Category: Let's talk
Ever since I was a child, I've been fascinated by the paranormal. I was interested in everything from spirits to alien abductions. As I grew older, I also became interested in various fringe sciences (what some would call pseudosciences) such as astrology, numerology cryptozoology etc. I even created a LiveJournal community dedicated to all of this.
http://community.livejournal.com/fringescience/profile
I always wanted to find a college or other place that seriously ingaged in the study of such things and now, I believe I have. It's called Flamel College and can be found here.
http://www.flamelcollege.org/index.html
They seem to focus more on the paranormal (parapsychology) and not so much the other sciences, but it's a start. My question is as blind people, how much can we really study these subjects? There's so much of a visual aspect to some of them. For example, working with electronics to record spirits, using some forms of divination, some methods of hypnosis or astral travel, studying cryptoids and ufos. But then again, I do think that we can excel in some areas such as EVP. So what do you think? Do you have any interest in the paranormal or fringe sciences? Have you had any experiences with these and if so, what adaptations have you made as a blind or visually-impaired individual that helped you? I'm especially interested in those of you who tried to enhance your psychic abilities. Also, how many of you have listened to the Art Bell show? I've heard of him but was never able to catch the program.
Hellow, I am interested in things like that. I enjoy watching programs on tv and radio about where they go into places and investigations are done about whether those places are haunted or not.
Well, to be blunt (and I am fine with people disagreeing with me, it's a good thing) I think 90 to 99% of all that is "bullshit", not to phrase it too politely I guess, let's stick with nonsense. It's mind games, it's selling assurances to people.
The whole recording ghosts with electronics, for instance, they don't consider magno electric stuff in the air, they always make generalized statements, they pick up readings near power outlets (surprise) and wiring, they never take it into account, not that I've seen. They are nicely vague, tell you stuff that you can interpret either way. The Bullshit show did a really good take on those people and made a lot of fun of them in fact. Astrology is similar, why would billions of tons of hydrogen 50000 light years away know, or care, about whether you will fall in love next Tuesday, they really don't. But people born on similar days might have similar experiences, you can analyze people's characteristics and be sufficiently vague. I think there is a science to this, mix of psychology and observation, but I think it's silly to associate it with a star. As for psychic detectives, I think they are a dangerous distraction from putting all the resources into real chemical, physical and psychological leads. I've never heard of a psychic detective solving a case, there probabl are a few examples where they got lucky and said the victim was tied up in a house, and he/she was found there (hmm, really now!). So if you are good at making up stories and reading people then I'm sure a blind person could do just as well as a sighted one.
I do think there are spirits and all that, but I don't think it's of any interest for us in this world, they may be watching over us even, but I think if there is a next world, I like to deal with it then instead of trying to find something out about it by now. If there were truly and invariably people who can tell us about the next world we'd know more about it, instead we get loads of fell good tv stories with conflicting views and vague, but nice, images.
Anyways, it's a fine hobby and all that, but to make it one's profession is a bit frightening, I feelit's a bit like trying to sell people herbalife, except it probably won't cause heart attacks.
cheers
-B
I respect your honesty. What I'm about to say is merely meant for the purposes of debating and is not meant to offend or attack you. That said, not all the stories are nice and not all the shows are feel-good. As for psychic detectives, if they were totally fake, the police wouldn't use them. There are documented cases where they have indeed helped to solve crimes, where they were extremely specific on the details. It would take some investigating, but I'm sure they can be found. Why did the American government study remote viewing (the ability to find objects from far away..)? What about Project Bluebook and other governmental studies of UFOs and the many sightings recorded by people in the military of UFOs, USOs (unidentified submerged objects), area 51 and Rozwell? These aren't some regular people out to make a buck or a tv appearance. Why would so many stories agree on details etc? What about skeptics who go to houses with paranormal activity and turn into believers? You said that you agree that spirits exist. So, isn't it possible that they could have an effect on this realm? And if they do, why shouldn't they be studied, especially if they're trying to tell us something? Maybe, the reason why we don't know so much about the other side is that it's difficult for the spirits to communicate with us, or maybe, for some reason, they're not allowed to say. Maybe, because they're caught between the worlds, they can't answer what it's like for everyone anyway. Just some musings. I've often wondered this same thing myself. As for astrology, I partially agree with you. Many people today have turned it into a mockery to make money. Same with psychics and those who practise various forms of divination. I believe all of this exists, but you have to look around for those who aren't busy stuffing their pockets to find the answers. What is your opinion of crop circles and animal mutilations?
