I am not a believer in the paranormal really, but I don't rule it out. I am interested in it, unexplained things are always interesting. I think it would be nice if it was true, it would make me feel I was one step closer to Hogwarts.
What about ridiculing or dismissing the 'other side' not because they believe in something you don't but rather because they don't believe in something you do? You know, like saying people who don't accept things for which there is no evidence have a void in their lives?
Actually I was refuting someone's opinion that interest in paranormal comes from having a void in one's life.
I'm not mixing them up. Just giving two examples of things you have accepted as true without any evidence while claiming to be open minded.
I'm using the term 'dodgy evidence' to describe unverifiable evidence and anecdotes.
I haven't asked for your definition of what? 'Paranormal'?
OK, can I have it now?
To me, open-minded means accepting that there are events beyond are physical limitations, We can't always expect them to be proven but we can include compelling personal experience. Not everything we believe is verifiable. Love is one example.
I don't believe anything that comes along. Ghosts and mediums with a grain of salt. I think some events we call 'paranormal' will one day be accepted fact; possibly telepathic communication will be one of them.
My uncles brother was staying in a caravan and apparently woke up during the night to see something standing up the corner with long black hair and black eyes just staring at him. Needless to say this shat me up for ages. :eek: Spooked out just writing about it.
My uncles brother was staying in a caravan and apparently woke up during the night to see something standing up the corner with long black hair and black eyes just staring at him. Needless to say this shat me up for ages. :eek: Spooked out just writing about it.
I've always laughed at people who believe in ghosts and things, but a few months ago as I was trying to get to sleep I could have swore I heard my friend saying my name, I lay still and heard him say it once more and that was it, the next morning I just assumed I was dreaming. A few days later I got a phone call form my other friend telling me that the friend I thought I heard saying my name had been found dead. He was missing for a week before he was found
Maybe I just dreamed it and it was a coincidence that he had passed away by this time. But it has freaked me out so much I have slept with my TV or light on ever since. I now 100% believe in ghosts.
I've always laughed at people who believe in ghosts and things, but a few months ago as I was trying to get to sleep I could have swore I heard my friend saying my name, I lay still and heard him say it once more and that was it, the next morning I just assumed I was dreaming. A few days later I got a phone call form my other friend telling me that the friend I thought I heard saying my name had been found dead. He was missing for a week before he was found
Maybe I just dreamed it and it was a coincidence that he had passed away by this time. But it has freaked me out so much I have slept with my TV or light on ever since. I now 100% believe in ghosts.
It's probably not a good time to now say that my auntie is in fact a Medium, and so for a long time I have heard stories like this! my auntie claims that ghosts can visit you in your dreams etc. and after my nan passed away, my mum and my sister both woke up the next morning and described exactly the same dream in which she payed them a visit!
then a few days later I was walking into town, and suddenly her scent was right under my nose... (she used a very particular perfume) and only seconds later the number 700 bus from brighton pulled up (which she used on a daily basis when she came to see us)!
I once saw what a lot of people would describe as a ghost and later found out that my sister had seen the same thing. I don't for one minute believe that it was a 'paranormal' experince though. Just something the science could explain given time.
Actually I was refuting someone's opinion that interest in paranormal comes from having a void in one's life.
By claiming that those that don't believe have a void in theirs instead? Isn't that just tit-for-tat rather than any sort of meaningful refutation of the opinion stated?
To me, open-minded means accepting that there are events beyond are physical limitations, We can't always expect them to be proven but we can include compelling personal experience. Not everything we believe is verifiable. Love is one example.
I don't believe anything that comes along. Ghosts and mediums with a grain of salt. I think some events we call 'paranormal' will one day be accepted fact; possibly telepathic communication will be one of them.
'Compelling personal experience'? What is compelling for someone eager to believe in the paranormal is not compelling for others.
How do you decide what claims lacking in verifiable evidence to believe and which to discard?
Yes, I'm a believer in the paranormal. Had a few weird experiences that I don't seem to be able to explain. Before Christmas I was very ill with anxiety, one day I was in the lift at the local shopping centre on my own and it stank of cigarette smoke. Naturally I assumed someone had been smoking in there before me, but then I went into a shop. I was standing right at the back near the changing room and I could smell really strong cigarette smoke again, now bare in mind I was a long way from the doors and staff can't smoke in shops anymore. So I found this weird. The following day I was in my mum's car and smelt it again, she couldn't smell it, but the smell was overpowering. Neither of us are smokers, and we couldn't work out where it was coming from, we were driving along the road at the time!
Afterwards I was told it could be a sign from someone in spirit, and then the penny dropped. My late grandmother was a heavy smoker and smoked all her life, she did stink of cigarettes. I think she may have been with me at that time because it was when my anxiety was at its worst.
I've always laughed at people who believe in ghosts and things, but a few months ago as I was trying to get to sleep I could have swore I heard my friend saying my name, I lay still and heard him say it once more and that was it, the next morning I just assumed I was dreaming. A few days later I got a phone call form my other friend telling me that the friend I thought I heard saying my name had been found dead. He was missing for a week before he was found
Maybe I just dreamed it and it was a coincidence that he had passed away by this time. But it has freaked me out so much I have slept with my TV or light on ever since. I now 100% believe in ghosts.
You experienced what's called a hypnagogic hallucination. They're actually very common. The kind of olfactory hallucination as experienced by Vodka_Drinka (it's called phantosmia and smelling smoke isn't all that unusual) can be more indicative of there being a problem that might need investigating although can also be put down to stress and/or anxiety.
