't see what they were seeing. I mulled it over for quite a while and one morning as I was in bed I decided to ask God straight out. So I rolled out of bed, got on my knees and asked "Should I marry Linda?" "No."

 

It was just like he was in the room next to me. I heard the "No." loud and clear.

 

But I decided to double-check, so I said something like "Please don't be angry, but You know I have a very active imagination, so I need to ask that question one more time. Should I.." "NO!"

 

Much louder that time.

 

I responded "'Nuff said, it's off."

 

There were two other times I was spoken to in this way, once when I had been praying and fasting off an on for about a month. I had been concerned about a girl in the church that was dating a shady character. Wehn I sat down in the Sunday service he spoke "She is at his house in bed with him right now." I called and talked with her, and she verified it.

 

The third time was when I was getting really angry with a clown-lady as I was standing in line for an evangelist service. As she got closer doing her stupid clown antics, my anger was ready to pop. Right as she approached me, I heard the same voice quietly say "Don't be mean to her." The anger was unplugged - poof! She did her bit and moved on.

 

There is other stuff with power surging through me and my wife, and heat pouring down seemingly from nowhere, but the voice stands out most clearly.

[Kathlene]

What I want to know is if people from other faiths, beliefs and religions experience these sort of coincidences.

I was once on my way to go to a very important meeting. I had some papers in a folder that I carried with me on the bus. I got off that bus and completely forgot them. I cried and got very stressed because I didn't notice them missing for ages so I couldn't just flail the bus down and get them. They were private papers. Anyway I was very distressed. I happened to be near my church. So I walked in and explained it to them in tears. They prayed for me and suddenly I felt the most incredible peace ever. I walked around town until my appointment. I walked into the appointment knowing I didn't have these papers that were vital and needed signing. Just as I was about to go in the receptionist came up and said someone popped in and handed this folder to her. Did they belong to me? Holy moly you could of knocked me out with a feather. The person who handed them in had read the appointment time and date in the papers and had actually walked all the way and handed them in to these offices. That is one experience that has always freaked me out. I am curious though to know if other religions experience these coincidences. Some things I can't explain.

 

 

When I used to think about this stuff I would get stressed about all the starving people in the world in hideous circumstances and wonder why God wasn't doing anything in their lives? I thought he was cruel. Other christians used to say it was cause it's not a christian continent. (Africa). Then I would think hang on yes it is. Christianity is huge in Africa. Why is it so easy for people to be so irreverant of other people's pain and suffering?

[Guest Davka]

What I want to know is if people from other faiths, beliefs and religions experience these sort of coincidences.

I've heard similar stories from Orthodox Jews. And once I heard a similar story from a neoPagan, into Norse gods and stuff. So I don't think it's a Jesus thing, and I'm not even sure it's a "god" thing in any sense that people usually think of god. More Jungian maybe? Collective consciousness?

 

When I used to think about this stuff I would get stressed about all the starving people in the world in hideous circumstances and wonder why God wasn't doing anything in their lives? I thought he was cruel. Other christians used to say it was cause it's not a christian continent. (Africa). Then I would think hang on yes it is. Christianity is huge in Africa. Why is it so easy for people to be so irreverant of other people's pain and suffering?

Yeah, that's just nuts. Like god cares about the west but not the third world?

 

Reminds me of those football games where the winning quarterback thanks Jesus for winning the game - just once I'd like to see the losing quarterback blame Jesus for giving the win to the other side.

[Thurisaz]

What I want to know is if people from other faiths, beliefs and religions experience these sort of coincidences.

 

Yes.

 

Consider the story I told before in here, about that thunderstorm night. If that wasn't a good example, then what can ever be?

 

(For those who don't yet know the story or don't remember it:

 

Nightshift, I look out of the window and see a thunderstorm lighting up the night somewhere far South. I get out of the building to enjoy the show - yes I love thunderstorms. Suddenly I feel like hailing Thor, who of course is the deity responsible for lightning et al in my faith. So I raise my coffee cup... speak out into the night "Welcome Thor, nice to have you close"...

 

...and a second after that I see one chain of cloud-to-cloud lightning directly above my head. After that, it's back to lightshow in the South.

