When The Astounding Occurs

James Greenwood, a pastor at Faith Pentecostal Assembly church, (and this gives you an idea of the template he uses to interpret life events), tells a skin-tingling tale of coincidence, which he wonders aloud might be more akin to something miraculous.

The link to his experience is right here and I think it's worth the read. But I'll summarize his coincidence/miracle.

He traveled to a "developing country" in order to help install a water filtration system for a Christian camp that was forced to boil water for drinking.

Not being much of a handyman or "good with tools," he began to pray for two things: (1) that nothing went wrong in his effort and (2) that he would to see the purified water run before he left.

Once there they did run into problems with the installation and as he puts it: "We realized we were going to need more than what we had, and being in a developing country, we knew it would take longer than we had in order to find all the parts we needed."

It was decided that they would leave the water filtration system in hopes that one day it could be installed. But this was complicated by a "language barrier" between them and people at the camp.

Then the miracle/coincidence occurred when:

...a man with a plumber’s shirt walked by us. We quickly asked in our best Spanish if he was a plumber. We discovered not only was he a plumber, but he spoke perfect English because he was from Miami. And to top it all off he had a bunch of extra parts with him.

The man was only in the area for the week James and his friends were there to install the filtration system. James Greenwood did get to see the clean water running before he left.

In my lifetime I have experienced a number of these coincidence/miracles (and at the time I was a Christian and would have claimed these as answered prayers, just as Greenwood does). I've written posts about a couple of them. Since leaving Christianity I had another rather significant coincidence/miracles, and I posted on that a couple of years ago.

What to make of these things? I had quit praying (though I have since returned to the practice in a manner of speaking) because I had trouble making sense of how it was supposed to work. Was God something similar to a genie who granted wishes? Could God be petty enough to be cajoled into doing things? Or perhaps, I thought, it was time to take a second look at the Law of Attraction.

This I have discovered: people of all faiths and even those of no faith have usually experienced these happenings. I have collected a large number of these from friends, family, and acquaintances. I'm not so interested in how these individuals interpret these events. but just that they occur and make deep impressions on people. I have supplemented these with stories (like this one) that I have culled from the newspapers.

I can't help but be amazed and fascinated.

The "Truth" About The Paranormal

The BBC has recently published (on Halloween, no less) a piece that sets out to explain paranormal phenomena. Ghosts, telepathy, lucky charms - you know those things that bring the ire of the uber-rational among us, all are examined from a psychological perspective.

Now this isn't an overly negative piece. It is pointed out that superstitious thinking can provide benefits. even "boost[ing] your performance in a range of skills." Still, I think the overall thrust is given in the article by the following quote from psychologist Adam Waytz: "We create beliefs because we don’t like believing that the universe is random"

Ah, the crux of the matter, that. But what if the universe isn't random? What if those of us who are continually discovering overly coincidental coincidences aren't just being silly or superstitious?

The paranormal is one of those words like supernatural that I'm not fully comfortable with. Too easily they become pejorative.

The problem I have with paranormal is this: if so many millions of humans throughout history have experienced these weird occurrences (and there is abundant testimony that we have), why is it considered paranormal, as in beyond? It seems fairly typical, or normal, to me.

It further seems to me that whether we first believe the universe is a coincidence or designed leads us to our conclusions about the so-called paranormal. Cosmologist and physicist Paul Davies has been intrigued by what he calls the Goldilocks Enigma, the question of why the universe seems just right for intelligent life
.

Okay, I'm not denying it all isn't a huge cosmic coincidence. On the other hand, it seems excessively cynical to deny the possibility it might not be. Some folks are just too uncomfortable with the idea that existence might have an intelligence back of it.

For my part, believing the universe is random just doesn't make good sense to me, doesn't jibe with my inner sense of reality. I do think psychology can tell us a lot about so-called paranormal experiences. I don't tend to dismiss all of it as bogus. If the universe is intelligent and designed, it makes sense that we are designed to detect that fact (if fact it be) and make sense of it. For me it is all a matter of mind. It makes better sense - if not perfect sense - viewed this way.

A Tale Of Toonces

"I've got a cat." Those shocking words came out of my Ladyfriend's mouth a few weeks ago. Surprising to me because she is a "dog person," and at best only found my cats down through the years interesting.

But being the big-hearted person she is, she fed the scrawny little scared kitty. 

We bought a carrier for the cat so she would be protected from the elements, but kitty preferred to hide under Ladyfriend's house.

The presence of the cat made her two little dogs - Bella and Scooby - quite unhappy. Ladyfriend wouldn't leave her front door open so the dogs could look out the storm door and bark at passersby. Her dogs are natural hunting dogs (dachshunds), and couldn't resist the urge to attack the cat. She also curtailed their outdoor time because they smelled kitty and acted all crazy.

This went on for a while as Ladyfriend tried to persuade me what a nice addition kitty would be to my world. The last of my cats died off earlier this year and I had said I was out of the cat business. Besides, my cats were outdoor cats I had befriended. Ladyfriend's kitty seems to have once been someone's pet. She shows no fear of humans.

Finally I gave in, without having ever met kitty and with just the picture above to go by, and went out to purchase a litter box, grooming aids, a supply of cat food, and, of course, some toys. It has been a very long time since I had an indoor cat. I wasn't sure I wanted this headache/responsibility. (I'm still not.)

