one day I saw an aura is there any rational explaination

[levi]

one day I decided to tense by jaw and body really hard, harder than ever before, and afterwords I could see a aura it only lasted a few minutes I am trying to be as rational as possible but can't find a rational explaination I hope I explained that accurately

[GT/CS]

one day I decided to tense by jaw and body really hard, harder than ever before, and afterwords I could see a aura it only lasted a few minutes I am trying to be as rational as possible but can't find a rational explaination I hope I explained that accurately

You did what?

Please capitalize and punctuate properly so we can understand what you are trying to say.

[DevilsAdvocate]

one day I decided to tense by jaw and body really hard, harder than ever before, and afterwords I could see a aura it only lasted a few minutes I am trying to be as rational as possible but can't find a rational explaination I hope I explained that accuratelyI expect lack of oxygen to the brain. Tension directs blood and oxygen from the brain. The brain starts acting a bit funny when it doesn't get blood and oxygen. Stop trying so hard before you get a stroke.

[wardenclyffe]

An aura around what?

Ward

[Foolmewunz]

Something tells me that this will not end well.

[Marduk]

Was the Aura around Uranus ?
:D

[Stray Cat]

I was going to suggest prune juice would stop you from having to strain so much.

[Darat]

one day I decided to tense by jaw and body really hard, harder than ever before, and afterwords I could see a aura it only lasted a few minutes I am trying to be as rational as possible but can't find a rational explaination I hope I explained that accurately

What do you mean by "a aura" - can you better describe what you experienced?

[Skwinty]

I once sat on open 220V AC conductors. I saw St Elmos Fire.:confused:

[JoeyDonuts]

Get snaked in a good solid rear naked blood choke and you'll see all kinds of things.

[Lothian]

What do you mean by "a aura" - can you better describe what you experienced?Is 'an aura' better?

[Ashles]

Several possible explanations for seeing an aura.

From the Skeptic's Dictionary (http://www.skepdic.com/auras.html):

you may also see auras if you have a migraine (http://www.dizziness-and-balance.com/culture/aura.html), a certain form of epilepsy, a visual system disorder or a brain disorder (http://medhelp.org/perl6/neuro/archive/5708.html). These auras, however, are somewhat different from the kind encouraged by most aura training exercises. These involve staring at an object placed against a white background in a dimly lit room. What one sees is due to retinal fatigue and other natural perceptual processes, not the unleashing of hidden psychic powers. Something similar happens when you stare at certain colored or black and white patterns (http://www.west.net/~science/exhib1.htm). Vision is not the verbatim recording of the outside world. When looking at a colored object, for example, the eye does not transmit to the brain a continuous series of duplicate impressions. The brain itself supplies much of the visual perception.

It's almost certainly to do with how your brain processes viual input. Everyone can see what might look seem like an aura in the right circumstances.

[Ashles]

one day I decided to tense by jaw and body really hard, harder than ever before

I'm just curious... why did you do this?

[Captain_Swoop]

boredom?

[Aepervius]

boredom?

I heard one can bang his/her head against a wall out of sheer boredom.

I would not recommend it though.

[Captain_Swoop]

It feels good when you stop.

[levi]

i'll explain more I saw an aura. It was coming from a person. The person was nervous because the energy made me nervous. I didn't see any colour just white fuzz, also music was a more intense for this short while

[fagin]

Maybe he meant a Laura

http://imstars.aufeminin.com/stars/fan/laura-prepon/laura-prepon-20080116-363965.jpg

[Resume]

i'll explain more I saw an aura. It was coming from a person. The person was nervous because the energy made me nervous. I didn't see any colour just white fuzz, also music was a more intense for this short while

Perhaps you and woddyallen should chat.

[Stray Cat]

i'll explain more I saw an aura. It was coming from a person. The person was nervous because the energy made me nervous. I didn't see any colour just white fuzz, also music was a more intense for this short while
Are you posting this from Twitter?

[Ashles]

i'll explain more I saw an aura. It was coming from a person. The person was nervous because the energy made me nervous. I didn't see any colour just white fuzz, also music was a more intense for this short while

How did you know they were nervous.

Who was the person?

In fact could we have some more detail about the whole incident. It may be useful.

And I have to ask, had you taken any legal or illegal substances any time before the incident?

[PixyMisa]

I see auras once or twice a month - I suffer from migraines.