Experiences that often appear paranormal to those having them more often than not have *normal* explanations. Having said that, in my experience those normal explanations are often rejected in favour of the paranormal for some reason.
By claiming that those that don't believe have a void in theirs instead? Isn't that just tit-for-tat rather than any sort of meaningful refutation of the opinion stated?
'Compelling personal experience'? What is compelling for someone eager to believe in the paranormal is not compelling for others.
How do you decide what claims lacking in verifiable evidence to believe and which to discard?
It is meaningful to me that persons who want to continue their pursuits are not discouraged by tactics such as: your life must be boring, you must be desperate. That's all I'm going to say on that subject as I don't want to go too far.
What is compelling for me does not have to be compelling to you. But I think there is a general consensus about the meaning of being open minded, and that does not include believing only things we already know to be true, in a narrow defintion of 'true.'
First you have to have a positive, not negative, interest in the subject and then take it from there. If you approach it negatively, you will always find a reason to reject something. Same as in RL, I guess.
It is meaningful to me that persons who want to continue their pursuits are not discouraged by tactics such as: your life must be boring, you must be desperate. That's all I'm going to say on that subject as I don't want to go too far.
Fair enough. I agree that's not a nice tactic - whichever side is using it.
What is compelling for me does not have to be compelling to you. But I think there is a general consensus about the meaning of being open minded, and that does not include believing only things we already know to be true, in a narrow defintion of 'true.'
First you have to have a positive, not negative, interest in the subject and then take it from there. If you approach it negatively, you will always find a reason to reject something. Same as in RL, I guess.
Open minded does not include believing things exist which we don't know to be true either. You can be open to the possibility of said things existing but as soon as you actually believe they do you are no longer open minded on the subject. And surely if you're truly open minded you should be approaching a subject with a neutral perspective rather than a positive one?
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Actually I was refuting someone's opinion that interest in paranormal comes from having a void in one's life.
To me, open-minded means accepting that there are events beyond are physical limitations, We can't always expect them to be proven but we can include compelling personal experience. Not everything we believe is verifiable. Love is one example.
I don't believe anything that comes along. Ghosts and mediums with a grain of salt. I think some events we call 'paranormal' will one day be accepted fact; possibly telepathic communication will be one of them.
there will be no abuse given to anyone!
sent chills up my spine! that's bloody scary!
*scuttles away and hides*
Maybe I just dreamed it and it was a coincidence that he had passed away by this time. But it has freaked me out so much I have slept with my TV or light on ever since. I now 100% believe in ghosts.
I know horrible. :eek::(
Now I have to go to bed thinking about that.
It's probably not a good time to now say that my auntie is in fact a Medium, and so for a long time I have heard stories like this! my auntie claims that ghosts can visit you in your dreams etc. and after my nan passed away, my mum and my sister both woke up the next morning and described exactly the same dream in which she payed them a visit!
then a few days later I was walking into town, and suddenly her scent was right under my nose... (she used a very particular perfume) and only seconds later the number 700 bus from brighton pulled up (which she used on a daily basis when she came to see us)!
but that is a very interesting story
oh I don't know what I'm going to do, probably jsut sit here and cry? haha!
due to the fear of course!
I was joking!
pulling your leg...
playing with 'cha...
messin' with yer head...
somehting along those lines.
I'll shut up now.
I thought you were being sarcy.
Which leg? :eek:;):o:p
Not just yet!
By claiming that those that don't believe have a void in theirs instead? Isn't that just tit-for-tat rather than any sort of meaningful refutation of the opinion stated?
'Compelling personal experience'? What is compelling for someone eager to believe in the paranormal is not compelling for others.
How do you decide what claims lacking in verifiable evidence to believe and which to discard?
Afterwards I was told it could be a sign from someone in spirit, and then the penny dropped. My late grandmother was a heavy smoker and smoked all her life, she did stink of cigarettes. I think she may have been with me at that time because it was when my anxiety was at its worst.
You experienced what's called a hypnagogic hallucination. They're actually very common. The kind of olfactory hallucination as experienced by Vodka_Drinka (it's called phantosmia and smelling smoke isn't all that unusual) can be more indicative of there being a problem that might need investigating although can also be put down to stress and/or anxiety.
Experiences that often appear paranormal to those having them more often than not have *normal* explanations.
You cant bury or burn thoughts because they arent physical...but you can bury/burn the dead brain that was holding those thoughts.
I believe its uneducated to assume something straight away is paranormal.
It is meaningful to me that persons who want to continue their pursuits are not discouraged by tactics such as: your life must be boring, you must be desperate. That's all I'm going to say on that subject as I don't want to go too far.
What is compelling for me does not have to be compelling to you. But I think there is a general consensus about the meaning of being open minded, and that does not include believing only things we already know to be true, in a narrow defintion of 'true.'
First you have to have a positive, not negative, interest in the subject and then take it from there. If you approach it negatively, you will always find a reason to reject something. Same as in RL, I guess.
Fair enough. I agree that's not a nice tactic - whichever side is using it.
Open minded does not include believing things exist which we don't know to be true either. You can be open to the possibility of said things existing but as soon as you actually believe they do you are no longer open minded on the subject. And surely if you're truly open minded you should be approaching a subject with a neutral perspective rather than a positive one?
I don't assume straight away it's paranormal, but you didn't answer the question. Where do our thoughts and experiences and our personality go ?
I always find it very interesting and will maybe answer some questions ...
They don't go anywhere. They just cease to exist when you die.