and it just gets more amazing as it goes on.
good night.
Nickolas
JoinedPosts by Nickolas
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189
Does God speak to you? HOW?
by Quentin inan answer to this question is subjective to the individual an a posteriori experiene.
however, can there be an a priori experence, one that is objective, outside the bounds of personel experiene, or does it remain subjective?
god speaks to me, through many venus, except audible.
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59
Reality exists in your brain
by Nickolas ini've just posted the following in another thread whose subject is supernatural experience, but it may deserve its own thread so i'll repost it here.
i don't believe in the supernatural but i do believe that people experience unexplained things.
where i differ from some people is that i perceive the unexplained things exist only in their brains and not in the physical world around them.. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.
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Nickolas
poppers, you are officially invited to share an old single malt Islay with me at my bar. Someday.
Yes, Twitch, I know what you're saying and you are likely right.
TJU, everything you see, everything you hear, everything you feel and smell and touch is interpreted and presented to you as your reality by your brain. What you are perceiving right now as you read my words is ephemeral. Your reality will live only as long as you do. Once your brain is gone, your reality is gone. Your brain interprets its inputs according to its disposition, and evidently your disposition is to believe in the supernatural. That's something I don't believe in myself, so I never see it and because I never see it I don't believe it exists. Kind of a self defeating cycle.
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189
Does God speak to you? HOW?
by Quentin inan answer to this question is subjective to the individual an a posteriori experiene.
however, can there be an a priori experence, one that is objective, outside the bounds of personel experiene, or does it remain subjective?
god speaks to me, through many venus, except audible.
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Nickolas
This has been an amazing conversation.
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59
Reality exists in your brain
by Nickolas ini've just posted the following in another thread whose subject is supernatural experience, but it may deserve its own thread so i'll repost it here.
i don't believe in the supernatural but i do believe that people experience unexplained things.
where i differ from some people is that i perceive the unexplained things exist only in their brains and not in the physical world around them.. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.
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Nickolas
Cool video, NS. I always find what Neil Tyson has to say is fascinating, but he seems to be reading off a teleprompter rather than sharing his own thoughts.
It sounds like you haven't yet experienced lucid dreaming, Twitch. When I have dreamed lucidly I see every hair on a person's head, feel the sun and wind on my face and smell smells. It hasn't happened to me in years, however. I might suggest you do some research into the subject, perhaps pick up some techniques.
And then, moshe, I might just start believing in God again. Well, right after the big party.
I agree, poppers, but the manufactured reality each of us has is our primary survival mechanism. It is for that reason we might be reluctant to let down our defenses to allow in strange and wonderful insights. I think, to give a practical example, most people don't leave the WTBTS because they are afraid to allow in thinking that threatens their utopian paradigm.
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59
Reality exists in your brain
by Nickolas ini've just posted the following in another thread whose subject is supernatural experience, but it may deserve its own thread so i'll repost it here.
i don't believe in the supernatural but i do believe that people experience unexplained things.
where i differ from some people is that i perceive the unexplained things exist only in their brains and not in the physical world around them.. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.
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Nickolas
Bullseye, OTWO. Trevor gets it, too.
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114
Anyone here have any experience with the "super-natural"?
by Knowsnothing inand if so, would that prove an existence of evil-spirits (demons)?.
i have heard of a couple of stories of possession, or of jw's talking to spiritists and the spiritists having seen 2 men following the jw, either dressed all in black, or all in white, and very strong looking.
yet, i have never experienced any of it.. another experience that i heard is about a brother whose mom had super-natural strength, and tossed something really heavy.
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Nickolas
Just because you don't believe it, doesn't mean that it doesn't happen.
Yes, but the corollary is also true. Just because you believe it doesn't mean that it happens, however because you believe it means that it is more likely that it will happen in your mind.
What do you think actually happened in Fatima back in 1917? Did the sun actually tear itself out of the heavens like those thousands of people said? If it did, then it would have been seen over half the world and the acceleration forces generated would have been great enough to throw everything on the surface of the planet into orbit. So, it didn't happen except in their minds. An illusion. Did God make all those people see the illusion? For what reason? Or did they experience a common hallucination? I subscribe to the latter.
What do you think actually happened in Salem back in 1691/2? Did all those people actually see the demonic things they saw and put all those innocent people to death as a consequence? Modern theory suggests an environmental factor, specifically the psychoactive effects of ergot fungus (LSD) that grew on the rye crop during those wet summers and disappeared during the normally hot and dry summer of 1693. It was a celebrated, extreme case, but it could not have been the first or last time such a thing could happen. It could happen anywhere there is a particular fungus, mildew or mould growing that can have variable effects on people. It could happen in your house in Seattle or your cottage in Wales. It could happen anywhere conditions are right.
