Archive through October 23, 2000

The ClubHouse: The Game - Discussion Room: General : Do you believe in Synchronicity?: Archive through October 23, 2000

Digilady

Thursday, October 19, 2000 - 08:46 pm Click here to edit this post
A quick shot for the synchronicity arg:

In chat, just before Roger had his 10 minutes on the board, I made a quick joke about his computer locking right in the middle of it.

And guess what?

It did.

He doesn't usually have puter probs, either.

hmmmmmm

Gomer

Thursday, October 19, 2000 - 08:51 pm Click here to edit this post
Altho he said on boards after the fact that he WAS having computer problems earlier and had a backup in case---seema closer to murphy's law than anything else

Noslonna

Thursday, October 19, 2000 - 09:26 pm Click here to edit this post
I remember using the word, "Einstein" at least once in a post, for whatever it is worth. What can I say -- I believe in backwards forward thinking.

But Billie Boy is my fav.

Sandyc

Thursday, October 19, 2000 - 11:36 pm Click here to edit this post
Adven39 - Could it be that someone's need was so great that they reached out with psychic Einsteinian waves of power and touched another to create the effect needed? And to say 'may sound hokey' indicates to me that you are worried about being laughed at for having been moved by a synchronistic experience.

Is there no one in the serious scientific community studying brain waves who is also trying to determine if we can project psychically. I think if anything the emanations are there, it's just the reception that is lacking. Or the awareness of the reception.

Why are some of us more open minded than others? Why are some more magnetic? Why are some more empathetic? Why are our first impressions important?

(Using the universal 'you' she continues) --
I have to confess. I believe that we are all connected by an energy force that we transmit on. In contact with you I can't read your mind but I can 'pick up' on how you are. I can sense your emotions.

True, I can see, hear, touch, smell, and taste you -- that gets me the outside of you. My awareness of the inside of you must come from something else -- something you project -- in person. I can't get it from what is typed here. What's here is just part of your thinking mind being transmitted. Half or less of your brain power.

Because of us and in spite of us, and through that energy that connects us all, synchronicity does exist, on purpose.

Resortgirl

Friday, October 20, 2000 - 06:04 am Click here to edit this post
Katie,
I think we are living parallel lives! Same situation, married for 7 unhappy years, left him, moved into a crappy one bedroom apartment but no longer felt lonely. One night some male friends were going out and I literally begged to go out even though they claimed it was a *boys* night out. I don' know why I was so insistant, but just felt I *had* to go. At about 12:30 am... minutes before they were getting ready to leave a man asked me to dance. The minute I heard his voice and saw his eyes I knew! We have been married for 11 years. I KNOW that it was not coincedence.

Ocean_Islands

Friday, October 20, 2000 - 06:47 am Click here to edit this post
Musta been the "seven year itch"!

Resortgirl

Friday, October 20, 2000 - 07:05 am Click here to edit this post
Not really Ocean... I tried to leave in year two and he threatened to kill me....

Adven39

Friday, October 20, 2000 - 08:05 am Click here to edit this post
Ocean, is it just me, or is this thread starting to shift in your direction?

SandyC, there have been a number of reputable research projects that have delved into the area of psychic phenomenon and the paranormal. I seem to remember reading somewhere that Duke University has an entire department devoted to this. My understanding is that nothing earth-shattering has yet been discovered - at least nothing that the academic community is willing to embrace or get excited about with any confidence.
This could mean a number of things: the empirical method, and those who apply it, is flawed, this sort of thing exists outside the parameters of our ability to "prove" it or it simply doesn't exist.
Although I believe the last one to be true, I am not such a rabid defender of science as to believe it can provide all answers. I do think, though, that the scientific method provides us with the best and most reliable means of separating truth from speculation at this point in our history. Science deals with what can be observed, recorded and independently duplicated. It's strength is in examining the physical world. If paranormal phenomenon exists, I believe it is on a metaphysical level that is beyond the reach of pure science. If this is so, we will likely not be able to categorically demonstrate it's existence for a very long time, if ever.

