Re: Straight Talk: The Ganzfeld (Advocates & Skeptics only)
Posted: 09 Sep 2011, 04:20
ProfWag. . . I'm a bit lost as to your comment above, I'm certain it has to do with my refusal to play fetch for folks given how you worded it. While I fully understand what you're saying and why, it's just not my nature to collect so much data on such things. Ironically, I used to but it became too much a job and I simply got sick and tired of having to say the same things, post the same links, quote the same quotes over and over for people that refused to look for/at information that would at minimum "challenge" their points of view when it came to this particular issue. There's just so much "dumb redneck" styled feedback a person can take when it is repetitive. Interestingly though the few years I endured within said frame allowed me to become aware of a standard pattern of attack & denial tactics from within the Skeptic's community, which likewise became a reason for me to break their rhythm by insisting that they do the foot work instead of me. When a person is given something freely they tend to look at it and treat it much differently than when they have to do the footwork for themselves, I've found that the few (very few) that did go out and locate certain bits and pieces came back with a stronger sense of understanding; this was especially true for those that accepted my other challenges tied to doing work as a Reader -- discarding all the junk they've been told to believe about it, learn how to use the oracles based on tradition and then actually do straight Readings relying on nothing but what the "book" says. Anyone that can do that for a solid year or more, doing at least 5 or six Readings a day, cannot come back to me and say that it's "just Cold Reading". If they can turn off their analytical mind and trust in what the symbols represent, they will know the contrary, it's that simple.
Remember, I am quite the skeptic. I question everything that comes to me when it involves magickle thinking, I have to, it's the essence of what my spiritual perspective encourages. But at the same time, I have to be honest about what I discover, what I encounter, feel and KNOW. I can't simply write things off as coincidence or explain them away via some kind of abstract formulary of pseudo-logic.
KUDOS HOWEVER to everyone when it comes to this conversation. Though I can't understand all the long-haired mathematical crapola I can get the gist of things and what I find is one of the better, most civil conversations I've seen in over a decade, when it comes to this topic. So kudos to one and all!
Remember, I am quite the skeptic. I question everything that comes to me when it involves magickle thinking, I have to, it's the essence of what my spiritual perspective encourages. But at the same time, I have to be honest about what I discover, what I encounter, feel and KNOW. I can't simply write things off as coincidence or explain them away via some kind of abstract formulary of pseudo-logic.
KUDOS HOWEVER to everyone when it comes to this conversation. Though I can't understand all the long-haired mathematical crapola I can get the gist of things and what I find is one of the better, most civil conversations I've seen in over a decade, when it comes to this topic. So kudos to one and all!