Paranormal Issues. (Page 1)

Paranormal Issues

Deja vu, Ghosts, Healers, Jealous Phenomenon, UFOs, Witch-hunting, Precognition.

SEVERAL NON-FALSIFIABLE EXPLANATIONS FOR DEJA VU

While you are talking on a dull issue, a twinkling event takes place in the deepest corner of your mind. This mysterious flash lasts no more than a fraction of second. But it is enough to excite you. Suddenly, you feel an ambiguous familiarity with the seen. You may even feel that you can predict what words will be uttered a fraction of second ahead. However, this little time does not let you be certain about that prediction. You don't have any evidence to show that you had an "experience of perceiving the new situation as if it had occurred before" (Webster's). Surprisingly, your friends believe you; you learn that they have also similar experiences.

There is something about that odd phenomenon that will bother you: you are not able to locate that flash in your memory files. You know that those files are chronologically, spatially, semantically, or idiosyncratically arranged in your memory shelves. Usually, you can trace back your past memories on a particular issue. You just need to "think" the time, space and file name. In a fraction of second the file is open in front of you. If you want, you can browse the files in neighboring shelves. If you want you can "rethink" and return to basic menu and enter to another section of your micro-gigantic, electro-organic library.

So, you try to locate that familiar seen. But you fail. The mysterious flash of memory floats on the air. During your life time you encounter many of these floating pieces of memories. You learn that these strange experiences are called deja vu, which means "already seen" in French. You do not have any rational explanation for them. There comes a friend of yours and tell you that those memories are from your past lives. He or she assures that you had many incarnations in time and space. You, initially, feel that this explanation is very odd, probably irrational. However, you are frustrated with not finding any explanation for your odd experiences.

You have given up from "normal" explanations. It seems convenient to put your floating memories on a base of any explanation. Even though, that explanation by itself is floating on the air. Our brain is a very complex computer. It stores memories in three dimensional holographic patterns. Memories overlap each other according to a very sophisticated network. Computer provide us with a primitive example of how our brain works. Modern research on the brain reveals new information every day. Nevertheless, it is still a wonder-land. Studies, for instance, showed that our brain does not store the memories about faces together with the memories about the names in the same category. Our brain works in a unique way. Thus, each new study comes with surprising

conclusions.

I fully subscribe to the explanation of Hines that deja vu is similar to the "tip of the tongue" situation. "Deja vu happens when feeling of familiarity is present, but the memory of previous experience is not."

(Pseudoscience and the Paranormal, Terence Hines, Prometheus Books, New York, 1988, p. 53).

As a matter of fact, reincarnation is only one of the possible pseudoscientific explanations. Each of the following explanation of deja vu is as "valid" as the other. Please note that all of them are non-falsifiable, that is we don't have any means to falsify them.

--Deja vu experiences are memories of past lives.

--Deja vu experiences are not related to our past; they are preview from our future life.

--Deja vu experiences are the result of short day-dreaming.

--Deja vu experiences are created by evil demons who occasionally have

access to our brain. They want to confuse us with those illusions. Anyone who subscribes to any of the above theories must come up with reasons for refuting others. The problem: Their theory should not be defeated by the same "reasons".

THE EXISTENCE OF GHOSTS IS A PROBABILITY BOUNCING BETWEEN ONE OUT OF

GOOGOPLEX TO HUNDRED PERCENT

(Alas, according to the falsification theory this statement does not have any scientific value)

"The cause of many fatal diseases are micro organic structures invisible by human eyes." Today we accept this statement as one of the simple facts. We don't have any problem with this claim, even though we might have never seen viruses via microscopes. However, if a fifteen-century-philosopher had predicted this fact merely by reasoning, he would have been rejected by his contemporaries. Being fanatic about their scientific methods and experimentations, mediaeval scientists and philosophers, would most likely ignore or just giggle at his claim . Had the claim gained some popularity, they would logically pontificate: "How can invisibly small living organisms exist? Besides, how can such tiny creatures kill a giant body?" The philosopher who believed the existence of micro-organisms, obviously, would not be able to produce any physical evidence for his claim. However, micro organisms would not vanish because of the ignorance of human beings. They exist independent from the human perception or acceptance.

The invention of microscope provided sensible proof for the existence of micro organisms. Similarly, the invention of the radio receiver made the discovery of radio waves possible. Thereafter, we realized that stars including our sun, were giant radio stations. Now, we know for certain that our five senses are naturally blind to many physical phenomena. We try to compensate this natural limit by inventing sophisticated machines and tools.

