cijadra at zedat.fu-berlin.de wrote:
>> >I have never met anybody who can *do* anything. It is all in
> >the imagination and by that I mean no physical consequences.
> Ah, and because YOU never met anybody who can do anything it is not
> there?
What happens is simple enough, scientists invite people to demonstrate
their powers so that science can take it seriously. Until that happens,
scientists will not take mystical powers seriously. On those occasions
that mystics have attempted to take scientifically conducted tests,
generally they are discovered to be faking their powers or fooling
themselves.
Often, they fool the scientists but the trick can be revealed by (e.g.)
a magician to be a trick rather than mystical powers. This is because
the scientists have been taken in by the trick, not that there isn't
one.
It's standard practice to assume that continued failure to demonstrate
mystical powers proves that no such thing exists, but those of us in the
know tend to agree, ignore invitations to demonstrate special powers and
merely continue to exploit them with the rock-hard defence that as
everyone knows they don't work, it's not viable to accuse me of using
telepathy to cheat at cards, etc. Or, I could be leading you on here.
> >You cannot *do* anything either. Just delusional talk.
> I think you are the one who is delusional.
> You presume to know that just because you never met anyone who can do
> magick that no one can do it.
> Tht is delusional.
Well no, not really. It's logical to assume that when no example is ever
observed, this is because there are no examples to be observed rather
than that everyone has missed seeing them. Flying pigs, for instance,
probably don't exist.
> That would be like me saying because I never saw anyone fly to the
> mooon that no one ever did and that all claims along that line are a
> line and all T.V. stuff some fake made up stuff.
Well no, we all watched them flying to the moon, and while it could have
been faked, if it had been then the russians would have carried on the
space race and done it for real, while loudly accusing the americans of
faking it.
> And I also find it intersting that you can judge from whereever YOU
> are what I can do...
> So which part of what I said I can do or could do in the past is
> delusional?
> And how do you know that, since you were not around at the time?
I daresay, if you claim to have mystical powers, you can make a lot of
money using them in various illegal acts.
But heed a warning, if you do something like foretelling at the horse
races, before long you end up being encased in concrete and lowered into
a river. Spend time at a real bookies and learn what percentage profit a
punter is allowed to make before being seen as a cheat. Then, keep
within that profit percentage by betting on races to lose (needs second
sight as well, of course). So long as you are turning 101% overall, you
can keep making money for as long as you like. You just need to hide
your "good luck" in the statistics of the business, rather than trying
to break their bank.
Other hints, never reveal telepathic powers to a would-be sexual
partner, always reveal necessary knowledge in a way which suggests you
have little or no control over the special power, and that in practice
it's probably just an artifact of an indeterminate universe, that sort
of thing. Else, you could wind up on daytime TV.
And believe me, that's the last thing you want. If you are gifted, it's
in your interests to prevent the rest legislating against you.
> >There are no magical arts. There are no spirits.
> Of course there are.
Depends on semantics, doesn't it? Even sceptics agree that there is such
a thing as the human spirit, or the spirit of football.