 

Does it happen to those of other faiths too? I'd say this is a good answer )

 

That said: How often do those weird things not happen, and how often do we remember the positive and negative occasions? If in one case out of ten something weird happens, how well will we remember the one time and how well the other nine?

 

You know what I mean...

[par4dcourse]

Even with an event that has a one in a million shot at happening, that one will eventually happen. Humans also tend to dismiss the million and remember the one odd time. Positive theory reinforcement.

I've had some seemingly unreal coincidences too, but it's all just odds. Nothing supernatural to see here, move along.

[Guest Davka]

Even with an event that has a one in a million shot at happening, that one will eventually happen. Humans also tend to dismiss the million and remember the one odd time. Positive theory reinforcement.

Yes, I'm quite aware of that. And yes, I do remember the million. It's one of the reasons I left Christianity - too many miracles failed to happen.

 

But I still think there's more at work than simple statistical inevitability at work. That doesn't mean it's supernatural, just that there's something in the natural that we're really not quite getting yet.

 

Quantum physics hints at a mechanism that could be at work which seems "miraculous" in the same way that radio and TV would seem miraculous to primitive peoples. Quantum entanglement, uncertainty, superposition - these and other properties of subatomic particles seem "supernatural" on the surface, but they aren't. They're just telling us that the universe is far more complex and interconnected than it looks to the naked eye.

[Guest Antonym]

I guess there are a number of weird things I can't explain...I grew up in the Far East, and have travelled to a lot of different countries, and I think the weirdest things tend to happen in Asia, South America and Africa. I think this is why there is a strong belief in God(s), demons, and spirits etc. out there.

 

Once, back in Malaysia, someone was asleep and started to levitate a couple of feet off the floor, and my mother and two others had to hold her down. They prayed their guts out that night!

 

I remember being in a large conference room in Brazil, and there were a few hundred of us. Suddenly, we all felt an invisible force that pushed us around, and pushed people to the ground! It was SOOOO weird - both to feel and to see others experiencing it too...it was as if we were caught in some kind of slow whirlwind, without any wind!

 

I've spoken to SO many people from around the world, and it seems that mostly, Asians, Africans and South Americans have these weird experiences, while Westerners tend not to...and I'm not too sure why...but what they tell me is that they are reluctant to tell Western friends because Westerners think they're mad or having a psychotic episode or something.

 

It wasn't till I was 28 that I experienced something as weird as invisible forces...perhaps it's because I'm half Asian? (j/k)

[par4dcourse]

Quantum physics hints at a mechanism that could be at work which seems "miraculous" in the same way that radio and TV would seem miraculous to primitive peoples. Quantum entanglement, uncertainty, superposition - these and other properties of subatomic particles seem "supernatural" on the surface, but they aren't. They're just telling us that the universe is far more complex and interconnected than it looks to the naked eye.

Agreed. I'm a bit of a Quantum Mechanics fan myself, and I agree we're far from understanding more than an inkling of what lies ahead.

Love the avatar. I send my grandkids into hysterics mimicing John Travolta.

[florduh]

I think the weirdest things tend to happen in Asia, South America and Africa. I think this is why there is a strong belief in God(s), demons, and spirits etc. out there.

 

I think it works in the reverse. Ignorance and superstition cause people to mentally manufacture evidence to support their beliefs. Catholics (most commonly third world types, not the well educated) think they see the Virgin Mary everywhere, while traditional beliefs in ghosts, devils, ancestors, levitation, animal spirits and the like are 'experienced' only in their appropriate cultures. Industrialized nations tend to have more alien abductions than demonic activity. Chinese farmers may encounter some demons and ancestral ghosts, but usually they don't have to worry about the flying saucers from other planets which dominate weird experiences in the US and Britain.

 

If miraculous things happened in reality and not just in the minds of the believers, the events would be universally witnessed. Hindus would see visions of Mary, German college professors would witness levitations, and Baptist ministers would see ghostly ancestors. It's cultural expectation that creates specific miracles.

[PaulQ]

I guess there are a number of weird things I can't explain...I grew up in the Far East, and have travelled to a lot of different countries, and I think the weirdest things tend to happen in Asia, South America and Africa. I think this is why there is a strong belief in God(s), demons, and spirits etc. out there.

