Do You Believe in People With "Supernatural" Powers?
 

Hey there!

In Norway, there's been a blossoming the last 10 years or so in belief in the alternative. This often includes psychics, healers and mediums. While it's become popular here, I don't know how the rest of the world feel about this general topic, so I want to ask you guys.

Do you believe? If you believe in any of these things, even if you don't believe in all of them, please answer "yes" in the poll. Unless you state your answer in a post, it will be anonymous.

yup, i know two friends who actually predicted what would happent to me, and that was 3 years ago and as time goes by, i see the things they've said unfold and happen. it's very amazing yet at the same time creepy.

I believe these so called "powers" that some people tend to have like their sixth sense and things of that nature are directly linked to them being able to access a larger portion of their brain than the average person.

I'm not sure if there are any studies to back up that statement because I have never done the research but it could very well be the reason.

Couldn't that be just well placed guesses based on what they know of you as a person?

edit :

This likely has basis in a misunderstanding or popular belief that we don't use all of our brains. We do, it's just that different parts of the brain do different jobs and so there doesn't have to be a high level of activity in all parts of the brain at the same time.

What if we were able to create a high level of activity in all parts of the brain at the same time though?

I definitely believe there are people out there with incredible intuition and ability to see into the future. I do also know there are a lot of frauds out there too.

I would say I'm intuitive in regards to my dreams and instincts. I've had multiple dreams long before an event that ends up occurring. For example, I had a specific dream about another bad earthquake that would cause me to lose my home with my belongings left behind in there and that's exactly what happened.

A month before my Granddad died (and before he showed any sign of being ill) I dreamed he was to die and I would find out while at school. Exactly that happened. He had 3 tumors in his brain from out of no where.

There's more but I think you get the point.

i thought about that but how could they have known that i'll only last 2 years in my first job, and that it's from a different side of our country? how'd they knew i'll gain more than a hundred pounds 3 yrs ago? how'd they knew i will never experience having a boyfriend but friends with benefits, plenty? the list goes on and on and it's amazing to know they've already had insights to my future. but the only downside to it is that they've also predicted the cause of my death (or near-death experience as one of them said) is heart attack. it's scary actually and had i known back then, i should'nt have asked for their freaky premonitions about my life.

the extent of my sixth sense ability is that I have loads of "Deja Vu" moments but they are USELESS to me because I can't do shit about it until it's too late.

The Virgin:

Perhaps you were more inclined to eat the Twinkies as you thought you would get fat anyway. And sometimes associated with being overweight can be insecurity and inability to have sexual relationships. Friends is a no brainer, you can make them anywhere and in any situation whether it be in real life or the internet.

So sorry, no cigar for that one.

One thing is that people are keen on interpreting and finding patterns in the world around them. Let's say that before you toss a dice, you think "it's going to be a 6" and when you roll, it turns out you were right. That doesn't mean it wasn't a coincidence, but for a lot of people, the idea that the connection between the guess and result is because of some sixth sense is highly appealing.

Sorry Vanilla, but I thought I'd use your dream about your grandpa as another example and hope you are not offended (I have no grandparents left and remember the sadness of losing them). You dreamt your grandfather would die and a little later, it happened. Maybe you've dreamt several times that your grandpa and/or people in your family are ill and die. One day it really happens and you interpret your dream as an ability to see into the future. It's not such a strange thing to dream about and death happens to us all, especially the elderly. I've heard, but I'll try and find a source if you like, that catastrophy dreams about death and accidents are very common. So, when an accident happens, depending on the nature of the situation, there could be a fair chance you've dreamed about it.

For me, I remember dreaming f.ex that I've been in a car accident. Because I wasn't in a car accident within a "short" time space after that dream, I haven't interpreted it as a premonition .. but if I had been in a car accident short after, maybe I would. The point is that if you would dream of such things regardless of what the future looks like, then these dreams are not really premonitions. They just look like it when they coincidentally pair up with real life circumstance.

