The spiritual side (Serious) - Spirit guides, premonitions, energy sensing

[Yaoi Huntress Earth]

I've always an interest in the spiritual side of this world. It seemed like I had dreams where something mundane is happening and at least a week later, it happens in the real world. Or I've felt strong spiritual energy with certain places and people. So I will sometimes study into things like this while keeping a level head through it.

For those of you who are also interested in these kind of subjects like ghosts, spirit guides, interpreting dreams or just when you had that funny feeling, feel free to drop a line.

 

[Mariposa Electrique]

I really enjoy the idea of hermeticism, "As above so below", today it has kind of lead into the study of fractals.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

I believe that the Bible -- even if it may not be literally true -- has a spiritual allegory of one's spiritual journey to good under God, who is Love (1 John 4:. This belief comes from the Christian faith I pretty much believe in.

 

[Ebola]

In my opinion, whatever people truly believe, no matter how absurd, slowly becomes more and more true - at lest from the believer's point of reference. In addition, the human mind can find ways to successfully justify (or deny) anything, from logical equations which are used to describe reality, to pure fantasy. For example, let me now prove to you all that the Earth is flat without employing a tinfoil hat. Thanks to quantum theory, we now know the universe is made of distinct particles and can't be reduced beyond a specific limit (reality is pixelated like a video game or digital movie), which means we are talking about information, and thus everything, including Earth, is flat because all higher dimensions are redundant - just illusory constructs employed by the human brain to navigate the infinite 2-dimensional informational structure we call reality.

Because existence is based on such a mathematical logic, it is natural that reality is fractal in nature and contains fractal elements everywhere; according to eternal or chaotic inflationary theory, this is in fact the case. As for the Bible, or anything created by humans that spreads like a virus, it is not to be taken lightly. In the Bible, I believe there are verses which proclaim the 'Word of God' to be alive. In other spiritual texts, there are lots of stories of how gods thought the universe into being, sang the universe into existence, or spoke or wrote the universe into existence, and so on. Song, music, literature, words, letters, thoughts, dreams, numbers, symbols, art, internet memes, social memes, genes, emotions, ideas, computers, cows, plants, humans, the universe as a whole, and even subatomic particles themselves, are all ultimately just patterns of information (some, like us, self-aware constructs) constantly interacting with each other in an eternal state of cosmic evolution. Because this is the nature of nature (everything is made out of one thing), it is not out of the question that mere thoughts and beliefs have an infectious nature and shape the world around us; as such, it is vital to pick beliefs carefully.

 

[Johnny Bravo]

I've yet to see a convincing argument for the existence of the supernatural that doesn't rely on anecdotal evidence.

 

[Existancefan42]

Hoo boy...um Im kinda christian but I beleive in ghosts scientifically, that sounds goofy I know,
but sure beats saying "its just there".

 

[BurningPewter]

I believe in psychic phenomena. The women on my mother's side of the family seem a bit psychic, and I've had premonitions sometimes myself.

The most recent funny experience I had was a middle aged lady with schizophrenia who I got to know in my fantasy author's cafe group...I was feeling really happy and I saw a friend who I was not expecting to see and my "heart leapt" and she suddenly grabbed my arm and said "OO I felt that, you just had something raise your spirits didn't you".

Had some weird stuff happen in my friend's spooky old house too. Thing pushed off the shelf, a hand grab my wrist at night tight enough to leave a mark. Pretty spooky.

 

[Yaoi Huntress Earth]

My Girl Scout leader (I was one from 1st to 12th grade) had interesting stories she'd tell. (Her family was part Native American.) She did see glimpses of her youngest daughter's guardian angel when she was a baby and once had a nightmare where her two daughters were playing in an attic of a house they wanted to buy and the roof fell on them. So they ended up going to find another place to live. And she also showed me her medicine pouch.

 

[fire_fly]

I won't tell any specific stories, since I've told them to a number of people and it could lead to my identity (I don't really give a fuck but just in case, y'know) but, yeah, I've had a lot of experiences. On both sides of my family, we've had what you could describe as psychics that had legitimate premonitions. For my own part, I've never had real, solid premonitions, but I've been known to pick things up here and there. Small stuff, usually. My "strength", if you could call it that, depends largely on what my current mental state is; the worse I feel, the weaker my intuition is.