But Ladyfriend informed me that if I didn't take in the cat, she would be forced to take it to the animal shelter. Her dogs were just too unhappy and she is too dedicated to them to make any changes. Besides, she isn't and never has been a "cat person."

Long story short, I finally gave in.

It took three tries and two weekends of disappointments for her finally to be able to corral kitty into the carrier for the trip to my house. She had first tried to just put the cat in her car and drive over. Bad idea. That sweet, docile little fur ball quickly morphed into a wildcat. Mission aborted.

The next weekend we got a friend who has quite a bit of cat experience to go over and put the cat in the carrier (I didn't want to be involved in the deed because I wanted to get off on the right foot with kitty). She got the cat in, but kitty pulled a Houdini and escaped from her confines before the delivery could be made. Another aborted mission and another disappointment for me. I had allowed myself to get "psyched up."

I waffled all during the past week but finally said I would give the idea one more try. Ladyfriend got her son to put kitty in the carrier. Shortly after a most unhappy cat was delivered to my house.

I had wanted a weekend off from work and without a lot of activities planned in order to have a chance to bond with my new cat and get her used to her new digs. Good thing, too. This has been a long weekend.

When I first let Toonces out of her carrier (Ladyfriend hates that name, has trouble pronouncing it, but anyone who is a longtime of viewer Saturday Night Live will probably recognize it as a skit-character name - but I have no plans to let Toonces drive!), she tried to find an exit. Failing that, she crawled under my bed to hide. And there she spent a good portion of Friday evening. However, she finally came out to eat, then jumped on my bed and went to sleep. In fact, she slept beside me on top of the covers all night. Awwwwwwwww.

Saturday was better, but she still spent the bulk of the day under the bed. She will sit for long periods in my lap and nap. I would say awwww about that too, but I was afraid she was just scared and coping. She spent most of Saturday night on top of the covers in my bed, but woke me up around 1 a.m. wanting to be fed.

I was afraid she had been outside long enough that she would have trouble transitioning to a house cat. I watched carefully that first night to see if she would use the litter box. I never saw her go. However, Saturday morning found me happily (just a tinge of sarcasm here) scooping out kitty waste.

It is Sunday morning now. Toonces has been in my lap once already - her idea. Yesterday it was warm and I had my windows open. At one point Toonces jumped into the window and sat on the sill just looking out. She moaned a pitiful moan that I interpreted as a longing for the outdoors. This morning I have the storm door open so she can look out. She did briefly, but without moaning. She has absolutely zero interest in playing with toys I bought for her (some little balls with bells inside and some stuffed mice). She will rub against me and especially my hand when I hold it down to pet her. She "talks" to me, especially when hungry. She is under the bed now as I type this.

I guess this is an experiment. For me at least. I can't begin to imagine what is going through Toonces' head. I bet she wonders what happened to Ladyfriend. And I bet she wonders why I keep calling her Toonces.

We will see what happens....

Death Of An Atheist Giant

Although I missed it when it was news, I recently noticed the passing of one of the more influential New Atheists, often called "the fifth horseman" among them, Victor Stenger, of a heart attack at age 79.

Stenger was a physics processor who made it his task to show the superiority of the modern scientific worldview over religion. authoring a number of books dedicated to the effort, including a New York Times bestseller, God: The Failed Hypothesis: How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist. Among his other notable titles were Not by Design: The Origin of the Universe, Has Science Found God? The Latest Results in the Search for Purpose in the Universe, God and the Folly of Faith: The Incompatibility of Science and Religion, and God and the Atom.

He was well-known for his saying-turned-into-teeshirt-slogan: "Science flies you to the moon. Religion flies you into buildings." Which in my humble opinion is an oversimplification at best. One sympathetic towards religion might respond in kind: Religion brings comfort in times of trouble. Science created nuclear weapons. Maybe both true so far as they go, but neither going far enough.

Two things I'm not fond of: using science as a defense against religion; using science to bolster religion. My feeble effort to make my way though this great divisive issue is to recognize a compatibility of science with either religious and non-religious attitudes.

The problem I have with the New Atheists is that they seem forevermore the counterpart of the religious fundamentalist. It seems to me biologist Rupert Sheldrake states it accurately in his book Science Set Free (page 328):

Much of the hypocrisy of science comes from assuming the mantle of absolute truth, which is a relic of the ethos of absolute religious and political power when mechanistic science was born. Of course, there are disagreements among scientists, and the sciences are continually changing and developing. But a monopoly of truth remains the ideal. Dissenting voices are heretical. Fair public debates are alien to the culture of the sciences.

The "fifth horseman" did speak powerfully for those who want to use science as "the mantle of absolute truth," especially for arguing atheism. But I'm one of those who feel skeptical about the human ability to discern "absolute truth." I say that with regard to religious or spiritual authority as well.

I do disagree with New Atheism, especially as expressed by Stenger in 2012, that religion "is and always has been a blight on humanity that has hindered our progress for millennia and now threatens our very existence." I think that describes religious extremism. But Stenger and his companions go beyond battling religious extremism, I think, to the point of reaching the opposite extreme.

Dr. Stenger's influence will far outlive him no doubt. I only wish it had been dedicated to moderation. Nevertheless, it's hard to deny that a giant has fallen.