Did it look anything like these pictures (http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/02/28/opinion/20080222_MIGRAINE_SLIDESHOW_index.html)?

[wendyinthewind]

stop doing that then

[Bikewer]

There are "symptomless migraines" as well...I get 'em now and then. You just get the aura-like visual effect without any other symptoms.
Experienced these for years without knowing what they were.

Seems to me you physical tensing up and other nonsense might cause such an event.

[TjW]

i'll explain more I saw an aura. It was coming from a person. The person was nervous because the energy made me nervous. I didn't see any colour just white fuzz, also music was a more intense for this short while

What kind of energy?
If you don't know what kind of energy, how can you conclude that was what was making you nervous?

[Naddig74]

I suffer from postural hypotension, mainly because I'm freakishly tall. An attack involves visions of a 'paisley' pattern, closely followed by collapse (I've learnt to recognise the beginnings of an attack and lie down voluntarily, so don't keel over too often anymore), caused by hypoxia as a result of reduced blood flow to the brain. It's not actually unpleasant, but I have injured myself falling a couple of times. I think this is what you have replicated.

[Elizabeth I]

How did you know they were nervous.

Who was the person?

In fact could we have some more detail about the whole incident. It may be useful.

And I have to ask, had you taken any legal or illegal substances any time before the incident?

No, see, the aura was composed of nervous energy, and since it was emanating from that person, the OP knows the person with the aura was nervous. You have to read between the lines. :p

[JoeTheJuggler]

one day I decided to tense by jaw and body really hard, harder than ever before, and afterwords I could see a aura it only lasted a few minutes I am trying to be as rational as possible but can't find a rational explaination I hope I explained that accurately

Well, since auras (meaning some sort of invisible, but colored light surrounding people or things) don't exist, it's not rational to describe your experience as actually seeing an aura.

Your experience--apparently seeing an aura--can be rationally explained in a number of ways. The fact that we don't know which, if any, of these explanations is true doesn't lend any credence to the hypothesis that auras are real and that you saw one. (That would be an argument from ignorance.)

I'll toss out a few possible rational explanations: hallucination, hypnogogic/hypnopompic experience, confabulation, faulty memory, some physiological sensory misfiring (possibly caused by the muscle tension in the jaw or elsewhere*), pious fraud or actual fraud.

[ETA: Catching up with the thread, I see PixyMisa, Bikewer and Naddig have offered a couple other possible physiological explanations.]

*(I do know that while photoreceptors in the retina normally respond to light, if you're hit in the eye, you can experience apparently seeing a bright flash of light even though there is no light. That is the photoreceptors also respond to mechanical or pressure stimuli.)

Again, you can run through these and reject all of them, and it still does nothing to support the hypothesis that you saw an aura.

If, in attempting to define an "aura" you end up giving it a contradictory definition (invisible but visible), then you have to reject even the possibility that you have seen an aura as an explanation of your experience. (And if you define it otherwise, I suspect you're not using anything like the conventional usage of the word.)

[MortFurd]

I suffer from postural hypotension, mainly because I'm freakishly tall. An attack involves visions of a 'paisley' pattern, closely followed by collapse (I've learnt to recognise the beginnings of an attack and lie down voluntarily, so don't keel over too often anymore), caused by hypoxia as a result of reduced blood flow to the brain. It's not actually unpleasant, but I have injured myself falling a couple of times. I think this is what you have replicated.
That is also a very accurate description of the symptoms that caused me to see a doctor and be diagnosed with hypertension - high blood pressure, that is.

Since I've begun taking medication against high blood pressure, the incidents of black out when standing up or stretching have stopped.

[Naddig74]

That is also a very accurate description of the symptoms that caused me to see a doctor and be diagnosed with hypertension - high blood pressure, that is.

Since I've begun taking medication against high blood pressure, the incidents of black out when standing up or stretching have stopped.

Interesting. Whenever I took my BP at work (nurses are forever checking their own observations) it was on the low side of normal. I'll get it checked when I see my GP next.

[MortFurd]

Interesting. Whenever I took my BP at work (nurses are forever checking their own observations) it was on the low side of normal. I'll get it checked when I see my GP next.
You'll probably want to get a hypertension screening rather than just have your pressure checked once. My own blood pressure was always normal when the doctor checked it in his office, but then I'd usually spent the better part of an hour relaxed in the waiting room reading a good magazine.

