Showing posts with label scepticism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label scepticism. Show all posts

Sunday, 17 July 2016

Post No. 905 - Reading


These links are, in part, to pass on useful or potentially useful information to help others learn and grow and develop, as I have been helped by others doing the same for me. If nothing else, some of these at least might stimulate some useful thought – and disagreeing intelligently with something can sometimes be a useful exercise. (Also, these are links I would like any future incarnations of me to come across and read :) )
Every one of the ‘bad news’ stories which I may have provided links for is an opportunity – but, furthermore, so are many of the ‘good’ news stories, which often requires nonBPLF units to be cleared to prevent blocking of improvements, to help those who are busting their guts and becoming exhausted trying to make good things happen, and to provide some much needed BPLF healing, energy, inspiration and encouragement.
Also, keep in mind that reading these stories may well stimulate links you personally have to similar units (energies, links, etc). Immediately, that gives you a chance to improve both yourself and the world by dealing constructively with any nonBPLF units through good shadow work, and by strengthening any BPLF units.
I now lump these links into three broad categories:
  • Links on spiritual/metaphysical/psychic/Pagan matters;
  • Some other links I consider relevant to consideration of spiritual/moral/ethical and related matters;
  • Links on other matters.
As you read these, I wish you good hunting, good working, and the odd bit of fun :) , so let’s begin.
G'day, hello, howdy, hi, zdravstvujtye (some of my work colleagues are Russian), guten tag (where I have connection owing to a recent past life), sveiki, czesc (I have friends, not just colleagues, at work who are Polish), bonjour (colleagues at a former workplace were French, and we practised and tried to extend my woeful and limited range of this language), selamat pagi (one of the best junior engineers I ever worked with was Malaysian, and she taught me a few words), annyeonghaseyo, pryvit, bitaem, como vai (a friend of mine a few years ago, although not Brazilian, had Portuguese ancestry), ¡Hola (a former work colleague and friend, a VERY talented artist - with a Mexican sensibility to her artwork, particularly around the Day of the Dead - used to teach me Mexican Spanish), Selamat pagi, ni hao (ah, my work trips to Asia, and the many wonderful, wonderful people I have met there - and some excellent work colleagues and friends here, as well), bongiorno (my current home city of Melbourne has lots of Italians, who have made our culture far richer - and made us coffee snobs :) ), hoschakal, hejsan, ciao, jo napolt kivanu, chào bà, chào ông, yiassou (from the city which has, I understand, the largest collection of Greek people outside of Greece), ceau, salam wa aleikum, sawas dee ka, dia duit, hoi, hei, namaste, marhaba, dobry den, hej, konnichiwa, kihineh, hæ.
WARNING: some of these links may contain triggers around issues such as violence, sexual assault, discrimination.
Links on spiritual/metaphysical/psychic/Pagan matters:
  • a history of the pentagram (note: I disagree with the current attributions used);
  • more on the problems on Wikipedia here, from the “Skeptical about Skeptics” website (which has quite a few posts worth reading and thinking about – don’t just automatically agree or disagree, think objectively, and critically – not “pseudo-sceptically”; also see here), which has links to here, a very informed and credibly presented defence of homeopathy, and here, the latest post at a website on concerns about Wikipedia’s current approach,
  • a critique of a film about a haunting from one of the people at the real life events the film was “based on”;
  • a speculation on the value of being psychic in emergency situations (apologies if I have posted that before);
  • on passion;
  • on polytheism;
  • I tend towards the “personal is political” view, but this has an excellent counter-balance to that;
  • the problems and benefits of “purity”;
  • polytheistic Deities are not jealous, thank the Goddesses and Gods;
  • eco-shrines and local focus;
  • “voices of TERF transphobic hate deserve the same treatment that those of the KKK and white supremacists get”;
  • “death cafes”;
  • the importance of knowing how one reacts, and balancing all things;
  • the need to look after oneself from time to time;
  • "Authenticity doesn't have to be vicious”;
  • choices;
  • “How “Gods Before Politics” Perpetuates Privilege”, which contains a few interesting quotes (and many good thoughts), such as Gandhi’s quote “Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is” (which suggests to me a need to call out / challenge neochristian influences), and “When I observe someone saying ‘This is not a political space’ what I hear is ‘I have never had to think about whether or not my sort of person is welcome to show up' ”;   what happens when one refuses to learn karmic lessons;   an interview about Ifá, which has the best explanation of Orisha (better than the Wikipedia link!) that I’ve come across;
From the Correllian YouTube channel:   feeling guilty at being successful with magick (the “cure” has a focus on shadow work);   the use of conscious astral travel as preparation for dying – including deliberately practising one’s “death walk” (apparently from the “Living the Wiccan Way” book – there is also a series of programmes);   working with warnings from energy states;   the variety of meanings of symbols;   flexibility in use of music, and the impacts of bells / sound;