 

Once, back in Malaysia, someone was asleep and started to levitate a couple of feet off the floor, and my mother and two others had to hold her down. They prayed their guts out that night!

 

I remember being in a large conference room in Brazil, and there were a few hundred of us. Suddenly, we all felt an invisible force that pushed us around, and pushed people to the ground! It was SOOOO weird - both to feel and to see others experiencing it too...it was as if we were caught in some kind of slow whirlwind, without any wind!

 

I've spoken to SO many people from around the world, and it seems that mostly, Asians, Africans and South Americans have these weird experiences, while Westerners tend not to...and I'm not too sure why...but what they tell me is that they are reluctant to tell Western friends because Westerners think they're mad or having a psychotic episode or something.

 

It wasn't till I was 28 that I experienced something as weird as invisible forces...perhaps it's because I'm half Asian? (j/k)

 

I wonder if a lot of this has to do with their differing attitude towards things such as as cannabis and opium.

[Guest Antonym]

If miraculous things happened in reality and not just in the minds of the believers, the events would be universally witnessed. Hindus would see visions of Mary, German college professors would witness levitations, and Baptist ministers would see ghostly ancestors. It's cultural expectation that creates specific miracles.

 

True...I'm not sure if you know much about Islam, but generally they are very hostile to Christian evangelism of any sort. In the country I grew up in, people were put in prison for becoming Christian. Muslims do not tend to convert to Christianity by argument. This is why the majority of Muslims who become Christian do so because they have visions or dreams of Jesus.

 

Sadhu Sundar Singh was a Hindu Brahman that was about to commit suicide when he had a vision of Jesus.

 

Or the Jewish woman who died, had an NDE, and saw Jesus. She was shocked because she didn't believe in him.

 

I don't think the visions of Jesus necessarily make Christianity true. But people do have weird experiences that defy their cultural expectations.

 

Plus, weird things happen in groups (without the use of drugs).

 

My experience was certainly unexpected! I used to defend the doctrine of an eternal hell. Once I went to bible college and started studying theology, I believed in Conditional Immortality rather than an Eternal hell. It was only because one day I heard an audible voice say to me "Hi, I'm God, and I'm a Universalist, what's more I am everyone...so everyone's going to get there in the end".

 

That was not my expectation, neither culturally nor theologically...I didn't think that would happen, and I know it doesn't happen to most Christians in the UK, but hey, it's what caused the crisis of Faith in my life, as I started to question everything I had believed until that point.

 

That's what led me to become a Spiritual Agnostic. I really don't know what the unseen means...whether there is an actual God (Boss of the universe) or whether it's something else that says it's God. Which is why I decided not become a missionary, pastor or theologian. (Seriously, I was a good preacher! lol) But I do know the experiences are real. Even if the experiences may not be what we think they are...

[florduh]

Even if the experiences may not be what we think they are...

 

Some think that generically supernatural events actually occur but are interpreted differently across the human spectrum as they get filtered through the individual mind's preconceptions and expectations. So far in human history there is no evidence of these events other than anecdotal. By now we should have some photographic records of miracles, some artifacts, but we still only have stories from people in agitated emotional states.

 

There is no doubt that people around the world have weird experiences. The kinds of experiences vary greatly from culture to culture, and there is some overlap. I have also witnessed the weird myself. I have also seen hypnosis and the power of suggestion at work.

 

Knowing what I do of psychology and how the human mind works, and the way perception and memory function for us, I know that even my own perceived experience needs independent corroboration before I can assume it is in fact a reality.

[bird28]

Once I left the mental hospital for the first time... I had two text messages on my cell phone with the name of my favorite video game and followed by gibberish. They scared me so I deleted them. Either some sort of psychic surge, or I was still hallucinating. Though I didn't really hallucinate like that when I was in the hospital, I was mostly having bizarre delusions.

[Guest Davka]

Even if the experiences may not be what we think they are...

Some think that generically supernatural events actually occur but are interpreted differently across the human spectrum as they get filtered through the individual mind's preconceptions and expectations. So far in human history there is no evidence of these events other than anecdotal. By now we should have some photographic records of miracles, some artifacts, but we still only have stories from people in agitated emotional states.

