Fun Stuff > CHATTER
Psychics? fortune tellers? Talismans? Ghosts?
Metope:
Yes. Everyone who disagrees is a nutjob, obviously.
Sorflakne:
People can believe whatever they want. When they try to force their beliefs on other people (whether through peer pressure, threats of violence, politics, indoctrination, etc), then we have a problem.
--- Quote ---As for psychics, most of it is clever guess work and a spooky manner. You may have heard of a technique called Cold Reading. This is where a "psychic" (read: person with a lot of experience in deceiving people and reading subtle body language and micro-expressions) will make educated guesses based on nothing more than your physical presence. You can become quite skilled at this with the right training. The psychic will also lead you to confirm or deny what they're saying, giving their performance an air of legitimacy. "I see a man in your life" (how many people don't know a man?) "He has dark or light hair" (50/50 guess) "I'm getting the impression of the letter A" (Oh my god my brother is named Alex, he is a man with dark hair!) "Has Alex passed away recently?" (No, he lives in the next suburb over) "Oh but he's thinking about you!" (No one can confirm or deny this).
--- End quote ---
My mother and I visited a street tarot card reader in New Orleans about 14 years ago and I got to see this first hand as he read mom's cards. Got everything right except for one thing: He was pretty convinced that I was the middle child of a set of fraternal triplets (older brother, me, younger sister).
I've asked mom about this at various times over the years and she's said that I was the only one, and my birth certificate confirms that I was a single birth, but even so, I still wonder about it. And then I learned some time ago that it's actually sort of common for one twin to "absorb" the other in the womb before development gets too far along, so now I occasionally wonder if I actually was part of a set of triplets and ended up consuming my siblings in the womb.
mtmerrick:
@metope's first post:
Well that's just the point. ANY superstitious belief (and that includes religion) can be looked at long and hard, and it just doesn't mesh with the real world. Science, on the other hand, works not just in this country, this civilization, this planet, but everywhere and for everything.
If you have very strong superstitious beliefs, YOU need to take a long hard look at what you're doing, not tell everyone else to change.
@ pilchard:
There are precisely two things where superstitious cannot be explicitly disproved - existence of a higher power, and what comes after death. And, in those two things, while I hold my own beliefs, I accept there are other possibilities.
Everyone can tell me if they wish hard enough there will be world peace, or if they throw enough salt over their shoulder they'll win millions in Vegas. My reaction will be the same.
@snorflake :
Same thing happened to me, apparently. As I'm told, there are two hearts on some of the early sonograms
Metope:
But can't you see what you're doing there? You're saying 'You need to change, don't tell other people to change.' Don't you think that's a little bit silly?
I'm atheist by the way, not that it matters really. I have a lot of Christian friends and none of them have ever told me I need to change or rolled their eyes at me, while my atheist friends roll their eyes at religious people a lot. I can't stand it.
EDIT: Sornflake said it well, I think. Believe whatever you want, just don't push it on other people. I'll add try not to judge people who view the world in a different way than yourself, and we're cool.
mtmerrick:
It's like an adult rolling their eyes at a kid talking about bubble-blowing space-unicorns. It's funny up until the point it starts actually affecting them or the people around them. It's clearly unrealistic, and the fact that you might have to explain that to someone is flabbergasting.
Edit: Saw your edit. WIll be abstaining from further responses in this topic.
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