Furthermore, we cannot claim that the number of our senses (five) are the ultimate possible number of channels that are able to perceive all the existence in the universe. We can easily accept the possibility of having numerous senses and their domain. For instance, let's assume that you are living in an island with forty deaf-born people. You can hear the songs of birds, the rustling of leaves, the hiss of snakes, and the noise of thunder. Will you be able to convince your friends about the existence of sound? Can you describe its nature to them? They will never be able to perceive and know the sound. If you are the only hearing person in that island, you will probably be perceived as a person with paranormal or abnormal talents!

Even though all the eyewitness reports about ghosts are proved to be outcome of hypnagogic hallucinations or result of constructive perception or product of fraudulent scheme, still we cannot deny their existence. Not because inductive reasoning cannot guarantee the truth value of future cases, but rather the induction is irrelevant in this case, for the reason expressed above (possibility of infinite number of senses). Assume that you are riding camels with fifty tourists in a hot day across a dessert. Even if you witness that all of the claims about water turned out to be mirages, you cannot be certain that the next claim won't be true. Countless wrong claims cannot rule out the possibility of existence of oasis (or ghosts). Though, in fact, there may not be a single oasis (or ghost) around.

Let's summarize our ghostly theory:

1. We cannot prove that ghosts or jinns or angels do not exist just because we found most of the eyewitness reports to be non-credible. Despite of countless mirages oasis do exist.

2. We cannot prove that ghosts or jinns or angels exist just because we could not find enough evidence to reject some of the eyewitness reports.

3. But we can believe to the possibility of their existence. This possibility may range from one out of googoplex to hundred percent. The latter may be possible if only if you are their eyewitness reporter!

FAITH DEALERS

"Faith healers have literally found a license to steal. And they steal from those who can least afford it--the poor, the old, the sick, and the hopeless" (Pseudoscience and the Paranormal, Terence Hines, Prometheus Books, New York, 1988, p. 244).

Before discussing the similarities and differences between faith healers and doctors, I would like to express the logical dilemma involved in faith healing, which is not mentioned by Hines. This logical dilemma either provides a universal refutation for all cases, or leads us to distinguish the real faith healers from the charlatans. You do not need to explain every trick employed by faith healers. You do not need to explain the role of endorphins released due to excitement-inducing ceremonies, or the problems involved with testimonials. You don't need to reflect on how variable or temporal nature of most diseases can lead people to make wrong correlations and have ill-perception. You don't need to give the example of "placebo" effect, or the stealthy nature of nonfalsifiable religious

statements.

Here is the logical dilemma: Christian faith healers "cure" their "patient" in the name of Jesus or countless saints. They provide more than enough testimonies to "prove" this phenomena. Similarly Muslim faith healers "cure" their "patient" in the name of Muhammad or countless saints. They also provide more than enough testimonies to "prove" this phenomena. Hindu, Buddhist, Pagan faith healers also claim the same success in the name of their gods. Apparently, there are numerous rival gods working miracles for their followers. If you accept all those gods as legitimate member of the "council of gods" you don't have a logical problem for believing all those claims. However, if you claim that only your god or gods are the true ones, then you have to explain the fraudulent nature of healing power of other gods. Unless, a faith healer provides reasonable explanations for rejecting the countless testimonials made on behalf of other gods, he or she must be considered a charlatan.

Let's now summarize the similarities and the differences between a typical faith healer and a typical doctor. (D for Doctor, H for Healer):

D. Studies, makes research and observes the symptoms.

H. Prays to a certain god to heal the patient.

D. Uses lab tests, x-rays, medicines, diet, new technology.

H. Uses hand, handkerchiefs, amulets, saliva, magic squares.

D. Usually encourages the patient to talk

H. Talks much more than the patient.

D. In most cases needs time for cure

H. Provides cure in a moment.

D. Shares the credit with the medicine

H. Shares the credit with his god.

D. Blames himself or viruses or time or medicine or the patient depending

on the circumstances.