Ocean_Islands

Friday, October 20, 2000 - 08:27 am Click here to edit this post
I agree with what you are saying about the scientific method. What I have a problem with is defenders of the scientific method who are blinded by their devotion.

Amazing things can happen in science, you know; never rule anything out.

"Everything has already been said." -- Egyptian novelist, 400 B.C.

"Everything that can be invented has been invented." -- C. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899

Wcv63

Friday, October 20, 2000 - 08:44 am Click here to edit this post
OI....when it comes to matters of the inexplicable I tend to be skeptical but not close minded.

I am truly convinced that there are forces at work (call it coincidence, call it God, call it Karma)that have touched my life personally.

Vasix

Friday, October 20, 2000 - 08:57 am Click here to edit this post
Okay, my two cents:

1. Incredible thread you guys. Way off the game but makes up for it in quality and accepting the diversity of thoughts.

2. I think syncron defenders are idealists trying to make Hope visible in portrait form. And I think people who don't see syncron (like me) are cynics trying to make sure every thing has a provable, scientific, documented connection. Because us cynics never want to be disappointed again.

PS: The second cent was just broad sweeping stuff, I know its not all or nothing, I was just posing two views and used generalities.

Flint

Friday, October 20, 2000 - 09:39 am Click here to edit this post
Synchronicity? The Police song? Oh no my bad, not the song. It is an interesting concept. Mind you, us Bluenoser's tend to call them forerunners. ( A Bluenoser is someone who lives in Nova Scotia, or was from here.)

A forerunner is a sign, portent, foreshadowing of an event, usually a death. Most stories about them mention specific types. As someone else mentioned a photo falling off a mantle and the glass breaking, signifying someones (the person in the photo) death. Or three raps on a wall or door when no one is around. The noise coming at the time of a person's death. Sort of makes ya wonder when those damn tree branches rap on the windows a few times on windy nights, eh? ;)

I am not normally a superstitious person, however, I do believe in forerunners. Years ago I had my own experience with them. There I was cruising around at 10,000 feet in the air with nothing between me and the air but a svelte blonde. Ooops, wrong story.

It was back in the late 80's. My grandfather was diagnosed with cancer and in the hospital. The doctors felt they had caught it early and would be able to treat it.

One night, my mother and grand mother (her mom) were off at the hospital visiting him. A couple of my friends were over, and we were in my room playing an RPG. My father was upstairs with the dogs. All of a sudden, out of the blue, the dogs (3 of them) just started howling loudly for no reason. Howling, not barking or yapping at a noise outside the house. Full out, loud howling. After a minute, they stopped but were very agitated.

About 10 minutes later my mother called. My grandfather was dead. The time of death was at the exact time the dogs started howling. Coincidence? It could be, but who knows for sure? It wasn't the last time something like that happened.

Years after my father died it happened again. My mom was home alone. Her mother was in Alberta visiting relatives. The dogs started howling for no reason. About an hour later, my mom's brother called to let her know their mother had died. The time of death was the same time the dogs started howling. You can slough it off as conicidence. That is easy enough to do. I can't say that though. There is coincidence and then there is something else.

Anyway, enough rambling. As always, that was just ...

My 2 cents.

Ocean_Islands

Friday, October 20, 2000 - 10:53 am Click here to edit this post
Hmmm -- that reminds about another study that I'm familiar with. They did experiments to try to test the 'extra sense' that dogs have.

They put video cameras in dog owner's homes. They discovered that the dogs would go over to the window or by the door and wait there at the time that their owners were driving back home. This was not just at the end of a work day, which would be understandable, but on the weekends, during the day and at unexpected times.

They have also discovered that some dogs are able to detect when an epileptic fit is approaching for an epilepsy sufferor. Severe epileptics have these dogs in their homes to tell them when a seizure is approaching. But scientists do not know how certain dogs do this.