From Victor Zammit’s weekly email newsletters:   “An excerpt of Bruce Greyson, MD, PhD, from the panel discussion "Beyond the Brain: The Experiential Implications of Neurotheology", speaking about how the brain does not equal the mind, and how near death experiences can contribute to knowledge about the mind-body connection” (from this newsletter, if the link doesn’t work);   “There are many reports of people in a crisis saying that they were helped by a loved one in spirit. In this case a young girl trapped in a perilous fire prays to her Maori grandfather for help. She and her rescuer are overcome with a strange peace” (from this newsletter, if the link doesn’t work);   a great new resources website;
Links on society generally and other matters:
  • a critique of artificial intelligence which doubts it will take over the world;
  • an excellent article on the “let them eat cake” type arrogance of those who presume everyone can travel – or buy expensive homes / cars /etc;
  • perceptions and misperceptions: those who are poor who pass as middle class;  

Love, light, hugs and blessings
I am revamping my former website, and getting at least one other underway (pronounced "new-MYTH-ear"; ... aka Bellatrix Lux … aka Morinehtar … would-be drýicgan or maga ... )
My "blogiography" (list of all posts and guide as to how to best use this site) is here, and my glossary/index is here. The reasons for my caution when using Wikipedia are here.

I started this blog to cover karmic regression-rescue (see here and here), and it grew ... See here for my group mind project, here and here for my "Pagans for Peace" project (and join me for a few minutes at some time between 8 and 11 PM on Sunday, wherever you are, to meditate-clear for peace), and here for my bindrune kit-bag. I also strongly recommend learning how to flame, ground and shield, do alternate nostril breathing, work with colour, and see also here and be flexible. 
May the best in me, my Higher Self,
and those of the Clear Light who assist me,
help me to keep myself grounded, centred and shielded,
to be Balanced and a Fulcrum of Balance,
a centre of Balanced Positivity and Spiritual Maturity,
with my aura continuously cleansed, cleared and closed,
repelling all negative or unwanted energies,
whilst allowing positive, balancing and healing energies in and through.
The real dividing line is not between Christianity and Islam, Sunni and Shia, East and West. It is between people who believe in coexistence, and those who don’t.
Tom Fletcher, Former UK Ambassador to Lebanon
  • All of the above - and this blog - could be wrong, or subject to context, perspective, or state of spiritual evolution ...
Tags: activism, discrimination, emotions, fear, hauntings, pentagram, psychism, reading, scepticism, society, technology,
First published: Sunnudagr, 17th July, 2016
Last edited (excluding fixing typo's and other minor matters): Sunday, 17th July, 2016

Monday, 14 March 2016

Post No. 838F - the seventh set of keywords

Owing to Blogger's limits on keywords, when I have a lot I have to post them in batches. This is the seventh lot of keywords for this post.

Keywords:
abuse of power, anger, animals, artificer, attitudes, authentic presence, awareness, balance, Balanced Positive, Bhakti, blackmail, blood, challenge, change, chaos, children, circle, clairvoyance, concentration, consequences, control, death, Deities, dimensions, discrimination, divination, dowsing, Earth (element), earthbound entities, elements, emotions, energy work, equal and opposite reaction, ethics, evil, faery, faith, family, fear, fight or flight or network and nurture, Fire (element), focus, folk lore, forgiveness, friends, genes / genetics, gifts / giving, grounding, growth orientation, guilt, healing, history, honour, ignorance, informed decisions, insularity, invisibility, invocation, isolation, judging others, justice, knowledge, language, levels, limitations, love, Mӕgan, magic, magickal language, magickal techniques and styles, magickal tools, manifestation, metaphysical mass, metaphysics, moral courage, motivation, mythology, myths, names, neochristianity, nightfall, Paganism, pain, Pentacle, pentagram, personal responsibility, perspective, phenomena, power, prejudice, preparation, prophecy, protection, psychic attack, psychic development, psychism, psychology, racism, reincarnation, rescue, residue, responsibility, revenge, risks, rituals, sacrifice, scepticism, Seelie, self knowledge, sexism, shielding, (the) Sight, society, spells, Spiritual Maturity, spirituality, subconscious, submissiveness, sunrise, survival after death, teaching, telepathy, temperature, tests, thaumaturgy, the Greater Good, train others how to treat us, uncooperative, understanding, undetectability, Unseelie, ward, werewolf, yoga,

Sunday, 6 March 2016

Post No. 834C - the fourth set of keywords

Owing to Blogger's limits on keywords, when I have a lot I have to post them in batches. This is the second lot of keywords for this post.