I also believe people also tend to mentally "shave off" the parts of their premonitions that don't fit reality. Let's say you dreamed that your grandpa was lost at sea, but then he died of cancer. You could still interpret your dream as a premonition by stripping it down to what matters - a death - although the circumstances around his death in the dream versus real life were completely different.

Another thing I dislike about people trying to interpret their dreams is that. A majority of the time. Your dreams are just that dreams. There isn't any hidden, subconscious reason for why you dreamt what you did.

Sometimes I do believe that your subconscious is trying to tell you certain things but it doesn't happen as much as people appear to believe.

I can interpret my dreams any time I like, and I always get it right in context with my life. But that's just how I feel. Dreams are a way for your subconscious to tell you things that you have previously been blocking from your mind. That's why we get nightmares sometimes.

yeah but not every dream you have relates to what's going on in real life though. that's my opinion

Agree to disagree.

Alrighty, agreed

This should go down in message board history. People with different opinions accepting each others different views. :p

without resulting to insulting each other and fighting.

I will mark down the date and time in my time zone of course :P

3/24/2011

7:13am E.S.T.

12.13am GMT+12

WTH, go to bed woman!

I will, now back on topic.

not really. i mean, i really believe dreams are like God's way of giving us messages, whether it be a future event, or to give you advise or something, it is a message. but it's more of like an abstract message. lucky for you if you can decipher the code of that message.

i know that dreaming of flying signifies travelling or any kind of life event where it involves you goinig up (getting promoted, getting a high-grade, etc.). and it actually happened to me in real life.

When I was a teenager, I used to read fortunes with a deck of tarot cards (still have it). With tarot cards, you don't necessarily just tell a future, you also tell a person their influences from the past and the present, fears and so on. When I did this to people, I was usually right on the money, often to the point where they were scared because it was so accurate. However, when I tried reading my own fortune several times in a row, I also felt that the cards were right over and over agian, more often than not. But, there was the occasional blooper.

A strong component in why they worked so well is that the interpretation of the cards are actually quite vague and people are almost eager to believe in them. For example, I might get a card like the devil and tell someone that something has come between them and another person, something which is splitting them apart. They will then take that information and mentally search for something in their lives which they can attach it to. For example, if they have a boyfriend which is going away, they'll apply it to that. If they've had a row with one of their parents, they'll apply it to that. If someone died, they'll apply it to that. For every card, it's almost always possible to find something and so people end up basically doing much of their card reading for you. You just help them down a mental path they construct themselves and then finally give them a fortune reading based on the cards, but rooted in what they've told you.

I think if people were more aware of stuff like this, how we are prone to thinking and interpreting stuff and how vulnerable we are to suggestion, more people would be sceptics.

Voted 'no.' I'd like to believe in it because it seems fun, but... I just can't.

You are right, that's how those TV psychics that use Cold Readings get people to believe their crap. They use the power of suggestion and use very vague terminology.

They also read the person's body language and facial indicators to help them with their cold readings.

Hell yes. All of this.

I make it a priority to find scientific sources and discover as many things about the way our mind works and how our mental processes affect the way we see things, and the more I learn, the more I realize that the main component behind people's belief in the particular stuff we're talking about here, is ignorance about what's really going on in their own bodies and minds, and why they're interpreting things in the way they are.
Unfortunately, you can show some people an incredibly valid and perfectly reasonable alternative to a belief, that's backed up by science, and it still won't matter to them.

I completely agree. I also respect that you make an effort to look a bit deeper into these issues. I will say that I feel 90% of these "experiences" are a person's mind rationalizing what has happened. An unexpected death can really traumatize someone, so feeling as if you already "knew" it would happen lessens the blow.

However, I also feel there are a great number of people who underestimate the power of the mind. Throwing the word "supernatural" out there automatically gets people skeptical. Not to mention the words themselves (psychics, premontions, healing with your mind) have a very fantastical connotation. The sad thing is people who don't believe are armed with a myriad of scientific research to show how this isn't true, yet the people who believe don't even bother. They are satisfied with "well, I believe it. so?" This research is accurate in that we don't have psychic abilities RIGHT NOW. I believe our minds have to power to evolve this ability, though. I even believe we see small indications that some people have a slight "psychic" ability.