H. Invariably always patient are the ones to blame if cure does not happen.

D. Gets money via checks or hospital management.

H. Collects money via buckets, envelopes, pockets, direct-mail-solicitations.

D. Is perceived as a knowledgeable , a helpful person.

H. Is perceived as a divine, a holy partner with god(s).

D. Does not claim of having psychic skills.

H. Claims to know secrets and the future.

D. Gets credit from placebo effect.

H. Gets credit from placebo effect.

D. Must have formal education.

H. Does not need to have formal education

D. His failures are recorded.

H. His failures are not visible.

D. Pays tax.

H. Does not pay tax.

D. Is sued by some patient.

H. Is not being sued by patient.

D. Mostly, performs in clinics.

H. Generally, performs in public.

D. Uses known technology.

H. Usually uses tricks, secret radio communication, confederates.

D. Does not go to faith healers for his health problems.

H. Goes to doctors for his health problems.

IF NAILS ARE JEALOUS

I have many interesting memories twinkling from my four-year prison experience in Turkey (1980 -1983 and 1986). Torture, terrible conditions, overpopulation, dangerous inmates, cockroaches, mice, bribery, shortage of water and food are few of many headlines of long stories. Ironically, there was always fun and amusement, simultaneous with those negative phenomena. I knew how to laugh at tragedies.

One of my inmates was a mystic. He fanatically believed in many things that I did not. After a while, I learned not to take him serious. I enjoyed his friendship. My new attitude created a lot of fun. He was a happy guy like me, and he was not bothered by my sarcastic style. One day I had a head ache. He sincerely wanted to help me. He would get rid of my head ache by nailing the wall. Irresistible curiosity, and moral obligation to show my appreciation for his concern made me accept his offer.

He drew a magic square, five to five, on the wall. He wrote a different letter from the Arabic alphabet in each box, corresponding to a certain number according to the Gematrical system. Then he started hitting the nail with the bottom of a thick glass tea cup. Each hitting would create a shallow hole on the wall. After each nailing he would utter a certain prayer followed by the routine question: "Are you okay now?" At each next box the number of nailing, praying and asking process increased geometrically.

After ten minutes I was tired. But he was more enthusiastic than ever. I had two choices. Either not to get healed, or get healed. Unfortunately, I was not getting healed. However, that moment I acted in an unusual way. I felt pity for him. Therefore I created a third option: I appeared to get healed. It made him happy.

I had no better choice, because I knew that it was not possible to convince him that his method was not working. His method was working with a nonfalsifiable engine. I had no way to prove that his magic boxes, nails and prayers were useless. He would tell me that it did not work because of the vacuum of faith on my part. And he would be right. Indeed, I did not have "faith" in his nail.

Jealous phenomena

Parapsychologists coin the failure of ESP or psi as "jealous phenomena." That is, in the story mentioned above the nail was jealous. The psi phenomenon vanishes when a skeptic or a skeptical "vibration" is around. This is an excellent "explanation" to refute any skeptical examination that does not support the existence psi phenomena. In order to "witness" a phenomenon you must first be "certain" about it. This is a reverse process of what "common sense" requires. It seems that in our daily life, including our scientific studies, we first witness and then believe.

This "jealous phenomenon" in fact, is a "magic phenomenon." It is an eternal armor, it is an everlasting guarantee for all kind of psi claims. It can work for any imaginable weird or extraordinary claim. However, we cannot completely trash the "jealous phenomena" for some paradoxical reason.

Hypnosis adopts this "jealous phenomenon." And it works. We know that a person cannot be hypnotized against his will. In order to experience hypnosis, you must trust and believe in hypnosis, and hypnotists as well. Sure, there is a difference between hypnosis and psi, regarding the strength and volume of this requirement. But, the difference can be justified with a logical explanation: "Hypnosis is a semi-psi phenomenon which requires only the subjects to believe. The skeptical vibrations emitted by audience do not inhibit hypnosis. However, real psi phenomena require more than this."

In sum, if nails are jealous, they can do everything behind locked rooms.

Skeptics are prohibited to enter their domain by a supersensitive and coded jealous lock. And this is the only lock that cannot be opened by skeptics. They will never be able to know the password. I believe that it is hard for philosophers too, to invalidate that lock.

THEY ARE TEASING ALL OF US!

UFO proponents claim:

1) Thousands of eyewitness reports and many photographs prove that UFOs as intelligent extraterrestrial visitors exist, and our planet is being visited by them frequently.

2) There is a world-wide conspiracy to cover-up UFO visits. Governments are hiding this important fact from their citizens.

