Hello from a non-skeptic

[Apology]

Oh. Do you feel you have a commonality of experience with Non Skeptic?

Well lets see. Briefly..

Consciouness. A state of mental and emotional awareness.

Ego: A multifaceted portion of the personality that lends among other things a sense of individuality that is developed through various and sometimes changing belief systems.It also serves to keep us from direct access to the subconscious and unconscious.

Belief: Those premises assumed by a personality to understand the world around them. They may be assumed or given by what is perceived to be a higher authority. Most beliefs lend a state a shared consciousness with others: We all percieve the world in roughly the same way if we believe the world to be the way we all percieve it. However beliefs may alter or distort perception as well about commonly perceived world and about one's self in general.

Psyche; The mind as a whole lending to us a sense of animation whether someone believes it to be a spirit, soul or chemical reaction.
.
Science as a belief system is self explanatory-- it is a belief system.

Place of consciousness is what place of consciousness one is working from. Thinking or knowing.

A good psychic does not impose belief systems on others while the person in question is attempting to understand their psyche or attempt to work outside of their usual mental and emotional awareness state. They simply ask that all belief systems be suspended for a while so the participant can describe what they are experiencing without external influences.

You left out "paradigm".

 

[Jocce]

*Delete*
Seems to be moot points after further reading in the thread.

 

[Pixel42]

I see no reason not to continue this conversation, no matter what books Mr Boden has written.

As I said, not in my case. The degree of "hits" was far beyond any random chance.

There are many perfectly rational, intelligent people who believe in astrology because "the people I know are far more like their sign says they should be than would be expected by random chance". They aren't lying, and they aren't deluded. Yet studies which collect large amounts of data on large numbers of people and compare them with the main attributes of their signs have consistently shown that no such correlation exists. People are not, in fact, any more like they are predicted to be by their astrological signs than would be expected by random chance. The perception of so many people that they are is a false one, a result of the built-in cognitive biases of our pattern-seeking brains.

Can you at least consider the possibility that your own perception that the mediums you met were right more often than would be expected by random chance is likewise a false perception? How would you go about establishing whether it is or not?

 

[Agatha]

Minstrels were common in mediaeval times but had almost wholly disappeared by the beginning of the 18th century.

Are you sure Agatha? I'm sure I bought and ate a packet only last week.

I knew someone would make that joke! I must be psychic.

 

[Mojo]

I've always wondered at the idea that those who believe in reincarnation always used to be Cleopatra or viceroy to the emperor. Do only important people get a second chance? What about John, third son of Earl the pig farmer? Or Ellen, who died of consumption in infancy and was buried in a shallow grave on the road to Salisbury?

And why do these famous people get multiply reincarnated? We've already seen in this thread that Prince Charlie was reincarnated as at least two people between 1960 and 1977. There are also multiple Cleopatras. As I've said before, it would make a great "reality TV" show: get a bunch of reincarnations of the same person together and let them fight it out.

 

[Jack by the hedge]

Science as a belief system is self explanatory-- it is a belief system.

"Science as a belief system" is a logical fallacy called "begging the question".

 

[Flo]

[...] I was born in Scotland in 1960,

[snip fairy tale]


To be continued...

When reading the above, I was reminded of the Resident Royally Deluded on the Quebec skeptic's forum, who is not only claiming to be the legitimate heir to the throne of France, but also of Christ himself. He has also written a book about his misadventures, but the main difference with Mr Boden is that he's convinced all the recent disasters, natural or else, that have been plaguing the World, from the 2004 tsunami to the latest mining disaster in China, are proof that god himself is angry with the world's refusal to recognise him for the great monarch Nostradamus has predicted would rule France and the World !

I was therefore not really surprised at:

Maybe they read his book:
http://www.freado.com/read/7923/descendant-of-kings

It looked too polished for a one off for the likes of us. I cut and pasted a random sentence and google led first here, then to the book. Something seems smelly around here.

How long until Charlie starts threatening us with earthquakes, tsunamis, frogs, and assorted divine punishment ?

 

[Jack by the hedge]

How odd. Another Canadian obsessed with Nostradamus. There's a Nostradamus thread somewhere hereabouts whose OP is Canadian, and I immediately assumed it must be a sockpuppet for David Mabus, but now here's another one...

If this is a real trend, I wonder what the appeal might be. Maybe an instinctive identification with someone writing in almost-but-not-quite French.

 

[Halfcentaur]

"Science as a belief system" is a logical fallacy called "begging the question".

And what about Wareagle's allusion to "true psychics" as opposed to the false psychics that get bogged down in the nasty ego? Is this a case of "no true Scotsman"?

 

[Charles Boden]

You are all much too quick at assuming beforehand. I myself made no mention of the book I have written, which is only a self-publication that has only been available since August this year. You are right in that you guys would not be my audience for it. I made no mention of it here, neither is it the reason for my coming here in the first place. I wrote the story in the book with the only intention of sharing my own personal experience, and for no other reason.

