The Occult

[Panther]

I used to believe in these weird type of happenings like ghosts, etc.

Now that I left christianity, I am questioning myself in all areas of my life and belief systems.

What do you guys think about weird spiritual happenings?

 

Do you think they are true or false? Do you think they are true, but sensibly explained?

Opinions?

Thanks, I have been wanting to disucss this....

 

Oh and please feel free to discuss anything that would fall under this category.

[LadyFeline]

First off, let me just say that I hardly think that ghosts are "occult" in nature, and there have been some reasonable explanations for what they may be ("imprints" a person/people left on a particular place, electromagnetic disturbances, sub-audial vibrations, etc)

 

As for other things...?

 

We do not yet understand how the human brain works. Some people may be capable of great displays of mental abilities that could be described as "supernatural", but are really just functions of the brain that are not understood, are uncommon, and are thus hard to "scientifically" document - things like telepathy, clairvoyance, etc. Things like this may seem rooted in the supernatural, but probably just have to do with higher brain functions that have not been fully examined at this point (After all, our brains give off "waves" that can be measured by electronic instruments. I think that these may have something to do with "telepathy"/et al - ie: when our brain waves fall in sync with another persons', we may, for a moment, be able to subconsciously access his immediate thoughts, thereby briefly "reading his mind")

 

Am I confusing you yet?

 

Also, our brains are very adept at tricking us - hypochondriacs are a good example of this. Ergo, some people may be more susceptible to "occult" epxeriences, simply because their brains have convinced them that supernatural things are happening (ie: they think they "feel" spirits, or energies flowing through them; when, in reality, those things are just their brains playing tricks)

[godlessgrrl]

I'm presuming you mean ghosts, ESP, paranormal events, etc. etc. here - correct me if I'm wrong. My general attitude about it is, people do see weird stuff. I'm generally skeptical about the reasons why people see weird stuff, meaning that I'm not going to assume an explanation without exploring the issue. I figure there are probably a gazillion reasons why people see weird things, ranging from their brain misfiring for some reason (illness, stress, whatever) to observations of phenomena that we just don't quite understand yet.

 

Being pagan, I don't see paranormal events as being outside of nature. That is, I don't consider them "supernatural". To me, they are contained within the natural world just like everything else, and can probably be explained in that context.

 

Mostly I just like paranormal stuff because it reminds me that humanity doesn't know everything yet.

[Lizard]

Repent, I say! and again, I say REPENT!! That stuff is of the devil!!

 

Ok..just playing..

 

I think there are too many things that are unexplained..could all be a mind trick..or could be real. I'm still exploring all the possibilities..not closing the mind to any of them at this point..

[Merlinfmct87]

First off, let me just say that I hardly think that ghosts are "occult" in nature, and there have been some reasonable explanations for what they may be ("imprints" a person/people left on a particular place, electromagnetic disturbances, sub-audial vibrations, etc)

 

As for other things...?

 

We do not yet understand how the human brain works. Some people may be capable of great displays of mental abilities that could be described as "supernatural", but are really just functions of the brain that are not understood, are uncommon, and are thus hard to "scientifically" document - things like telepathy, clairvoyance, etc. Things like this may seem rooted in the supernatural, but probably just have to do with higher brain functions that have not been fully examined at this point (After all, our brains give off "waves" that can be measured by electronic instruments. I think that these may have something to do with "telepathy"/et al - ie: when our brain waves fall in sync with another persons', we may, for a moment, be able to subconsciously access his immediate thoughts, thereby briefly "reading his mind")

 

Am I confusing you yet?

 

Also, our brains are very adept at tricking us - hypochondriacs are a good example of this. Ergo, some people may be more susceptible to "occult" epxeriences, simply because their brains have convinced them that supernatural things are happening (ie: they think they "feel" spirits, or energies flowing through them; when, in reality, those things are just their brains playing tricks)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

That fits me pretty well. Why reinvent the wheel?

 

Merlin

[Cerise]

Oh I dunno, I think David Blaine is pretty neat. I just watched Street Magic on the Learning Channel.

[TruthWarrior]

Oh I dunno, I think David Blaine is pretty neat.  I just watched Street Magic on the Learning Channel.    

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I've been watching his shows too. I was curious, so I found out how he "levitates". It's the "Balducci levitation" trick. All you do is stand on your toes on one foot and "levitate" the other. The trick is being at just the right angle to the viewer.

 

They say Blaine "cheated" on the TV show too by levitating with wires. Then he editing the wires out and mixed it in with the reactions of the people to that real Balducci trick.

 

Funny Balducci story I found on the net:

 

I learned this levitation years and years ago, but never saw it performed by anyone before I knew of the method. So, would I have been fooled by it? Don't know. I was just a kid then.

