---Introduce yourself---

Sure. Shall I post here or is there a better place?
Here would be ok - though if it could turn into an extended discussion then possibly either of
http://www.skeptiko-forum.com/forums/consciousness-science/
http://www.skeptiko-forum.com/forums/extended-consciousness/

Many of these "sceptics" seem to operate on a junior school type consensus level ("It's silly to believe in ghosts or God") and often bully people with other beliefs in the same junior school way. Brian Cox is an excellent example of this.
I don't want to get too carried away with 'sceptic-bashing' because after all there is a need to interact and have discussions with people of all viewpoints - and also invite people of all views to join this forum. Still, the said Brian Cox is a valid example. In many ways I see him as floundering wildly out of his depth.
 
I don't want to get too carried away with 'sceptic-bashing' because after all there is a need to interact and have discussions with people of all viewpoints - and also invite people of all views to join this forum.
I don't either - it was aimed only at those that ridicule other peoples beliefs. It can be so easy to imagine that the most vocal ones are typical and forget the rest. I like debating with sceptics that have a good attitude - and that is most of them in my experience.
 
I'd like to hear more - when you're ready, there's no need to rush to do so right now.
OK, here goes...
It was 1998 and I had separated from my first wife and moved into a bedsit. The house was quite old and there were three other people living there. I lived downstairs next to a friend of mine. We'll call her "B" One day, B told me she felt very uneasy in the section of the house between our kitchen and the small common room. She felt there was a presence and that it was female. I was so used to new agers and charismatic christians having "feelings" that I was sceptical so I dismissed it in my mind. A few weeks later, B had moved into a Buddhist community and I was alone downstairs. I walked into the kitchen and just as I looked at the window, I saw a white misty shape move along outside. I reasoned that it must be the fire door closing and somehow the light from it was reflecting off walls and into the window but I couldn't work out how this could be at those angles. Then one day I was walking from the kitchen into the common room and I was poked quite strongly in the arm. The room was empty but it felt exactly like a physical person had poked me. A week or so Later my wife came around for dinner and coffee and while we were sitting in the common room she suddenly looked puzzled. I asked her what was up and she said she thought she saw something move between us. I asked "did it look like a white mist?" Very stupid of me - I should have just asked what it looked like but my wife was a very honest person so when she said yes I trusted her.

Another friend of mine suggested it might have been a muscle spasm but I have had those and they feel entirely different. The strangest part of all this was that I wasn't at all scared when it happened.
 
Hello everyone.

I don't really know what to put after that but I'm incredibly interested in the study of NDEs as well as Psi phenomena. I look forward to talking to people here.
 
Hello,
I just found this forum. I am a writer, I enjoy reading about religion and magic and writing and experiencing the same.
Hi - Welcome aboard - I imagine you will be able to bring an interesting perspective on our discussions!

Why not start a new thread and discuss your own experiences with magic?

David
 
Hi all.

I'm an average programmer guy from Latvia, I'm 37 now.

I consider myself agnostic, I don't have strict beliefs, although I have been raised as Catholic.

Anyway, I like to hope that there's something more to our existence than just entering the world, learning, gaining new unique experience (because each of us has unique combination of personality traits), procreate, die and then all of that enormous amount of experiential information gets lost forever. From my programmer's logic, it seems a total waste of brain calculation resources.

Also, from evolution point of view, consciousness with separate ego seems highly inefficient because of our tendency to give personal ambitions higher priority over survival and evolution of human species. Ego-less robots would be much more efficient species :D In which case evolution should have turned us into intelligent, cruel predators with some kind of collective consciousness. Or maybe that's our future? Argh, sounds terrible for my ego :D

I have read books and articles about science, philosophy, psychology, also new age and esoteric literature and various arguments against it. For now, I put it all in my gray "maybe, but not sure yet" box.

I came here with one specific question in mind but that is worth a separate topic, and I will post it soon in Consciousness & Science section.
 