3) UFOs are abducting humans. Hypnosis sessions confirm abduction stories. Some of the marginal UFO advocates even claim that:

4) The earth is hallow and is inhabited by Nazis. UFOs are their secret aircraft, coming out from a hole at the north pole.

Skeptics claim that UFOs are the product of one or all of three basic factors:

1) Constructive perception and memories. The information coming through our senses is interpreted and filtered by our brain, based on personal faith and previous knowledge. This fact is regardless of person's education and intelligent level. A leading question by an investigator or hypnotist can alter a memory after the fact. This has been demonstrated through many scientific experiments.

2) Misidentification. After examination, most of the UFO claims were founded to have nothing to do with extraterrestrial bodies. In most cases planet Venus, space satellites, rockets, advertising aircraft were perceived as UFO for two main reasons: First, a light in the sky with no background can create visual deceptions, because of lack of cues to judge distance. Extreme emotions due to excitement or fear contributes to misidentification.

3) Hoaxes. Many so-called photographs of UFOs when examined by experts are found to be fake. "UFO photographs are extraordinarily easy to fake: a double exposure, a little trick photography, and you have a very nice-looking UFO photo or film. . . . The numerous UFO pictures of "strange lights in the sky" that show nothing but vague blobs are photos of aircraft, seagulls, or balloons." (Pseudoscience and the Paranormal, Terence Hines, Prometheus Books, New York, 1988, p 185).

Here is a sample argument between a UFO proponent and a skeptic:

Skeptic: UFO enthusiasts rely on eyewitness testimonies which in many cases prove to be illusions or wilful lies.

UFO proponent: Although many UFO sightings are the product of a particular man-made or natural phenomena, still there is an "irreducible minimum" number of sightings that skeptics cannot bring an explanation.

Skeptics: This is very normal. There will always be sightings that cannot be explained, because we cannot get sufficient information about some sightings. Our lack of information does not change illusions to reality. Furthermore, the unexplained pictures do not have sufficient background or clarity in order to evaluate them. "After more than thirty-five years and thousands of sightings, the best photographic evidence consists of a few grainy shots taken by trick photographers or people who claim to have had repeated experiences with UFOs. . . . There is no UFO photo that can be considered genuine showing anything other than vague shapes or blobs of light." (Hines, supra, p 187).

UFO proponent: Well UFOs are "jealous phenomenon". They do not want to be photographed.

Skeptic: Well, we are "curious phenomenon". We don't want to be fooled. We don't accept extraordinary reports without having extraordinary evidence. Alas, you don't have even ordinary one.

UFO proponent: Thousands of reporters have provided more than enough evidence to believe that extraterrestrial creatures are visiting our planet.

Skeptic: Well, thousands of reporters provide tons of "evidences" for their religions or sects. Many miraculous phenomena are being witnessed by sincere believers. For instance, just read this report:

NEW YORK (AP) -- A "weeping" icon believed to have healing powers, . . .

Some believers said the 72-year-old portrait of St. Irene, then on temporary loan to a church in Chicago, wept "tears of grief" at the start of the Persian Gulf War. . . . The icon, painted in 1919 by a monk in Greece, depicts the patron saint of peace and the sick, who is considered by many faithful to have healing powers. (The Arizona Daily Star, December 29, 1991)

UFO proponent: But, there is difference between those believers and UFO eye-witnesses. Some UFO eye-witnesses were skeptics before their experience.

Skeptic: There are also some converts among eye-witnesses of "miraculous" phenomena. I agree that the UFO eye-witnesses are diverse with respect of their religious conviction. However, this does not make them more reliable than the others. We can say the same thing for the eye-witnesses of the "Weeping Icon". They are also diverse as far as their UFOlogious conviction is concerned. Nevertheless, both groups share one important quality: They are woefully gullible and terribly exploited. By the way, do you believe that UFOs are controlled by intelligent extraterrestrial creatures?.

UFO proponent: Obviously, yes?

Skeptic: Let's assume that UFOs are controlled by intelligent extraterrestrial beings. Then, we can imagine several possible intention for them. Here are the ones that I imagined:

1. They want to contact us. But, after decades of trial and thousands of trips, it seems that they have failed. They could only convince a marginal group of people. This immense failure does not seem harmonious with their expected IQ level.

2. They want to make medical experiments on us. This option may explain why they mostly prefer psychologically sick and sexually abused people. However, the number of visits and the time spent on this goal is not compatible with the intelligence of inter-galactic travellers.

