Why We Believe

Whoa there ewoordy2003 - I agree with trucker mama. The fact we have expanded our minds beyond the percieved scientific facts shows what can be discovered when one is open minded. Like her, I have seen ghosts, felt them in the room with me, have been told answers through ESP, read people's minds, & have seen auras. Some of it is truly welcomed. Other incidents are scary stuff; candles floating in the air, doors opening, light surrounding a person, seeing a person/ghost walk through your house or hats being thrown at you. Seeing a "bad" aura is the worst, for example a black cloud swirling around a person. I always leave at that point. The good points? Having "someone" tell you not to drive down a road, thus missing an accident. Call them what you want -ghosts, angels, spirits - they are real and will help make life easier.

Which came first the sceptic or the believer? We all start out as the sceptic until one day an "event" occurs in which we can not explain, we then become the believer. Some of us grow up with such amazing stories we are programed to be believers, until we become sceptics because of "uneventful" lives. You should try to look out side of the normal as you may possibley be missing out on some of the most amazing sights and feelings you will ever exsperience. I am a "BELIEVER" both raised that way and proven (in my minds eye anyway) and would not trade my exsperiences over the years for anything. Try living with your "minds" eye wide open ... you may be surprised at what you see!

Nice comment, Trucker mama. A lot of vocabulary you used to refute the article was misspelled. I am one to believe that the brain is a very powerful organ, in which paranormal can be induced by suspicion. One who believes in ghosts, aliens, spooks, and any other paranormal cannot correctly judge the brain activity and the way the brain interprets and creates imagery, feelings, and emotion, due to the fact that they have no relative ???control??? specimen (it is a scientific term used for comparison to the variable). What YOU experience and feel is how YOUR brain has perceived something. These are your beliefs, and an easy explanation, instead of developing a more complex, scientific, and reasonable explanations. This is how I believe ???lazy??? people perceive the world.

Take for instance the study of light. Would anyone ever have concluded that light consist of particle waves during the ancient Roman times? No, they based all of the reasons for normal events and occurrences to be the acts of numerous GODS, because they could find no other means to explain the events scientifically. As I see it, believing the paranormal exists are ways for humans to interpret what they cannot understand, much like the Romans did during their time. People who believe in the paranormal have yet to evolve to the more sophisticated intellectuals who understand the capability of the mind.

Nice comment, Trucker mama. A lot of vocabulary you used to refute the article was misspelled. I am one to believe that the brain is a very powerful organ, in which paranormal can be induced by suspicion. One who believes in ghosts, aliens, spooks, and any other paranormal cannot correctly judge the brain activity and the way the brain interprets and creates imagery, feelings, and emotion, due to the fact that they have no relative ???control??? specimen (it is a scientific term used for comparison to the variable). What YOU experience and feel is how YOUR brain has perceived something. These are your beliefs, and an easy explanation, instead of developing a more complex, scientific, and reasonable explanations. This is how I believe ???lazy??? people perceive the world.

Take for instance the study of light. Would anyone ever have concluded that light consist of particle waves during the ancient Roman times? No, they based all of the reasons for normal events and occurrences to be the acts of numerous GODS, because they could find no other means to explain the events scientifically. As I see it, believing the paranormal exists are ways for humans to interpret what they cannot understand, much like the Romans did during their time. People who believe in the paranormal have yet to evolve to the more sophisticated intellectuals who understand the capability of the mind.

Gimme a break. I love Science but I also believe in the paranormal. I have had MANY experiences that I would rather not remember dealing with paranormal things to know that science can't just "Explain it away" as some kind of freakin brain activity. Seriously come up with something new. Everyime something unexplainable happens they go straight for the "it must be some kind of brain thing".

always gotta have a damn answer for something.

Ancestral memory could be the answer when you are talking about skills and abilities, but in my opinion it doesn't make sense when you are talking about reincarnation, why and how would anyone inherit memory genes from an stranger who lived years ago?, or even in a complete different country?

Ancestral memory could be the answer when you are talking about skills and abilities, but in my opinion it doesn't make sense when you are talking about reincarnation, why and how would anyone inherit memory genes from an stranger who lived years ago?, or even in a complete different country?