I don't see why it's so hard to accept...there are examples in nature where certain organisms can communicate to each with nothing but electric impulses. It's not called telepathy, so people don't argue with it. 80 years ago the idea of cordless anything was unthinkable...yet now we all walk around with cell phones. I think brainwaves can travel on a similar principle. In fact, I think telepathy would be the next major step in our evolution. We struggle so hard to communicate and understand each other at all times, I feel it is the next logical step.

I think people experience a form of telepathy everyday, we just pass it off as "gut feelings" and instincts. Have you ever been able to tell that someone is nothing but bad news just by the feeling you get? Or maybe you trust someone unconditionally after meeting them for only 5 minutes. There are small things, but I feel they are definitely there.

I'm not saying I believe this is the case 100%. I'm just playing the devil's advocate. I like to exist in a gray area with most issues like this.

I don't think there's anything telepathic about stuff like this. When you meet someone, the unconscious part of your brain is processing all kinds of information about this person, interpreting the way they look, the way their facial expression changes, the way they stand or hold their arms, what they say and how they say it and so on .. A lot of stuff which you get by "normal" sensory input.

I think what you call a gut feeling is simply based on stuff like that. To judge how someone's going to react to you, whether or not they can be trusted, and so on would be highly important to our fitness as social animals and highly adaptive. So, we should be good at it and there are telltale signs that give you that information without the need of a sixth sense.

edit :

Also, there's psychology involved here like association. Your fond memories of your grandmother and other experiences with elderly may make you more friendly inclined to old ladies for example.

I agree normal sensory input is involved, but I really think you aren't giving the brain enough credit. I respect that you want to stay skeptical until something concrete comes up, but do you really think the brain does not have this potential at all?

Qigong Master Boils Water With His Hands Pyrokinesis - Video

This guy came to mind. I don't think it's supernatural, but definitely awesome.

I don't believe in people with supernatural powers. But I am a rather extreme Christian, and have seen supernatural miracles happen in front of me.

Broken arm healed. A man who hasn't been able to bend his legs in years, bending down. A man who couldn't walk quickly without crippling pain, running. Migraines healed. A boy with a 105 fever, going down to normal within three seconds. Various stomach issues healed.

I have also witnessed and been part of excorcism-like activities several times. My little brother was exorcised and while that was going on, half of his body was extremely hot to the touch, the other half was incredibly cold. Is this possible? No, it isn't. But I felt the skin with my own hands. I was there.

Another girl had a vision of demons leavin her and a bright light taking their place. My mother prayed for a woman who had been possessed for most of her life, who yelled out when the demons left her.

And on top of all this, I have experienced and witnessed literally countless "religious experiences." Shaking, speaking in tongues, falling down, the whole nine yards!

So no, I don't believe in PEOPLE with supernatural powers. I just believe in a God who does a lot of awesome stuff, because He really does love us.

And no, I don't have video proof for any of this. So don't be demanding it from me. :)

^

I hate to do this, man, but I have to point this out. That is the reason no one believes in any of this.

And I know that. Others have been telling of their experiences with no proof, I figured I'd throw my two cents out there as well. :)

Not here to convert anyone. Just giving my thoughts and experiences along with everyone else.

Actually, from what I've seen from healing in churches, speaking in tongues and so on (granted, on the telly), they are full of suggestion and other psychological trickery to make what goes on seem real and spiritual. For example there's usually a very high level of emotional intensity - people get worked up. Preachers usually touch people, lay their hands on them and scream at them or push them to the floor. It's an intense experience and these tricks further enhance that feeling and encourage/provoke people into hysterics which are interpreted as spiritual experiences. Preachers also often use direct commands on the line of "sit" or "sleep" and so on which is also a powerful form of suggestion, sometimes used to induce hypnosis. What's happening is that participants are working themselves into a mental state where they are vulnerable to suggestion and act the way they believe they are supposed to.

