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Author Topic: My first supernatural experience  (Read 13221 times)

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Matthew

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My first supernatural experience
« on: May 28, 2011, 01:05:33 AM »

A few years ago, November 14, 2008, I had a prophetic dream.  At the time I was almost always lucid in my dreams and I always remembered them the next morning.  At the time I worked at walmart and one night before a morning shift I dreamt that I was working the door greeting customers and nobody was coming in or out so I stepped outside.  As I looked across the road at the murphy gas station I watched a man attack the clerk and force his way inside, then my dream ended abruptly as I woke up.  When I went in to work that morning there was an ambulance and several cop cars at Murphy, and when I asked my coworker Scott what happened he told me exactly what I had dreamed the night before.

http://rheaheraldnews.com/story/14206

I was raised in a christian home but I haven't believed in god since my early teens, I still consider myself an atheist to this day, but I can't deny that there is something to the supernatural after that experience.  This gift seems to run in my family, my grandma used to dream events before they happened and more recently my uncle had a dream of a family member's suicide the night before it happened.

Just to clarify I am an atheist because I don't believe in a god or goddess, that doesn't mean I dismiss the idea of something supernatural, in fact I can't deny that there is something supernatural based on my personal experiences.  Instead of just believing what my parents told me to believe growing up I want to follow my own path and learn what is real.  My question is is there any way I can work on bringing back my ability to be lucid within my dreams?  And more importantly is there any way I can improve whatever psychic abilities I have?  Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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Mongo

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Re: My first supernatural experience
« Reply #1 on: May 28, 2011, 07:10:04 AM »

Actually it sounds like you're less of an atheist but more of an agnostic.

You are not certain of if there is a Divine nor are you certain of how it manifests.

I was like that once  :whistle:

As for the dreams...it happens.

For me it was finding the keys for a friend after sledding in deep snow. Looked for the entire afternoon and didn't find them. Next morning (I do not remember a dream) I knew I was goign to find them. We went there and as I was walking past a snow drift I suddenly reached into the snow and pulled the keys.

My mother's was more prophetic. She dreamed twice in one night that I was killed by getting my throat slashed. Once by a stranger, the other by my friends.

Obviously I'm not dead but it does get creepier.

The night before my Mom and Dad were away for a "Hail and Farewell" party for a pair of officers. One was leaving, the other transferring in to take his place. That night I was home alone watching the summer Olympics and I was trying to emulate the gymnastics team by doing pommel horse on a vinyl covered bar stool.

No not my brightest notion.  :crazy:

I took a face plant onto the kitchen floor and busted my chin. Being a boy scout I knew how to treat many of my own wounds and so I did. After an hour it was not bleeding heavily under the bandaid and in fact seemed to have stopped so I went to bed.

Mom comes in later and goes to bed to have her dreams.

During the night the bandaid slipped off and the cut on my chin was weeping blood. It went down my chin and got trapped and dried in a fold of my neck as I was sleeping.

A line of dried blood from ear to ear. Almost as if I had been slashed from ear to ear.

Mom damn near fainted dead away right then and there. Luckily my Marine dad was more practical and took me to the ER to get it sewn up.

So yeah, dreams like that happen to a lot of people. Some are more sensitive to it and can use it more than others...some it comes and goes.

For me it's never in a dream. I just get these hunches and I just "know" things. Like the last time I watched the Miss Universe pageant. Only saw the first five minutes of a three hour event and I knew that Miss Puerto Rico was going to win.

She did.
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Matthew

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Re: My first supernatural experience
« Reply #2 on: May 28, 2011, 09:42:51 AM »

Atheist isn't my belief on all things supernatural, it's just my answer to one supernatural claim, that there is a god.  I believe in the supernatural, I don't believe in a god.

