X-Message-Number: 18086 Date: Thu, 06 Dec 2001 00:10:23 +1030 From: William Henderson <> Subject: wooh --------------6A26A644DDB289194C54A63B Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Re: Message #18079 Date: Tue, 4 Dec 2001 11:49:26 -0800 (PST) From: Scott Badger <> Subject: Re: wow [William Henderson] 'I ve decided that I AM going to speak up every time I hear someone say that science is a religion. It is most definitely NOT a religion. In fact, the more dedicated one becomes to the tenets of science, the less dogmatic and fanatical one is likely to be....the argument you seem to be making that the claims of scientists are no more valid than those of the paranormalists' Apologies Scott if I offended science. That was not my aim. I use the term religion very loosely . And I certainly do not think science is as immediately important as paranormalists , because science provides the essentials for our well being and survival (and hopefully our immortality), and because of this I firmly believe in science's ability to achieve great things. I also see that New Age ideas get in the way of good paranormal research being taken with at least some seriousness. You just have to look at some of the Kirlian web sites to see the extend the loony fringe has taken the original research. My comparison of science with religion was to point out that there are certain tenets that science, for good reason, will not stray from, for example it is not interested in anything that is not repeatably testable. I once asked Paul Davies if there could be a centre to the universe where something like a continuos Big Bang is going on supplying the universe with energy, he said, No, if there were such a thing science would have detected it. I then said what if it was very very far away? He then replied that science would not be interested in the idea because they could never test it and prove it one way or the other. To his credit, after some thought, he later sent me a letter outlining the problems of such as theory. My point is that if something doesn't fit into the testability doctrine of science it is overlooked, for, I agree, damn good reason: it is of no use to science. However there are some things valuable to the human race that fall outside the interests of science, but which science, never the less, tries to ridicule, claiming it does not fall into its tenants there fore its blasfamy (loosely speaking). The open mindedness I refer to is that science live and let live, and maybe keep an open mind that there are things in our reality that are legitimate for other kinds of researchers to look into. At this point I am going to literally HANG MY BALLS OUT IN THE OPEN and admit to my own repeated experience of the paranormal (perfectly normal for me), and this is in telepathy. (I can feel the attack coming). Not so much in the classic reading of the mind word for word, but this sometimes does happen, but more of a knowing what another is thinking, or more so, a sharing of their being that comes as a subjective knowing, but separate none the less. I have completed a few 'testable' experiments with friends (not set up, as these kind of abilities, if I can call them that, seem prone to stage fright). They usually consist of number 'guessing'. I tell some one to think of a number between 1 and 10 and I'll tell them the number. It works best if I concentrate just as they think of the number, and it enters my mind as if I have thought of it myself. My record is 92 consecutive correct numbers. It helps to do it with someone who I have some sort of connection with as a person. Now this example as with many things in the paranormal is difficult to set up in a clinical type of experiment, because it is something that just usually happens when you leave it alone, when you try to do it, it flees. Have you ever tried too hard to do something and botch it? Now before you science types pounce on your keyboard and ridicule the bejeses out of me, why not just accept these possibilities, and accept the existence of the kind of research that can only deal with such things. William. --------------6A26A644DDB289194C54A63B Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii [ AUTOMATICALLY SKIPPING HTML ENCODING! ] Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=18086