Also, my favorite music venue in my city is believed to be haunted. Ghost tours go through around Halloween and there's a ton of urban legends surrounding the place. I've never seen anything personally, but I believe there are spirits there and they have just as much fun as the living when a show is playing. I can feel them hanging around when I'm there, like they're happy to see people coming out to have a good time. Not like they're all "who are these people and why are they invading our space".

 

[Assorted Nuts]

I've yet to see a convincing argument for the existence of the supernatural that doesn't rely on anecdotal evidence.

Pretty much the gist of it for me too. I actually would love for there to be something to all of this though. The possibility of exploring something so unknown is fascinating. I just haven't seen anything compelling enough to make me believe in anything. It's usually he said, she said sort of claims.

 

[Abethedemon]

I'm very into the occult and mystical elements of the world. currently, I'm pretty fascinated by Buddhism and its esoteric practices. If religion were false, I'd still try to be religious because it taps into an aspect of the human psyche.

 

[Null]

I've not once in my life felt any connection to anything supernatural. If there are spirits and gods, they aren't particularly fond of me.

 

[KingGeedorah]

I've not once in my life felt any connection to anything supernatural. If there are spirits and gods, they aren't particularly fond of me.

Maybe they actually love you and just leave you alone?

Only the sinners get to see spooks and haunts.

 

[AnOminous]

I've not once in my life felt any connection to anything supernatural. If there are spirits and gods, they aren't particularly fond of me.

If you're familiar with the Book of Job, you're better off. Things get ugly when higher spiritual powers take an interest in you, at least if the Bible can be taken seriously and they actually exist, which seems unlikely.

 

[Kikomi]

i believe that the human mind is extremely powerful. the placebo effect is unexplained and just one example of how capable the brain is. i believe that at least 99% of supernatural coincidences and occurrences are caused by a weird chain reaction in the brain, particularly if other people are involved. it's kind of like a group mentality sort of thing. something that is accepted will become more convincing, and coincidences or normally explainable things will begin to seem like magical or otherworldly experiences the more you want to believe in it. i'm not trying to invalidate what people have been through, i just wholeheartedly believe in this. the brain can trick itself, in a way. (i think there's a name for the kind of group mentality i'm thinking of, but i can't remember it.)

 

[ScrewTheRules]

I've done a few guided meditations with a local pagan group, including past-life regressions and some "find your spirit guide" type thing, and currently have a 0% success rate. Guess I must just not have one... I do believe there's something out there, but I don't know what and don't believe in giving it a name. All I can do is do the best I can with my life and try to leave this world better than I entered, and if there's nothing after this then that will be my immortality.
I tend to fall more towards the skeptical side as a whole, and tend to call bullshit on other people far more readily than I actually should, but I've had a few weird experiences myself. I do a lot of divination stuff, mostly runes and some tarot, and have gotten some weirdly accurate stuff. Granted, some of that could just be me cold-reading and not realising it, but I've gotten pretty close to the mark with even complete strangers. The one thing that's always a given though is that I can only get an accurate reading on negative stuff, which doesn't tend to be what people want to hear. At one point I managed to predict both the course of the rest of the night and the course of the rest of the year a guy, all in a rune reading that started with the words, "So, the runes are saying you're a man-slag", or something to that effect.
I get the same thing with 'energies', I guess? I can usually pick up when there's a bad or negative are about, or if there's some unpleasant entity hanging around, but I don't get anything on the more positive stuff. It's kinda soured me on the supernatural to be quite honest, particularly when it include dilapidated old houses or ghosts, and particularly with dolls because dolls are fucking creepy.

 

[SPARKLETWAT]

I was holding my best friends hand when he died from cancer in 2013. I watched him take that last breath. He twitched like something physical left him. His body looked like it deflated a little bit. Goosebumps went up my right arm because I was using my right hand to hold his and as the goosebumps got to my neck I heard him laughing but it sounded really far away. The goosebumps went away when his laugh did and the room got quiet. His body was lying there, eyes half shut and mouth gaping open.

