I've had a few 'weird' experiences lately. Nothing out of this world, just things like looking at the telephone and it ringing, singing a song and then hearing it played on the radio, knowing what people are going to say before they say it.

So, although I'm interested in the paranormal, I don't count myself as an expert in the field. I was wondering what other peoples thoughts were on these sort of coincidences. Are they just a coincidence, or are there other 'things' at work here?

Those things happen often to me as well. Thinking of a movie, then seeing it on TV, talking about a subject, and having the characters in the movie talk about the same thing... Even guessing the title of a movie I never saw...

Coincidence or precognition?

Well, we are always thinking about something, so its quite normal that once in a while, what we are thinking about will be related to what happens in our life. You can also often make logical assumptions that will come true, but not because you are seeing the future, but because you are an intelligent person and can evaluate the logical possibilities.

The only way to prove yourself that you are experiencing precognition is to actually make precise predictions or being able to control that "gift". Some people say those things can be developed.

at teh end of the day many people who it doesnt actually happen to will knock you down and say it's luck/chance or your imagination......in truth only you can judge weather you were lucky or your slightly pregog. trust yourself, see how often it happens and when and why. it isnt something you can "turn on" as people would like to think, it just happens when it happens, it's when you dream it it gets surreal

It is just another example of our pattern-seeking minds. Coincidence mixed with our human desire to find reason and understand events.

so you say, i wont turn this into another...you carnt prove but i say...things. but thats YOUR opinion, as mine was mine, dont go around saying that thats the fact of the matter silly rat with wings

It is a fact that humans do such things. I think everyone should remind themselves of this, that is all.

I don't have such abilities. I'm a pessimist. I think I should feel lucky.

the same way it's a fact we dont as yet fully understand the brain and what it is capable of.

Very true. Yet why assume that psychic abilities are possible when there are better and more mundane explanations? People are always making things sound or seem more exciting than they really are. I'm not saying precognition is impossible...it just doesn't look like it is. All the above examples are easily explained and happen to everyone.

why assume it isnt. doctors search for the differnces in synptoms because many deseases share the same things. it's also human nature to "play things down" for varying reasons.

Because to assume that psychic powers are real is a dangerous road to travel. Why not assume that people are held on the Earth by invisible hands, then? Or that mirrors are actually showing an alternate reality version of the person, who mimics their actions? Mundane answers should always be explored first and i haven't seen any reason to throw them out in favour of Magic, or the supernatural, or psychic powers as explanations. It is good to "play things down". It sets a solid foundation from which to examine something properly.

how is it dangerous

It opens the doorway to ludicrous assumptions. If you make one, why not make others?

I don't think there's psychic powers involved, but it can be an intuition .. some sort of mental awareness that makes you effectively guess some things.

it happens to Me, with simple things like [i] is your boyfriend's full name ______ ?" without knowing .. or, expecting something to happen, and then it does happen ..

also, it can be just a way to associate past experiences with the current.

Whenever i experiance occurances such as knowing whos on the phone or hearing a song in my head then turining the station to the same line i was just humming i find it just a little more than coincidence. Some people call it psychic perception and some call it impossible (although it happens none the less.) I Call it ESP., Extra sensory perception. It is a common known fact that the human pysche is more aware of things than the conscious mind. In fact, we often respond to these perceptions before we even think about it. There are subtle clues that our bodies give us that proves we are aware of less obvious energy patterns. ex. I was riding in a car with some friends of mine. Sunddenly i get this feeling in my stomach like i being sloshed around. Its gets so uncomfortable that i ask them to let me out so i can walk the rest of the way home. They didn't understand why i wanted to walk but i insisted it would make me feel better.I got out and a few blocks down the road they got into a serious accident. I actually felt the affect of something before it occurred. There was no other signs of danger that could have warned me of the accident. Another form of ESP is deja vu. You remeber a conversation and actually say the words in your head along with the person saying them. I have actually taught myself to keep the deja vu going and had a series of 6 deja vu beforing breaking it. The strange thing about that is you can't change it. If you try to say something that seems go against the pattern you realize it is only you going along with a chain of events in the deja vu. It can all be very mind boggling. No one can really say just exactly what time is and if it truly is more than a idea. So when things seems to happen out of order one wonders if their truly is an order to it all. Coincidence?

I don't think there is any such thing as ESP and deja vu is simply remembering similar events from your life experiences. Just because you wanted to get out of the car doesn't mean you sensed something would happen, for instance. Maybe you thought you were going to be sick? Plenty of people get motion sickness and stomach upsets in cars. Nothing unusual about it.

gotta love this skeptic.

but well, I think to some point that there's extra sensory in every person, just that some of us has better understanding of such things than others. Hey, if you narrow yourself to just this and this alone, then the rest of your view will be as bland.

you can call that like some sort of instint. like, a thing that you know it may be bound to happen. true, association with past experiences is part of the whole deja vu process ..

What makes you think that your understanding is better than others? What makes you think that you have enough knowledge to comment on the reality of esp, when science itself hasn't shown enough evidence to suggest it exists? You say that a narrow view is bland, which makes me think you like the idea of esp because it is...what...more interesting?

I don't think any event is bound to happen. That would suggest predestination, which is a horrible idea. Also, why must feelings of deja vu be anything more than past experiences remembered or recalled from the unconscious mind? More interesting, again?