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Why should we spend time on things that have no effect on the world around us?

EGarrett

Illuminator
Joined
Feb 24, 2004
Messages
3,086
Question for the paranormalists out there.

If something doesn't have any provable effect on the universe or the world around us, why should we spend time on it?

If we can't show definitively that ghosts, goblins, crystals, or the "spirit world" actually DO anything, how do we benefit from devoting any more of our time to it? Why should we?
 
I'm not superstitious, but I would think the answer has something to do with how fun it can be to entertain ideas that are apart from the norm. Who doesn't enjoy science fiction?

Entertainment, in short.
 
But they DO feel that the paranormal effects their daily lives in very dramatic ways. Consider this recent post on a ghost forum:

My own personal experience is just that - an experience from 15 years ago. My uncle died without leaving a will. As the only living relative, my mother stood to inherit his 12-acre farm but it was so much in debt it was due to be sold for taxes and foreclosed upon his death. We saw and felt numerous things in his house and room where he died while we were cleaning out the property of his personal effects. As an experiment I let a tape run overnight (analog, not digital) in his bedroom. Upon examining it were heard only two phrases in my uncle's country accented voice - "barn" and about ten minutes later "back wall". We went directly there and after about 15 minutes searching found a bank book for an account no one even knew existed that he kept to himself hidden behind the wall in exactly the place we were told to look. We didn't get rich, but it was enough to pay off the back taxes and my mother is now living there (75 years old) enjoying her retirement. She has the tape today - it's one of her most precious possessions. This is what first started me in investigating the paranormal - I think many people have a personal experience they considered a turning point. I believe it was my uncle, because I see the proof of it every day of my life, the fact that my mother is still living there, when the property was within 10 days of being lost. Now doubters can say it was the wind, or matrixing, or something like that. Maybe it was - but on a farm that had a house with three floors, attic, basement, tool shed, barn, garage, chicken coop, animal shelter, storage buildings, and others to choose from - this wind or matrixing told us exactly which wall of which building to look at so that we found exactly what was needed within 15 minutes, I'd definetely call that paranormal.

When I pointed out obvious flaws in the story (people with bank accounts get tons of mail from the bank, he probably had a shoebox full of old statements laying around the house) the poster responded by adding "special conditions" to the story:

Except that as I said he died without a will, he had no family (wife, children), there was no exceutor or adminstrator, the estate was taken over to be distributed by the court. He never told anyone about any account, let alone where it was, how long he had it, what was in it, or how to access it. That's the reality. It happens all the time. Older people sometimes don't trust banks or safety deposit boxes. People keep things to themselves. Is that so unbelieveable? Not everyone's life is so neat and tidy, especially elderly old people who live alone. We have to pay all my mom's bills because she's always forgetting to open mail, or loses it, or just throws it out. I can't believe how judgemental people can be when they think they know all the answers. I didn't realize you were a prosecutor!
 
I'm not superstitious, but I would think the answer has something to do with how fun it can be to entertain ideas that are apart from the norm. Who doesn't enjoy science fiction?

Entertainment, in short.
True believers do not regard it as fiction or entertainment. It informs their worldview and they live their lives as though it were true. These are failed humans who take refuge in fantasy as a way of distracting themselves from who they really are. It's a way to avoid taking responsibility for oneself. Should they slip on the great cosmic banana peel, they just make up more nonsense to compensate for for their lack of courage to face life as it is.
 
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For entertainment.

For knowledge and understanding of what others believe, so that logic and common sense can counteract supernatural ideas.

Can't think of any other reasons at the moment!
 
I'm not superstitious, but I would think the answer has something to do with how fun it can be to entertain ideas that are apart from the norm. Who doesn't enjoy science fiction?

Entertainment, in short.
Yep. Besides, what is more a part of the "world around us" than our own mental state? There are few things closer.
 
Funny, because many of the same people would claim that math has no bearing or consequence on thier lives, so therefore ignore it.

Maybe because in science you can be wrong. With supernatural, you get to stay in the "I believe" land and therefore can never be proven exactly wrong. It's an extention of arrogance. Arrogance in having to be right all the time and in thinking that being wrong is proof of permanent failure.
 
The next experiment to show hypothesized phenomena X might be just around the corner. I think the suggestive results to date, for example from RNG and Ganzfeld studies, are encouragement to plow ahead.
 
When I pointed out obvious flaws in the story...

Plus, you'd think that if she really had a videotape with a ghost's voice on it she'd be sharing it with the world. What ghost hunter show wouldn't love to have it

Steve S.
 
Also there are many logical errors that have been filled in by supernatural "assumptions". e.g. the hermit uncle who would not communicate with relatives (his own sister, I believe) while he was alive...has suddenly changed his mind now that he's dead.

You also have to remember that the OP added a lot of her own meaning to three words: "barn" and "back wall". Maybe uncle meant dig below the wall. Maybe uncle meant paint the wall. Maybe uncle meant count the knotholes in the wall for the combination to the safe buried below the old mill. The OP had to fill in a lot of meaning and use her own imagination to find the supposed bankbook. I do think it's a wonderful story and I am glad the farm has been saved and someone feels their uncle helped them. However, there are a lot of reasons to believe nothing supernatural was going on.
 

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