posted
Well, it appears you guys didn't catch my meaning. I know two kinds of evidence for reincarnation and what "heaven" is like: past-life regression and communication by psychic energy. That's why I said you can't SEE it. And I said you're probably "unwilling" to accept it for the reason that you can't see it.
Past-life regression comes from a type of psychiatric treatment that uses hypnosis to find the cause of an illness, usually because the conscious mind doesn't remember it. This method was either started by Freud or a little earlier, I'm not sure. Basically what happens is that instead of going to the patient's childhood to find the cause, he/she remembers further back to a past life instead. During hypnosis, the patient is in complete control and can come out of it anytime.
Psychic abilities have tons of applications and fields of expertise. One of them is communication with spirits, that includes ones that lived or never lived. I read a book by a psychic "ghostbuster" about her experiences clearing haunted house by convincing the ghosts they can go to heaven. That was how I became convinced there's no hell or purgatory, and that everyone has a spirit guide. One more thing about psychic powers: EVERYONE is psychic, and some people are just more talented at it. It takes a lot of practice to develop it. How do you practice? Meditation seems to be the only way. But then a lot of things can be meditative.
What I picked up after I learned about psychic abilities is that all of these things seem to be connected. When a psychic communicates with her guide or other spirits, she can simply ask about what happens after death, which leads to knowledge of reincarnation, which leads to "proof" of a divine being. Although my book on developing psychic abilities instructs me to "pray" to a higher being, it doesn't differentiate which brand of deity is preferred, so all religions pretty much worship the same god or goddess or whatever.
------------------ "Poetic souls delight in prose insane." --Lord Byron
posted
The rebuttal to "past life regression" is "false memory syndrome." Not to mention implanted memory... remember, one of the major points OF hypnosis is that it renders the subject EXTREMELY susceptible to suggestion. People under hypnosis can be made, on purpose or inadvertently, to believe that incidents occurred in their CURRENT lives that never actually happened. How much moreso some murky past life?
The rebuttal to "psychic powers" is generally "show me," but to be more open, I would say a better rebuttal is the utter lack of "psychic" billionaires. To somebody SO in touch with the Universe that they can communicate with those who have gone before, next week's Powerball numbers should be a cinch.
Further, there are no, zip, ZERO documented cases where anyone who ever claimed to have psychic powers was able to reproduce them under controlled conditions in a manner inconsistent with that of a charlatan. Ask The Amazing Randi, if you don't believe me.
Pseudoscience! *Waves a Dogbertish paw* BAH!
------------------ "Ed Gruberman, you fail to grasp Ty Kwan Leap. Approach me, that you might see." -- The Master
posted
Reincarnation is proof of a divine being? Is it just me or did we skip a couple (hundred) logic steps in between there? That's like saying tuna in my pantry is proof that the moon is a basketball.
------------------ "It's like the Star of David or something. But without the whole Judaism thing." -Frank Gerratana, 17-Aug-2000
posted
Are we going to discuss death-penalties as well? Or perhaps gay-adoption? Because I need to stock up on my field-rations, I ran out the last time...
Registered: Aug 1999
| IP: Logged
posted
First: Perhaps people under hypnosis are susceptible to suggestion, but wouldn't it be kind of obvious if the patient just sort of reworded everything the psychologist said? Besides, you don't even need a hypnotist to do past-life regression. A meditation tape will do. I know a ton of examples that counters that theory, but I'll only type 'em out if you want to read them.
As for psychic powers, the U.S. government certainly thinks it works. There's a project that used to be secret which trains psychics to use remote-viewing to spy on other countries. A guy who used to work on the project wrote about it in a book. I'll find the title of it if anyone's interested. About 30-40% of police departments in the US have also used psychics to help solve cases.
