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View Full Version : A writing of mine when I was a "believer"


Harry Lime Juice
7th February 2008, 08:13 AM
Haha, oh my. I just dug up this gem from my recent past. After a flaky therapist of mine suggested a self-help book, I found woo and was hooked for eighteen months. I wrote several BS LiveJournal posts during that period; here's one. Emphasis added.

Perception versus reality

My brother got home from work and asked me if he could use the computer. After closing my research websites on psi and turning on the television, I happened to stumble on The Matrix: Reloaded, some people on the TV Guide Channel citing they had a ghost in a trailer, and this show on National Geographic called Is It Real? with the episode focusing on ghosts. Some might call this coincidence. I see it as synchronicity. It's when you have occurances that correlate with what you're thinking about or focused on. Like how when you're angry, you always manage to stub your toe. Or if you're upset, the radio only seems to play sad music

What does this have to do with what I saw, you ask? Psi is the study of energy and the ability of a person to manipulate it. Psychic power you could say. Before you ride this off, I suggest you study it first. The Matrix series is all about planes of consciousness, prophecy, manipulating your environment, telepathy, psychokinesis, et cetera. The film even features two albino twins they call The Ghosts. I focused on Is It Real to be skeptical of the skeptics. Why? It's easier for people to believe the simple stuff which is the same thing they claim to debunk.

They did a piece on haunted areas beneath Edinburough, Scotland and these people with notepads wrote down what they experienced. One room in particular had gotten the largest reaction by people throughout the years including the volunteers they hired. Then this Ian Malcolm-looking Scottish skeptic said the room was the largest and darkest so people were naturally scared and that the electromagnistism picked up suggest an environmental obstruction. A second later, the commentator quickly said something along the lines of "He's yet to conclude why people as a collective unconscious would react to such a room." Then, predictably, the guy went on to say he believes why people would believe in ghosts basically to distract you from his lack of scientific evidence. Supposed logic instead of proof. Honestly, I'd be more scared of a tiny room.

Another segment concentrated on a medium who got some things right when he was reading a haunted house but was torn to bits because most of his claims were wrong. They showed the man downing coffee. You don't drink gallons of sugar if you are a medium and about to do your work. It throws off the relaxation your mind and body needs to do psi. Also, not all mediums are great or even good at what they do. It takes years of learning in so many areas. It involves major paradigm shifts in thought and living, tedious study, and of course being at peace with yourself.

They showed some orbs on the guy's camera during this segment. I myself have shown that not all transparent orbs on cameras are spirits. But they showed so many varying instances of it caught on video and the only thing they focused on was dust particles or obstructions in pictures. This didn't prove why some videos had glowing orbs that moved like mad or how the non-existent flash of an infrared camera like on the medium's tape could highlight these "dust particles" that came from behind a bed on the other side of the room. Yes, there are inaccuracies in many ghost claims and evidence therein. Yes, not every medium is good at what they do. Yes, some people are trying to make a buck and do so by fabricating things. That doesn't mean this stuff doesn't happen.

It's picking and choosing to support an objective scientific look when science itself is based on the notion that human research is absolute which time and time again has been proven false. Disprove my psychic reading or the happenings my girlfriend and I have shared. Tell me why governments all over the world utilize psi to their advantage. Disprove remote viewing or that boy in Nepal who meditated for six months without food or water. How about the cultures and religions all based on the oneness of reality and consciousness (which is basically all of them)?

Christians, Jesus taught this stuff to a tee. I don't claim to have the answers. I have questions about those questioning. Just because you can simulate a believeable CG feather like in Forrest Gump doesn't mean all feathers are artificial. The show had a sarcasm to it that seemed to mock these people. The moment I realized that, I didn't trust the source, and had a ball thinking about this stuff I typed out.

The point is when you believe something, try to figure out where that belief came from and how it was presented. Things aren't always without an agenda and with agenda comes a reason why.

Garrette
7th February 2008, 08:18 AM
Precisely the kind of writing that convinces the uneducated. From that perspective it is well-written.

Anyway, a belated welcome to the forum and a hearty welcome to the Dark Side. (As my son's t-shirt says: "Come to the Dark Side; We Have Cookies")

Harry Lime Juice
7th February 2008, 08:22 AM
Thank you sir! I quite prefer the Dark Side. :) I really hope my post didn't, um, turn anyone on to this crap.

hipparchia
8th February 2008, 04:24 AM
This is creepy. Such things I have also written in my woo days, and I still hear those ideas from believers.

It's as if subscribing to the newage mindset is a path to killing your originality.

The dark side must be more interesting.

lauras
8th February 2008, 02:50 PM
I read what you wrote and have to say that i do believe in most of that stuff so dont worry you didnt turn me on to it lol.
I think it is a shame that you would believe some thing for so long and then just shun it andput it to the side.
People must think i am crazy for my beliefs but i couldnt just give up on them after experiancing what i have.
But we are all intitled to our points of view i just thought i would give you mine.

Joppy
8th February 2008, 11:11 PM
OP: Hi, just curious: What book turned you woo? What made you abandon woo?

Harry Lime Juice
9th February 2008, 11:37 AM
OP: Hi, just curious: What book turned you woo? What made you abandon woo?

Co-Dependent No More by Melody Beattie was the book. Upon recollection, it's pretty awful. And, hah...um...I had my doubts the entire time, but it was an episode of Penn & Teller's Bullsh*t! that segued me into realizing how deluded I was.

jimbob
10th February 2008, 10:09 AM
Again out of interest: would you debunk your own post, to show how your thinking changed...

Harry Lime Juice
10th February 2008, 01:47 PM
Again out of interest: would you debunk your own post, to show how your thinking changed...
Absolutely. I'll do it when I find the time.

H3LL
10th February 2008, 02:09 PM
But we are all intitled to our points of view i just thought i would give you mine.

Yes, you certainly are. I also used to think points of view and opinion were important too.

The great thing is, and what made the transition happen for me, was the realisation that unbiased, reliable evidence is what really matters.

One day, perhaps, opinion, point of view, anecdote and supposition will no longer work for you. Maybe with a little help from Ockham/Occam.

I don't think it's a shame that someone prefers evidence to anecdote.

Letting go of cherished beliefs is rarely painless... It wasn't for me.



Harry Lime Juice, I too would be fascinated to see how things changed for you.

I hope you find time soon and welcome to the forums.

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