What we found when the screening was done was that my pressure drops to normal if I read for a while. The doc isn't really aware of that, but I got to see the blood pressure charts and I know what I was doing when. Sleeping and reading both cause my blood pressure to go down to normal. Stretching and nearly passing out was such a transient event that it couldn't be recorded in the screening.

A blood pressure screening involves you wearing an automated blood pressure cuff under your clothes for 24 hours as you go about your normal life. Periodically (15 minutes, I think it was) the device measures and records your blood pressure. All of the results are tagged with the time. The evaluation software puts them all together in a chart and also does some statistics. A simple glance at the chart tells you a whole lot, though. There's a line that marks "normal," and if your line is above that for most of the day you have a problem.

[Naddig74]

You'll probably want to get a hypertension screening rather than just have your pressure checked once. My own blood pressure was always normal when the doctor checked it in his office, but then I'd usually spent the better part of an hour relaxed in the waiting room reading a good magazine.

What we found when the screening was done was that my pressure drops to normal if I read for a while. The doc isn't really aware of that, but I got to see the blood pressure charts and I know what I was doing when. Sleeping and reading both cause my blood pressure to go down to normal. Stretching and nearly passing out was such a transient event that it couldn't be recorded in the screening.

A blood pressure screening involves you wearing an automated blood pressure cuff under your clothes for 24 hours as you go about your normal life. Periodically (15 minutes, I think it was) the device measures and records your blood pressure. All of the results are tagged with the time. The evaluation software puts them all together in a chart and also does some statistics. A simple glance at the chart tells you a whole lot, though. There's a line that marks "normal," and if your line is above that for most of the day you have a problem.

Worried now :(

[JoeTheJuggler]

FWIW, the term "aura" used to refer to the perceptual disturbances before a migraine or a seizure isn't the same thing as the usage in the OP which refers to the purported invisible but visible halo around people (and sometimes other things).

The aura preceding a migraine or seizure could be strange smells, strange lights, or even just a general strange sensation. So experiencing an aura of this sort isn't the same thing as "seeing an aura", though as some have pointed out, the strange lights of a migraine or epileptic aura might look similar to what believers say is an aura.

I'm sure everyone here already knew this, but I just wanted to make it clear.

[RhodyDave]

This one time, at band camp, I kept my eyes open in the pool for like a whole hour. When I came out of the pool, EVERYTHING had a gauzy aura around it! It was so amazing, like OMG, I think it was a psychic thing or something, like, you know...

[levi]

i was not on drugs. I will start by answering a question how do I know the person was nervous, but first I have to describe how it looked. It was like the white fuzz on the tv except surrounding the person. Have you ever been nervous it felt like that except it was in an energy form. Is white fuzz anything like a migraine

[JoeTheJuggler]

Have you ever been nervous it felt like that except it was in an energy form.

You are still misusing the word "energy". This is a word with a real meaning. You're obviously not using it in the physical sense (a quantity that describes how much work can be done ), so what do you mean by "energy"?

[JoeTheJuggler]

i was not on drugs.

Again, you can go through and reject each and every possible rational explanation for your purported experience, and it still doesn't argue in favor of the explanation you've offered (that you saw an aura).

This is the informal logical fallacy of appeal to ignorance (http://www.fallacyfiles.org/ignorant.html).

[levi]

please delete double post

[soylent]

i was not on drugs. I will start by answering a question how do I know the person was nervous, but first I have to describe how it looked. It was like the white fuzz on the tv except surrounding the person. Have you ever been nervous it felt like that except it was in an energy form. Is white fuzz anything like a migraine

Did it go away in only a couple of seconds? Did you feel kind of disoriented and weak? Did your field of view shrink in from the sides? Did it smell kind of funny(pungent metallic or chlorine kind of smell)?

[levi]

I can't recall it was about a year ago, but to the best of my knowledge no, yes it did go away after a few seconds

[Naddig74]

Would it be ethical to suggest Levi tries to replicate the experience? If he was describing an experience that happened just a moment ago, rather than 12 months ago, he might be able to give a fuller account of the sensation, sights and sounds he experienced.

However, I'm concerned about the risk of him giving himself an aneurysm.

[kerikiwi]

That is also a very accurate description of the symptoms that caused me to see a doctor ...

You saw a doctor instead of an aura? Now that really is interesting. Could you see through the doctor, or was s/he solid?