Agnostic to me is the same thing as atheist for people that don't like the label atheist.  I have friends who call themselves agnostic though they believe the exact same about god as I do, based on my experience I don't blame them for using a different label, my family thinks that atheist means I worship Satan even though I don't believe in him either.  It's nothing against anyone who does believe in a deity, I just haven't personally seen evidence for one, if I ever did I would follow the evidence where it leads me.  Obviously some people would consider my belief in prophetic dreams crazy, but my crazy beliefs are based on personal experience and stories from my family and people like you who also have experience with prophetic dreams.

I think it's safe to assume that you believe in a deity based on your personal experience, but I wouldn't expect you to believe something I believed just based on my word if you had no personal experience to back it up.  If I ever have personal experience that proves to me that a god exists I won't call myself an atheist any more.  I spent my whole childhood having people tell me what to believe, I just can't accept things without evidence, and as far as I can tell the only real evidence for most things supernatural has to come from personal experience.
« Last Edit: May 28, 2011, 09:59:51 AM by Matthew »
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earthmuffin

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Re: My first supernatural experience
« Reply #3 on: May 28, 2011, 11:16:24 AM »

A belief in the ability to have prophetic dreams does not preclude being an atheist or an agnostic. Unless you believe that the dreams somehow come from God-- then you cannot be an atheist. An agnostic differs from an atheist in that the atheist believes there is no god or divine power, only what we know as reality. An agnostic believes they cannot know the nature of the divine if it exists.

Something being unexplainable by current science does not necessitate that it is of divine origin. Therefore, a belief in the existence of inexplicable (or "supernatural") events or experiences, at least to my mind, is not in conflict with atheism or agnosticism.

Having said that, I admit that the powerful nature of having certain types of supernatural experiences can certainly sway even the most devout atheist.

Re. lucid dreaming and redeveloping it, try programming your mind at night as you fall asleep by asking for a lucid dream. I have not tested this assumption, but I think that if you meditate before you go to bed also, that it will increase your chances of the programming working.

Personally, I find my dream recall to be better and the nature of my dreams to be more vivid and to have to spiritual significance around the time of the full moon. Some people drink herb teas, smoke herbs (not recommended for health reasons) or place various herbs (mugwort, etc.) under their pillows to induce prophetic dreams.

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Matthew

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Re: My first supernatural experience
« Reply #4 on: May 28, 2011, 11:34:51 AM »

earthmuffin - That pretty much sums up my atheism, atheist means I don't believe in a god (same way theist means you do believe in a god) but it doesn't mean I don't believe in the supernatural.  Even if science never explains why prophetic dreams happen I'm not just going to assume they come from god without evidence, I want to know as much as I can but I won't fill in the blanks with unwarranted assumptions.  Thanks for the advice on lucid and prophetic dreaming, I do meditate but I usually do it first thing in the morning, I'll have to start meditating before bed and see if that helps.  I've also started listening to isochronic tones that are supposed to help with lucid dreaming, so far I've seen minimal results but i'm gonna keep trying.
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dragonspring

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Re: My first supernatural experience
« Reply #5 on: May 28, 2011, 09:04:10 PM »

I just thought I would point out that this is a religious forum so most of the responses you might see here will be framed by some sort of belief in divinity.  Typically Pagans don't force their views on others, but if we are talking about our own experiences, the Divine is likely to be brought up.  Just didn't want you to get the wrong idea.
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Ghost Wolf

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Re: My first supernatural experience
« Reply #6 on: May 28, 2011, 09:22:15 PM »

I'll just point out that lucid dreaming and psychic abilities are two different things. Lucid dreaming is when you are in a dream state, and know you are dreaming, and being able to control the dream without waking. Psychic abilities are when the mind is open to receive or recognize clues from the collective unconscious about events that may happen at some point in the future timeline.
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Matthew

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Re: My first supernatural experience
« Reply #7 on: May 28, 2011, 10:20:56 PM »

dragonspring - I knew what to expect when I came here, I understand that I'm in the minority on this forum and I'm cool with that.  I may not agree with most people here about the divine but I'm sure there are many things we can agree on.