The question I find interesting is this: Why have humans evolved brains which are hardwired to have these sorts of experiences? What possible evolutionary advantage could be conferred by having "supernatural" hallucinations?

 

I am, of course, rashly positing that such is the case, because religious experience is so widespread across cultures. Discarding the possibility that supernatural events occur only when no possibility of empirical evidence exists, we are left with the interpretation that the human brain has a serious glitch of some sort which causes random psychotic episodes.

 

Either that or Loki is seriously fucking with our heads.

[florduh]

Why have humans evolved brains which are hardwired to have these sorts of experiences?

 

The eternal question.

 

I think that because we evolved to a point where we could contemplate our mortality, the woo-woo gene developed to help us cope with the idea of our own death. If we can imagine we have immortal souls that are independent of the body, we needn't fear the death we're so painfully aware of. That opens a whole world of possible spiritual propositions, and every culture has built their own mythologies around the idea of a supernatural world. Now that our brains realize that we will surely die, it's a comforting thought that there is more to reality than is apparent.

 

Unfortunately, other than the widespread stories of diverse mystical happenings, there is no real evidence. I have come to trust the rational approach as the most likely path to the truth about reality. Emotions, desire, auditory and visual hallucination, selective memory, suggestibility and the way our brains generally process raw data is highly suspect when determining what is real and what is imagined. There will likely always be unanswered questions and mysterious encounters, but not knowing the real answer yet doesn't imply a supernatural cause. There are always much more plausible explanations so we don't need to jump to "the demon possessed me" or "the aliens abducted me" as the most likely answers.

[jdog]

I experience synchronicity often, and the weired. Usually it's just small things, but I still have the

"whoa that's weired" reaction. It's entertaining and usually something I have to tell someone.

 

The other day my husband was with me on one of these 'weired' things. It's simple but cool.

 

Recently I was wearing a t shirt I have never worn before, it has pictures of dandelions and the little seeds floating in the air on it.

My husband made a comment about it being a cool shirt and it being unusual and so we had a short convo on it. Very shortly after we sat down to watch a movie, and in the movie was this bazaar unrelated scene where the character was walking through this fantasy type garden with giant dandelion seed heads blowing in the breeze and the seeds floating in the air. Husband and I just looked at eachother, and just thought it was soooo weired because we just had the whole t shirt conversation about the dandelions on my shirt blah blah blah. And the thing is this scene in the movie didn't really jive with the rest of the movie, it was just odd.

 

I love things like this. It happens often.

[RankStranger]

Nothing like this ever happens to me. EVER.

 

No difficult coincidences... no voices in my head. I've barely ever seen, felt, tasted, smelled or heard anything that I felt was even REMOTELY unexplainable. And it's kinda boring.

 

Pretty much everybody in my wife's family has seen ghosts. Some of them have seen UFO's. I know people who saw a Sasquatch (in KANSAS?!?!). There are black helicopters, cattle mutilations, critters that aren't supposed to BE around here (ok, I DID see a mountain lion once, and they are 'officially' NOT in Kansas, but this is pretty explainable), angels, psychic abilities, visions of hell... I've met people who have seen ALL these. But somehow I'm not in on the joke. And I'm kinda disappointed.

[Guest Davka]

Nothing like this ever happens to me. EVER.

 

No difficult coincidences... no voices in my head. I've barely ever seen, felt, tasted, smelled or heard anything that I felt was even REMOTELY unexplainable. And it's kinda boring.

 

Pretty much everybody in my wife's family has seen ghosts. Some of them have seen UFO's. I know people who saw a Sasquatch (in KANSAS?!?!). There are black helicopters, cattle mutilations, critters that aren't supposed to BE around here (ok, I DID see a mountain lion once, and they are 'officially' NOT in Kansas, but this is pretty explainable), angels, psychic abilities, visions of hell... I've met people who have seen ALL these. But somehow I'm not in on the joke. And I'm kinda disappointed.

I prescribe regular doses of hallucinogenic drugs. Guaranteed to cure your disappointment.