[kerikiwi]

i was not on drugs. I will start by answering a question how do I know the person was nervous, but first I have to describe how it looked. It was like the white fuzz on the tv except surrounding the person. Have you ever been nervous it felt like that except it was in an energy form. Is white fuzz anything like a migraine

You said you would start by answering a particular question, but you not only did not start with that, you didn't answer it at all.
My TV doesn't have white fuzz on it. Is yours mouldy?
What is an energy form?

[edona7]

I can't recall it was about a year ago, but to the best of my knowledge no, yes it did go away after a few seconds

Just curious - if it happened a year ago, why are you asking about it now? Has something else happened?

[Burning Beard]

I didn't see any colour just white fuzz, also music was a more intense for this short while

Sounds very similar to what happened to me at band practice when I screamed too hard and nearly passed out.

[PixyMisa]

i was not on drugs. I will start by answering a question how do I know the person was nervous, but first I have to describe how it looked. It was like the white fuzz on the tv except surrounding the person. Have you ever been nervous it felt like that except it was in an energy form. Is white fuzz anything like a migraine
My migraines look more like shimmering black-and-white zig-zags. That is apparently pretty common, but there's considerable variation.

It's quite possible that it was just a brief visual symptomatic aura (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aura_%28symptom%29) rather than anything paranormal. Indeed, we can be pretty sure that it wasn't anything paranormal, though we can't nail down any particular diagnosis based on the limited information either.

Tensing your jaw and body like that could certainly have acted as a trigger.

[Soapy Sam]

Levi- in the OP you said this effect lasted several minutes. Later you said it lasted several seconds.
Can you pin it down to one or the other?

[Stray Cat]

What is an energy form?
It's the piece of paper you fill your details in to give to your power company that constitutes an agreement for them to provide you with electricity.

[Ashles]

i was not on drugs.

Or anything? Alcohol, prescribed/over the counter medication etc?

I will start by answering a question how do I know the person was nervous, but first I have to describe how it looked. It was like the white fuzz on the tv except surrounding the person. Have you ever been nervous it felt like that except it was in an energy form. Is white fuzz anything like a migraine

You didn't actually answer the question about how you knew the person was nervous.

Also I am still interested in the whole scenario. Where this occurred, what time of day, did you know the person, what led up to this, why you decided to tense your jaw and body harder than ever before...

If you want an explanation, then the more information you provide will helpful.

[CriticalSock]

On Tuesday evening in the pub my new girlfriend said that she liked a girl sitting at the next table because she had a good aura. Minutes later she told me how she had done a reading for someone who thought it was "really good".

How should I deal with this? Please help.

[Naddig74]

On Tuesday evening in the pub my new girlfriend said that she liked a girl sitting at the next table because she had a good aura. Minutes later she told me how she had done a reading for someone who thought it was "really good".

How should I deal with this? Please help.

You may find http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=177594 helpful.

Or, you may not. :p

[MortFurd]

You saw a doctor instead of an aura? Now that really is interesting. Could you see through the doctor, or was s/he solid?
Har, har, hardi, har har.

I went to see a doctor to find out what caused the symptoms. Happy?

[CriticalSock]

You may find http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=177594 helpful.

Or, you may not. :p

Thanks Naddig, it was an .... interesting read... :)

Strangely I never thought of not raising the issue, although I didn't at the time. I just thought: I'll go away and research my arguments before our next conversation. Not sure why my immediate reaction was How do I confront this, rather than just letting her do her thing.

I do think she needs to know that I don't believe in either fortune telling or auras but that it's not an issue and please can we go back to bed now please!

[Naddig74]

Thanks Naddig, it was an .... interesting read... :)

Strangely I never thought of not raising the issue, although I didn't at the time. I just thought: I'll go away and research my arguments before our next conversation. Not sure why my immediate reaction was How do I confront this, rather than just letting her do her thing.

I do think she needs to know that I don't believe in either fortune telling or auras but that it's not an issue and please can we go back to bed now please!

Is she charging people for readings? Is she giving people 'advice' on how to live their lives based on them? If she is, then she has the potential to do great harm with her 'abilities.' Don't let the demands of 'Little CritcalSock' overcome the qualms and ethics of 'Big CriticalSock.'

This probably belongs in the above-linked thread

[kerikiwi]

On Tuesday evening in the pub my new girlfriend said that she liked a girl sitting at the next table because she had a good aura. Minutes later she told me how she had done a reading for someone who thought it was "really good".

How should I deal with this? Please help.

Get a new new girlfriend.

