gattino
Justified & Ancient
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2003
- Messages
- 2,522
I have/had a friend who I was once incredibly close to. We fell out a number of years ago and though there's no animosity and he's still on my Facebook etc, I've not seen him since and communication online is rare and brief, though by no means unfriendly. He lives in another city.
Given these circumstances..the notion we are or ought to be considered "entangled", bonded or however you wish to percieve it, yet out of meaningful or current communication, I've often tried to use this to experiment. Could I for example psychically/telepathically will the estranged to get in touch? 2 years ago, I tried this each night and after about 3 nights - but many many months of silence - the phone rang and it was him. I reported it on here.
The failure to replicate this success since may either indicate it was sheer fluke, or - as likely, as far as I'm concerned - because I've lacked the willpower or concentration to do it properly again.
On Saturday night just gone his facebook status mentioned he was in town visiting a friend of his. This has nothng to do with me. Sunday morning however, having to go into the city centre for some food shopping, I found myself taking it all but for granted..or at least playing with the idea.. that I needed to do so now if I were to bump into him in the street (after 3 and half years). I then daydreamed multiple variations on the scenario while travelling on the bus all the way into town. My shopping trip was an ultra rapid one, taking in all of two shops, 4 minutes apart, before heading back to the bus stop, yet by the time I was in town and walking along wiht my shopping I was taking my daydreaming seriously. Given past experience of precogntive dreams and daydreams on the one hand, and hte idea that I ought to be psychically bonded with this person on the other, I found myself treating it as obvious that as he had the previous night been geographically in my orbit, I was going to bump into him this following morning. I even mentally - in both senses! - sent a message to him to hone in on my location and find me. After the second shop (WH Smith to look for the Fortean Times) I headed back to the bus stop, going down a different road than I would have, thanks to that little detour. And who should turn around the corner....
For the curious and sentimental there was no hollywood ending to this reunion..the encounter had all the drama and impact of bumping into the lady from the local post office while browsing in the vegetable aisle. But the matching thoughts that preceded the encounter are of obvious interest. Did something "telepathic" just happen?
Four explanations present themselves. Two sceptical, two fortean. 1) Sheer coincidence, thought and event having no connection beyond being thrown together by chance. 2) My near expectation of bumping into him was a reasonable deduction with a fair likelihood of fulfilment, given my concrete knowledge that he had been inthe same city, presumably near its centre, the previous night. 3) I "knew" precognitively that I was going to encounter him, hence my thoughts and daydreams. 4) My persistent thoughts..including the deliberate conscious "message"...CAUSED him to cross my path on cue.
To the first there is no defense, but it seems to be also itself indefensible. It's the commonest and meanest of explanatons for all startling events, because its unfalsifiable. True or not there's nothing we can do to pursue or test the matter further. The second, that I had concrete reason to expect to bump into him, sounds more logical. But it's not so much. I've never bumped intohim the street in my life even when he lived here, nor do I or did I bump into any other friends, relatives or acquaintances who do actually live here. Though the city centre on a Sunday morning is not teeming with vast throngs of people, Liverpool/merseyside is a conurbation of up to a million people or so, depending on where you draw the line. It might be reasonable to guess if he were visiting someone in the city the night before he might inevitably take tne opportunity to shop or whatever in the town centre the following morning (in fact he said he was off to meet some people), but its more reasonable to me to assume he'd lie in or head for his train home. So I can't credit sceptical explanation number 2 either.
So of what's left, did I foresee it? Or did I make it happen?
The former fits in with past experiences,and my much reported precog dreams. But it was different as it was waking and conscious and bordering on presumption. But its important to note what the sense of "knowing" consisted of. It was not faith or certainty at all. No tingling spider sense or funny feelings. Just a casual acceptance that it would be normal to expect it, a throwaway anticipation of a probable event. When I did see him come into view I don't recall being startled in any way. I had been anticipating it after all. But, conversely, I simultaneously accepted that I had no reason to expect it, and would probably go home with no more than my fantasizing to report.
The most interesting and exciting scenario of course is that I willed the encounter into existence. Exciting because, if true, it would suggest something replicable and useable. So what might might that explanation consist of? Where does hte magic lie? Was it in repeated mental rehearsal of the event in the form of daydreams? Were they shaping it rather than foreseeing it? Or was it in the active effort to telepathically summon him to find me? The rarity of the success, of course, would lie in the fact that - already being in the vicinity- he COULD be summoned to pass me by, somethign that the same mental efforts would fail to achieve if he was hundreds of miles away.