[Ozymandias]

Last week, I was lighting some tiki torches for an event I was putting on. I came to one torch that I'd left out, and the wick was soaked- no amount of time with my lighter would get it going. I spent a good 5 minutes trying to light that sucker, to no avail. So I chuckled and looked up to the night sky and said, "Well, if you could do it for Hanukkah, you could do it now."

 

Ironically, I went back to the torch and it (feebly) lit. Over the course of the night, it never went out.

 

But when I think of the hundred of prayers in my once-Christian life that never got answered, I'm not all that impressed.

[Ouroboros]

... But somehow I'm not in on the joke. And I'm kinda disappointed.

You and me both. For 30 years I was hoping God would reveal something cool, make a miracle in front of my eyes, or talk to me in a audible voice, whatever... but nope... silence only. If God doesn't give it to those who believe, and he doesn't give it to those who don't believe, but only to those who have mental problems, the conclusion is rather obvious.

[dagnarus]

If I could put in my two cents on this topic. I don't think that skeptics have to, or should be able to explain everything with science.

 

For example if we were to take the analogy of a skeptic living in a village 3000 years ago just after a volcano erupted. How should this skeptic explain this weird occurrence which he has no ability to explain should he a) put it down to a group hallucination, assume that the god living in the volcano became angry because not enough sacrifices had been given to it that year, or c) admit that he didn't know what causes a volcano to seemingly randomly erupt. The answer is of course c) because given the level of knowledge available to the skeptic 3000 years ago it is pretty much impossible for him to even guess at the correct answer to what causes volcanoes to erupt.

 

Likewise I would state that today if a skeptic is confronted with weird stuff which he can't explain that he does not need to then use science to explain it. The reason why we shouldn't jump to the conclusion that god, demons, aliens, insert deus ex machina here did it isn't because we can come up with another plausible explanation for it. The reason why we shouldn't jump to those conclusions is because we don't have evidence to suggest what any of these were the cause of it. Given this the actual explanation for the occurrence is probably more weird and wonderful than anything the crackpots could come up with.

 

It isn't the skeptical mind which thinks it understands everything in the world. It's the religious one.

[Deva]

I have had weird experiences. Although I was raised Christian, none of them had anything to do with the religion.

 

I was in my 40s before I saw an apparition. I cannot say for sure that I was not in some half asleep dream state, but she sure did seem real. It was in my house, which is a modern townhouse built around 1989. Damned if i didn't just wake up in the night and there was this woman standing there! She had her back turned to me so I couldn't see her face, then she gradually turned transparent before my eyes. Don't ridicule this, folks, she had long dark hair and a long skirt on. Maybe like a native American. Extremely detailed for a few seconds. At first I thought it was my mother, who was visiting at the time. It dawned on me that she doesn't have long hair.

 

I saw something, probably a meteor, just blaze across the sky about 5 years ago.

 

I have had a lot of close calls on the highway, and two auto accidents with minor damage that could well have been major. Sometimes I do get a feeling of being protected. That doesn't mean I believe in guardian angels, just saying.

 

At least three times I have experienced altered states of consciousness. No drugs involved. First time when I was around 7 years old. I will describe this one. I was not doing anything in particular, just looking out the screen door onto the lawn and the parking lot at the Air Force Base where we lived. I had the absolute conviction (absolute conviction on anything is quite rare for me) that I would never feel this good again in my life. Time seemed to totally stop and I knew I would always remember the moment - yet nothing was really happening! And here I am, over 40 years later, remembering it. I remember the lawn, the cars in the parking lot, the chair, etc...

 

Mechanical things seem to fix themselves in my presence. Several cases of that. Wish it would happen more often. Weird, I know.

[florduh]

Mechanical things seem to fix themselves in my presence.

 

I once saw an early picture of Pat Robertson praying over some appliances. He started a lucrative career by healing washers and dryers, so maybe you're onto something!

[Deva]

Mechanical things seem to fix themselves in my presence.

 

I once saw an early picture of Pat Robertson praying over some appliances. He started a lucrative career by healing washers and dryers, so maybe you're onto something!

 

Shit Florduh if it worked that way I wouldn't still be working in a dead end job!