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Hello atheists! A few questions about paranormal events!

Started by manga, April 16, 2017, 07:36:43 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

Dragonia

Well, Manga, I will tell you that I have lived through a 1 hour period of my life that I will never be able to explain. Everyone in the room experienced it together, and we all saw the effects. I know what I saw, and I can not explain it. Not as dramatic as someone's hair changing color or seeing demons, but creepy and unexplainable nevertheless. And yet... I still don't believe in God. I know that a lot of these tales are embellished for re-tale value, but there may be some truth to some stories. We weren't there, we don't know. But i am comfortable not knowing and not having it explained, and just saying "I have no idea what that was". Because there's no way to re-create these events, we can't "figure them out". So I figure, it doesn't matter to what I believe, or don't believe, and I just move on.
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. ~ Plato (?)

solidsquid

What you have are subjective anecdotes.  If you approach it from an unbiased stance and take away any of the religious connotations, do those stories sound rational?  They sound extraordinary and in defiance of what we know of biology, physics and so forth.  If someone told you they were at an event and some girls hair turned colors suddenly would you be completely accepting of that story or be a bit skeptical?

Based upon your previous posts manga, what you seem to be stuck on is subjective stories which I had previously commented on in another thread.  Refer back to the mention of the false memories and the Satan cult scare of the 80s/90s.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

1) People lie.  For whatever the motivation, people lie and sometimes do it without even realizing it.  It may be for attention or to elicit a particular response from others or to get some kind of reward or something similar but it happens, a lot.

2) People embellish.  I separate this from lying because lying often entails fabrication whereas embellishment is on a smaller scale but often root to something that actually happened or was true but much more mundane.  People embellish for the same reasons they lie.

3) Perception is unreliable.  Our senses can easily be fooled - mirages, optical illusions, hallucinations, delusions, false memories, confabulation, cognitive biases, et cetera all show how unreliable our own perceptions are.  This is why science relies so heavily upon objectively verifiable evidence - it is independent of our faculties.

4) People love mystery. We love mysteries and attempting to find out about the "unknown" and the "unexplained", however, much like what motivates parapsychologists (man I hate that term) its the pursuit that motivates them - no matter how much lack of evidence they collect they still continue and latch on to any small thing and call it evidence like a "cold feeling" or  supposed fluctuations in EMF readings.

5) Explanations for supposed "supernatural" phenomena aren't "sexy".  Most explanations are "boring" for lack of a better word.  It's not exciting, shocking, scary, or awe-inspiring enough for most people.  So many people prefer the more outlandish ideas because they are often steeped in mystery (see #4).

So, no matter how many stories like this you post you won't find any resolution but just skepticism to those extraordinary claims because those require extraordinary evidence and anecdotes from third parties is not extraordinary evidence.

Dragonia

Solidsquid, quite often, I really love your thorough, well-thought-out answers!
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. ~ Plato (?)

Sandra Craft

Quote from: Dragonia on April 19, 2017, 02:52:45 AM
Solidsquid, quite often, I really love your thorough, well-thought-out answers!

Absolutely.  He should get so much more than bacon.
Sandy

  

"Life is short, and it is up to you to make it sweet."  Sarah Louise Delany

Magdalena

Quote from: BooksCatsEtc on April 19, 2017, 04:24:54 AM
Quote from: Dragonia on April 19, 2017, 02:52:45 AM
Solidsquid, quite often, I really love your thorough, well-thought-out answers!

Absolutely.  He should get so much more than bacon.

:secrets1: He should also get a better whisky, maybe, The John Walker & Sons Odyssey.

"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

solidsquid