As for other supernatural phenomena, I know humans to be superbly capable of self-delusion, confabulation, fabrication and overinterpretation, so much that I have no doubt that the vast majority of these phenomena can be attributed to tricks of the mind. The brain is a far more powerful force than the soul.
As for other supernatural phenomena, I know humans to be superbly capable of self-delusion, confabulation, fabrication and overinterpretation, so much that I have no doubt that the vast majority of these phenomena can be attributed to tricks of the mind. The brain is a far more powerful force than the soul.
Take for example the act of prayer for a suffering individual by others that one sees in many Christian circles (mine included). One can argue that it is an attempt to channel positive energy to the sufferer, and that there is no evidence that it works that way.
But...it can still be a comfort to the sufferer, ...
Personally I think that a lot of it is the human brain making connections between unconnected things.The human brain is predisposed to seek patterns, and people often see them where none exist.
there's no luckYou don't have to tell me twice. I went to Atlantic City last week and lost $40. :-(
a constant reminder of your own inevitable demise to keep you motivated!But see....this is the problem. I am constantly thinking about death anyway. I have an anxiety disorder and tend to obsess. If I lived next to a cemetery, I'd be too freaked out to get anything done!
Oh good. I honestly didn't want to upset people but it was my honest response.
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).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).
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.
I thought this forum was all-accepting and tolerant and shit, but it's quickly proving otherwise.
The only info mom initially gave him was her name. He then had her select which cards were drawn and he basically went off of what was drawn. She specifically answered questions with Yes or No, except for those that required clarification. Now I'm not saying there was anything mystical going on, but it was a little uncanny when he pretty much immediately extrapolated that my grandpa had died the previous year without digging for info when mom drew the Death card.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.
Were the other things that the Tarot card reader said so accurate that you feel that this must be accurate too?
I'm just curious. It is a really random thing for a fortune teller to insist on, but it seems like you would have seen some evidence of... absorbed siblings... by now. Maybe not, I don't know that much about the medical stuff.