Paranormal Activity

[kaoskastle]

Re: Paranormal Activity

My religeon believes that theres more to life than what we're given. Theres no such thing as god, we are our own god. We choose how we live life and what happens. Also follows the evolution theroy. As well as being more to life than what we see. Such as, we weren't put here to wake up, go to work, pay bills, go to sleep. Eat, work, sleep. We were made for much more and to become much greater than we see ourselfs as. That also leading to the paranormal and unexplained.

Not to offend (merely out of curiousity), but what exactly IS your religion?

As for paranormal events, nope. Don't believe in them. Pictures of ghosts? Film issues; lighting effects; lens problems. First-hand encounters? Creations of the mind.

Then again, my primary evidence to back this up is not widely accepted. I, being Christian, realize that after death your soul either heads up or down; there is no being trapped in between.

Now, supernatural (I'm using the word here in the Christian sense) events? Yeah, totally. Demons DO exist, and they DO roam around this earth, just usually not visible to the naked eye. There are times, however, when they'll be seen (and I'm sure they're scary as heck; never actually seen one myself).

[devonin]

Re: Paranormal Activity

First-hand encounters? Creations of the mind.

There are times, however, when they'll be seen

I'm afraid you can't really have it both ways. Either they are all creations of the mind, or they aren't all creations of the mind. Even if you want to assume the -vast- majority are, you've said yourself that you believe it to be true that in some cases what they see is in fact real.

I, being Christian, realize that after death your soul either heads up or down; there is no being trapped in between.

I guess your view on that (as regards things like purgatory etc.) would depend upon your denomination within Christianity.

Also, I'm pretty sure that definition-wise, while not all paranormal things are supernatural, all supernatural things are paranormal.

[kaoskastle]

Re: Paranormal Activity

I'm afraid you can't really have it both ways. Either they are all creations of the mind, or they aren't all creations of the mind. Even if you want to assume the -vast- majority are, you've said yourself that you believe it to be true that in some cases what they see is in fact real.

Heh, yeah, I caught that afterwards and thought, "Hmm, that might not make much sense". Let me attempt to clear that up.
My definitions are as follows:
PARANORMAL: The regular thoughts of ghosts and whatnot.
SUPERNATURAL: Being of a more powerful being (i.e., God, Satan, angels, etc.)

Now, demons themselves kind of blur the line between paranormal and supernatural (I really don't know how to explain their part any better right now; it's almost 1am). A person can see a demon and classify it as paranormal, which I suppose could work, as it is a real sighting of a real being. But it's also a supernatural thing.

Man, I really need to work on my definitions of these things. XD I really don't know how to better explain that at this point. Maybe someone with a similar viewpoint (and understands what I'm trying to say) could work this out?

[devonin]

Re: Paranormal Activity

Paranormal as a word means "similar to" or "close to" normal. Implying things which are not normal, but not completely alien to our mindset either.

Supernatural as a word means "Beyond the bounds of nature" implying things which are both not normal, and are outside or beyond what we -could- consider normal.

[kaoskastle]

Re: Paranormal Activity

Paranormal as a word means "similar to" or "close to" normal. Implying things which are not normal, but not completely alien to our mindset either.

Supernatural as a word means "Beyond the bounds of nature" implying things which are both not normal, and are outside or beyond what we -could- consider normal.

Eh, well, the definitions I gave are what I've always heard the context of, so that's how I see it.

That may explain why it's so confusing. :P

[devonin]

Re: Paranormal Activity

Though I mean, you have to see where saying "I absolutely believe there is no such thing as "paranormal" things, but as long as they are somehow based on Christian mythology, I absolutely believe in supernatural things" is apt to cause some confusion.

[kaoskastle]

Re: Paranormal Activity

Though I mean, you have to see where saying "I absolutely believe there is no such thing as "paranormal" things, but as long as they are somehow based on Christian mythology, I absolutely believe in supernatural things" is apt to cause some confusion.

It's difficult. I know exactly what I mean but I can't translate that to text. Hmm.

Alright, for now, how 'bout this: I don't believe in ghosts.

Maybe I'll follow this up tommorrow (today?).

[devonin]

Re: Paranormal Activity

Well...correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that what you're trying to get at is "I don't believe that the souls of living humans could possibly stay on earth after death, they must go either to heaven or hell" Which works fine for ghosts, but "paranormal" doesn't -just- mean ghosts and spirits, it means (insofar as I understood the OPs version of it) to mean anything which defies logical scientific explanation, which many of your existing beliefs about supernatural things would fall under....

