To think children may see things we can’t?

[Opal93]

My son is autistic and his language is disordered so it’s very hard to ask him what he actually means when he tells us something, but lately there have been a few instances where he has said things that have spooked us out a bit! Tonight he was at my mums, and he said “goodnight nana Marlene” (my mums mum who died when he was one) and started singing her favourite Doris Day song, word for word which he has never heard before and I didn’t know of the song until my mum told me today he started singing it and she has no idea how he knew it. My dad died when I was 16 and my son knows his photo. We were in a park the other week and my son pointed behind me and said “it’s grandad Stephen!” And I looked behind me thinking he probably saw a man that looked like the photo but there was nobody there. Another time, he started talking to my husbands dad about “nanny Margaret.” I didn’t realise he even had a nanny Margaret but apparently it was my husbands dads mums name. Then he said nanny Margaret has a big belly, and my FIL looked freaked out then and said she had a massive hernia that ruptured and killed her. I wouldn’t say I’m a believer in ghosts or life after death but it does make me wonder. Any other experiences of kids sensing things?

Name changed as outing but as a small child, I got frustrated with my dolls house that kept breaking and told my mum 'if grandad was alive, he'd build me a proper bloody dolls house!'

And said that he'd told me that when he came to see me through the hole in my ceiling.

There was no hole of any kind and I had never met my grandad. He died over a decade before I was born. He was however a cabinet maker and master carpenter. I was only about 4 so he had never really been mentioned to me, certainly not his job.

There is NOTHING.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=Jjch-CQbEUo

Except for Birdie Friend.

Bring back Birdie Friend!

I think they might. I sometimes see 'spirits' or whatever you want to call them, it's very different to a dream but can't quite explain it. I also have what you could call premonitions I see something happening in my head maybe for couple of seconds and then it's gone, eg I saw my dad's funeral years before he died and the actual day happened as I saw it.
Also when we moved into a new house my then 2yo used to talk about The Ladies living there who were nice and liked us and were there to look after us.

So... I suppose it's one of those things that cannot be proven so people will always have conflicting opinions, eg my DH doesn't believe me but I know what I see.

I honestly believe when we are born we are so much more connected to the universal consciousness. This is why children often talk about and see things we as adults can't.

As you get older our own' ego' and mind take much more prominence and create our experience. We get lost in our own thoughts, our own constructed reality. We lose connection with the universal consciousness, our minds are too busy thinking, planning, debating, arguing etc..

I love hearing stories of the 'strange' thinks children say which cannot be explained.

A question to the non-believers. I totally understand why people would be sceptical - why does it may you so seemingly angry though when others believe? I see so many posts trying to shut down the conversation, almost scoffing at the idea.

It amaze me that people believe that what the human brain cannot conceive of doesn't exist.

@SugarCaneHarvest

A question to the non-believers. I totally understand why people would be sceptical - why does it may you so seemingly angry though when others believe? I see so many posts trying to shut down the conversation, almost scoffing at the idea.

It amaze me that people believe that what the human brain cannot conceive of doesn't exist.

I don't get angry but maybe frustrated by people saying stupid things.

Clearly, the human brain can conceive of all sorts of nonsense, just like the things being discussed here. It's not difficult to conceive of a spirit, a ghost, an astral projection, The Universal Consciousness, Harry Potter or Santa. And it's perfectly reasonable for people to report strange phenomena that they have experienced.

What's stupid is when they then mix those things together. If you experience strange lights in your vision or your child remarks on a name you don't think they would know, science and reason has plenty of observable, rational, reasonable explanations for events that anecdotally may seem a little bizarre.

@MasterBeth your opinion that people who believe this stuff makes them stupid is a opinion. Not fact.

The fact you get annoyed by it is your emotion (and no one has to feel the brunt of it just because you feel smarter than those who comment with opposing views), and the fact you feel entitled to put other people down says more about you than you realise.

It comes across like you can't cope with people having a difference of opinion, therefore you must shut down the conversation by name calling or "educating" people.

People exist with difference experiences and view points. It's one thing to say I don't agree, that's fine. But to actively shame people to shut down the conversation really shows your intelligence or lack of.

Critical thinking means you can hear the opposing view without going to the level of name calling.

A debate is fine but what people are calling out here isn't a debate. It's about if you can't bare to hear the other side of a opinion so much it annoys you, then why come to the internet and why bother commenting ? If your so convinced your right, then you should be pretty comfortable with a healthy debate that doesn't raise to the level of playground name calling. It doesn't come across your very secure in your beliefs if you can be triggered by a post on MN.

I don’t get angry, more the same way I feel when people tell me vaccines are being used to microchip me so Bill Gates can steal my memories and sell me more stuff.

It’s just a bit daft to me. And I find this type of ‘woo’ can often be used to be hurtful to people - many sell ‘medium’ experiences to those who are bereaved. They’re talking nonsense but it comforts people. As far as I’m concerned it’s as good as robbing people.

Also find it a bit suspicious that all these people who can touch your arm and say ‘you will have three children and a two bed semi’ are never able to ‘foresee’ massive terrorist attacks or natural disasters. That would be a bit more useful.

I don’t think the people are stupid though. Just very very different to me. DH and I have often said we’d love to be religious believers, as it would be a great comfort in times of difficulty. But we just don’t believe, and I think that’s a good thing in the end.

@SugarCaneHarvest

A question to the non-believers. I totally understand why people would be sceptical - why does it may you so seemingly angry though when others believe? I see so many posts trying to shut down the conversation, almost scoffing at the idea.

It amaze me that people believe that what the human brain cannot conceive of doesn't exist.

Who's trying to shut down the debate?