Fruitbat

Monday, October 23, 2000 - 12:46 pm Click here to edit this post
Ocean said......<<<<<What I have a problem with is defenders of the scientific method who are blinded by their devotion.>>>>>

Well said. I just found this thread and am sorry I wasn't here to join you when you were the lone voice, Ocean. And who would have thought to find this conversation in the Game section? I must come over here more often.

I forget now who adressed this but...science has NOT given up on trying to proove the existence of "god" and inexplainable phenonemon. The "spiritual" will be proved by science in time. Scientists, themselves, claim this to be possible and are working on this as we type. I use quotes as everyones verbal shorthand differs.

That matters little to me, actually. So many of us are looking to be hit over the head with overwhelming proof, in our own immediate experience that we totally miss that it happens daily. I do not believe in coinsidence.

Making a phone call to find that the line is busy because that person is calling us, is a common example of the energetic connection we have with others.

To deny that something exists because we cannot prove it is curious to me. As science evolves it recognises it's own past errors. It is not the bottom line.

Kudos, Adven and Elitist for sharing your curious experiences. I love an open mind. The death of your niece and birth of the baby gave me goose bumps, Adven.

A dog story: Our neighbor, Buzzy, gave his dog, Morris, to a friend 25 miles away when he moved to another state and could not take him. A year later Buzzy came to visit us and several hours after his arrival Morris appeared on our door step. Coinsidence?.....(to be said in your best Rod Seiger voice.)

Ocean_Islands

Monday, October 23, 2000 - 01:30 pm Click here to edit this post
That's really interesting; I had not addressed the phenomena of pets finding their way home, and so forth, which incidents have occurred so often.

If you go in the game and read the "Death" thread -- that it what inspired this exploration of these issues.

Flint

Monday, October 23, 2000 - 01:44 pm Click here to edit this post
When we lived in Ontario we had a grey cat, of course she was named Smokey. She had been with us for a couple of years, and would always sleep on one of my brothers pillows. One day she vanished. After a couple of months we gave up hope, she did have a habit of checking out strange cars if the windows were down. :(

One day, about 3 months after that, my mother heard a noise on the screen door. She went to the door and saw a ratty looking grey cat. When she opened the door the cat rushed in and took off upstairs, right onto my brothers pillow. She slept for hours. Mom checked her out, and except for being a little thin, and having pads that were almost raw, she was fine. It was Smokey. :)

About 6 months later we moved back to Cape Breton Island. Several years after we moved there Smokey would vanish for days at a time, a few times a week at a time. She would ALWAYS return home though.

One day one of my brothers thought he saw her going into a house at the top of the hill, on the street next to us. My mother knew the people, and talked to them about it. Sure enough, one day our cat had decided to head into this house. The elderly couple thought she was a stray and decided to adopt her. They would worry when she vanished, which is when she would return home. So Smokey had two homes.

A few years later my father got transferred to Dartmouth N.S.. The day the For Sale sign went up in our yard Smokey never strayed again. She would always be home every day. Mom got a call from the couple up the street, they thought something happened to Smokey. They were happy to hear she was ok, but sad to see her go. It is strange, but Smokey KNEW we were moving, and I guess she didn't want to be left behind.

I don't know how science would explain that one. ;)That is just ...

My 2 cents.

Ocean_Islands

Monday, October 23, 2000 - 02:01 pm Click here to edit this post
Bless my whiskers, if a cat won't find a way to claw its way home through hell and high water, and no matter what happens, always land on all fours! As they say, "The cat came back" !

Sometimes a pvssy just needs some extra lovin'.

She was getting some on the outside in more ways than one -- not to be catty or anything.