Keywords: 

abuse of power, anger, artificer, authentic presence, blackmail, breathing exercises, clairvoyance, colour, consequences, control, courage, death, Deities, demons, denial, discrimination, divination,dreams, dynamic balance, ectomancy, emotions, energy work, ethics, expectation, evidence, evil, faery, faith, family, fear, fight or flight or network and nurture, flaming, folk lore, friends,garlic, governance, healing, hypocrisy, ignorance, informed decisions, law, levels, limits, knowledge, magic, magickal techniques and styles, meditation, mediumship, metaphysical mass, moral courage, mythology,necromancy, pain, phobophage, possession, power, preparation, proof, prophecy, protection, psychic attack, racism, responsibility, rites, rituals, sacrifice, scepticism, Seelie,society, spells, survival, survival after death, teaching, tests, thaumaturgy, transmigration, understanding, Unseelie, vampire, vulnerabilities, zombie, Valkyrie, visualisation, ward, time magic,

Post No. 833C - the fourth set of keywords

Owing to Blogger's limits on keywords, when I have a lot I have to post them in batches. This is the fourth lot of keywords for this post.

Keywords: 
artificer, authentic presence, change, circle, clairvoyance, compassion, concentration, cryptozoology, demons, denial, discrimination, dreams, earthbound entities, ectomancy, emotions, energy work, evocation,equal and opposite reaction, faery, focus, folk lore, forgiveness, ghost, guilt, hauntings, honour, inappropriate reactions, invocation, karma, knowledge, law, levels, Mӕgan, magic, manifestation,metaphysics, motivation, myths, names, neochristianity, obsession, perspective, phenomena, possession, potion, prejudice, prophecy, protection, psychic attack, psychic distance, psychism, rescue, responsibility,abuse of power, rituals, scepticism, Seelie, sexism, shapechanging, shielding, (the) Sight, spell, spirituality, subconscious, sunrise, talismans, thought form, threshold, uncooperative, Unseelie, vampire, ward, werewolf,

Tuesday, 22 November 2011

Post No. 341 - Handling sceptics

I recently was asked how I handle sceptics. In a nutshell, my answer was leave 'em be.

I feel no burning need to prove anything to anyone - I suspect much of such desire for proof is due to inner doubt anyway, but I also have a view which is based on an acceptance of survival after physical death, and reincarnation. That means that people don't HAVE to desperately attain perfection in one lifetime, or necessarily even get all their lessons completed successfully in one go: we have all eternity before us.

Of course, neo-Christians would probably say they have all eternity in hell or heaven, but I still consider that they should allow others their choices and their free will - which they attribute to being a gift from Deity, after all.

In fact, Christianity is the only path I've ever been on (and that was only because of my parents expectations when I was a child) that had any expectation of converting others - Wicca and paganism generally don't ... Buddhism doesn't in the way neo-Christian fundamentalists do ... No, I think leave people to their free will choice.

Of course, if someone genuinely wants to discuss something, that is fine. But I have a few tests and conditions on this.

Firstly, discussing and - if it is appropriate - challenging, is OK: attacking is not. I recall many years ago someone I knew asked if she could discuss my faith with me and then said "right - well, prove it!" That is not discussing a matter - that is attacking.

Secondly, I expect people not to get emotional: if they become angry, or upset, they are clearly not ready to have a discussion, and - once again - I will not allow a situation of psychic attack, as is usually the case in such circumstances.

Now, if people are sceptical, there is probably a good reason for that - for instance, they may have been too gullible in past life and are trying to compensate now (and over-compensating, but that is a trap we all can fall into), or they may have incarnated for the noble (I mean that genuinely, not sarcastically - I've seen too many people played for being a sucker) purpose of trying to get others to be less gullible (note that this point does NOT necessarily imply that they have themselves been too gullible: as indicated, it may be a task they have taken on themselves), or they may have been charlatans in a past life and have to balance things out karmically.

So, I don't try to prove psychism or anything else. People's concept of what is adequate "proof" vary, and I simply cannot be bothered these days. What I DO do, however, is make sure I don't create situations where I am putting myself in a corner. I qualify statements, I never gush, and I think about what is happening in situations and with regard to people's motivations - I'm wary.

There are too many important things in life to get hooked up in a battle with sceptics (or "Skeptics"). Leave 'em be - they have the right to be what and who they choose to be, just as we do. If they're influencing someone unduly, you can present a counterview, but do dispassionately and FULLY, GENUINELY AND ABSOLUTELY prepared to have the person you are talking to choose to disbelieve you. That is their free will choice, just as it is your free will choice to have the beliefs (well, knowledge :) ) that you do. We all have to get along with each other in this world, and fighting over proof of psychism is just contributing to the energy of conflict that afflicts this planet. Let it go.