Ghost Wolf - I know the difference, but personally the one time I did have a prophetic dream I was at least somewhat lucid by the end of it.  Usually if I'm not at least somewhat lucid I don't remember my dreams the next morning, and lucidity in dreams comes and gos for me.

I do know that lucid or not several people in my family have had prophetic dreams, on both my mother's and my father's side.  Some have been symbollic and others have been right out in the open.
« Last Edit: May 28, 2011, 10:29:14 PM by Matthew »
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vordan

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Re: My first supernatural experience
« Reply #8 on: May 28, 2011, 11:16:11 PM »

We are pretty accepting here of what might be called psychic dreams, many of us have had similar experiences. Mine are often poetic and less direct then yours. As to the divinity issue it is possible to explain prophetic dreams as a reflection of some unknown way the universe functions without bringing in divinity. It is also possible to have a very loose definition of divinity as the  energy from which the universe is created and which prevades the universe. It is not necessary to assign intelligence to this energy. Then again intelligence is a loose term also, ants can farm, build cities and raise lifestock but individual ants are not intelligent. What I am trying to say is that if an intelligence so radically different from your own can exist in your backyard ant colony, the ability to understand what is truely unknowable is the journey of a lifetime. If divinity exists and has consciousness, it exists regardless of your belief in it. Searching for some trace of divinity is like searching for the  Holy Grail in Arthurian legends it is often elusive.
« Last Edit: May 30, 2011, 10:15:18 PM by vordan »
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Mongo

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Re: My first supernatural experience
« Reply #9 on: June 03, 2011, 01:01:40 AM »

Agnostic to me is the same thing as atheist for people that don't like the label atheist.

Ah! Then you have no real understanding of what an agnostic is. You have...

Agnostic atheism - Agnostic atheists are atheistic because they do not have belief in the existence of any deity, and agnostic because they do not claim to know that a deity does not exist. In simpler language they do not believe in a higher power but neither do they claim that there is no such thing as a higher power.

This is the "I personally don't believe, but since I don't know for certain I'm not going to dismiss your beliefs" type of agnostic.

Agnostic theism - The view of those who do not claim to know of the existence of any deity, but still believe in such an existence. This is the other side of the one above. They admit that they believe in a higher power, but do not claim to know for certain of its existence.

This is the "I believe in one, but I'm not for certain if such exists" sort and is the other side of the "coin" from the Agnostic Atheism above.

Apathetic or Pragmatic agnosticism - The view that there is no proof of either the existence or nonexistence of any deity, but since any deity that may exist appears unconcerned for the universe or the welfare of its inhabitants, the question is largely academic.

This is the "There may or there may not be one...but if there is one, it's acting like it's not there so worshiping it is pointless since it's not going to intervene anyway." type.

Ignosticism - The view that a coherent definition of a deity must be put forward before the question of the existence of a deity can be meaningfully discussed. If the chosen definition is not coherent, the ignostic holds the noncognitivist view that the existence of a deity is meaningless or empirically untestable.

A.J. Ayer, Theodore Drange, and other philosophers see both atheism and agnosticism as incompatible with ignosticism on the grounds that atheism and agnosticism accept "a deity exists" as a meaningful proposition which can be argued for or against. An ignostic cannot even say whether he/she is a theist or a nontheist until a sufficient definition of theism is put forth.

In short, this is the type of agnostic who is completely on the fence. They will not commit to there being one or not, nor will they even discuss the possibility unless someone can sway them one way or the other with evidence for or against.

This is the "on the fence" one.

Strong agnosticism (also called "hard," "closed," "strict," or "permanent agnosticism")
The view that the question of the existence or nonexistence of a deity or deities, and the nature of ultimate reality is unknowable by reason of our natural inability to verify any experience with anything but another subjective experience. A strong agnostic would say, "I cannot know whether a deity exists or not, and neither can you."