Hi all.

I'm an average programmer guy from Latvia, I'm 37 now.

I consider myself agnostic, I don't have strict beliefs, although I have been raised as Catholic.

Anyway, I like to hope that there's something more to our existence than just entering the world, learning, gaining new unique experience (because each of us has unique combination of personality traits), procreate, die and then all of that enormous amount of experiential information gets lost forever. From my programmer's logic, it seems a total waste of brain calculation resources.

Also, from evolution point of view, consciousness with separate ego seems highly inefficient because of our tendency to give personal ambitions higher priority over survival and evolution of human species. Ego-less robots would be much more efficient species :D In which case evolution should have turned us into intelligent, cruel predators with some kind of collective consciousness. Or maybe that's our future? Argh, sounds terrible for my ego :D

I have read books and articles about science, philosophy, psychology, also new age and esoteric literature and various arguments against it. For now, I put it all in my gray "maybe, but not sure yet" box.

I came here with one specific question in mind but that is worth a separate topic, and I will post it soon in Consciousness & Science section.
Hi, pleased to meet you. Grey areas abound and with so many disagreements among scientists, philosophers etc., it's kind of hard to make informed decisions about this stuff. Maybe NDEs are good evidence, maybe not. Maybe regression hypnosis is good evidence but maybe not. I like your point about giving our personal ambitions higher priority than survival - our afterlife beliefs often reflect not so much what we consider the evidence proves, but what we prefer to believe. I'm perhaps a bit different here because I would never have chosen Christianity if it had been down to preference and there are also genuine agnostic seekers here like yourself who have few biases. That's not to say that I have no biases at all of course - I'm only human. There is also personal experience that sways people. Anyway, I am rambling too much! Welcome to the forum midix.
 
Hi all.

I'm an average programmer guy from Latvia, I'm 37 now.

I consider myself agnostic, I don't have strict beliefs, although I have been raised as Catholic.

Anyway, I like to hope that there's something more to our existence than just entering the world, learning, gaining new unique experience (because each of us has unique combination of personality traits), procreate, die and then all of that enormous amount of experiential information gets lost forever. From my programmer's logic, it seems a total waste of brain calculation resources.

Also, from evolution point of view, consciousness with separate ego seems highly inefficient because of our tendency to give personal ambitions higher priority over survival and evolution of human species. Ego-less robots would be much more efficient species :D In which case evolution should have turned us into intelligent, cruel predators with some kind of collective consciousness. Or maybe that's our future? Argh, sounds terrible for my ego :D

I have read books and articles about science, philosophy, psychology, also new age and esoteric literature and various arguments against it. For now, I put it all in my gray "maybe, but not sure yet" box.

I came here with one specific question in mind but that is worth a separate topic, and I will post it soon in Consciousness & Science section.

Welcome, midix.:)
 
Hi all.

I'm an average programmer guy from Latvia, I'm 37 now.

I consider myself agnostic, I don't have strict beliefs, although I have been raised as Catholic.

Anyway, I like to hope that there's something more to our existence than just entering the world, learning, gaining new unique experience (because each of us has unique combination of personality traits), procreate, die and then all of that enormous amount of experiential information gets lost forever. From my programmer's logic, it seems a total waste of brain calculation resources.

Also, from evolution point of view, consciousness with separate ego seems highly inefficient because of our tendency to give personal ambitions higher priority over survival and evolution of human species. Ego-less robots would be much more efficient species :D In which case evolution should have turned us into intelligent, cruel predators with some kind of collective consciousness. Or maybe that's our future? Argh, sounds terrible for my ego :D

I have read books and articles about science, philosophy, psychology, also new age and esoteric literature and various arguments against it. For now, I put it all in my gray "maybe, but not sure yet" box.

I came here with one specific question in mind but that is worth a separate topic, and I will post it soon in Consciousness & Science section.

Welcome to the forum!
 
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