[JoeTheJuggler]

Not sure why my immediate reaction was How do I confront this, rather than just letting her do her thing.

I do think she needs to know that I don't believe in either fortune telling or auras but that it's not an issue and please can we go back to bed now please!

You have my sympathy. I dated a complete believer for a while, and it was very difficult.

Even communication was difficult because she was operating under the idea that there is no such thing as objective reality, but that everyone is free to create their own reality (confusing perceptions with reality, I think). This extended to language, with the idea that people are free to use words with their own private, idioscynratic meanings rather than the conventional ones.

At least recognizing this, I could sort of understand how pointing out that someone is wrong about matters of fact seems like just being a bully. Keeping that in mind helped, but inevitably it was a relationship that couldn't work.

And oh don't even getting me started on the stuff about avoiding responsibility for what one did or said because it was the influence of the planets!

I'm much happier with the very rational girlfriend I'm with now. Sorry, I have no real advice for how you ought handle this.

[levi]

first a few seconds can be a few a minutes its the same you could probably argue is not but to me it is. Second I will explain how it looked. I saw extened from the body what looked like static from a tv emmiting from the body except in 3d. That is what I meant by fuzz. Next I will explain how i knew the person was nervous. I knew the person was nervous beccause the static, aura or whatever you want to call it had a nervous feeling that could be felt like when you yourself are nervous. I'm having great difficulty explaining the situation so any question feel free to ask for clarificifaction.

[TheDoLittle]

On Tuesday evening in the pub my new girlfriend said that she liked a girl sitting at the next table because she had a good aura. Minutes later she told me how she had done a reading for someone who thought it was "really good".

How should I deal with this? Please help.

Ask her if she can foresee either of you "Managing a 3" in your near future. If she says "No" ask her to be more open minded. If she still says no, find a new girlfriend.

[Akhenaten]

first a few seconds can be a few a minutes its the same you could probably argue is not but to me it is.





No. The passage of time is not subjective. A few minutes is, pretty much by definition, 60 times longer than a few seconds.

To everyone.



Second I will explain how it looked. I saw extened from the body what looked like static from a tv emmiting from the body except in 3d. That is what I meant by fuzz.





Like this?


http://www.yvonneclaireadams.com/HostedStuff/Aura.jpg


I have to admit, that would be pretty scary.



Next I will explain how i knew the person was nervous. I knew the person was nervous beccause the static, aura or whatever you want to call it had a nervous feeling that could be felt like when you yourself are nervous.





So, can you tell when your TV is nervous too? How often does your TV get nervous?

As it happens, the subject of the above picture wasn't in the least bit nervous. I'm unable to explain why this was the case



I'm having great difficulty explaining the situation so any question feel free to ask for clarificifaction.





I think it would be a better idea for you to consider some of the perfectly resonable suggestions that have been made and then clarify why they are unacceptable to you.

[Robert Oz]

... I could see a aura... I am trying to be as rational as possible but can't find a rational explaination...


You really can't find a rational explanation?

Rational explanation: You saw something that wasn't there.

Have you really never had your eyes play tricks on you?

[levi]

I thought of the perfect way to describe it was like static coming from the person and it had a nervous feeling when you touched it no color does anyone have an explanation

[wardenclyffe]

levi,

If this just happened to you once, I would chalk it up to some hallucination caused by your behavior right before the incident. If this is something that keeps happening or that you can make happen at will, then you might have something.

Ward

[levi]

it only happened once anyone willing to try

[Naddig74]

it only happened once anyone willing to try

I personally don't need to try, as it happens to me every time I stand up too quickly. It's a physiological thing, causing you to experience visual disturbance. There is your rational explanation.

[levi]

and it looks like how I described it non of the pictures look anything like it

[kerikiwi]

I thought of the perfect way to describe it was like static coming from the person and it had a nervous feeling when you touched it no color does anyone have an explanation

Explanation #1: you had some kind of visual hallucination which you have embellished.
Explanation #2: it didn't happen at all and you are just playing silly buggers.
I favour #2.

[Naddig74]

What's bugging me about this thread is that he's been offered several rational explanations already.

[Akhenaten]

Explanation #1: you had some kind of visual hallucination which you have embellished.
Explanation #2: it didn't happen at all and you are just playing silly buggers.
I favour #2.





I second your assessment.

