have you ever had an experience

[nailit]

that cant be presently explained?
Or an experience that has made you question what you believe about life?

[jomifl]

I agree with Birdie and was about to make a similar point. Our brains are not as infallible as they like to think they. If you examine these memories carefully you will find that they are often a hodge podge of real memories that have been stuck together in the wrong time order, a kind of grander verion of 'deja vu'.

[bibblebub]

I always remember hearing someone on the radio saying that every time you evoke a memory you modify it slightly, so that over a period of years what you think you remember can be quite different from what actually happened. On another thread I mentioned a film that I saw about 25 years ago and, ever since, I've had a vivid image in my mind of an opening sequence shot in a very striking style. Then a few months ago I watched that film again for the first time since the 1980s and that particular sequence was so different from what I remembered that it was very disappointing to find that it was so ordinary. At least with a film you do get the chance to see exactly the same scene after a long period of time but with incidents in real-life there is no second opportunity (unless captured on video).

Of course, it is a few years since I heard that on the radio so what was actually said might be different from what I recall.

[naomi24]

Dreams can seem very real. I remember waking up one morning, having had a very vivid dream, and asking my husband if the events in the dream had actually happened in real life. It took him a while to convince me they hadn't. If Keyplus was alone with his nephew at dinner, I imagine he dreamt the whole thing. Otherwise, I can't think of an explanation.

[sith123]

maybe you really wanted to see him due to anxiety, worry about family and it happened. in your mind. But i am not certain. whatever it is, it is truly fascinating.

[murraymints]

when caring for my fil who had alzheimers..he was in hospital quite ill at the time when my oh's mobile started to ring and it showed my caller id..I had my phone in my pocket and switched off at the time....less than 5 mins later the hospital rang the landline and asked us in as dad had taken a turn for the worse....he did later recover and lived for another 18 months thereafter..it was very spooky at the time..

[naomi24]

Murraymints, I once received a very strange message on my answerphone from a mobile phone that was switched off. It was astonishingly appropriate to an event that gave me great happiness in my life at the time. I’ve never been able to explain it - but I'm not sorry it happened. It only added to my joy.

[sandyRoe]

If only people would cast the scales from their eyes, they might see these unexplained happenings as the numinous events that they really are.

[murraymints]

Sandy..numinous..what a good word... will try and use it today so it sticks in my mind !

[keyplus90]

OK, we have few questions there. Few people asked me if I was on my own. No I was not. First of all I did put there “home” but in reality it not home but my room in the hostel I was living at that time during my college years (mid eighties, 1984). I had another friend from the hostel (from couple of rooms away). And amazing this is that he still does not believe that it was not my nephew who had dinner with us at that night. And as I said I did not notice him wearing (or not wearing glasses) because we were enjoying my hand cooked food. It’s only when he came back to collect his glasses, I opened the door, he said what he came back for, he went past me and picked up his glasses and said Khuda Haafiz (greeting) and went out. So whoever he was, he managed to trick me twice. Perhaps that was part of the job (I am laughing).

Birdie – I am 100% sure it was not a dream. I know you may not but trust me. I might have thought that my nephew was joking (or being cheeky) next morning by telling me that he got stuck and did not come. But my elder sister (who I trust for telling 100 truth) still to this date says that they did get stuck and he was with her all of the time till next morning when he phoned me from their home.

But as I said earlier, there are few things in this world people tell you about but you only believe when they happen to you but then others do not believe you until it (if) happens to them and then they struggle to make others believe AND IT GOES ON.

[jomifl]

Of course Sandy they must be numinous, what explanation could be simpler (and not requiring any power of reason) :-)

[pdust]

i found nox and keyplus story interesting... its never happened to me but my husband told me 2 or 3 stories of very similar happening to people he knew. The stories were actually quite boring. One was of two cousins sat outside the village wondering what to do for the day when a friend came and sat for an hour with them.... later they found out this friend had actually been in another town for a couple of days. Another where some relative was walking home and a friend of his caught up with him and began walking with him then the friend decided to walk a different way home and the first man just carried on back home .... later he found out the friend had been working at the time.... very strange.....

[vetuste_ennemi]

Keep the faith, Ratter. I'm with you on this one.

[nailit]

Some very interesting replies there guys, especialyy NOX's and Keyplus'. If I could submit 2 best answers I would.
Ive had the occasional odd thing happening but somehow always seem to rationalise these things away as they dont fit in with my materialistic view of the universe but, like RATTER, I'm beginning to have my doubts about my own views. My 2 sisters are ALWAYS having odd experiences to the point where the inexplicable has become the norm for them. A few examples...
One of my sisters lost a much loved cat a couple of years ago and she (along with others present) often hears the sound of the cats bell moving from one side of the living room to the other. One of her daughters once found a picture taken on her mobile of her younger sibling in her upstairs bedroom...but the picture had been taken from outside the window. (and she doesnt own a ladder)
My other sister is a caretaker of a clinic that seems to be haunted to the point where a few months ago a gang of workmen refused to carry out anymore building work because of all the strange happenings. electrical equipment turning itself on and off, finding floods in the rooms when nobody was useing them (and a plumber who couldnt find where the water came from)
My sister locked up one night and set a room out for a meeting the next day. When she came in the next morning the chairs had been restacked.
To both of my sisters these thing have just become 'normal'.
To me they represent a challenge to re evaluate the way we think the universe works.

[jomifl]

'You can believe what you want to believe but it doesn't alter the facts'. (Jomifl lots of times). Last year an ABer told a story about a haunted bathroom tap which came on during the night. I gave a plausible explanation based on my similar experiences and my solution of the problem. Strangely enough drilling a small hole in a tap component(which does work) is not as good a cure as exorcism.

[nailit]

Well, thats all of lifes mysteries explained then.

[puddle-duck]

keyplus your experience sounds like a doppleganger.

[naomi24]

//'You can believe what you want to believe but it doesn't alter the facts'.//

The problem is we don't always know the facts. Most experiences can be explained quite easily - as in the case of Jom's tap - but there are many that can't, and in the absence of such experience, I don’t think it’s fair or reasonable for anyone to automatically assume that the witness is either lying or is suffering delusions. I agree with nailit's take on it - it does represent a challenge to re-evaluate the way we think the universe works – because in my experience it certainly doesn’t work exactly as we think it does.

[nailit]

Personally, I think its arrogant to dismiss peoples experiences as delusional or to claim that they are lying. Ive read a lot of sceptical literature over the years by people such as James Randie and Richard Wiseman. For a long time I agreed with almost everything they said but recently their 'certainty' that peoples experiences can all be explained away in mundane terms has begun to sound to much like the 'certainty' that religious people have about their faith.
Both the avowed sceptics and the religious faithful seem to be closed minded to me.
No doubt someone will post a link to Randi's million dollar challenge...

[naomi24]

Nailit, I couldn't agree more.

[ludwig]

Me too naillit. Someone always says 'We know these things don't happen, therefore it couldn't have happened - QED'. and the strange logic gets paraphrased over and over. Gromit did it here with 'what they're describing is impossible'.

I've never had any kind of paranormal experience, but that doesn't mean I automatically dismiss other peoples accounts of them. I find it interesting.