Connections 322 - Sunday 28 April
Quizzes & Puzzles1 min ago
A strong case for reincarnation?
47 Answers
Cases which seem to point to personal survival after death and reincatnation not only happen in Asian countries which share the notion of rebirth, but also occur in the West. The following is from Britain. In 1942 a Dornier airplane and its German crew of 4 was shot down and crashed onto a railway in the northern town of Middlesbrough. 3 of the crew were found and buried but the wreckage of the plane carrying the 4th crewman wasn`t discovered until 1997. The place of this crash was just a few hundred yards from the spot where a young man, age 22, called Carl Edon was murdered in 1995. All his life Carl had spoken to his family and friends of flashbacks he`d been having of memories of his former life as a Nazi airman who was killed when his plane was shot down in 1942. He did his best to convince them of his reincarnation but it wasn`t until after his death that they were finally able to accept it as a truth. His experiences were documented in the local Gazette when he was just 9 yrs old. A local historian, Bill Norman, decided to investigate the matter and tracked down the family of the German airman, whose name was Heinrich Richter, in Germany. He brought back with him a photo of Richter in his uniform and when Carl`s parents saw the photo they were too stunned to speak. The resemblance to their dead son was uncanny. During the excavation of the German bomber it was discovered that Richter`s leg had been severed and was still inside his boot. Carl had often mentioned the fact that he had lost his right leg in the crash and he was born with a birthmark at the top of that leg. After all these eerie coincidences Carl`s parents had no choice but to accept that reincatnation was a reality after all. They joined 300 mourners at a moving funeral service for Richter who was 24 when he died.
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Thank you for the spelling correction, Tina.
But naomi, when, with a particular subject, you run out of things to investigate then that, surely, is the end of it unless and until brand-new evidence comes along.
If you haven�t run out then there are still things to pursue, so you get on with it. To say �Well, all available evidence has come to nought but we�d still better take it seriously� makes no sense. And with some subjects (like my 18-foot man and God) there is nothing to investigate in the first place.
In defining a sceptic I would prefer �One who challenges present doctrines�. If they withstand scrutiny then a sceptic accepts them as willingly as everyone else does. But without that challenge all manner of irrational beliefs would prevail. This is where publications like The Skeptics Dictionary come into their own.
TSD and its associated monthly magazine, The Skeptic, investigate claimed unusual phenomena with that objectivity and that absence of bias, prejudice and preconceptions that make their work so well-respected. In the process they often solve genuine mysteries or, more often than not, show that there was no mystery in the first place, merely supposition or superstition.
Alas, there are many people, who reject such rationality; they don�t like their illusions to be shattered; they prefer the warm romance of mystery to the cold facts of the solution. Here�s a comparison between the two mind-sets:
(Continued)
But naomi, when, with a particular subject, you run out of things to investigate then that, surely, is the end of it unless and until brand-new evidence comes along.
If you haven�t run out then there are still things to pursue, so you get on with it. To say �Well, all available evidence has come to nought but we�d still better take it seriously� makes no sense. And with some subjects (like my 18-foot man and God) there is nothing to investigate in the first place.
In defining a sceptic I would prefer �One who challenges present doctrines�. If they withstand scrutiny then a sceptic accepts them as willingly as everyone else does. But without that challenge all manner of irrational beliefs would prevail. This is where publications like The Skeptics Dictionary come into their own.
TSD and its associated monthly magazine, The Skeptic, investigate claimed unusual phenomena with that objectivity and that absence of bias, prejudice and preconceptions that make their work so well-respected. In the process they often solve genuine mysteries or, more often than not, show that there was no mystery in the first place, merely supposition or superstition.
Alas, there are many people, who reject such rationality; they don�t like their illusions to be shattered; they prefer the warm romance of mystery to the cold facts of the solution. Here�s a comparison between the two mind-sets:
(Continued)
(Continued)
�The Skeptic� magazine, TFD and many other books and documentaries produced by well-regarded people ( I can name many of them if you like) have shown, among very many other things, that the force that moves the Ouija board and the dowser�s rod is a human one called the ideomotor effect; that the �1947 Roswell alien autopsy� was faked and filmed in a barn in the village of Ridgemont, Bedfordshire in 1994 by Andy Price-Watts and Eliot Willis with the pig�s innards involved supplied by the local butcher, Roger baker, who also played one of the surgeons; that there never was a �Bermuda Triangle�; that spiritualists when investigated prove to be fakes, with their tricks now well-documented; that feng shui is baseless; that homeopathy, acupuncture, reflexology, etc. are just quackeries; that no double-blind test of ESP or PK has ever proved positive; that praying doesn�t work�and so on.
