I've sat around in a circle with a few friends on an otherwise boring night, yearning for any kind of peculiar event to change the course of an excruciatingly long, mundane evening. Well getting down to the brass tax, NOTHING happened. The entire experience was as I had expected an over-hyped superstition that seems to only convince the most impressionable of people that the company that makes these boards isn't selling more than just an idea. As abrasive as NGC is coming across in this thread, I completely agree with his position: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. There unfortunately isn't enough out there to legitimize these kind of novelties.
Lol i just walked out of my room and into the kitchen. on the way i stopped at the door way of the lounge and it went down like this. Me: Mum... you have a smelly face disorder! Mum: WHAT?! Me: haha lol dont worry. Mum: what are you eating now? Me: a bowl of jelly (jello idk) but yeah its funny stuff lol
Aw lawdy u set me striaght! I willz never question enytang outside teh science boox! This isnt about evidence. It is about belief. Yes, like believing in God. Now I have done my research as well and have quite a few experiences of my own. Are you saying Im insane? I find it funny how you say they have found 'nothing'. Thats far from true. They just havent found anything that can stand up to scientific tests. Doesnt mean its not real. It just means we do not have the technology and knowledge needed for such study. They have found that at many hauntings, that there are fluctuations of electromagnetic fields. Even batteries suddenly die when something happens. Is it not possible that spirits are just pure energy? Try imagining that for as second if you can. They are no different than the electricity flowing through your computer now. They cant be seen, but they are there. Now with this in mind, is it now possible that they may be able to use such energy to move the game piece through the hosts? I know its sad to think they arent like Casper and might be able to move it themselves. (Though some stories do say it has happened) I dont know about Ouija, if its actually spirits using the body to communicate through the board or if its the human mind playing tricks. Ive only done it once and I wont do it again. Try ad hominem.
I see we both are fans of the work of Carl Sagan. It's no wonder we're among the only people questioning superstition.
Two things. One superstition is a black cat crossing your path is bad luck. This is about the supernatural. Second, you arent questioning. You are downright denying.
Wikipedia's definition of Superstition: a credulous belief or notion, not based on reason, knowledge, or experience. Belief in the supernatural IS, by definition, superstition. I am forced to deny until someone presents credible evidence, of which none has been presented in the subject.
And thats fine by me. Some people need concrete evidence before they can say it exists. Believing in something is to far out there. Though, I disagree that it is superstition The supernatural does not fit this. Im not sure whats unreasonable about it. Maybe you need to experience it for yourself so you han have personal knowledge of the subject. I have experienced it. I have knowledge of it. The possibility of spirits is not unreasonable to me. I believe it can be explained by science.
Belief does not existence make. Correction here, you think you experienced it. Many people do not understand the power of their minds.
Yes, belief does not make it true, but the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. And I experienced some things that cant be explained, but witness by more than just me. And this is before I knew about spirits.I understand the power of the human mind well. Its one of the things I like to research...along with the occult.
I tried one of those when I was 12 or 13. Scared me shitless..but then again I was 12 or 13. I use to skip Sunday school with a friend of mine and we found an Ouija board in the church storage room where they kept stuff that was going to be sold at church yard sales. Ironic much? We asked it some dumb questions like " What is my favorite color?" Too scared to ask it legit questions. I didn't push it around but it did answer stuff right, I don't know if my friend wasn't pushing it either. Eventually we got caught skipping and the board was taken away. God that church was fucked up. We use to do bloody mary in the bathrooms too. D:
The human mind is extremely susceptible to hallucination. Ouija boards fall into the same fantastical category as séances, out of body experiences, ufo encounters, and visitations or visions of Jesus/god/spiritual beings experienced by those who often believe in them most. If mushroomsatsuji wants to, on faith alone, believe these things exist outside of his imagination, then by all means his opinion is harmless so let him do so. On the other hand if he wanted to debate this so-called phenomena realistically and scientifically, he will have discovered there is no empirical evidence to present that would prove his allegation that things outside of the natural world do exist outside of personal anecdotes and modern day testimonies. There is no middle ground here; You either believe in magic or you don't.
I dont mean to debate. There is no right or wrong answer here. Neither of us know for sure. I understand this is the same argument for religion. I believe because of my experiences. I cannot back that up. I am not trying to convince anybody of anything, but to open their mind. For some this is hard to do. People fear the unknown. Then when faced with the unknown,they put up their defenses. *hinthint* I cannot prove any of this, but you cannot disprove this either. PS this isnt magic.
I think both of you will be interested in this Why people believe strange things. [VIDEO] 4:30 he says scientits sometimes use fillers to explain things not yet studied. IE Dark energy. No proof but studies suggest it exists. Same with supernatural phenomenon. Things suggest it exists but we have yet to develop a way to study it. Most cases of a haunting are probably the imagination. But what about that 1%? I do try to view it from an objective point of view. 9:00 is interesting too
You might research pseudoscientific stuff about the mind, but I doubt you fully understand what it's capable of.
I have researched many things that the mind can do that can be backed by research. For instance, we have the power to influence the mood of others over distances. This is proven. I'm at work but if you like I can show you the book. I know of amazing things done simply with the mind but I'm guessing you have something in particular to you comment. Tell me what you mean by what the mind is capable of
I don't want to see a book, unless said book has proven scientific study behind it. There are many, many books written about ridiculous things. The fact that things are published by an editor means nothing. I was referring to the power of hallucination, among other things. People can misunderstand natural phenomena, and its power to take natural things and turn them into something else. Think about the Rorschach test. In fact, it has been shown that something like 8/10 people hallucinate at some point during their life, and that 4/10 people hallucinate on a regular basis. The times when hallucinations are most likely the times when these kinds of "spiritual" experiences, ghost experiences, UFO's, etc etc seem to happen. In the middle of the night, sleep deprived, in the state right between awake and asleep, on drugs, alcohol, that sort of thing. Does this seem a coincidence to you? I certainly don't think so.
haha someone has read The Demon Haunted World I also didn't mean to turn this into any sort of formal debate. People are going to believe whatever it is their mind wants to believe. Again, Oujia Boards are an entertaining novelty item that has the prospect of bringing about mysticism and wonderment to the masses; but to go so far as to claim that these manufactured novelty items built en masse in a factory in Maryland somewhere have bestowed upon them some mystical powers that allows them to interact with the deceased is a bit asinine. Surely you can agree with that.