Thursday, December 13, 2007

paranormal... atheists ???

Sean has tagged me to do a Twilight Zone Moment thread.

I have been thinking of this off and on for the last 2 days now, trying to come up with something "paranormal".

And I think the challenge I face with this thread is right there in the definition of paranormal...an umbrella term used to describe a wide variety of reported anomalous phenomena that are beyond normal experience or scientific explanation.

Nothing inexplicable has ever happened to me. No prayers miraculously answered. No teddy's shifting position on their own, no visions of dead people or living people for that matter. Nothing beyond my normal experiences.

Oh wait. Wait wait wait!! That's just not true! There was a prayer that got miraculousy answered, and it was definitely beyond my normal experience. Way beyond. Way way WAY beyond. My first kiss. OMG. The stars wheeled, the heavens rejoiced and the earth spun round more than once that night. Fortunately Mumsy & Daddykins were far away in Montana so he could spend those few hours teaching me what a tongue is best used for. Wow. *shivers* One of the best nights of my entire life up to that point. Pity it took until I was 17, but hey- better late then never kissed.

Ok... so except for that one night, that one glorious mind altering, never the same before or since night, nothing out of the ordinary or beyond science has ever happened to me.

Oh sure, I've creeped myself out at night, letting my imagination get the best of me, even scaring myself rather thoroughly. But it was always me, and my imagination, it is for that very reason that I avoid suspense/horror movies.

There is just nothing out there that exists beyond science's ability to find a rational explanation for it. It may take us awhile, but we humans are a clever bunch of individuals, someone will figure it out.



So... there it is Sean and here is the rest...

The Rules

1. You should post these rules
2. Recall and relate a time when you experienced a "paranormal event"
3. Explain it rationally if you can
4. Inflict this thread on 5 other people

What is it with the number five???

Let's see...
Johnny
Richard
Protium
ThumpThumpEyes
Xavier Onassis


Any paranormal experiences? I'm rather anticipating each of you coming back with an "uhmmmmm, nope!" but that is just me and I am curious.

11 comments:

Richard said...

The closest thing to a paranormal experience is really via my mother. I was a teenager, 17 or 18 I think, and I was returning from a two week canoe trip in Algonquin Park (a story in itself).

Half way through the drive, we stopped at Weber's Grill, and to my surprise my childhood friend, Ken P., was slinging hamburgers there. He took a few minutes and we chatted, and agreed to meet in a few weeks when school resumed. I happened to look at the clock, and can still picture that it was 14:01:30h (Yes, I can picture the second hand sweeping past the "6").

When I got home (about 15:30h) I said Hi to my Mum, and lightly (from two weeks of experience) carried my canoe pack to the basement. After I had dumped out the laundry and put the rest in my room, I went up to talk to my Mum about the trip. Before I could start, she handed me a piece of paper. It had a phone number on it and said, "call Ken".

"Wha...? Did he just call?"

"No, but a little after it occurred to me that you should call him. You two were such good friends and you haven't talked to him since Christmas."

"Mum, when, after lunch?"

"Oh. I remember, because I happened to look at the clock. It was just after two o'clock."

"Uh.. how much after two o'clock?"

"Only a minute or two."


Freaky! I told her about meeting Ken, and she was surprised. She said it was not the first time something like that had happened to her.

There are a great many references to things of this nature that lack a clear answer fitting with present scientific knowledge. For example, the Chinese notion of Chi 'energy' (note single quotes) and its relationship to acupuncture and Shiatsu meridians on the body, presumes such a force. While I look at these things with a jaundiced eye, I am open to one theory.

Man, mammals and animals in general have evolved on this earth for a billion years. Iff ('if and only if") there is some other, yet unknown field --in the sense of a gravitational or electromagnetic field-- it may be relevant.

"Space" is not nothing, it is something... something that can be loosely referred to as an 'ether'. Light waves may be limited in speed by that ether much the same as sound travels at a fixed speed unique to the material through which it is traveling. Similarly, the conscious mind is not simply a network of nerves, as it lacks a specific location in the cerebral cortex. It too may be a kind of field produced by a yet unknown mechanism and force.

Iff such a field & force exists, then it would make some evolutionary sense that animal physiology would be influenced by it, and perhaps use it. Else, paranormal things are at best just coincidences. They may seem remarkable to us but, with 6 billion people in the world, incredible coincidences would be relatively frequent.

I want to add that the above is a rather empty hypothesis, since there is no clear logical evidence pointing to it. It largely amounts to an arbitrary claim, and should not be entertained too seriously.

Reg Golb said...

Just think, if you had been wearing poodles panties, it might have happened earlier in life.

Protium the Heathen said...

I was the same Fiery... I've never experienced anything that I found paranormal... Have I missed out on something.

Oh Reg...
Your tagged

Protium the Heathen said...

Oh.. and T&A already got me :)

Fiery said...

omg.. is my blog really the place where people leave notes for reg golb???? Say it ain't so!!!!

I did notice, after the fact, that T&A tagged you. He was just copying my idea the long way around. ;D

As for the paranormal... maybe you and I ARE the paranormal. *snerk*

Sean Wright said...

See with my story I was conciously willing the light cord to move. It is not beyond the bounds of reason that I forced myself to halucinate. If I could move things with my mind well... lets just say I would probably be living in a Mansion on the east coast.

Protium the Heathen said...

hmmm. I've seen a lot of "notes" to Reg here before :)

I thought that as most of his waking life with an imaginery friend must be paranormal, he would have an interesing story.

Reg can you pick up the milk on the way home please...

Reg Golb said...

My very existance defies science, but that is for another day.

I was flying home from Boston to console my wife, our first potential adoption just fell through. The whole flight was an adventure (and a soon to be made for TV movie on that women's channel).
Anyway, I boarded this little 30 seat prop job and took my window seat. The aisle seat was empty which I appreciated as I am a "little" clastrophobic. The plane was basically full except the seat next to me.
All the sudden the plane tilts slighly to the left (if it didn't, it really wanted to) and a 400+ pound, 6'6" black guy starts to make his way down the suddenly very narrow aisle.
"Sorry brother" was all he really had to say as he realized he was now sitting to the unluckiest guy in the world. This guy was big and probably ran a 102 degree body temperature. (heat adds to my phobia).
So, basically I prayed a quick prayer "Lord, please help me survive the next 90 minutes so I can make it home tonight and not spend the night in jail or the loony bin."
Somehow, I made it. Science can't explain it. It had to be a miracle.

I won't tag anyone unless the mountain king is lurking around.
haha.

I hope you arent' upset that I posted this on your blog. I didn't figure anyone wants to read my stuff anyway.

Protium the Heathen said...

I was wrong. It's not interesting at all Reg.

"Lord, please help me survive the next 90 minutes so I can make it home tonight and not spend the night in jail or the loony bin."

So which one was it... Jebus stopped you from beating up a 400+ pound, 6'6" black guy and going to jail or he/she/it stopped you from becoming more deluded and going to the loony bin?

Thanks for playing.

Reg Golb said...

Well, you asked.

I wasn't going to beat up a mountain, but you can get in trouble for causing commotions on an airplane. I was just saying that my surviving was paranormal.

T T Eyes said...

Fiery, I've finally got my blog up and its only the second day of the holidays!

I've managed to complete the meme you tagged me with:-D