:)

[edona7]

It's also pretty easy to reproduce. In my wooish days, I tried to see auras. In a somewhat darkened room, with a darker object against a lighter background (doesn't have to be white). You can learn to stare past the object. As your eyes 'unfocus' you'll see a faint light or white fuzz around your 'object.' It's just a visual illusion. Hardest thing to do was fight the urge to focus on one point.

[Akhenaten]

It's also pretty easy to reproduce. In my wooish days, I tried to see auras. In a somewhat darkened room, with a darker object against a lighter background (doesn't have to be white). You can learn to stare past the object. As your eyes 'unfocus' you'll see a faint light or white fuzz around your 'object.' It's just a visual illusion. Hardest thing to do was fight the urge to focus on one point.





I played around with that once, many years ago, when I had to spend a couple of weeks in hospital. I was mindlessly bored after lights out so I used to lie there and un-focus my eyes so I could see two distinct images (not auras).

Small, almost pin-point sources of light were the best to practice on but after a while I could do it at will even in daylight. As you say, the urge to refocus is difficult to resist but it's doable if you stick at it.

Trying it just now, I seem to have lost the skill, but I'm sure it would be easily enough re-learned, although I'd like to think I have better things to do just at the moment.

:)

[levi]

just one question how do you explain feeling the nervousness

[Naddig74]

just one question how do you explain feeling the nervousness

This is one of the things that is unclear about your descriptions. Did you feel nervous, or were you aware that the other person was nervous?

[Akhenaten]

just one question how do you explain feeling the nervousness





If you really did do something like stand up too quickly then the disorientation of almost losing consciousness would possibly manifest itself as something like 'nervousness'.

I can't specifically remember, but I'm sure the first time it happens to you it would be a very unsettling experience.

[edona7]

Feeling nervous was YOUR feeling based on your perceptions about what you saw. You then projected the feeling onto the person you were looking at. Projection is a very common psychological mechanism to deal with feelings we don't want to acknowledge as our own. But, we can only feel our own feelings. We can assume what another is feeling based on their behaviors or statements, but we cannot feel their feelings for them.

[Naddig74]

If you really did do something like stand up to quickly then the disorientation of almost losing consciousness would possibly manifest itself as something like 'nervousness'

It certainly makes me nervous. I know there's a good chance I'm going to hit the ground very hard quite soon. :D

[levi]

I was aware the other person was nervous because the static emmiting from the person was a nervous feeling I hope explained that well if not I will try again

[Naddig74]

I was aware the other person was nervous because the static emmiting from the person was a nervous feeling I hope explained that well if not I will try again

Did they subsequently confirm to you verbally that they were nervous?

ETA: yay! Levi found the shift key. A step towards sanity.

[Smackety]

one day I decided to tense by jaw and body really hard, harder than ever before, and afterwords I could see a aura it only lasted a few minutes I am trying to be as rational as possible but can't find a rational explaination I hope I explained that accurately

I see auras and feel a little buzzed for a few hours right before I get a really really bad migraine headache. I think it is from restriction of blood flow to the eyes, but I am not really sure.

[levi]

I didn't ask

[edona7]

Yes, the theory is that the aura of a migraine (visual aura, at any rate) is due to decreased blood flow to the occipital region of the brain (not the eyes). This is most common is classic migraine. Some people with decreased blood flow to the eyes can develop temporary or even permanent blindness, from permanent retinal or optic nerve damage. The symptoms depend on where in the brain the constriction of blood vessels is. In the vertebrobasilar vessels, vertigo can occur. In the motor cortex, a stroke like syndrome can occur (thankfully, it is usually temporary). But they all have physical causes, not psychical.

[edona7]

I didn't ask

Then how do you truly know it was his feeling? As I stated previously, it's not possible to feel someone else's feelings.

[sackett]

levi, how old are you?

[Naddig74]

I didn't ask

Then the feeling of 'nervousness' is a projection, as suggested in a previous post.

[kerikiwi]

I was aware the other person was nervous because the static emmiting from the person was a nervous feeling I hope explained that well if not I will try again

If you are going to try again, use punctuation.

[levi]

possibly but I doubt it. The static when I touched it made me feel nervous. Also I didn't feel tipsy and I wasn't nervous I was relaxed I could be projecting like another member said.

[Sledge]

You felt nervous, therefore the other person must have been nervous? Oh good grief.

[kerikiwi]

possibly but I doubt it. The static when I touched it made me feel nervous. Also I didn't feel tipsy and I wasn't nervous I was relaxed I could be projecting like another member said.