I have read all your replies and with a bit more time will be checking out the links you have provided, but again the number of questions is beyond what free time I have to reply to all of them, in particular as I am just about to go off to work.

In the meantime, perhaps you might like to check this link:

http://www.healpastlives.com/future/rule/rudebunk.htm

 

[Wolrab]

Skimming through the link, it seems the author must have, in a previous life, been molested by strawmen. In this life, he takes great pleasure in knocking them down.

 

[Agatha]

http://www.healpastlives.com/future/rule/rudebunk.htm

I checked it, I don't find it persuasive.

 

[Lothian]

In the meantime, perhaps you might like to check this link:

http://www.healpastlives.com/future/rule/rudebunk.htm

Clicking on the 'Evidence Link' we find the number one piece of evidence for reincarnation is that some poeple claim to be reincarnations of a member of the opposite sex.

It would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic or sick. Take evidence 7.

Multiple or severe birth defects are usually the result of an individual being on the spiritual "debt consolidation karmic payment plan".

Charles, what evidence is there that birth defects are the result of sins in past lives? This is the Evidence page, you must have some strong evidence to back this claim up. Why else would you blame the afflicted for their suffering?

 

[Cayvmann]

I did once, however, see an interview with a quantum physicist in which he claimed that "scientists would not bring consciousness into the equation simply because it would make the equation too complex..."

Charles

If consciousness was a significant factor in the equations, leaving it out would make the equations not work very well, right? There are many, many things that could be included into equations that would make them more complex, and yet not change the outcomes of the maths by any significant amount. Until these tiny variables can be shown to effect the outcome, then there is not use putting them in.

 

[aggle-rithm]

Charles, what evidence is there that birth defects are the result of sins in past lives? This is the Evidence page, you must have some strong evidence to back this claim up. Why else would you blame the afflicted for their suffering?

I'm sorry, you'll just have to take his word on it.

 

[wareagle]

What is science then? A belief is something that individual holds to be true. If one has never experienced science how would they believe it? The point is not that science isn't accurate or trustworthy but everything we think we know or think is a belief.If we all came pre installed with truth and learning we'd have no public school systems. We have to be taught the belief.

People hold untrue beliefs, or more often conflicting opposing beliefs. What's going on in the subconscious versus what happens in the conscious mind. If someone can suspend all their belief systems for a while they can find out just how many of the their beliefs are in opposition to each other. Most people don't want to.

Like the belief that people think birth effects are the result of sin in past lives. Someone who makes a conscious spiritual conversion from a punishing religion nearly always does this; they drag the old religion after them. Instead of a punishing God like the one from the old testament we simply incorporate an aspect of spirituality that does the punishing instead, a previous life, karma, etc etc. Most new age spirituals concepts are just recycled Christianity and Buddhism if you look at them very closely EXAMINE THE BELIEF SYSTEM. The concept of birth defect as the result of sin is in fact a old Christian belief . Conditioned thinking . The conscious thought may have changed but the core belief didn't. It just rearranged itself into something else.

 

[Cayvmann]

... and I knew what to expect when I first posted...

Charles

Confirmation bias

 

[aggle-rithm]

Again you are making use of rhetoric as a means of counter-argumentation.

Yes, I do believe that more research should be carried out before the possibilities are ruled out. The impression I get here, however, is that such research is biased even before it is performed. Makes it very difficult to reach a reliable conclusion...

If the research incorporates sound methodology, then yes, it is biased. It is biased towards getting to the truth.

That's the whole point of sound methodology, really.

 

[wareagle]

And what about Wareagle's allusion to "true psychics" as opposed to the false psychics that get bogged down in the nasty ego? Is this a case of "no true Scotsman"?

Twisting my words isn't what one would all intellectual honest either. A psychic working in integrity will not attempt to impose their belief system on you. They don't have one. A psychic who is working from ego base will to convince you they are a psychic.

Would your intellectual honesty prefer ego base psychism rather than non ego based psychism.

 

[aggle-rithm]

Like the belief that people think birth effects are the result of sin in past lives. Someone who makes a conscious spiritual conversion from a punishing religion nearly always does this; they drag the old religion after them. Instead of a punishing God like the one from the old testament we simply incorporate an aspect of spirituality that does the punishing instead, a previous life, karma, etc etc. Most new age spirituals concepts are just recycled Christianity and Buddhism if you look at them very closely EXAMINE THE BELIEF SYSTEM. The concept of birth defect as the result of sin is in fact a old Christian belief . Conditioned thinking . The conscious thought may have changed but the core belief didn't. It just rearranged itself into something else.

I think any religious belief that sees every event as a reward or a punishment from some deity or deities will inevitably blame any disease or infirmity on someone's misbehavior. This is one of the ways people make sense of a world that really doesn't give a damn about them or their petty little troubles.

If we could just let go of the idea that we humans have some special place in the cosmos, there is no need to make sense of it. We can just accept the unpleasant realities and get on with our lives the best we can.

Most religions don't want us to do that, though.