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Real or not?
- Thread starter Jimmy
- Start date
PureX
Veteran Member
Both could be true. A hallucination could be a means of communicating with spirits. (Whatever a spirit might be.)
mikkel_the_dane
My own religion
I don't know in the end. But it doesn't always end good as far as I can tell.
Altfish
Veteran Member
I can see and talk after drinking spirits, but not as well as before drinking spirits.
Jimmy
King Phenomenon
Yikes
Hallucinations are sensory experiences that appear real but are created by your mind. They can affect all five of your senses. For example, you might hear a voice that no one else can hear or see an image that isn't real.
I think the actual question is whether they are ever anything other than hallucinations and how would you know?
mikkel_the_dane
My own religion
Now, not your mind. Objective physical reality does that. We call it a brain. Not the mind. That is dualism and what not.
Jimmy
King Phenomenon
You don’t believe in spirits? Lol
No, the mind is simply the brain processing information. There is no dualism. Descrates was wrong.
I simply believe in an alternate explanation of why people experience them.
Well, either they are real or they are hallucinations
Those are the only options
Hallucinations are real. They are as real as anything we experience. The only question is whether the source is internal or external.
Most folks think they can tell, the source, whether internal or external. Usually they can if they are conscious of the process. The problem is that people aren't always conscious of the process.
This is kind of how I see it too
Kathryn
It was on fire when I laid down on it.
TRUE STORY TIME! OK, so I had accidental carbon monoxide poisoning, and wow, the pile of laundry on the floor just looked SO inviting (I should have known then there was something messed up in my brain). I laid down and fell asleep and that is when I should have died, but NOOOOOOOOO. I believe it was my guardian angel who woke me up with this terrible voice, saying urgently, 'WAKE UP, WAKE UP." I didn't want to, believe me, but the voice was incessant, and eventually I did wake up and sit up. Immediately my head was about to split wide open, I felt like, and I knew I had been poisoned some sort of way. I crawled over to the sofa, where my (ex) husband was sleeping, and as soon as I was able to rouse him, he grabbed his head too and said "OMG, my head is KILLING ME." Anyway, that's the shorter version of the story, but it did go on from there, and eventually we ended up in the hospital and in a hyperbaric chamber for days and days.
So sorry, but I do really believe that was my guardian angel urging me to wake up. There is no other explanation for it that I can think of. I told my team of doctors and they agreed with me but who knows. Anyway, there was one other time I felt his or her presence, and that was a few weeks after my husband died, I had also fallen and absolutely shattered my right (dominant) elbow. So I was pretty down. My granddaughter was sleeping next to me because I needed help (I had just gotten home from surgery and five days in the hospital - apparently it was a big, big deal and I now have a new titanium elbow that I have to declare every time I am in an airport!). Anyway, so I woke up really early after having a great dream about my late husband, and I felt this beautiful being come around me and hug me. It was so real that I woke up my granddaughter and said "Did you come around to my side of the bed and hug me?" even though I knew she would tell me that she hadn't. I felt these huge wings envelope me. I believe to this day that was my guardian angel again. So I'd say I felt him or her twice in my lifetime. I've kept him/her pretty busy!
Oh one other time. I was changing my baby's diaper and looking out of the window at the beautiful morning, but I had had an awful night because I kept thinking I had committed an unpardonable sin, which was ridiculous. Anyway, it was tormenting me, needlessly, and suddenly a peace totally enveloped me and a voice said, clear as a bell, "God knows your heart." And I have never worried since.
So sorry, but I do really believe that was my guardian angel urging me to wake up. There is no other explanation for it that I can think of. I told my team of doctors and they agreed with me but who knows. Anyway, there was one other time I felt his or her presence, and that was a few weeks after my husband died, I had also fallen and absolutely shattered my right (dominant) elbow. So I was pretty down. My granddaughter was sleeping next to me because I needed help (I had just gotten home from surgery and five days in the hospital - apparently it was a big, big deal and I now have a new titanium elbow that I have to declare every time I am in an airport!). Anyway, so I woke up really early after having a great dream about my late husband, and I felt this beautiful being come around me and hug me. It was so real that I woke up my granddaughter and said "Did you come around to my side of the bed and hug me?" even though I knew she would tell me that she hadn't. I felt these huge wings envelope me. I believe to this day that was my guardian angel again. So I'd say I felt him or her twice in my lifetime. I've kept him/her pretty busy!
Oh one other time. I was changing my baby's diaper and looking out of the window at the beautiful morning, but I had had an awful night because I kept thinking I had committed an unpardonable sin, which was ridiculous. Anyway, it was tormenting me, needlessly, and suddenly a peace totally enveloped me and a voice said, clear as a bell, "God knows your heart." And I have never worried since.
Secret Chief
Degrow!
Who was Des Crates?
Jimmy
King Phenomenon
Indeed
Jimmy
King Phenomenon
Internal would be fake, external would be real
Sure.
Does it matter to a practitioner once they've reached a certain level of development and maturity in their practice?
No.
You just follow the currents of inspiration where they take you. Something being "real" according to someone's arbitrary criteria is not what is important. Part of why I just do not understand how narrowly most in my culture define "real" is that so-called "not real" things have such a profound impact on our lies I just... why call it not real to begin with? That's just weird to me. The stories we tell are real and very impactful.
Does it matter to a practitioner once they've reached a certain level of development and maturity in their practice?
No.
You just follow the currents of inspiration where they take you. Something being "real" according to someone's arbitrary criteria is not what is important. Part of why I just do not understand how narrowly most in my culture define "real" is that so-called "not real" things have such a profound impact on our lies I just... why call it not real to begin with? That's just weird to me. The stories we tell are real and very impactful.