Why They Can't See (psychic phenomena)

[NJCher]

This is in response to MorningGlow's thread on "Losing Patience."

Since the thread was getting long, I decided to start a new one.

I'm posting the first four paragraphs and a link of a commentary by Dean Radin (he has a blog but this wasn't posted at his blog):

What Gorilla?: Why Some Can't See Psychic Phenomena
Dean Radin

Imagine you're watching a basketball game. Your favorite team is wearing white and the other team is in black. In the midst of the action, someone in a dark gorilla suit calmly walks to the center of the court, waves to the crowd, then walks off the court. Do you think you would notice this peculiar event? Most people might say yes. Most people would be wrong.

Our perceptual system unconsciously filters out the vast majority of information available to us. Because of this filtering process, we actually experience only a tiny trickle of information, by some estimates a trillionth of what is actually out there. And yet from that trickle our minds construct what we expect to see. So when we pay attention to our favorite white-shirted basketball team, the likelihood of clearly seeing darker objects moving about is substantially reduced. That includes even obvious objects, like gorillas. Psychologists call this phenomenon "inattentional blindness," and it's just one of many ways in which our prior beliefs, interests and expectations shape the way we perceive the world and cause us to overlook the obvious.

Because of these blind spots, some common aspects of human experience literally cannot be seen by those who've spent decades embedded within the Western scientific worldview. That worldview, like any set of cultural beliefs inculcated from childhood, acts like the blinders they put on skittish horses to keep them calm. Between the blinders we see with exceptional clarity, but seeing beyond the blinders is not only exceedingly difficult, after a while it's easy to forget that your vision is restricted.

An important class of human experience that these blinders exclude is psychic phenomena, those commonly reported spooky experiences, such as telepathy and clairvoyance, that suggest we are deeply interconnected in ways that transcend the ordinary senses and our everyday notions of space and time.

http://www.realitysandwich.com/what_gorilla


Cher

[MagickMuffin]

1. Good article with valuable lessons included

This just goes to show us that there are those among us who don't want us to believe in our own eyes. They set the agenda, they make the rules on how they think they can manipulate us into being non believers. Their blinders keep them from seeing the Big Picture, which is very unfortunate. How can one put the puzzle together with blinders on?.?.?

Fortunately we don't need these skeptics to teach us anything, when they choose to close off parts of their own brains. Unfortunately, they have the power and control of what gets believed and printed by the media.

The comment section had some rather good points of view as well. Still reading through them, but wanted to come back to post my response to the article.

Thanks for thinking of us and posting this article. Great food for thought.

Namaste

:loveya:

[omega minimo]

2. Blind spots are handed out around age 7

"Because of these blind spots, some common aspects of human experience literally cannot be seen by those who've spent decades embedded within the Western scientific worldview. That worldview, like any set of cultural beliefs inculcated from childhood, acts like the blinders they put on skittish horses to keep them calm."

Many young children have experiences that are psychic or unexplained. May even remember them as adults and can tell you stories of how they were convinced/coerced to stop...... or otherwise lost and forgot about it.

Those who aren't "inculcated" with the approved "cultural beliefs" and "worldview" may be shamed by those who are afraid, because the same process was done to them.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. Very good find

I think this is the way it is for many unbelievers--they are, basically, frightened of the unknown and so if they can't categorize it, they say it doesn't exist.

When I think of atheists, I'm reminded of the story of the Blind Men and the Elephant. The atheist isn't mentioned in the story, but he's there--two steps away from the elephant, insisting it isn't there at all.