Can we generally sum up your opinion on the matter as "I believe in supernatural phenomena, but whatever it is, the earthbound soul of a dead human isn't it" ?

[kaoskastle]

Re: Paranormal Activity

Well...correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that what you're trying to get at is "I don't believe that the souls of living humans could possibly stay on earth after death, they must go either to heaven or hell" Which works fine for ghosts, but "paranormal" doesn't -just- mean ghosts and spirits, it means (insofar as I understood the OPs version of it) to mean anything which defies logical scientific explanation, which many of your existing beliefs about supernatural things would fall under....

Can we generally sum up your opinion on the matter as "I believe in supernatural phenomena, but whatever it is, the earthbound soul of a dead human isn't it" ?

Hey, yeah, you did it.
Maybe I should stay away from this board at 1:30.

[devonin]

Re: Paranormal Activity

Hey, yeah, you did it.
Maybe I should stay away from this board at 1:30.

Pfft, it's 2:30am here, I do my best thinking when I'm overtired.

The interesting thing to me is that I share that belief of yours but not the same basis for it.

I have no problem believing in "ghosts" in the sense of beings that are like what we describe ghosts as (incorporeal, usually invisible etc etc) but I share your belief that whatever they are, the souls of dead humans ain't it, but not because I think they are in heaven or hell, just that I personally believe that death is death, and that's it.

My own theory on "ghosts" has more to do with the many-worlds theory of quantum mechanics, but that's its own topic, and not something for a general "thoughts on the paranormal" thread.

[thegeddupnoise]

Re: Paranormal Activity

Any pictures of ghosts or whatever is garbage. With modern day technology, we can make anything look real.

Any people who actually see ghosts are either lying or are just thinking it in their mind. And once they've "seen" a ghost chances are they will see them again because they believe ghosts are there. If you think a ghost is in front of you, chances are that you'll see it. Your mind plays tricks on you.

[devonin]

Re: Paranormal Activity

Any pictures of ghosts or whatever is garbage. With modern day technology, we can make anything look real.

Does that mean you would doubt the veracity of every piece of information you are ever presented in a way that has the potentiality to be faked (read: Every piece of information ever) Or just information about things you've already decided don't exist?

[BumOnStreet]

Re: Paranormal Activity

I don't believe in UFO's because close to all 'sightings' were actually new planes that the government hasnt released to the public as of yet
-and we of course cant forget about the ever so common, those people were all in it together to start up trouble! theory lol

extraterrestrials...there is a SLIGHT possibility, because if you think about the probability of having the perfect planet, in the perfect orbit, in perfect evolutionary process to create the independant thought, that the thought process is greater than ours to send 'stuff' from across many galaxies before we do are pretty much none

for just general talk, there are many things we do not know, even if we do know a lot. the seasons changing could be used as an example. back then, people would think the seasons change due to some greater force changing it, but after a while, we discovered all it is, is that the earth orbits.

[ffrrocksya]

Re: Paranormal Activity

oh it's REAL! it's just something yah gotta believe in. I'm so intrigued by it. there is so much I don't know at all about it because I haven't truely experienced paranormal activity before though. I just have an unbreakable feeling about that there's no joke in it. It's true stuff.

[inflames07]

Re: Paranormal Activity

I don't believe in UFO's because close to all 'sightings' were actually new planes that the government hasnt released to the public as of yet
-and we of course cant forget about the ever so common, those people were all in it together to start up trouble! theory lol

extraterrestrials...there is a SLIGHT possibility, because if you think about the probability of having the perfect planet, in the perfect orbit, in perfect evolutionary process to create the independant thought, that the thought process is greater than ours to send 'stuff' from across many galaxies before we do are pretty much none

for just general talk, there are many things we do not know, even if we do know a lot. the seasons changing could be used as an example. back then, people would think the seasons change due to some greater force changing it, but after a while, we discovered all it is, is that the earth orbits.

Off topic but UFOs don't always mean aliens. I do not believe there have been any life from space that has traveled in our solar system because of the fact a lot of telescopes could have easily seen them (Infrared, x-ray, etc. Something would have picked them up). But I do believe there is other life on other planets outside our solar system. There's billions of stars that are similar to ours which can have the potential to create life. It's just a matter of having the organic elements and right conditions.

Back to topic: I really hate when people say "I can't explain it, but I know *blank* exists". I don't understand the point of posting that.