How about you just give the whole story in one hit rather than a series of embellishments.
Then we can conclude which of the two explanations is the more likely.

[Naddig74]

possibly but I doubt it. The static when I touched it made me feel nervous. Also I didn't feel tipsy and I wasn't nervous I was relaxed I could be projecting like another member said.

Now we're getting somewhere.

Proper capitalization, accurate punctuation (mostly) and increasingly coherent sentences.

You experienced a physiological effect which you had not felt previously. This made you nervous, and you rationalised this nervousness as emanating from the visual aspects of that physiological effect.

There is your rational explanation.

[Akhenaten]

If you really did do something like stand up to quickly then the disorientation of almost losing consciousness would possibly manifest itself as something like 'nervousness'





It certainly makes me nervous. I know there's a good chance I'm going to hit the ground very hard quite soon. :D





Presactly :)


I didn't ask





Umm . . . you rather did, actually.

[Naddig74]

Ak, I think ''I didn't ask'' was an unquoted response to my question about whether the other person involved confirmed that he felt nervous. :)

[Akhenaten]

Ak, I think ''I didn't ask'' was an unquoted response to my question about whether the other person involved confirmed that he felt nervous. :)





Thanks, mate :)

I wasn't keeping a close enough eye on the thread and that just came out of left field at me.


http://forums.randi.org/imagehosting/209954b72c4798d032.gif (http://forums.randi.org/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=18985)

[Robert Oz]

possibly but I doubt it. The static when I touched it made me feel nervous. Also I didn't feel tipsy and I wasn't nervous I was relaxed I could be projecting like another member said.


levi, there are two possibilities here that you need to weigh to decide which is more likely:


1. You actually saw some sort of energy field emanating from a body that seemed to suggest a nervousness in the subject.

2. Your eyes and brain played a trick on you, caused by some weird stuff you were doing beforehand. Your eyes saw something that wasn't there and you convinced yourself you were feeling a nervousness that may or may not have been there.


The first possibility has never been shown to exist in any controlled test environment and no one has ever come forward to claim the JREF Million Dollar Prize even though there are people all over the world who claim to see these things. Proving the existence of auras and their detectibility by a select group of sensitive people would make those people world-famous (and, no doubt, very useful in business negotiations).

The second possibility seems to be supported by everything we know about human perception. Being fooled by our senses is universal (just go to any web-site that displays optical illusions). And any psychologist will tell you that human beings are great at thinking they feel something that isn't really there. It's one of the reasons we have to control for the placebo effect when testing new medicines.


Actually try to weigh the probability of these two scenarios. Which do you think is more likely and why?

[Dimitri]

one day I decided to tense by jaw and body really hard, harder than ever before, and afterwords I could see a aura it only lasted a few minutes I am trying to be as rational as possible but can't find a rational explaination I hope I explained that accurately
As accurate as you can get, I don't think anyone here can give a rational response. The sole reason would be is the information at our disposal.
You claimed to have seen an aura, I cannot say if you are lying or not, I only have your word which I don't really see as emperical evidence.

Now, if you have truly seen an aura, various rational and logical reasons might explain the vision you had. The problem here is, as said before, the lack of information. Examples of lacking information would be your medical background (concerning epilepsiy), the conditions under which you claim to have seen the aura, the space and time you have seen this aura. Such are small examples of facts whom are missing.

The problem here is taking someone on his word. While some will naturally be inclined to give reasons without any background information (read: wild guesses), out of moral codes (don't want to insult or whatever other moral code), I can honestly say your story is "synonym for invalid concerning bulls" . Words don't mean a thing if there is no definition behind it. A story is considered "synonym for invalid concerning bulls" if the source is one-sided without evidence or back-up from another neutral source.

[Ashles]

first a few seconds can be a few a minutes its the same you could probably argue is not but to me it is. Second I will explain how it looked. I saw extened from the body what looked like static from a tv emmiting from the body except in 3d. That is what I meant by fuzz.

It would still be useful to know the circumstances if this incident which I have now enquired about twice. I'm not sure why you aren't providing the background as can be quite important.

Next I will explain how i knew the person was nervous. I knew the person was nervous beccause the static, aura or whatever you want to call it had a nervous feeling that could be felt like when you yourself are nervous.

So in fact you have no way of knowing whether the person actually was nervous. Only that you encountered a new strange phenomenon (that may or may not have been real) that made you feel nervous.

