And Then I Saw The Man Who Has No Feet

I've been down lately. Way down. And for a while now.

 

My job has vexed me almost to nervous exhaustion. A position has been forced upon me which I did not want. No one wanted it. It sucks. The previous person who held it begged for weeks to be allowed to "step down." But I have the reputation of being a fixer, of being a person who can take a tough situation and work to improve it. Now it seems that against my wishes I am having that opportunity again.

 

On my way home today I had to stop off at the local dollar store to get some office supplies that I will need. After shopping for a bit, attending to my list, I approached the checkout. Ahead of me was a gentlemen who looked my age or perhaps a bit older. He didn't have a purchase but instead leaned in towards the checkout girl and quietly asked for an application for a job. He was old that they only accept applications online. I think that seems to be the general rule now. (Never mind that many poor, hopeless people don't have easy internet access.) That fellow probably last applied for a job (like me) back when it was customary to appear at a personnel office and fill out a paper application and then hope for an interview.

 

He asked for a name so he could put it on his internet application in order to show that he did indeed talk to someone about a job. He was directed to the store manager, who informed him that wouldn't be necessary, and, no, neither would it be necessary to give that store number. Just go to so-and-so dot com and fill in the blank for this city on the application.

 

By now I had checked out and exited the store right behind the man. His disappointment was almost palpable. He walked, slump shouldered, to his beat up old truck. And rarely in my life did I feel more like uttering a prayer: "Dear God, please give this man some hope; please help him find a job that he seems so obviously to want and need."

 

My second thought was that I need to be more thankful for the situation - rough as it often is - that I have, the fact that I have a decent paying job to go to that allows me to keep buying food (and even some extras to improve the quality of my life), and to stay clothed and sheltered, and not the least of my concerns, to be able to give my mom some assistance when needed.

 

Right now I have several temporary workers who are wanting desperately to find permanent employment. And I don't know how many I will be able to keep once the dust has settled a bit. Yet I look into their anxious faces every day knowing I won't be able to keep everyone, that one day, more than likely, I'm going to have to make some tough choices.

 

But I will still have a job. I have worked for the same place for twenty years now. Even when it has been really rough, really patience trying, really outright sucky, I still have been able to bring home a paycheck every week. I've lived better these past twenty years than I have at any time in my life.

 

Today I saw the proverbial man who has no feet, and was reminded just how fortunate I am. Time to quit grumbling, methinks. 

 

More On The Pam Ragland Case

A reader posted a comment on my post yesterday about Pam Ragland having allegedly found the body of a missing child using visions she received. I greatly appreciate that because I had missed it while doing a search, and I agree with my reader that it is "a better skeptic look" at the matter than the one I had read and linked to yesterday. Much better.

 

As I pointed out yesterday, I have some reservations about this matter. I enjoyed reading and urge my readers to check out The New 'Best Case' For Psychics: Did 'Intuitive Vision' Locate Missing Boy? by Ben Radford at the Center For Inquiry website. 

 

Mr. Radford, astutely, I believe, points out that Ragland should have been at least somewhat familiar with the Smith family's property where the child's body was discovered after watching news coverage.

 

Next Radford informs his readers that

 

There are exceptions, of course, but the odds are that a missing or murdered child will be found in or near the family home.

 

I'm not sure how to evaluate that claim because no statistics or studies are provided. Also, that word near is vague and subject to interpretation.

 

I would also point out that the search was for a missing child. The young boy had not been long missing - and while one would always fear the worst, surely after only a short time most folks would be hoping for the best outcome. (In fact, this was suspicious enough that the police investigated the possibility that Ragland was involved in the murder.)

 

So Mr. Radford sums up his case thus:

 

It is far more probable that Ragland is neither psychic nor involved in any crime, but simply someone who unknowingly mistook a television news scene for an intuitive vision and whose instincts correctly told her where the missing boy was statistically most likely to be found-and eventually was.

 

I'm suggesting that Mr. Radford's "far more probable" is an overstatement - unless one starts with the conclusion one is trying to reach, namely that psychic episodes like this one are impossible.

 

I'm skeptical enough to seriously entertain that Radford is correct about the news coverage providing the "vision" Ragland had. I can entertain she followed up on this as a lucky guess and literally stumbled upon a corpse. But I'm also open-minded enough to entertain that she actually received an impression to go investigate the Smith property.

 

I also think that Radford is again being presumptuous by suggesting the skeptical explanation is the simpler explanation or else "Pam Ragland is the first person in history to find a missing person through psychic visions." Some would contest that Ragland is the first.

   

The Problem I Have With Skeptics

Let me hasten to add that I think of myself as a skeptic, but I'm of the "okay, now prove it" variety. I think professional psychics tend to be con artists, and these folks can do a lot of psychological damage to people who take them to seriously.