Do you believe your healing pastor could heal someone's broken arm under calm conditions in a quiet church under an x-ray to show and prove the healing? If there is a God, then I don't think she/he'll mind if there isn't a lot of screaming and yelling, but I bet you the healing wouldn't work.

The next time you are in this setting, instead of getting worked up and participating wholeheartedly, try and look at it from a more sober point of view. What's happening to these people?

edit :

Children are particularly vulnerable to this stort of stuff and should not, in my opinion, be exposed to it.

Uh... Isn't Christianity hinged around a man with supernatural powers?

Tore, most of the healings I have witnessed have been in quiet settings, with no pastor is sight. Clergy are not responsible for healing or the supernatural, God is. :)

Bu I too have seen the pushing, yelling kind. They disgust me, an I will not disagree that there is high levels of suggestion going on inthose sorts of settings. But I'm not talking about the fakes, or the ones who want my money and perform "miracles" to get it. I'm talking about a God who works with random people that have no training or prior knowledge of God. Such as myself.

And Skal, hahahaha! Point taken! ;D

I don't now if the abilities are supernatural in nature - and I'm not sold on the people who claim to be psychics or mediums.

Like Vanilla, I have had dreams that were very specific before events occurred. It's not frequent or something I have control over. It's just something that will happen sometimes.

And as far as the intuition things - there are very specific moments when right before something happened (something which has to do with chance or probability, mainly) I have occasionally gotten a very strong feeling that something is going to turn out a precise way. Every single time I have this feeling (which is pretty rare, mind you, but has happened) I'll go ahead and say what's going to happen. And everytime I've had that specific feeling, it's been right. Not just like a hunch.

I don't think it's necessarily supernatural in origin, but I know that there are others like this. It could very well be something that all people are capable of and have a completely logical explanation.

now truthfully i'm smart enough to know that it's all crap but i really want "supernatural" to exist, reality is boring and not worth paying attention to that's why we make stuff up and that's why i voted yes :)

Exactly how I feel. I have very strong inclinations towards situations sometimes. I am being lead by a higher being.

The dreams are not just me not wanting grandparents to die. I had never given it a thought before I dreamed about my granddads death. I saw him as a person that would never go as I was 13 at the time. I have reoccurring dreams which is another reason why my analysis is spot on.

This is the situation: a couple of years ago I dreamed I was surrounded by friends and people from my old high school and there were four white kittens I was playing with. Suddenly, one of the girls said "I'm sorry but we need to kill these kittens, they can't stay alive anymore." I began to scream to stop them but one by one the girl rung their necks.

Second dream of the four white kittens they were all killed again. Third dream, I'm walking the same kittens on a massive lead where they are all connected, introducing them to mothers and children to create happiness for them. A flash occurs and I end up walking down a one way road and realise I've let go of the lead - the kittens are stuck in the middle of the road and one had been run over. The objective of this was for me to run across and save the remaining kittens before they all were run over.

Here's the analysis: white is a symbol of purity, vulnerability and innocence. The four kittens represent each part of who I am: mental, emotional, spiritual and physical. At that point in my life I was extremely depressed and lonely, physically abusing my body by taking too many painkillers. The first and second dream indicated I was neglecting/destroying these four parts of my being through drugs and not understanding the cause of my unhappiness or even acknowledging my depression (I was in denial). The third dream was showing that when I look after myself I make others happy and am an incredible person. The moment I stop taking care of one element of my being or let myself go in any manner, the rest of the elements will disintegrate also. It was a warning to carefully monitor my subconscious and my actions day to day in order to protect myself from falling apart again.

So that's what I meant, not just oh I dreamed about my teeth falling out so I'm going to be rich.

^

That's some really interesting stuff. I love hearing about peoples' dreams.

Every time my life is about to get a big change, I have a recurring dream about being lost in a cave. I had this dream before I found out I was moving to Singapore in middle school, I had it the night before I met my now ex who I had a 4 year relationship with, I had it before we broke up, and I had it before I got my current job. I'd say that's a winning record.

I wouldn't be surprised if there were ways in which we interact with the world around us that we are unaware of currently. But supernatural powers? No. I think most cases can be chalked up to things like confirmation bias.