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Question about my grandmother and her "ability"

Started by zustri, February 03, 2018, 10:32:27 PM

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Magdalena


"I've had several "spiritual" or numinous experiences over the years, but never felt that they were the product of anything but the workings of my own mind in reaction to the universe." ~Recusant

Ecurb Noselrub

Quote from: zustri on February 03, 2018, 10:32:27 PM
Ok, so I don't know if this is really an "ability", but my grandmother prides herself on having this sort of ESP where she can apparently detect the death of a person while it is taking place. I was skeptical of it, and I asked her a bit about it. She told me that at least 50 times in her life, she has had this sensation or feeling when someone dies. It has come to her in the form of dreams where she will have a dream about a person and being with them in heaven or some form of afterlife, and then she will wake up, and find out at the time of her dream that the person really did die. She has also had what I assume are hypnogogic hallucinations where she will see a person's face in what she assumes is in the form of a ghost, and then see the devil's face, and then later find out the person died. One of the weirdest examples is the time that her cousin died. She had a dream of him coming to her and saying that he had drowned. The next day, she found out that he did in fact drown. She has had these dreams with religious imagery ex: sometimes she claims Jesus tells her these messages, sometimes it's family, seeing devils, angels, etc.

I guess my question is, put aside the fact that these claims sound too good to be true, let's say if she could prove it, would that constitute proof of souls of the passed on communicating with her? Or, could there be another explanation for it that doesn't require a supernatural component? Perhaps our brains have a method of picking this stuff up that we are not aware of, and her brain interprets the info in a certain way which causes her to dream with a religious background? Or could it be a combination of an active mind, (constantly thinking of people close to her and worrying about them) so sometimes when she has these sensations they are true? Maybe with this she counts the hits, ignores the misses?

Being an Orthodox Christian, I would like nothing more than for this to be true, but I am asking for an atheist perspective here, which is why I am posting it to an atheist community. I have asked many Orthodox Christians and received their opinions, now I want yours. My grandfather says that he has also seen my grandmother get these hits a lot, and he is very surprised by it, but he himself says he doesn't think it points to the supernatural, even though he admits he cannot explain it. I guess I'm just curious. I don't want you guys to just dismiss it as "lying" or "fake", I mean, you can think it is a lie or fake, but I am asking kind of for fun, let's just assume for a second that this ability were as true as I am claiming, what would you say? Would you then suddenly believe in afterlife and a spiritual realm, or would you still say "I don't know, but I can't conclude it is really anything supernatural"?

I'm a Christian, but things like this don't really prove much.  There are all sorts of phenomena in the universe that we don't understand, and it may well be that it is possible for someone to sense something that is about to happen because of the inter-connectivity of all things. We are all made of the same quarks, and sometimes they seem to connect with each other in strange ways. It doesn't prove anything about anything. It's just a facet of the nature of reality.  Of course, I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt and assuming that everything you say is true.  I'll believe you until you give me reason to do otherwise. I heard an atheist once tell of a situation where he knew the exact time that his father died even though he was thousands of miles away.  Again, I assumed he was telling the truth.  But that just shows that there is a lot about the universe that we don't understand, and a lot about our own brains we haven't discovered yet.

Old Seer

Quote from: Recusant on February 04, 2018, 07:04:35 AM
I don't know, but I can't conclude it is really anything supernatural.
It isn't. I co this quite often, but it's on account of age. All my school mates and childhood friends and acquaintances are near my age. It works because I'm expecting kids my age to begin passing away. Over time one recognizes patterns during life and as they come to mind a coincidence is bound to come about. I got to wondering 2 weeks ago how bobby was doing and if he was still around. Last week he passed on. So now it switched to Dave, and Dave is a bit older then I. It hasn't switched to me yet---But I'll let you know. :) :-\
The only thing possible the world needs saving from are the ones running it.
Oh lord, save us from those wanting to save us.
I'm not a Theist.

Old Seer

Quote from: Old Seer on March 29, 2018, 05:35:08 PM
Quote from: Recusant on February 04, 2018, 07:04:35 AM
I don't know, but I can't conclude it is really anything supernatural.
It isn't. I co this quite often, but it's on account of age. All my school mates and childhood friends and acquaintances are near my age. It works because I'm expecting kids my age to begin passing away. Over time one recognizes patterns during life and as they come to mind a coincidence is bound to come about. I got to wondering 2 weeks ago how bobby was doing and if he was still around. Last week he passed on. So now it switched to Dave, and Dave is a bit older then I. It hasn't switched to me yet---But I'll let you know. :) :-\
Ok, here we go. I went on Google earth to look over my boyhood town, I went down main street and saved pics of the buildings. Got pics of the old town I used to live as a foster boy.. Some of my High School buddies have already passed and got pics of their places etc.. I came to the Wrobel house. There were three boys on the Wrobel family, Henry, Paul  Donny. Donny was 1 grade a head  of me. All were excellent basketball players. Has I was saving the pic I was wondering what happened to them all, especially Donny, and thought I would check obits after I was done on Google Earth to see if he was still around. But as was I couldn't fing  any obits of any of them. Three days ago Henry passed.  and, his obit showed that Paul and Donny are still up and around.

Ok, so how does this work. Very simply-- in looking over my home town I was merely setting myself up to take a walk in co-incidence. As I've gone through life I've remained attached to all my childhood friends. So, every now and then I get to wondering how they all are. It's a normal thing at my age and I'm sure there's plenty of others my age that do the same thing. So, it's not magic or extra sensory anything. At my age I expect that those of my time would be passing and wonder about them. It's very simple. :)
The only thing possible the world needs saving from are the ones running it.
Oh lord, save us from those wanting to save us.
I'm not a Theist.