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear")

Tags: attitudes, Psychic attack, scepticism, gullibility, emotions,

First published: Tysdagr, 22nd November, 2011

Last edited: Tuesday, 22nd November, 2011

Sunday, 30 October 2011

Post No. 333 - Reading

I've been doing a fair bit of reading of late. Here's some of it for your consideration: enjoy - but, above all else, THINK! Remember, I don't necessarily agree with stuff I post here ...
  • a good overview on shamanism from the Spirit Rescuers ning website- here;
  • from the same website, some thoughts on telekinesis and self belief - here;
  • and cleaning for healers, but good for all people, really - here;
  • an EXCELLENT (oops - sorry, I wasn't going to give my thoughts so strongly - slaps wrists) article on using music, with some really good, obvious, basic points - here;
  • an interesting article (still on the same website, which generally posts original links, but I haven't been able to get those to work in this session) on possession - here.
I came across a blog recently, aimed at helping people who were psychic feel good about themselves. Here are a few links (as always, keep your thinking caps on):
Have a read and a think.

Late addition, on ethics: http://www.mysticalempowerment.com/psychic_code_ethics.htm

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear")

Tags: anger, balance, gullibility, music, psychic health, possession, psychism, scepticism, shamanism, telekinesis

First published: Sunnudagr, 30th October, 2011

Last edited: Monday, 31st October, 2011

Friday, 19 November 2010

Post No. 172 - Scientific proof that the future can be predicted?

PS - for an update on this, see   “Post No. 3,179 - Precognition and working with time”   https://gnwmythr.blogspot.com/2025/07/post-no-3179-precognition-and-working.html       

As I was driving home tonight, I was listening to the BBC The World Today programme (I think) via ABC Radio NewsRadio, when they had a segment which was more or less introduced along the lines of scientific proof that people can predict the future.

The segment was an interview with a Professor Daryl Bem, a psychologist working at Cornell University, who may have found scientific evidence that people can predict the future.

What Professor Bem did was a variation of a memory test.

In the standard form, volunteers are shown a list of 48 words, one word at a time for three seconds, on a computer screen. They are then given exercises to do with half of those words - selected at random by the computer. After this, they are asked to write down as many of the original list of 48 words as they can. Not surprisingly, the 24 words that they had exercises for are more frequently (as a "long term" statistical trend) remembered.

In the modified form, the 48 words are shown to the volunteers, then they write the list, then get exercises for randomly selected words. The same trend is still apparent.

Interesting - I'll have a think about how much credence I will give to this. It will possibly only mean something to me if one of the Skeptics organisations acknowledges it as valid - I don't need a scientist to tell me what I know to be truth.

I found a few links for this story; here is the New Scientist link. Have a read and see what you think.

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr

This post's photo is yet to be posted.

Tags: science, scepticism, precognition, psychism, psychology,

First published: Friday 19th November, 2010

Last edited: Friday 19th November, 2010

 

If you appreciated this post, please consider promoting it - there are some links below, and there’s also other options. 

Note that I am cutting back on aspects of my posts - see here. 

(Gnwmythr is pronounced new-MYTH-ear)  

Remember: we generally need to be more human being rather than human doing, to mind our Mӕgan, and to acknowledge that all misgendering is an act of active transphobia/transmisia that puts trans+ lives at risk & accept that all insistence on the use of “trans” as a descriptor comes with commensurate use of “cis” as a descriptor to prevent “othering” (just as binary gendered [men’s and women’s] sporting teams are either both given the gender descriptor, or neither).

#PsychicABetterWorld   and  

Copyright © Kayleen White 2007-2025     NO AI   I do not consent to any machine learning aka Artificial Intelligence (AI), generative AI, large language model, machine learning, chatbot, or other automated analysis, generative process, or replication program to reproduce, mimic, remix, summarise, or otherwise  replicate any part of this post or other posts on this blog via any means. Typo’s may be inserrted deliberately to demonstrate this is not an AI product.     Otherwise, fair and reasonable use is accepted under Creative Commons 4.0 on an Attribution-ShareAlike basis https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/  




 

 

Friday, 5 November 2010

Post No. 164 - Scepticism: an analogy

I consider that it is of great importance to have a heathly, objective scepticism, and have written about this before (for example, see here). However, it is possibly to be excessively sceptcial, or to have such a materialist focus, that one's scepticism blinds one to fair dinkum, valid evidence .

I was thinking about this recently, and an anaology that came to mind was that such a person is like someone looking determinedly at rocks and soil, carefully examining them and saying "there are no such things as birds" and refusing to look up and see the birds in the sky.

Unfortunately, in my experience of people investigating psychic matters, gullibility is far more prevalent and concerning problem ... but I haven't thought of a natty new analogy for them.

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr

This post's photo is yet to be posted.

Tags: scepticism, gullibility, psychism,

First published: Friday 5th November, 2010

Last edited: Friday 5th November, 2010