I know this may sound unreal or perhaps even arrogant, but the research on all of these questions was accomplished back in the early 1950's by L. Ron Hubbard. By reading the results, which are found in his basic books which comprise the subjects of Dianetics and Scientology, you can gain more understanding than you ever thought possible on Man and existence. They are now found in virtually every library in the countrycountry

I know this may sound arrogant or just unreal to most people, but the research on all this sort of thing was done back in the 1950's by L. Ron Hubbard. Anyone can follow the entire track of his research by reading his basic books in sequence. You will have far more understanding of Man and existence than you ever thought possible. These books are now in virtually every library in the country..

Who is this "we" yer talkin' about? Ya got a mouse in yer pocket? I don't believe in any of that silly crap!

There is a relationship between NDE's and the holographic universe theory as written by Michael Talbot that can not be easily explained away. How it is that a housewife from Kansas or a Truck Driver from South Georgia come back after their experience and describe what happened to them in terms that can only be described as "holographic". It also seems to parallel what some quantum physicist have said also. Feelings of overwhelming oneness and connectedness, having "all knowledge," 360 degree vision, time and space not existing, buildings made out of knowledge, feeling like they are literally everywhere in the Universe at once, overwhelming Love (closely paralleling the statements about "oneness"), communicating telepathically, everything being made out of light, and during their life review feeling like they were the other people they interacted with, thinking their thoughts and feeling their emotions, (the life review is a holographic experience par excellance), and seeing colors they've never seen before and hearing sounds they've never heard before. If our consciousness expands after we die and we experience the Universe for what it truly is, a gigantic splendidly detailed hologram all of these descriptions make perfect sense. Human beings are limited to a very narrow range of the light spectrum but if after we die we can see the entire spectrum we'd be able to see colors we've never seen before and perhaps the same thing is true for sound. We can only hear a very narrow range of sound right now, but after we die we may be privvy to a much wider range of the light spectrum and sound spectrum. Dr. Fred Alan Wolf in his book The Spiritual Universe makes the statement that thoughts are things and consciousness creates reality. That would explain buildings made out of knowledge and people's thoughts creating whatever they think of while they are dead.

A good balanced article, perhaps a bit too balanced in giving a sounding board to those who really believe all these things in earnest (including the now-famous Dr. Semkiw who doth protest in his own comment below). It is a sad commentary on how backwards the US is becoming in science, that so many more people people believe in the paranormal now than in the 1980s. That and the popularity on pseudo-science such as creationism and intelligent design makes me concerned about the US maintaining science and economic leadership in the world economy.

This is a great article. I'm glad to see Newsweek debunk paranormal rubbish. Anybody interested in the skeptical viewpoint should check out the TV show "Penn & Teller: Bullsh**!"

Years ago, my mother's boyfriend, whose wive had died several years earlier. Was sleeping one night, and then awoke suddenly. His wife was standing next to him. He told me she was grayish and somewhat translucent, like the ghosts I saw in my previous post. He thought she was there at his bedside because he believed his end was near. He died shortly after this. My mother kept telling him it was a dream, but he said that he was wide awake as were the sightings my husband and I saw.

I do not believe in any particular religion, but I have experienced the extraordinary. After moving into our current home during the 80's. I witnessed two different spirits or beings, about a year apart. One was a lady who stepped out from behind a lamp on a table, looked at me, surprised I was watching her, then walked across the room and faded into the fireplace. She had on an old-fashioned cotton white dress with large white bottom and short dark hair. She looked as if she were made of smoke. The name that came to my mind was wisp. Then I saw a little girl with long curly hair and she looked golden. When I looked at ther, she acted suprised and her eyes got round with shock. She had a cotton dress on that tied in the back and was white with a large ruffle on the hem. I perceived she was barefoot. One was like smoke and the other like a golden light or haze. The little girl walked across the floor and disappeared into the wall.

And, my husband saw a man and a little girl one night staring into our bedroom. My husband awoke me and told me there was a man in the house. Minutes later I got up and found two candles burning that we had not turned on. During these episodes I was not on drugs and no alcohol. I have also had other unusual experiences.

Yes, in the physical world we live in. Science has achieved a lot. Take for example the Nuclear Bomb. Look how far we have come.

So 90% of Americans are dolts. There's a real news flash.

Turns out that non-religious people are more likely to believe in pseudoscience.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122178219865054585.html?mod=googlenews_wsj