Sadly this type often is a bit jerk as they will dismiss another's belief in one by saying that line. We've had three of them in the various Comparative Theology round table discussions and each of them we've asked to not come back if they can not allow the others the freedom to believe as they will. None of them ever have.

Weak agnosticism (also called "soft," "open," "empirical," or "temporal agnosticism")
The view that the existence or nonexistence of any deities is currently unknown but is not necessarily unknowable; therefore, one will withhold judgment until/if any evidence is available. A weak agnostic would say, "I don't know whether any deities exist or not, but maybe one day, when there is evidence, we can find something out."


This is the "I don't know, but I'm going to live my life and be a good boy just in case I'm wrong and there is one." Sort of a hedging the bets kind of agnostic.

Not saying that you are one of these, just putting it out there so you can get a better idea of what an agnostic could be and tell the difference between the types.
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earthmuffin

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Re: My first supernatural experience
« Reply #10 on: June 06, 2011, 12:49:55 PM »

Interesting, Mongo. I never knew there were so many types of agnostics. Now to figure out if I fit any of those categories....
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Re: My first supernatural experience
« Reply #11 on: June 06, 2011, 08:47:27 PM »

Interesting, Mongo. I never knew there were so many types of agnostics. Now to figure out if I fit any of those categories....

There's also the type I am, the I'll Find Out When I Get There type.   :D
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Re: My first supernatural experience
« Reply #12 on: June 06, 2011, 09:11:36 PM »

There's also the "apathetic agnostic" - "Don't know, don't care"...
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earthmuffin

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Re: My first supernatural experience
« Reply #13 on: June 06, 2011, 10:04:01 PM »

I think I may be a green agnostic for spirituality.  :whistle:
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Mongo

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Re: My first supernatural experience
« Reply #14 on: June 06, 2011, 11:55:10 PM »

There's also the type I am, the I'll Find Out When I Get There type.   :D

That's just a sub-set of the weak agnostic.
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Re: My first supernatural experience
« Reply #15 on: June 06, 2011, 11:57:16 PM »

Then there are your Insomniac Dyslexic Agnostics who stay up all night pondering the existence of Dog.
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Re: My first supernatural experience
« Reply #16 on: June 07, 2011, 08:13:53 AM »

 :rotflmao:
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Re: My first supernatural experience
« Reply #17 on: June 07, 2011, 09:15:55 AM »

 :rotflmao:

I love that, Mongo.
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Re: My first supernatural experience
« Reply #18 on: June 07, 2011, 04:23:59 PM »

 :rotflmao:
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vordan

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Re: My first supernatural experience
« Reply #19 on: June 07, 2011, 10:33:21 PM »

I loved all your info, including the joke. :rotflmao: I am enjoying this thread even if Matthew doesn't pop back in.
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Satine

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Re: My first supernatural experience
« Reply #20 on: July 29, 2011, 08:36:42 PM »

the first supernatural experience i remember was my brother, two cousins, and I was camping in the living room and i wake up to three beings surrounding my bed. they just stood there and i remember being scared and asking them to go away and they left. my family thinks its my grandpa, grandma, and aunt ( the last two passed recently). thinking back on it its the people that passed that i fully believe watch over you. i just feel them and at night i can feel something rubbing my face like a parent would. someone is watching over me!
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dragonspring

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Re: My first supernatural experience
« Reply #21 on: July 29, 2011, 09:49:10 PM »

What a cool experience Satine!   :D
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Re: My first supernatural experience
« Reply #22 on: July 30, 2011, 04:27:48 PM »

Interesting, Mongo. I never knew there were so many types of agnostics. Now to figure out if I fit any of those categories....

There's also the type I am, the I'll Find Out When I Get There type.   :D

I like your type bluefire.
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Re: My first supernatural experience
« Reply #23 on: August 02, 2011, 04:41:58 AM »

The whole agnostic/atheist argument reminded me of this video:
http://youtu.be/RIKeC9k2-Jg

It explained it to me better than anyone else ever could!
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