Right now I only want to add that yes this is something I personally am interested in. I've had some paranormal events, and don't often expound on them do to the lack of belief. After all, I'm not out to change anyone's opinion, and don't see a reason to waist my energy trying...*smile* However, about psychic and stuff, totally in agreement. I believe that anything is possible, but to believe that everyone at these 900 numbers has a clue...Well, BS! However, I know the time a psychic startled my Mom with the info she had, so, to think it isn't possible goes completely against my own philosophy of life. LOL.
Lo and behold, I agree with my husband. Not because he's my husband--rather, he's my husband because I agree with him on this matter, among a few other reasons :-).
Police forces have used psychic detectives for the same reason the government has studied remote viewing: They wanted to make sure to give it a chance just in case it *did* work. Sadly, it did not, as you will find if you review the evidence (the real evidence). As for UFOs, Roswell, and all that, it is overwhelmingly likely that these are just instances of military tests of as yet classified new aircraft designs, or else atmospheric phenomena. As for crop circles--again, there have been numerous experiments that show that they are actually very easy to create with no supernatural powers whatsoever.
That being said, I agree with you that it's not a bad idea to devote a certain amount of energy to studying these phenomena, just because in case there actually is something to them, we wouldn't want to miss out on it. But we need to be realistic in both our expectations and our interpretation of the data. I am not adverse, in principle, to believing in paranormal phenomena--I just haven't yet found, nor do I really expect to find, any convincing evidence.
Well, I'd like to see examples of where psycho investigators actually located a victim, and not where they used their film inspired imagination (she's tied up in a basement, I see a wall there, yes, grey, may be white, not sure, she's not very happy, I feelhear fear, etc). I'm not necessarily saying there's nothing out there, we really have no idea, but the way all these things have been sensationalized make me more and more skeptical. It reminds me of these emails for a product you get and you see testimonies like "This is the best product ever - James, California) .. now I would have a jolly old time locating mr James, if, indeed, he wrote this. I'm sure life exists on other planets, sure the earth's history is somewhat unique, but given the many billions of stars out there I don't think we're that unique. But if there are really some UFOs that somehow managed the impossible taskof crossing lightyears or thousands of lightyears of space, why are they content with scaring the lonely pilot, the lonely farmer and peoploe who appear on talk shows. With their technology, surely, they could blast up cities, turn the white house into a grove of palm trees (incidentally taht would be an improvement) or at least let us know by some very obvious means, that they are here. And given the governments inability tohush up scandals in recent history I don't know why they would do such a good job of this. But, of course, evern if 0.1% of these stories and conspiracy theories holds true it'd still be a sea change for humanity as a whole, but I am not going to be convinced by a show on a reality channel, that's for sure. As for animal mutilation, do you meanthe kind where these innocent cows and lambs die a horrific death, are hacked into pieces, their flesh cut up, put on a spit and made into a Gyro, ... I rather approve of it myself, as long as I get a large portion with nice pita bread, I've heard that vegeterrians are offended by this. Crop circles are weird, but it's been shown a determined group of students can create one in one night, although why, is unclear.
I guess I don't entirely disagree with you. The confines of thies world, our experience, is interesting, we're pushing the envelop with science and research of all kinds, it's only natural we try to push the boundries in this area too. But the way I've seen it portrayed on TV, I've seen friends and family go to a psychic and have a few things they heard come true (but also at least more than 70 or 80% of what they heard totally fail to happen) and I am less convinced than ever. People want to believe these things, they want to remember what the psychic or detective got right, because that's what people want to be true, now whether it is true or not I can't tell you. And I despise the people who use this as a cover up to make money from gullable believers, it's a huge industry. I really encourage you to try and find the episode of the Bullshit Show that deals with this. It's funny, offensive etc, and it's no holy graile or proof of anything, but it's a fun, alternative, take on this whole braanche of science, or pseudo science.
some people just don't and can't believe in what they don't see, or what hasn't been proved. I'd love to share my experiences here, but there are so many idiots on this site now, I just never share anything on here any more.
all i will say is I'm on a couple of astral-projection communities on livejournal. anyone who wants someone to talk to about such things are welcome to contact me privately.
lol No, I didn't mean cutting up animals for meat. *smile* And I'll gladly share my pita with you. I meant there are these really disturbing, horrible and discusting cases of animals being mudilated. They are mostly cows. Parts of their body will be missing, but it looks as if a doctor surgically removed them, not an animal or other natural preditor. And there's no blood. Also, I think they said that the animals are warm when found. This is something I've only recently learned about, so I'm not too clear on the details. But I know there were a few things that made it suspicious.