All fancy and speculation, and not the most amazing of tales, but anyone with thoughts, opinions or similar experiences, do tell...
Given these circumstances..the notion we are or ought to be considered "entangled", bonded or however you wish to percieve it, yet out of meaningful or current communication, I've often tried to use this to experiment. Could I for example psychically/telepathically will the estranged to get in touch? 2 years ago, I tried this each night and after about 3 nights - but many many months of silence - the phone rang and it was him. I reported it on here.
The failure to replicate this success since may either indicate it was sheer fluke, or - as likely, as far as I'm concerned - because I've lacked the willpower or concentration to do it properly again.
On Saturday night just gone his facebook status mentioned he was in town visiting a friend of his. This has nothng to do with me. Sunday morning however, having to go into the city centre for some food shopping, I found myself taking it all but for granted..or at least playing with the idea.. that I needed to do so now if I were to bump into him in the street (after 3 and half years). I then daydreamed multiple variations on the scenario while travelling on the bus all the way into town. My shopping trip was an ultra rapid one, taking in all of two shops, 4 minutes apart, before heading back to the bus stop, yet by the time I was in town and walking along wiht my shopping I was taking my daydreaming seriously. Given past experience of precogntive dreams and daydreams on the one hand, and hte idea that I ought to be psychically bonded with this person on the other, I found myself treating it as obvious that as he had the previous night been geographically in my orbit, I was going to bump into him this following morning. I even mentally - in both senses! - sent a message to him to hone in on my location and find me. After the second shop (WH Smith to look for the Fortean Times) I headed back to the bus stop, going down a different road than I would have, thanks to that little detour. And who should turn around the corner....
For the curious and sentimental there was no hollywood ending to this reunion..the encounter had all the drama and impact of bumping into the lady from the local post office while browsing in the vegetable aisle. But the matching thoughts that preceded the encounter are of obvious interest. Did something "telepathic" just happen?
Four explanations present themselves. Two sceptical, two fortean. 1) Sheer coincidence, thought and event having no connection beyond being thrown together by chance. 2) My near expectation of bumping into him was a reasonable deduction with a fair likelihood of fulfilment, given my concrete knowledge that he had been inthe same city, presumably near its centre, the previous night. 3) I "knew" precognitively that I was going to encounter him, hence my thoughts and daydreams. 4) My persistent thoughts..including the deliberate conscious "message"...CAUSED him to cross my path on cue.
To the first there is no defense, but it seems to be also itself indefensible. It's the commonest and meanest of explanatons for all startling events, because its unfalsifiable. True or not there's nothing we can do to pursue or test the matter further. The second, that I had concrete reason to expect to bump into him, sounds more logical. But it's not so much. I've never bumped intohim the street in my life even when he lived here, nor do I or did I bump into any other friends, relatives or acquaintances who do actually live here. Though the city centre on a Sunday morning is not teeming with vast throngs of people, Liverpool/merseyside is a conurbation of up to a million people or so, depending on where you draw the line. It might be reasonable to guess if he were visiting someone in the city the night before he might inevitably take tne opportunity to shop or whatever in the town centre the following morning (in fact he said he was off to meet some people), but its more reasonable to me to assume he'd lie in or head for his train home. So I can't credit sceptical explanation number 2 either.
So of what's left, did I foresee it? Or did I make it happen?
The former fits in with past experiences,and my much reported precog dreams. But it was different as it was waking and conscious and bordering on presumption. But its important to note what the sense of "knowing" consisted of. It was not faith or certainty at all. No tingling spider sense or funny feelings. Just a casual acceptance that it would be normal to expect it, a throwaway anticipation of a probable event. When I did see him come into view I don't recall being startled in any way. I had been anticipating it after all. But, conversely, I simultaneously accepted that I had no reason to expect it, and would probably go home with no more than my fantasizing to report.
The most interesting and exciting scenario of course is that I willed the encounter into existence. Exciting because, if true, it would suggest something replicable and useable. So what might might that explanation consist of? Where does hte magic lie? Was it in repeated mental rehearsal of the event in the form of daydreams? Were they shaping it rather than foreseeing it? Or was it in the active effort to telepathically summon him to find me? The rarity of the success, of course, would lie in the fact that - already being in the vicinity- he COULD be summoned to pass me by, somethign that the same mental efforts would fail to achieve if he was hundreds of miles away.
All fancy and speculation, and not the most amazing of tales, but anyone with thoughts, opinions or similar experiences, do tell...
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