How do atheist explain paranormal activities?
Just wondering what are some ways fellow atheist explain the occurrence of "paranormal" activities.
As i said, i am atheist. But i wasnt always.
When i was a kid, i remember waking up from bed in the middle of the night and looked to my side and saw what appeared to be a little girl in a white gown, just standing there by my side staring at me. As you could imagine, this scared the sh*t out of me. I closed my eyes for maybe 2 seconds and the figure was gone. I couldn't sleep for weeks, and had extreme fear for a couple years.
Of course, now, i know this figure was likely seen due to me waking up in the middle of deep sleep. People are known to hallucinate when waking from deep sleep. Even with this knowledge, theres still underlying fear. Its nowhere near the fear I felt as a kid, but it remains there.
Anyone else have similar stories?
Comments
For me, I've never experienced anything supernatural. I've never been around someone seeing or experiencing something supernatural. Like if I'm at the Mall, no one goes "Oh MY GOD, do you see that there!!!" This never happens. You would think if there was something to this this would happen. I've been to hospitals many times late at night, during the classic witching hour. Nothing happens. Everyone walks around doing their job. Many people have died in hospitals.
My conclusions, is people never see anything. And if they do, it's like you have suggested, it's some rational explanation. I know a witch, she claims her house is haunted. Funny but nothing ever happens when I'm there. And I have been to her house many many times. One time they were doing a seance/ouija board thing one night. They saw a red flashing light and were all like "It's a spirit giving us a sign." It was a flashing light on a transmitting radio tower a couple of miles away, showing through the kitchen window. I knew what it was, they believed it was a spirit. Whatever. I just kept my mouth shut, but inside, I was rolling my eyes.
How do you know that was paranormal? It may not be unexplained, but that doesn't equate the paranormal, as that would be an argument from ignorance fallacy.
I'm not quite sure what you experienced, but (like you said) it may have been a hallucination from perhaps waking up after a dream.
In sleep paralysis for example, people hear and see all kinds of things, like demons, hooded figures, aliens, etc (which btw is the accepted cause for alien abduction experiences). But none of it is actually real, rather just the brain producing hallucinations from a dream because the brain is still asleep, however you are awake, thereby seeing all the imagines your brain is producing when in a dream state.
So which one do you think is more likely? A hallucination or an actual disembodied mind?
Don't have to.
Those who claim paranormal activities actually occur are the ones who have the burden of proof. They not only have to provide convincing evidence of the claimed paranormal activity, they also have to come up with a theoretical framework that ties all of their evidence into a cohesive whole.
It's just like gods - if you make the the claim, you do the work.
It isn't my claim, so it isn't my place to explain it. I don't accept assertions that something violated the laws of physics (aka metaphysical or supernatural). You can either support such assertions and maybe change my mind, or come up with an explanation that works within the boundaries of the laws of physics and maybe I'll believe that.
If you want people to believe it, explaining it is your job if it is your claim. Explaining it realistically is a requirement if you want me to accept it. And I really have nothing invested in it, so I don't care what you do with it.
I've seen unexplained lights in the sky.
One was a bright white light that hovered there for 10 minutes with the sound of rumbling thunder coming from it.
It was either angels, aliens, or demons. Not sure which.
There's definitely some unexplained stuff going on in this world of ours. I expect things to get even more weird as we approach the technological singularity.
Have faith in God to get you through these times.
There are no 'paranormal/supernatural!
That is all imagination and ignorance!
All is natural/normal!
Some douchebag lucked out by becoming a millionaire by running around his house and recording himself dicking around with things.
Don't blame him blame the morons who actually thought a door creaking open is scary.
First you have to convince successfully that such a thing exists. There's no credible evidence that this is so.
I don't think atheists are necessarily experts in the field of people's wild imaginations....
There is none to explain.