As several posters have pointed out, how you experience something and how it makes you feel, in no way implies anything about the other person's emotions.

For all you know (and let's make the huge assumption this aura was real) the aura could have been an emination produced by a very relaxed person. But because you didn't know what it was it made you feel nervous.

To pick a (possibly poor analogy) - you might see ear wax coming out of someone's ear. This might make you feel queasy.
But this in no way indicates it is a result of the person you are looking at feeling queasy.

You have absolutely no logical reason to make that assumption that, when encountering something new and unknown, just because seeing it makes you feel a certain way, that it indicates anything about the person it is connected with. It doesn't.

Plus without you so far providing further details about the situation, it's hard to know whether there were ways you could have independently verified their emotional state.

I'm having great difficulty explaining the situation so any question feel free to ask for clarificifaction.

I ask for the third time what the situation was during which this occurred.
Were you outdoors/indoors
In public/private?
Time of day?
With friends/strangers?
What were you/they doing?
Sunny day?
Had you been ill before the incident/shortly afterwards?

As much of this detail as possible.

[rbanks1]

Levi,

I've had visual disturbances due to optic neuritis in one eye. The diminished vision and washed out colors of the affected eye, when combined with the normal vision of the healthy eye created what I suppose could be called an aura. It looked like a fuzzy, shimmering border around various people and objects. Although the effect had a bit of a "mystical" look to it, there was an obvious physiological cause for it. There are many real conditions that can cause visual distubances. You really should consider one of these conditions as the most likely explanation and cause for what you saw.

rbanks1

[Red3]

Hmmm, interesting...I once saw a ghost after squeezing out a big turd. I put it down to some kind of increase/decrease in blood flow to the head. I was squeezing pretty hard. :D

I am quite serious though. It could be the same kind of thing - Increased blood flow can have strange effects, think alkyl nitrites or "poppers" which tend to cause (perceived) colour changes in your vision.

[Naddig74]

Hmmm, interesting...I once saw a ghost after squeezing out a big turd. I put it down to some kind of increase/decrease in blood flow to the head. I was squeezing pretty hard. :D


Vagus nerve stimulation, caused by the anus expanding, slows breathing and heart rate and drops blood pressure. On one occasion in my nursing career I witnessed a patient who had been constipated for several days lose consciousness after finally clearing the obstruction.

[TheDoLittle]

I wasn't keeping a close enough eye on the thread and that just came out of left field at me.

I think the "Quote" lesson comes after the "Punctuation" worksheet.

[Naddig74]

Four days since levi posted...so who think's he's accepted our rational explanations and who thinks he's decided to believe he saw an aura regardless?

[JoeTheJuggler]

Four days since levi posted...so who think's he's accepted our rational explanations and who thinks he's decided to believe he saw an aura regardless?

I sort of got that impression from the start. It's another one of these I'm-a-skeptic-but-how-do-you-explain-this? sort of threads.

[Akhenaten]

Maybe he's been sucked into the TV by the static.

Walk towards the light, Levi!

[Naddig74]

I'm a little worried actually...

I really hope he didn't try the 'tensing up' thing again, and is now slumped over his keyboard, glued to the desk by a big puddle of dried blood originating at his ear.

[Ashles]

Vagus nerve stimulation, caused by the anus expanding, slows breathing and heart rate and drops blood pressure. On one occasion in my nursing career I witnessed a patient who had been constipated for several days lose consciousness after finally clearing the obstruction.

For an entirely clean and technical description, that was incredibly graphic.

[Red3]

Four days since levi posted...so who think's he's accepted our rational explanations and who thinks he's decided to believe he saw an aura regardless?

I'll go for saw an aura regardless. Life's more fun/bearable for some people when it's got goblins, ghouls & faeries...

[Naddig74]

For an entirely clean and technical description, that was incredibly graphic.

The accurate description of embarassing, horrifying, messy and unpleasant events in completely cold terms is an important nursing skill.

It wasn't clean or technical when it happened! :D

[Jekyll's Guest]

Hmmm, interesting...I once saw a ghost after squeezing out a big turd. I put it down to some kind of increase/decrease in blood flow to the head. I was squeezing pretty hard. :D

That was actually the turd fairy. Your skepticism cost you a shiny quid under your cistern.

[Red3]

That was actually the turd fairy...

Haha, I knew my damned scepticism would cost me sooner or later.