 

On the other hand, I've experienced many examples of uncanny intuition in my own life and have witnessed some in others. But I don't think of myself as psychic. I tend to think there may be something to the "morphic resonance" thinking of Rupert Sheldrake.

 

I think animals tend to be highly attuned to their environment and are forced to rely on their senses more than we human animals. In a sense I believe we have drowned out the resonance with too many distractions (loud music, cell phones, television, etc.).  If you disagree with my proposition here I will not be offended. Nor would I be willing to press hard for its acceptance. It's just my way of trying to make sense of things which have happened in my life.

 

Last week a story broke about Pam Ragland, who experienced visions and by them helped investigators locate the body of a missing and now murdered 11 year old. Interesting. Maybe a bit suspicious. I would like more information about this. I'm not ready to point to this story as "proof" of anything. I just say if it is legitimate it would fit into my above suggestion.

 

While poking around the internet looking for stories on this thing I came across a true skeptic's blog No, Psychics Can't Help Solve Murders by Justin Peters.

 

Therein Mr. Peters flat out says this was not a case of psychic powers. How does he know this? Because, he says:

 

Because psychics don’t exist. Psychic powers are not a real thing. A psychic cannot help a detective solve a crime, because there is no such thing as a legitimate psychic.

 

Now I'm not going to argue that he is wrong about that. The problem I have, however, is that - like Bible Creationists, who take a preconceived idea and then try to bend all evidence to fit that idea - Peters isn't open to the possibility that there are things yet to be discovered about the Cosmos. He starts with a preconceived idea and is unwilling to looking beyond it.

 

One needn't lapse into supernaturalism or supernormalism (or as skeptics like to suggest: magical thinking) in order to accept "psychic" episodes. Sheldrake's morphic resonance provides, I think, a reasonable natural explanation.

 

Because Peters rules out psychic intuition out of hand, he is left to explain this as

 

Maybe she wasn't as involved as she says. Maybe it was coincidence, or luck, or a really good guess. Maybe she is actually skilled at reading landscapes and guessing where bodies might be buried.

 

Perhaps.

 

But for my part, I must remain an open-minded skeptic. And I will withhold judgment on this particular instance and just say that I find it interesting and not outside the realm of what I think might be possible.

 

Our God Is Melvin

I am and always have been an avid dreamer and analyzer of my dreams. (I believe I have gleaned telling insights by listening to the dreams of others, but that's another matter.) Last night the theater of my mind was busy with several stories. One made a grand impression on me and it was the one I was having when I began to wake up. I will describe it now.

 

It seems that I had become the owner of a cute chimpanzee, not unsimilar to J. Fred Muggs, whom I remember from my youth. However, mine was smaller and much cuter. And my unnamed pet could talk. Or at least he was able to communicate with me using simple words. My lady friend was astounded at this and we were both taken by this cute little guy.

 

For some reason it occurred to me to ask the little fellow if he believed in God, specifically if they (as in chimps, I suppose) worship a specific God. My pet vigorously shook his in the affirmative, just as we've seen trained chimps do in the movies. Then I inquired further as to what their God's name might be. And my chimp friend told me their God was named - get this! - Melvin.

 

My lady friend and I just stared at each with openmouthed astonishment. And I stood there stroking his belly. Wow! Where did this come from?

 

Well, last night, as I sitting here at my desk waiting for my mom's phone call letting me know she had made it safely home from church, I was reading a couple of websites that promote Intelligent Design and examine the alleged difficulties with what they call Darwinism. 

 

Of course no matter how much IDers insist they are doing science (I can't help but think it is philosophy), it is hard to deny that there are definite religious implications. I grew up in a family whose mantra was "maybe your ancestors hung by their tails from limbs, but mine didn't." Although my public schooling didn't delve deeply into the subject of evolution, it was there in the textbooks, and implied in my science classes.

 

Now I'm neither a scientist nor a science geek. The sticks and stones of evolutionary theory are mostly above my pay grade. However, I came to accept over time that the Genesis account of creation is religious myth, not history. Thus it occurred to me that the acceptance of evolution need not deal a fatal blow to one's religious faith (although it might cause one to rethink certain aspects of it).

 

Oh, I neglected to say that as I was interrogating my chimp friend he pointed up to indicate his belief of where Melvin lives and pointed down to indicate he believed in Hell, too, I suppose.

 

In my dream I suppose I was bonding with one of my ancestors. The subjects of gods and religions are never far from my mind, and I further suppose that learning of a simian god named (of all things!) Melvin gave a certain frivolity to this whole affair.

 

All in all this was a funny experience for me. And for my readers a hopefully entertaining slice of the weird workings of the mind of Doug B.