He said he was going to live past Christmas and laugh in death's fucking face. He found out he was terminal in October. He died on December 31.

I hear that laugh every New Year's eve now at 6:01am PST which is the exact time he died. I cry because I miss his fucking faggot ass leaving stupid messages on my phone or sending me obnoxious pictures.

You think you're ready when you know somebody is going to die but all of a sudden it happens and you realize you're never ready for that.

 

[ZeCommissar]

I've not once in my life felt any connection to anything supernatural. If there are spirits and gods, they aren't particularly fond of me.

Well some real people aren't fond of you Null, why would god be??

-snip-

Spoiler: powerlevel and needlessly autistic explanation

i was edgy and rebellious even as a little kid. i did as much research into the paranormal as i could(books at my school library, super old internet forums that i barely understood) and became fascinated with it. i scared myself so bad by reading about ghost stories that i had frequent nightmares. naturally my parents were never fond of my interest so they kept telling me to stop because "demons are dangerous and real" which made me even more interested. eventually after reading all there was i could find and watching as many "GHOST CAUGHT ON FILM!!" videos on youtube as i could, i began to stop caring as much. i grew up, and at the start of high school i began to question everything i knew and everything i was taught. i developed a fascination with mythology that continues to this day, and realized the parallels between modern spiritual beliefs/conspiracies and mythology. i realized it was fake. freshman year was also the year i stopped believing in god altogether, and became bitter at the fact that i was manipulated into believing what is essentially a bunch of bullshit. remembering my fear of going to hell and my fear of becoming possessed and my fear of ghosts and demons is kind of bittersweet, because a part of me wishes i still believes in a more magical side of the world. it's difficult for me to explain how drastic and scary it was for me to realize i didn't believe. it's scary because nothing will be able to make me go back to believing in god(the abrahamic god, at least) and being so aware of the fact that i am 100% alone and the only person in charge of my fate is horrifying. i used to pray to god to forgive me for not being completely straight, to remove my mental illnesses, to stop bad things from happening to my family and friends. all of that just disappeared. in the span of a few weeks, the hope that anything could be helped by a spiritual force was just destroyed. something clicked in my head, and i realized that nothing is there after we die. i wish i still had that childlike innocence and hope.

-snip-

Kinda like what happened to me, I was a Christian but in my endless search of knowledge about everything I became atheist, then I decided to really re-evaluate how I perceive things and became a pantheist.

Here's a interesting experiment for you guys I tried awhile back, go and find a god you don't believe in to pray to, and it can literally be anything. You could pray to the FSM, Cthulhu, Allah, or the tree in your yard. Do this for a month quietly in your head like you would if you were religious (don't do it out loud or else you will probably seem autistic to those around you). Do it before you sleep, before you eat, before a struggle in your life, and praise the being in your head when something good happens for around a month or more.

Recommend that you aren't religious, due to the fact it would be harder to fake-believe in something, especially if your god hates it that you worship something else. You should also pick something more believable and powerful, like don't actually pick the tree in your yard, but pray to something that could have god-like powers if it truly existed.

"Why the fuck would I do this autistic shit?" Well after awhile of you doing it regularly and actually attempting to believe, it should feel like something is actually listening to you, and that something is actually putting it's power into your life and doing bad things to you to teach lessons, and good things to show its love, unless you pick a malevolent god and it does bad things to you because of its nature.

Of course as Ebola pointed out the human mind is a powerful tool and can believe literally anything, so don't do this for too long and always remember at the end of the day it's only for fun, or else you might actually start awaiting Cthulhu to awaken from R'lyeh....

 

[DatBepisTho]

I'd like to think there will always be something that can't be explained, proven, or disproven by science or cold-hard fact.

Universe isn't entirely knowable and all that.
"Not yet known, anyway" school represent!

 

[Cheap Sandals]

I think there's more to reality than material existence, and I would hesitantly say that some patterns of existence could be aware on levels we can't perceive or comprehend (yet).

I've never seen a ghost tho. I'd like to.