Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
When I see people posting EVPs, Psychics, Out of body experinces, and other superstutious stuff.
B5C
Veteran
I think people need to read and/or listen to this guy:
0
Comments
I don't disagree with anything in this video. Especially the fact that even though the dousing rod looks like a rip off, Skeptic Magazine still did an experiment to prove it.
However, most if not all people claiming to have out of body experiences, remember past lives etc. don't do it for the money or fame. Whether it is true or not, they do it because they truly believe in what they say. Such experiences are so clear, much clearer than other experiences; for them those are clearly not hallucinations. Of course, there is a chance they are, and you can be skeptic and investigate it. However, to call it superstitious and say they should listen to a guy from Skeptic.com instead of their own experiences, is in my eyes being unright towards those persons; also because those experiences can be very disturbing for them. So a friendly debate of some sort would be more in place. This is something I think the entire skeptic community is lacking in.
But I guess you can only really understand if you have one of these experiences yourself. Meditation can help in this by sharpening the mind to see what it has never noticed before.
Sabre
Aren't you just a little bit child like curious? Op?
I have.met Tibetan rinpoches whom I bought a CD from which claims they had people walking through walls at their.monastery. what's the problem if I believe it?
In otherwords, it makes Buddhism look bad to a huge segment of the world. In my case, I think about how if one monk could repeat such a demonstration of walkiing through objects to a skeptical worldwide audience, how millions would be converted to Buddhism with its message of peace and it would transform the world. Also, people trapped in mines could be reached and saved. But it's not going to happen.
"In your face" would be if we trolled every post about anything supernatural, insulting people who believe in such. It would also be nonBuddhist to do so. I have responded with information on specific subjects when the post asked for people's reaction, making sure people knew I was only giving the skeptic side of the issue and presenting additonal information. Last I looked, nobody was trolling the recent posts about various supernatural beliefs. Instead, we have a separate topic here. I like the way newBuddhist does things.
Would you like to discuss here why some people consider a skeptical mind to be important when it comes to opinions about such supernatural claims? Even if you don't agree, you'll know the arguments of the "other side of the coin" from their own mouths.
That's all I can say right now won't hijack the thread either
It's a big red herring, both the fascination and the debunking.
.
Generally ....the whole psychic bunking and debunking debate... like the atheism vs. theism debate... seems like a bar fight in the corner. But that's just me. ..let the bottles fly.
I have long ago learnt that the whole, "I am right you are wrong" idea leads nowhere pretty the majority of the time and it stems from an ego at the same time feeding the ego. in a lot of cases it doesn't really matter who is right or wrong, so I often stay clear of such threads and discussions.
Same thing with outer space beings or voice recordings, it is about suspicion and fear.
I recently watched a sad documentary on Aokigahara forest, in which a local talks about the forest and his experiences being on a suicide watch. Most of the other documentaries I found on this subject were very sensationalist. People getting their rock off of some morbid stuff. Where is the consideration that these people had broken lives, and what about all the poor relatives who live with the hardship day in day out.
I don't want to point fingers at anyone interested in what I deem to be a 'morbid fascination' in certain matters, I just wanted to point out that I don't consider it to be particularly psychologically healthy... but that's probably just me.
I think saying that, "Proving or disproving psychic phenomena is just not relevant to Buddhism" is very significant.
But as I read that, my thought process (I think) changed what you said to, "Proving or disproving psychic phenomena is just not relevant to Buddhism, but not everything in life relates directly to Buddhism."
Me being on the computer today, for the most part does not relate to Buddhism. Me watching television today, listening to music, going to visit my neighbor, going grocery shopping, and all the other little things I do today are not relevant to Buddhism. It doesn't mean they are meaningless or have no value or importance. It doesn't mean that psychic phenomenon are not worth of exploration. It doesn't mean that contemplating God is a waste of time. Those things (and many others) are just not relevant to Buddhism.
Thank you!
I don't rely upon oral tradition to make any statement on such matters and I also think it's a waste of time to think about or make conclusions, based upon fluffy anecdotes or emotional appeal.
It's being in the dark that appeals to many of us. Some of us don't want our mysteries solved, because it removes the fun and excitement. B5C is here to turn on the light, but please turn it back off again B5C, we're enjoying our fun in the dark.
That's fine but there are other considerations.
Goodness knows, I have enough personal samsaric shit to deal with, without wondering about this kind of distraction......
:bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown:
...and that practice cuts the root of metaphysical speculation. It cuts the root of all those "what is the universe?" questions.. Annihilates all questions and answers around that kind of thing... done... toast... and leaves just ordinary samsaric shit.... which is the matter at hand.
That where I am coming from..
I would say your question was answered earlier in the thread, and I would also be happy to expand on the post you commented on, and exchange ideas and experiences. But I do not see you as doing anything here but playing a game of "gotcha" with no intention of worthwhile engagement.... and life is short. so in short, go bug someone else.
I am well aware of how some don't like questions, and why they don't like them.