Childrens brains are developing and creating new pathways all the time. It's likely the boundary between imagination and the real world gets blurred and even dreams can seem super real to children.

So the answer is no (if otherworldly nonsense) but also yes (as children have incredibly imaginations/vivid dreams)

@SugarCaneHarvest

A question to the non-believers. I totally understand why people would be sceptical - why does it may you so seemingly angry though when others believe? I see so many posts trying to shut down the conversation, almost scoffing at the idea.

It amaze me that people believe that what the human brain cannot conceive of doesn't exist.

Because there is no scientific evidence (at least - not yet) of ghosts, spirits, deities etc.

Saying 'people believe what the human brain cannot conceive of doesn't exist' can be used to argue the potential existance of literally anything (We live in a Matrix? Only one of us is real? etc) We make scientific strides all the time (and who knows, maybe one day we will find a scientific rationale behind seemingly other worldly occurrences)

Maybe it's a multiverse

[quote candlelightsatdawn]@MasterBeth your opinion that people who believe this stuff makes them stupid is a opinion. Not fact.

The fact you get annoyed by it is your emotion (and no one has to feel the brunt of it just because you feel smarter than those who comment with opposing views), and the fact you feel entitled to put other people down says more about you than you realise.

It comes across like you can't cope with people having a difference of opinion, therefore you must shut down the conversation by name calling or "educating" people.

People exist with difference experiences and view points. It's one thing to say I don't agree, that's fine. But to actively shame people to shut down the conversation really shows your intelligence or lack of.

Critical thinking means you can hear the opposing view without going to the level of name calling.

A debate is fine but what people are calling out here isn't a debate. It's about if you can't bare to hear the other side of a opinion so much it annoys you, then why come to the internet and why bother commenting ? If your so convinced your right, then you should be pretty comfortable with a healthy debate that doesn't raise to the level of playground name calling. It doesn't come across your very secure in your beliefs if you can be triggered by a post on MN.

[/quote]
I haven't said anyone is stupid.

Clever people can say stupid things. Maybe all the stupid things on this thread have been said by very clever people - who knows?

Critical thinking means assessing people's irrational claims. If someone says they've experienced something that flies in the face of everything we know about reality, it's reasonable to ask for good evidence for it. Feelings are not good evidence. We all know our feelings and perceptions are not very reliable indicators of reality/

I am simply saying that if you look at the absolutely vast wealth of anecdotal evidence supporting a very, very general notion of ‘the unexplained’, then it may be fairly reasonable to make the very general claim that ‘there’s more to life than we know or understand’.

Anectdata the last bastion for idiots

@Kanaloa

I don’t get angry, more the same way I feel when people tell me vaccines are being used to microchip me so Bill Gates can steal my memories and sell me more stuff.

It’s just a bit daft to me. And I find this type of ‘woo’ can often be used to be hurtful to people - many sell ‘medium’ experiences to those who are bereaved. They’re talking nonsense but it comforts people. As far as I’m concerned it’s as good as robbing people.

Also find it a bit suspicious that all these people who can touch your arm and say ‘you will have three children and a two bed semi’ are never able to ‘foresee’ massive terrorist attacks or natural disasters. That would be a bit more useful.

This.

It’s like people saying that aliens have captured world leaders and are making them vaccinate the whole words, so they can take over our thoughts and teleport them back to a planet 10 million light years away.

Now, the existence of ‘ghosts’ etc is exactly the same as this of scenario, in that it can’t be proven to not be true really…. But logic tells us that this is highly unlikely to be real.

It would be like someone saying yes yes that above scenario could be true…. I mean…..

The same logic applies to each situation.

OP if you call into a spiritualist church and sit there with him, one the people there will let you know if he has a gift.
They are genuine people and there's no money involved

Humans are social beings and we have strong urge to find patterns and meaning. When a child appears to be chatting to thin air, (ie an imaginary friend) then of course we’re going to be tempted to decide who they’re talking to, particularly easy if child’s speech isn’t massively clear- they call imaginary friend “weebu” and we decide it’s Great Uncle Wilbur come to say hi.

@JustAnotherPoster00

I am simply saying that if you look at the absolutely vast wealth of anecdotal evidence supporting a very, very general notion of ‘the unexplained’, then it may be fairly reasonable to make the very general claim that ‘there’s more to life than we know or understand’.

Anectdata the last bastion for idiots

Soundbites - the go-to technique for people who can’t structure an argument

@wordsareveryunnecessary

What ‘gift’ does this person have? Just out of curiosity.

@JustAnotherPoster00
Also, if you want to claim the intellectual high ground, maybe consider using some punctuation? 🤷‍♀️

@YouJustDoYou

if something has never been completely, scientifically disproved, then only an ignorant naive moron claims it "could t possibly be true".

Exactly.

That isn't to say it is, obviously. And clearly some things claimed have nothing to substantiate them either through evidence or rational thought. But human senses are limited as multiple scientific doscoveries of real phenomena have been discovered that can only be measured in a way that we can perceive using scientifif instruments we have gradually engineered. Like infra-red, magnetic poles, sub-atomic particles. To believe that the limits of human perception happen to correspond to the limits of reality is bonkers and has been disproved already. And the probability of us having already discovered by engineering instruments to sense things outside our sensory capacity to sense everything that exists outside our sensory capacity is close to zero.

Nobody who genuinely practices science would claim otherwise. Even in the last few years we've discovered new particles etc that nobody knew about previously. I think many of the people spouting science here don't really have much grasp of it. If scientists arrogantly claimed we know it all and did no further research to try to find a way to make our contrary theories at different levels fit together, and were entrenched in their views rather than actively trying to challenge them and find proof OR refute them, they would not be scientists.