Pet's soul....

[Andy in Sig]

Whoa!!!

if we are talking narrow mindedness... it just amazes me how many people are so willing to believe in the spiritual, but you mention God and there's a whole debate about whether he exists or not and uproar against anyone who dares to suggest he does. they're willing to believe anything but that, although most peoples beliefs of the spiritual are loosely based on the bible

There's a reason for that difference though, isn't there? And it is that as far as I'm aware people who've had psychic experiences don't try to tell people how to live their lives, which is exactly what religions usually do. The authority which religions claim for doing that is a divine one. Therefore the onus is on religions to prove the existence of their gods before they start trying to get society to follow their diktats.

 

[Riding in Circles]

whatever denomination of church you belong to, i am yet to find one that believes the ghosts of dead people roam the earth and haunt us, and doesn't believe they are "familiar spirits". maybe there is something in that.

The christian spiritualist church.

 

[buggi]

The christian spiritualist church.

isn't that more of a cult?

anyway, i think you will find that a lot of Christians on here are more like my mum. they don't tell you that you should be long to a particular church, sect or whatever you want to call it. my mum doesn't believe in religion, she says it serves no other purpose other than to divide and is actually something that man has made up. She's into all this personal relationship with God stuff, which seems much more sensible to me. She does go to a pentecostal type church, but she would be just as happy attending another, as she knows where her heart lies.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Grief, loss and memory do funny things to your mind. Not everything we 'see' is materially real - people can honestly think that they are being abducted by aliens because of the experience of states of consciousness between sleep and waking. We can be convinced that a person half-glimpsed in the street is an old friend because our brains don't like gaps and fill them in for us. We can see God in sunlight and dehydration. And so on. If you want experiences like this to have meaning, it's probably better to think of what the experience means to you rather than thinking it 'proves' anything beyond that or says anything definitive about the nature of the universe. Our brains do not always work in ways that are immediately obvious to us. There are quantum processes going on there. And I am sorry to people who 'believe' things here, but I've yet to come across anything that suggests otherwise - and accounts written down by believers are merely post-hoc rationalisations of such things or out and out myth--making. They are not independent evidence.

+1

 

[Abitrary]

If pets don't have a soul, then they definitely have a discernable aura / character.

I give the cats who walk through my garden red indian names like 'sad eyes' and 'fearless bumblebee muncher'.

 

[Mr Pig]

I give the cats who walk through my garden red indian names.

I throw things at them!

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Experience doesn't itself provide explanation. I accept anyone's description of an experience (and also what it means to them personally - especially in a time of loss).

However, explanation is a different thing entirely. I think some people are confusing them.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

I don't particularly like Japanese people, for example (much more to do with their lifestyle and personal traits than any racial dislike- and no, I haven't been to Japan, but I have met a lot on my many years of travelling), but I won't say that I am right to dislike them over someone who does.

Whatever you say, that's just racial prejudice and has nothing to do with what we are talking about here. In fact, it's rather inappropriate (you did know my wife is Japanese, didn't you?).

 

[Crackle]

Whatever you say, that's just racial prejudice and has nothing to do with what we are talking about here. In fact, it's rather inappropriate (you did know my wife is Japanese, didn't you?).

Actually the whole direction of the thread, from Buggi's post onward was innapropriate considering the nature of Snapper's post. Likewise you might want to consider whether offering a rational explanation is of any help either.

 

[snapper_37]

Experience doesn't itself provide explanation. I accept anyone's description of an experience (and also what it means to them personally - especially in a time of loss).

However, explanation is a different thing entirely. I think some people are confusing them.

+1

I wasn't looking for an explanation, simply sharing an experience and offering a platform for others to do likewise.

The thread has gone t*ts-up and far off my OP.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

+1

I wasn't looking for an explanation, simply sharing an experience and offering a platform for others to do likewise.

The thread has gone t*ts-up and far off my OP.

The problem is that this is an open forum - another forum of which I am a member has a 'private matters' section for things like this. The tone is different.

I hope you don't think my one post was particularly inappropriate - all I was saying was that our mind is a complex thing, and we can't ourselves always understand what we experience... that's all. Too many people seem ready to jump in and wave their fingers one way or another at each other...

 

[snapper_37]

I hope you don't think my one post was particularly inappropriate - all I was saying was that our mind is a complex thing, and we can't ourselves always understand what we experience...

Not at all. I guess I'm just grieved up and a bit sensitive. I need to go and look in P & L to cheer myself up a bit...

 

[Mr Pig]

I need to go and look in P & L to cheer myself up a bit...

Ha ha ha ha :0)

 

[Riding in Circles]

I throw things at them!

You throw things at Gods creations? Sinner!

 

[Riding in Circles]

isn't that more of a cult?

anyway, i think you will find that a lot of Christians on here are more like my mum. they don't tell you that you should be long to a particular church, sect or whatever you want to call it. my mum doesn't believe in religion, she says it serves no other purpose other than to divide and is actually something that man has made up. She's into all this personal relationship with God stuff, which seems much more sensible to me. She does go to a pentecostal type church, but she would be just as happy attending another, as she knows where her heart lies.

Cult? Like the Roman Catholic church or the Anglican church?

I agree with your mum about religion.