Well, I've never heard of such things, and if you can dig up a believable, non sensational story about some of these things I'm certainly not against reading it if I have some spare time.
Sadly most people on here resort tothe "you are all idiots" phrase when someone has a different view from them and having discussions with them gets a bit boring, to say the least.I don't claim to know all about the universe, if I did I would be a lot richer and probably have my ownprivate galazy.
OK, so, if the methods people are using to study that which exists beyond the physical plane are inaccessible to a blind person, wel, that's sort of funny, isn't it? but if you think of them as just the tools a sighted person comes up with, well, they are rather attached to visual tools. You may need to work out your own and since there is sort of a stereotype that in this case might not hurt around blind people being more sensitive or something, well, I doubt you'll find people trying to block your participation. Just the opposite.
I don't think of this as paranormal, but I did study astrology for a couple of years. It certainly isn't scientific but I just don't let that bother me as I enjoyed working with it and if you're ethical about how you deal with people when you do a reading there's no harm done either way. I sort of accept it as having something in it that works at the same time as I know how unscientific it is and don't mind living with the contradictions.
I had to do what we all probably have to do with much of what we want to learn. I had to learn about astrology enough to create my own methods for setting up charts, etc. before I could take a class which meant that I knew a lot more about it than anyone else in the class by the time I started. I'd be happy to talk with you about what I did if it ends up being something you're interested in. You do use software to run a chart but I found the easiest way to work with a chart was to write it out in a linear manner using the numerical coordinates for planets and other points in a chart - well, easier to talk through then to explain here so if you do get to that point, I'll work it out so you can call or skype me or whatever. I've met other blind people who did more elaborate things with graphically laid out charts and tactual representations of the various symbols involved but I never really cared for all the visuals, I just wanted to get at the data so I could work with it. There are quite a few astrology books on bookshare now. One that came recommended to me when I was studying but couldn't access at the time is "Choice Centered Astrology: The Basics" by Gail Fairfield. and another that I only had on tape from RFB I now see up on bookshare - one I really loved - "Horoscope Symbolls" by robert Hand. You might prefer some of the books that have a more esoteric slant but I think robert Hand is the master of straightforward and clear writing on the subject and it's a great book to learn from.
Truthfully, I've done nothing with astrology for quite a few years now, but it was fun to study at the time and just hinking about it now makes me want to pull it out again.
Have had my own experiences with the truely paranormal but also wouldn't write about it here. It feels really personal and I have nothing I want to sell anyone else on.
I am extremely interested in astrology and consider it a science, though certainly not in the realm of the paranormal. Most would call it a pseudo or fringe science. I really didn't know that blind people could work with it, so wanted to take the route of numerology. However, although I still find that interesting and would still love to learn it, I am now intrigued by what you said on astrology and would be more than happy to learn from you if you would be willing to teach me. I also have an interest in tarot cards. Basically, any of these types of fringe sciences interest me. That's why I created that LiveJournal community. Unfortunately, no one has joined or posted to it so it's kind of dead. But if you or someone you know might be interested, please feel free to check it out and/or pass it on. The more people we get, the better.
i have actually had alot of paranormal experiences myself. i won't explain here because i know alot of the people on here would label me as a freak. if u want to know more, feel free to privately contact me on here.
I actually feel a bit bad for creating this, because there's already a similar post here. I didn't see it, so sorry to the creator of tht one. I suppose I also should've titled this one Fringe Sciences, since we're discussing alot of those and not necessarily things classified as parapsychology or paranormal. ah well. As for me, I don't usually care how others label me and would gladly share my experiences, but I've already done so in various other posts. lol I guess I just haven't had that many of them.