On Mon, 03 Aug 2009 09:34:29 -0700, Darren New wrote:

> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> To this day, I know that I avoided a disaster that night.
> 
> No you don't. You just strongly believe it.  

Well, that's your read of it, but I know differently.  It's difficult to 
explain, but there is a distinct difference in my own mindset when I know 
something vs. when I strongly suspect something.

> no longer really "instinctive.") And of course if you do it correctly
> and repeatedly, then it's worth looking into, but so far nobody has
> measured proper psi powers.

I don't think it's anything like that - I think it's that I have a good 
instinct for reading people and situations.  Maybe it's something I've 
learned on a subconscious level, I don't know.  I'm not claiming to be 
'supernatural" or anything silly like that.

> I know exactly what you're talking about, now.

:-)

> Sometimes I wake from a dream, *knowing* I solved some problem while I
> was dreaming, but I just can't remember it now. Did I really solve the
> problem while I was dreaming, or am I just <ahem> dreaming?  How is your
> experience different?

Well, my specific experience was the reverse - I wasn't dreaming, I was 
driving home.  I sure hope I wasn't sleeping. ;-)

But I see what you mean and will have to think on that more as well.

> friends have been replaced with duplicates, etc, you realize no, you
> didn't know, you're just convinced you knew.

Perhaps, perhaps not.

> The very fact that you're convinced is what makes you think it's
> knowledge and not belief. Yet conviction is a state of mind. You're
> saying "because my brain has decided it's knowledge, that makes it
> knowledge and not just a hunch/guess/faith."

Hmm, an interesting point, and something else to think about.

> I really do believe there are faithful who have as much conviction about
> something as you did about your route home. I believe that's what a lot
> of the sudden unprompted "born again" stuff is about. I don't disparage
> that, but I don't count that as "knowledge" either.

I think part of it with me is that I tend to attribute "faith" and 
"belief" with "religion", so I shy away from those terms because of those 
connotations, which I consider undesirable connotations.

Jim

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