Yet there are still people who believe that the Ouija board is moved by spirits and the divining rod by a mysterious force; that the autopsy was done on an alien; that mysterious things happen around Bermuda; that you can communicate with your dead Uncle Harry, that the arrangement of your furniture can affect your life-style; that �alternative medicines� work; that you can communicate by telepathy and bend spoons with the mind; and that gods hear and respond to prayers�and so on.
There�s the distinction for you. And that� just scratching the surface.
Ah well, I suppose that as long as the rational sceptic and the irrational believer are both happy that�s all that matters. Cheers.
�The Skeptic� magazine, TFD and many other books and documentaries produced by well-regarded people ( I can name many of them if you like) have shown, among very many other things, that the force that moves the Ouija board and the dowser�s rod is a human one called the ideomotor effect; that the �1947 Roswell alien autopsy� was faked and filmed in a barn in the village of Ridgemont, Bedfordshire in 1994 by Andy Price-Watts and Eliot Willis with the pig�s innards involved supplied by the local butcher, Roger baker, who also played one of the surgeons; that there never was a �Bermuda Triangle�; that spiritualists when investigated prove to be fakes, with their tricks now well-documented; that feng shui is baseless; that homeopathy, acupuncture, reflexology, etc. are just quackeries; that no double-blind test of ESP or PK has ever proved positive; that praying doesn�t work�and so on.
Yet there are still people who believe that the Ouija board is moved by spirits and the divining rod by a mysterious force; that the autopsy was done on an alien; that mysterious things happen around Bermuda; that you can communicate with your dead Uncle Harry, that the arrangement of your furniture can affect your life-style; that �alternative medicines� work; that you can communicate by telepathy and bend spoons with the mind; and that gods hear and respond to prayers�and so on.
There�s the distinction for you. And that� just scratching the surface.
Ah well, I suppose that as long as the rational sceptic and the irrational believer are both happy that�s all that matters. Cheers.
Chakka, When you run out of things to investigate, unless you've found the answers, rather than accept defeat and say �that�s it�, wouldn�t you search for further evidence? And you accuse me of not being curious enough to pursue a subject sufficiently?
Of course much has been explained rationally. A few weeks ago every time I awoke in the night, the light in my en suite was on. Spooky? No. A faulty light switch was the culprit. This sort of thing happens all the time - but it doesn�t explain everything.
For example, I think I�ve mentioned that I lived in a house that, for want of a better term, I�ll say was �haunted�. We had lots of peculiar things going on there - and I mean lots - but perhaps the most perplexing was that quite often we�d wake up in the morning to find that every single clock and watch in the house, without exception, had been put back an hour. Cooker clock, video recorder, wind-up and battery clocks and watches - even watches that were rarely worn and kept tucked away in drawers - all of them - and it was always exactly one hour. How can I rationally explain that? Simply I can�t - but I�d love it if someone could, so any ideas will be gratefully received.
I don�t reject rational explanations - in fact I�m very happy if a rational explanation can be found. However, if it can�t, then my only option is to consider the alternatives -and if that makes me an irrational believer, then so be it. Rather that than bury my head in the sand because I won�t admit that those alternatives may exist.
Of course much has been explained rationally. A few weeks ago every time I awoke in the night, the light in my en suite was on. Spooky? No. A faulty light switch was the culprit. This sort of thing happens all the time - but it doesn�t explain everything.
For example, I think I�ve mentioned that I lived in a house that, for want of a better term, I�ll say was �haunted�. We had lots of peculiar things going on there - and I mean lots - but perhaps the most perplexing was that quite often we�d wake up in the morning to find that every single clock and watch in the house, without exception, had been put back an hour. Cooker clock, video recorder, wind-up and battery clocks and watches - even watches that were rarely worn and kept tucked away in drawers - all of them - and it was always exactly one hour. How can I rationally explain that? Simply I can�t - but I�d love it if someone could, so any ideas will be gratefully received.
I don�t reject rational explanations - in fact I�m very happy if a rational explanation can be found. However, if it can�t, then my only option is to consider the alternatives -and if that makes me an irrational believer, then so be it. Rather that than bury my head in the sand because I won�t admit that those alternatives may exist.
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