I have the 'woo' gene, do you?

[IndigoBarbie]

:) A nicely coined phrase from another thread. I have it, I do believe [bugrin]

SGB, they are possibilities but some situations are unexplained and dn't fit neatly into your 'this is more plausible' box. Yes, it may be more plausible but that doesn't mean that's what happened.

Bumbleymummy: Things that are 'unexplained' remain so because they happened to someone fleetingly and it's not possible to reconstruct exactly what was going on at that precise moment (the person's thought processes, the quality of light, the weather conditions, etc) independently.
But no one has ever been able to prove, document or demonstrate supernatural activity, despite many years of trying to do so. Those who claim to be able to 'prove' the supernatural are either con artists or basically dimwits. Those who keep insisting that some stuff is 'inexplicable' are either gullible, thick, or desperately attached to the idea that what they think they saw or felt makes them special, interesting people.

I saw a programme about ghostly orbs a few years ago.

The woo merchants were spouting their usual gobbledygook but this time they took it a step further.

One of them had taken a pic with an orb in but it was an orb with a difference; if you squinted at it the right way it looked slightly as if there was a face in it. In the same way that you can find faces in swirly wallpaper or pub carpet etc.

The thing was though, it wasn't one of the more impressive illusions I've seen; the face they were going into absolute RAPTURES about was a "smiley face" face. You know, like this

In other words, not like a lifelike representation of a human at all. But they were going nuts.... gasping "Do you see that?! Oh my god its so clear!!!"

Insane.

Lots to read through here I will read properly and maybe join in again later.

Ellie, you said "What is true for one person is true for us all, if the word true is to have any meaning".

What does that mean in the context of experience? You and I could both holiday at the same resort at the same time. You have a great time. I have a pants time. Both experiences are true are they not?

The question of truth in that example would be whether the holiday resort exists, not whether the perceived experiences were true.

You can obviously perceive the experiences you have in different ways to other people even if the experience is actually the same (good old relativity!) but how 'real' that same experience is to you has no correlation to how real it actually is.

We sit together in a room and suddenly there's a bang. We both hear it, you think it came from the kitchen and as there's no one else in the house and nothing has moved in the kitchen (after inspection) you decide it must have been a ghost. I, on the other hand, thought it came from outside, it's a bit windy and after checking find that the wheelie bin is on its side.

Same experience, different interpretations, only one truth.

Solidgold - no it did not " spring a leak FGS". As a rational 45 yr old mother of 6 kids /lawyer I am quite able to tell the difference between a leak and a full blown shower and toilet being flushed !!!!

lisa is it a detached house and where is the boiler situated?

I have had another odd experience too. So many times in this house I think I hear noises ( people walking on the stairs etc) and its got to the stage now where dh just laughs and ignores me. he is the most sceptical person on the planet. he could literally be confronted with evidence and would do nothing but say it is a trick of the eyes etc.

Anyway about a year or so ago we were having dinner in our dining room with the children - baby asleep upstairs in her cot. Suddenly - clear as a bell we heard loud footsteps in our hall followed by sound of someone running hard up the stairs. It was so loud and discernible that I screamed ( non-one else in the house at the time) and dh jumped up and shouted to me to get the kids near the front door ( obvious thought it was a burglar who had somehow quietly forced the door open) whilst he ran to the kitchen for a knife.

I remember screaming that the baby was asleep upstairs and just to get her and forget " the burglar". Dh shouted that he would do that and my 13 yr old son followed dh upstairs also carrying a knife. Plan was that ds would grab baby whilst dh would face off whoever was upstairs.

I opened front door with other kids and we stood shivering in doorway me just waiting for baby. After a few minutes dh emerged with baby fast asleep and wrapped up. He couldn't find anyone yet. I refused to go back in certain that the burglar must be hiding. Dh and ds searched the entire upstairs but nothing......

Dh then got a neighbour in with him to search again in case there was somewhere he had missed ( two heads etc....). Finally after half an hour or so we all came back in.

One question I asked dh " well, now do you understand /believe there is something funny in this house?"

Dh's reply " definitely not , it must have been the wind". The wind FGS!!!! How on earth was it the wind running in the hall and upstairs??????? dh's next reply was that it may have been a burglar who having heard all the noise legged it out of the upstairs window!

When ds pointed out that this was impossible as it was a very long drop down and there are very high fences both sides of our house which the burglar would then have had to scale and then go through one of the adjoining houses , dh just shrugged it off.

So I can see where the non believers come from. Sometimes it can literally hit you between the eyes and you won't acknowledge it

It is detached technically but we are v close to neighbours. Boiler is downstairs in our utlity room

The dreams exist. The experience is unique to the dreamer. It is a wholly subjective topic (although Freud did his best), in which there is no one truth.

Do you really think that everyone dreams like you and the effects if each dream are the same for everyone Pedro?

No, not at all. But the dreams don't 'exist'. What exists is your brain. Your dreams are your interpretation of your brain's activity while you are asleep.

What you've done is add a third layer: brain, dream, experience. But the dream is the experience.

If dreams are the interpretation of what our brains have been doing during the day - what about those dreams, that a few days later come true, or even a year later? What about those ones?

lisaliaa I've been discussing this thread with my dh, completely in-woo.
He reminded me of a time when he heard the shower in his en-suite some years ago, just turn on, toilet flushed too, a bit startled he went in to see that the shower base had no water splashes at all.

He went on to say that Steven Hawkins has said before about a 'worm-hole' type of loop in time, is his theory, which he seems to think enables some of us to experience such things.

At least someone is not doubting us 'deluded' sorts.

none - woo my dh is.

If dreams are the interpretation of what our brains have been doing during the day - what about those dreams, that a few days later come true, or even a year later? What about those ones?

Ummm, so we're talking about premonitions now? They're about as reliable as a horoscope.

Not unreliable if they happen, though, right?

He went on to say that Steven Hawkins has said before about a 'worm-hole' type of loop in time, is his theory, which he seems to think enables some of us to experience such things.

I presume you mean Stephen Hawking the theoretical physicist rather than Steven 'Hawkman' Hawkins of Washington University. But either way, there seems to be a massive gap between Professor Hawking's research and the apparent understanding of it demonstrated here......

Not unreliable if they happen, though, right?

Errrr..... Only reliable if they always happen. Are you being serious?

Pedro, I am always serious.

Whoops sorry pedro, got his name wrong, silly me.
Give him a bell you seem to know him better, smart arse !

indigo in that case can you explain how dreams are reliable as a fortune telling method please?

indigo I know the dreams you mean, I have them often, a regular one is, I dream I'm chatting to friends or my family on the phone.
The next day I just know they will call, which is every so often as we live away, they always do.

But unless every single dream you have comes true, they cannot be relied upon as a method of telling the future. sugars I don't want to presume anything, but it's quite likely that when they do actually call, you make the connection to your dream, but if they didn't, you'd probably forget you even dreamt about them.

It's also entirely possible that subconsciously you happen to be expecting them to call because it feels like it's about time they did, and if you happen to have a similar concept of when it's been 'too long since we spoke' as your family and friends do, then having a dream about it just before it happens really isn't that remarkable. What's remarkable is that you are all thinking about it around the same time.

Of course, it could be that you can actually tell the future through your dreams. If that's the case then this is a very rare and special talent which you should probably be using to do some good in the world.

Pedro, are all your dreams the same or are some more significant than others?