The reason why psychics aren't millionaires is quite simple. One, psychic powers don't usually give them answers so specific as numbers on the next lottery. But it MAY. In one of my books, the author said she once had a dream when six numbers kept repeating in her mind. She asked her husband, who said that the state lottery had six numbers in it. So she told her husband to buy a lottery ticket for that day. When the numbers came out, they were the exact same ones that appeared in her dream, except that the husband forgot it and bought the ticket one day late, so they didn't get the jackpot. The second reason is that they don't care for the money. Being psychic allows them to look beyond materialism, perhaps. I'm not psychic (yet), so I can't tell you exactly what happens. In one case, the very first past-life patient of Dr. Brian Weiss (psychiatrist and past-life therapist) became psychic after regressing several times during therapy. To prove it to her father, she took him to the race track and told him exactly who was going to win, seven times in a row. Then she went out of the track and gave all the money she won to the first homeless she saw.
TSN: Well, let's see. Yes, I did skip a couple of steps in there, but I thought people would be quick enough to get it. Once you know about spirits and reincarnation and such, there's naturally a question of what's at the end of the road (why we need to learn lessons) or who started all this. The answer to that is the existence of some sort of divinity.
------------------ "Poetic souls delight in prose insane." --Lord Byron
[This message has been edited by Tora Ziyal (edited August 31, 2000).]
posted
I was that black dude from 'The Jeffersons' in a past life.
------------------ "What happens if a big asteroid hits the Earth? Judging from realistic simulations involving a sledge hammer and a common laboratory frog, we can assume it will be pretty bad." - Dave Barry
You do realize of course, that if you are not currently pursuing a course in Comedy Writing, it is in your best interests to do so, as I nearly wet myself by this little tidbit of comedic genius.
------------------ "What happens if a big asteroid hits the Earth? Judging from realistic simulations involving a sledge hammer and a common laboratory frog, we can assume it will be pretty bad." - Dave Barry
posted
Ahem. If you haven't bothered read my earlier post, EVERYONE is psychic.
See what I mean? Right at first I said you guys are unwilling to accept and can't see the evidence, and you get all over me for saying that. Then I pose the evidence, which you take for bullshit, so that proves my first assumption right. What's the point of this exercise again? ------------------ "Poetic souls delight in prose insane." --Lord Byron
[This message has been edited by Tora Ziyal (edited August 31, 2000).]
posted
Then why the fuck haven't I picked the right superbowl winners for the last three years?
------------------ "What happens if a big asteroid hits the Earth? Judging from realistic simulations involving a sledge hammer and a common laboratory frog, we can assume it will be pretty bad." - Dave Barry
posted
Actually, although there are numerous "psychics" who have been on TV touting their claims of having assisted the police, they are tooting their own horns. There are, in fact, NO cases in which any "psychic" actually solved, or provided crucial data towards solving, any case. A bit of research can confirm this.
As for "remote viewing," this is another one of those things that the government/military tried that didn't work out, kind of like the "Philadelphia Experiment," saucer-shaped airplanes, and "death rays." Additionally, books by "a guy who says he used to work for the US government on a top secret project" are a dime a dozen, like the million conflicting "Roswell Expose's." Whitley Streiber wrote a series of books about his 'true' experiences of alien abductions. I don't believe him, either. Not every rube who can put pen to paper and get it published is an authority.
Next, you'll be telling me you still believe in the crop circles, even though they guys who did THEM came forward three YEARS ago.
Oh, I should also add that you can "implant" false memories in just about anyone, if you try hard enough. Young children are especially easy in this regard, but adults can fall for it, too. Again, it falls under the human brain's gigantic capacity for self-deception. If you want to believe you had a past life, your mind can create memories of one for you. My father (retired psychology teacher) cites a case in which false memories of a broken arm were implanted in a child after a five MINUTE non-hypnotic conversation. When the same child was spoken to a year later, he recalled the broken arm, and had even fabricated details as to how it occurred.
------------------ "Ed Gruberman, you fail to grasp Ty Kwan Leap. Approach me, that you might see." -- The Master
[This message has been edited by First of Two (edited September 01, 2000).]
posted
So, does this mean Cartman wasn't abducted by aliens, given an anal probe, then forcibly had a giant satellite dish shoved up there causing him to get firey gas?
------------------ Where's the bathroom on this ship?
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