 

However, I will tell you that I have had instances where I could have started religions after performing the Balducci levitation. I did it once for a family at a restaurant where I performed while they were sitting at their table. The mother and father screamed and she kept saying "Oh my God". The kids were smiling and giving me wows. They thought it was cool.

 

Did it for a "new age" girl and she began to cry, presumably because I had just confirmed something that she "had always known to be true". In this instance it was necessary to explain that it was only an illusion. I didn't tell her how it was done, though.

 

Did it for some close friends in my living room and they flipped. I could go on, but you get the point.

 

You have to choose your spectators and moments carefully. I don't do it very often, and even less now that everybody and their brothers are doing it. But, when the time is right, I go for it.

 

I once even repeated it for the same group. They were nailed a second time. Normally, I would never do such a thing, but I could tell it would be okay with these people.

 

And, mind you, the people in the stories above were not idiots. It's all about the packaging.

 

The rest is just card tricks (those are his best) and "endurance" tricks.

[Sokudo Ningyou]

I've experienced odd shit, but as it all had to do with electrical devices, I've long figured "ghosts" are most likely nothing more than electrical in origin, or perhaps the bioelectric impulses still working long after exiting the body. Who knows?

 

 

When I still lived at home, I had both strange experiences. One was when I was on the phone - cordless type - in my room, which was lit only by a touch lamp. Halfway into the conversation, the phone erupted with static, through which I tried asking the other person if it was on their end, and if they could hear me. I hung up the phone just as the lamp went out.

The odd thing was when I touched the lamp to turn it on - remember, it's touch activated - it wouldn't go on. Tried again. Still wouldn't. Got a bit freaked out by the third try, but it finally went on. Brushed it off as paranoia, though I knew I'd been touching the metal to activate it, and there was no reason for it not to have worked.

Called my friend back up and asked if he knew what happened. He said all he heard was me asking him what the noise was, and telling him I'd call back. Not a bit of static.

 

A little while after that, I was sitting at the family computer in the living room early in the morning, and I started hearing odd noises from the entertainment system; that kind of odd whine that comes from feedback, but not quite. Even though everything was turned off, the noise kept coming out of the speakers at random intervals, driving me nuts.

The next morning, the same thing happened; except it had moved to the old radiator.

The next morning after that, I had my headphones on, because my dad liked to nap on the couch before work. The noise started in my headphones, which I then pulled off, thinking it was in the radiator and I was imagining things. Nope. No one else seemed to be hearing it but me, and I was halfway between writing it off as some electrical problem and something completely crazy.

One morning, I went to bed early, after several days of the noise. Before I fell asleep, I could hear the noise downstairs again, which, in an old farmhouse, is spooky enough. Whatever. It had to be electrical, right?

Then the bloody noise started in my clock radio. Right behind my head. Tiny little box. Barely worked tolerably. It started making the noise. I didn't sleep well that night.

Over a few more days, however, it finally stopped, and I didn't hear it since. I still think it was some kind of electrical disruption, but how, and why, I don't know. I can't understand it. All I know is, it freaked the piss out of me, and shouldn't have been possible.

 

Damn electromagnetic waves or....something.

[Guest bdp]

When I was about nine I heard a voice speak my name - my brother was with me and heard it too, we were playing outside far enough away from the house that someone would have had to shout at us from there and anyway after a quick glance in all directions we saw that there was nobody around but us. We ran for the house real fast; I still have never found an adequate explanation for that incident so I can accept 'supernatural' occurances in the sense of things that are aberrations. My own opinion is that anything that is repeated and duplicated ('psychics') is a trick or illusion of some kind.

 

bdp

[Christopher Carrion]

People are always highly willing to impose narrative rational on phenomena that has no immediate or apparent explanation, simply because it reinforces an imbedded desire for mythological purpose and romanticism that lends definition and a semblance of mystery to existence. The segregation of reality into the "normal" and the "paranormal" is not only ridiculous; it is utterly redundant. The paranormal is simply the normal awaiting an explanation. It is a given to me that there are and will always be aspects of existence which defy our current modes of preception and rationale; what I despise are the charlatans who immediately leap on any strange noise, or unusual shadow, or seemingly inexplicable movement as evidence of some spiritual or "other worldly" engagement. Be open, but also be sceptical, be critical, and be objective. Never immediately assume based on what you would like to see, and never, ever, ever listen to spiritualists, mediums, psychics or any other person who claims knowledge of such matters over and beyond anyone else. There are psychologists currently functioning in the world who can replicate every paranormal event, every psychic pehnomena, every reading, every poltergeist, every seance not because they have overt paranormal faculties, but because they are simply aware of the psychological techniques used by so-called spiritualists down the ages to invoke a state of profiund suggestibility and to induce behaviour.