Twiggyish

Monday, October 23, 2000 - 02:11 pm Click here to edit this post
My husband and I have had some very unexplainable instances in our lives. One really freaky incident involved our first dog.
About 15 years ago, we had a mixed breed dog, Sandy. She was our baby, as we hadn't any children. Since she was still a puppy, we put Sandy in the screened patio at night with papers. Sometime in the night, I heard my husband mumble excitedly. It was then I felt something heavy on my legs and saw a black shadowy shape leap from our bed. Both of us asked loudly how the dog could have gotten in the house. My husband had seen her shape at my feet at the sametime I felt her there. When we turned on the light, both of us looked everywhere. Sandy was NOT in the house. We were both shocked to find her sound asleep in the patio.

Ocean_Islands

Monday, October 23, 2000 - 02:13 pm Click here to edit this post
Don't stop the story there! What happened NEXT?

Elitist

Monday, October 23, 2000 - 02:48 pm Click here to edit this post
Fruitbat,

You made this statement:

"To deny that something exists because we cannot prove it is curious to me. As science evolves it recognises it's own past errors. It is not the bottom line."

It isn't that we deny something exists, we just ask for enough proof that it does exist.

Yes there a lot of "stories" or spurious proof (many people have called someone and had the phone busy because they were being called) but these are not objective proof that a spirit world exists or that synchronicity is real.

Most of these stories can be explained by natural phenomena, statistical randomness, or the subjective human mind.

The real problem lies, however, in the waste of individuals in their time, effort, and money believing these pseudo-sciences and religions based on pseudo facts.

For instance it is one thing for me to keep an open mind to such things as synchronicity or ghosts but another thing entirely for people to be duped out of their possessions to a so-called channeler, or even worse to give their life to a cult such as Heaven's Gate.

And the root is there - the gullibility of people when they believe everything they hear because it "sounds" or "feels" right without true evidence.

The scientific method, though fallible, is the best we humans have come up with to separate the wheat from the chaff. Does it scoff at some of the topics here? Yes it does. But researchers still investigate these topics using sound practices, at least until they are convinced that the pursuit is leading nowhere.

And the real problem (again) with these topics is that researchers cannot prove a negative result. The best you can do is prove that something does exist or is a certain way. The only way I can prove the Earth is not flat is by proving it is round. How do you prove synchronicity exists? You either have to show that the coincidences are outside of what would be statistically probable or show the underlying "purpose" present behind it.

Enough for now.

Fruitbat

Monday, October 23, 2000 - 04:13 pm Click here to edit this post
Eli,

It would have been better for me to have said, I don't require scientific proof to believe something exists nor do I believe something is true and acurate because science says it is. I do not believe anything is random, however. It really boils down to a belief system.

Religion, cults, (if I wanted to start a fire storm I would admit I put those two together) palm readers and psychics (those that claim powers beyond everyones natural abilities to tap this awareness, on occasion) are in a catagory that I do not visit. Lumping everything that is not science into one catagory is an inaccurate assumption. I find it difficult to discuss this very interesting topic when this happens. I am not saying you are doing this, just that many often do.

Adven39

Monday, October 23, 2000 - 04:30 pm Click here to edit this post
I kind of expected you to re-emerge when this thread made it's way back to the top, Elitest. Welcome back. Watch out for your father, by the way, young Jedi. He's around here somewhere.

Twiggyish

Monday, October 23, 2000 - 05:45 pm Click here to edit this post
Oceans, nothing further to it. Our dog lived to a grand old age and we never had any other nightly visits. Now from a scientific stand point, it is possible the whole incident was a dream. Who knows? I can tell you it felt real at the time.

Ocean_Islands

Monday, October 23, 2000 - 06:06 pm Click here to edit this post
Well, if I had a black dog jump on me in the dark that wasn't really a dog, I'd try to forget about it too, Twig!
=====

In response to Elitist and Fruitbat:

I hate to bring this up, but there is a school of thought (admittedly, from the Renaissance) that God exists MERELY because we can CONCEIVE of God.

So perhaps these things exist for this reason. Otherwise, why would we think of them?

Adven39

Monday, October 23, 2000 - 06:57 pm Click here to edit this post
And, if you want to get really esoteric, we exist merely because we say we do. As Descartes said, "I think, therefore, I am."