These are but two examples, both illustrate that the remarkable things seen by people were only in their minds.
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59
Reality exists in your brain
by Nickolas ini've just posted the following in another thread whose subject is supernatural experience, but it may deserve its own thread so i'll repost it here.
i don't believe in the supernatural but i do believe that people experience unexplained things.
where i differ from some people is that i perceive the unexplained things exist only in their brains and not in the physical world around them.. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.
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Nickolas
Directionally the same as Matrix, Oz, but to a much lesser degree of course.
That is a very good question, jay. My younger son and I have discussed the subject of consciousness on occasion and we both recognise that we live our lives conscious by degrees. There are times we are more awake and aware than others. The range in variability is not great, perhaps only within a percentage point, but it is still there.
Take for example the human tendency to extrapolate reality. This happens to most people I know. You briefly encounter someone you know, perhaps an old acquaintance, your boss or member of your family, someone who has some significance in your life, and you stop to say hello. But the person seems distant, preoccupied and disinterested in you. You find yourself thinking about the encounter for the rest of the day, adding things up. Maybe she's pissed at me for having done such and such a thing, maybe she's always disliked me and she's showing her true colours, maybe the next time she sees me she'll tell me to go to hell, I can just imagine how she'll treat me during the family reunion in June ... and so on. This sort of thing is a manufactured reality, a dream state, out of which you may not awaken until that family reunion when she is warm and happy in your presense and explains to you that when you last met she was quite unwell.
The answer to your question, I think, is to make an effort to understand what is really happening when your life takes an unexpected turn. In this way you have a better chance of maintaining your complete grasp on reality.
Yes, MS, same principle.
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114
Anyone here have any experience with the "super-natural"?
by Knowsnothing inand if so, would that prove an existence of evil-spirits (demons)?.
i have heard of a couple of stories of possession, or of jw's talking to spiritists and the spiritists having seen 2 men following the jw, either dressed all in black, or all in white, and very strong looking.
yet, i have never experienced any of it.. another experience that i heard is about a brother whose mom had super-natural strength, and tossed something really heavy.
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Nickolas
explain that.
There are explanations for what you are recounting, Jo. I might suggest you read some expert articles on the psychological phenomenon called mass hysteria. In my view it is what happened at Lourdes and Fatima and, again in my view, it is what happened to you. It is much like the phenomenon of the planchette moving mysteriously on a ouija board. The players are moving the planchette, not some demon. One member of your family could have been seeing these things and the power of intense, emotional suggestion made you and others see the same things.
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114
Anyone here have any experience with the "super-natural"?
by Knowsnothing inand if so, would that prove an existence of evil-spirits (demons)?.
i have heard of a couple of stories of possession, or of jw's talking to spiritists and the spiritists having seen 2 men following the jw, either dressed all in black, or all in white, and very strong looking.
yet, i have never experienced any of it.. another experience that i heard is about a brother whose mom had super-natural strength, and tossed something really heavy.
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Nickolas
Not lame at all, Mary. Unless he is lying (which I don't think he is) then there remain only two possibilities
1) it actually happened (and since I do not believe in the supernatural, then that leaves ... )
2) it happened only in his mind. It seemed very real, but it was real only to him.
What characterises experiences such as this one is that they are almost always solo events. They are intensely personal experiences. There are most definitely examples of groups of people who have experienced what they described as supernatural happenings (the Lourdes visions is a good example) but even these have solid psychological explanations. Either Mary mother of Jesus visited all those people in Lourdes or they got wrapped up in a self-induced dream state. I'm an atheist. For me it can only be the latter.
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Belief does not define character
by Nickolas inhave you ever wondered how there could be so many pedophiles and other miscreants who are jehovah's witnesses, who claim to be the chosen people of god and who profess and honour christian morals?
you could ask the same question of the roman catholic clergy and the staff of protestant run orphanages.
the vast majority of jehovah's witnesses, catholic priests and protestant orphanage staff are not miscreants, but they share something in common with their despicable bretheren and that is they believe the same thing.
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Nickolas
and I agree with you, Tammy.
This thread, incidentally, was inspired by negative comments made in a recent thread toward a devout Christian on this board. I am in fundamental disagreement with this person's perception of reality, what she believes, but I have come to understand from reading her posts that she is of high character (at least in my own biased estimation). There are other Christians in here who do not convey the same impression. And, of course, the same can be said of atheists on this board. I am learning not to judge people on the basis of what they believe. It's refreshing. Everyone should try it.