3. They secretly want conquer the planet Earth. This option may explain how do they use all governments for cover-up mission. However, this cannot explain why they are still trying to keep this successful coup as a top secret. Are they scared from UFO proponents for some reasons that we don't know?

We can add one more option. It is nonfalsifiable. Like the claims of UFO advocates:

They want to have fun by implementing their idiosyncratic IQ test on us. To me this option is the most probable one. Evidently, the UFO astronauts are very intelligent beings. Therefore, they must have a good sense of humor. They are having fun while creating one of the silliest argument for us. I can safely claim that some of the UFO proponents are the allies of extraterrestrial invaders. They are cooperating with them to carry out their IQ test on us. Extraterrestrial teasers are having fun when they see some "intelligent" humans are foolishly taking them serious. Their fun reaches the zenith when they see the rest of the "intelligent" humans are taking those fools serious.

UFO proponent: I should have expected that you are not serious. Bye, bye.

WHAT WERE THE MAIN FACTORS FOR THE CENTURIES-LONG "DEVILISH" CRUSADE?

>From the beginning of first millennium until the seventeenth century Europe boiled with extremely complicated social, economical and political problems. Though the corruption and problems were very complex and intricate, we can categorize their important ingredients.

Illiteracy was the prime fertilizer of the social corruption. Europe slipped back after the fall of Roman empire. Libraries disappeared. Mathematics lost its meaning and importance. People forgot Greek, the language of literature and science. Philosophy, architecture, poetry, and trade became like todays' endangered species.

Obviously, there were no newspapers. Nobody could read anyway, except the clergy. And a lot of them were faking it--the monks copying manuscripts often had no idea what the words meant, and the parish priests were usually illiterates who memorized the words to the mass and crucial biblical passages (The Millennium Book, Gail Collins, Doubleday, New York, 1991, p.23).

Education is the immune system of a society. When the education system collapses all kinds of viruses attacks the body. Body invites them. Mediavel Europe was dominated by clergy. Ignorant kings were puppets in the hands of power-hungry clergy. Any religious or intellectual threat against clergy used to be killed by by a single word: Devil. If you were not on the side of Church you were on Devil's side. The word Devil was abused by corrupt clergy in order to gain absolute control of people, socially and economically as well. Clergy's "devilish" propaganda finally, created a reaction. Some people started of getting interested with Devil and dualist Eastern religions. This reaction, in turn, created strong justification for clergy's policy.

Initially, heretics were confused with devil worshipers. Church fabricated stories about sexual relations with Devil etc. These stories attracted the curiosity of ignorant masses. The combination of mass illiteracy, fear of devil, joblessness, religious zealotry, devilish holy propaganda got momentum with some practice of witch craft. This mass-craze, finally created one of the worst human atrocities in the history. Self-fulfilling paranoia heralded by clergy, took the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.

The target of social paranoia switched gradually towards women. This switch was not arbitrary. Obviously, the male sexist nature of church's theology was one of the most important factor in this selection. However, mere theology cannot be responsible from such a horrendous long-lasting crime. Besides, there must be a psychological factor. If we reflect on the sexist tradition of Catholic church and the psychological problems related to celibacy we may see some sick motivation behind medieval church's animosity against women: destroy the gender that you are deprived of intimacy with.

The social, political, economical and educational backwardness of mediaeval Europe provided an excellent chance for that revenge.

PRECOGNITION AND RELATED PARANORMAL PHENOMENA

What is the difference between a scientist and a fortuneteller? This is an elementary question. Even many of those who esteem fortunetellers have a vague idea to distinguish scientific predictions from precognition. It is a simple task to trash the whole galaxy of fortunetellers by merely demonstrating the ratio between the number of fake prophecies to the fulfilled prophecies. In many cases the calculation of probability of chance is very difficult, even almost impossible. However, with our comprehensive inference, we can classify those cases as "interesting coincidences" which can happen in the domain of probability.

Many philosophers prefer the wholesale (a priori) denial of precognition by pure reasoning. They refute the concept by putting it in the category of impossibilities. By this way, they save themselves from the difficulty of having to bring explanations to every individual claim. This strategy seems very useful. Philosophers are no more intimidated by those few "interesting" cases. They can easily claim: "We proved the impossibility of precognition logically. Therefore, this very impressive case cannot be accepted as precognition. Our current failure to bring a 'normal' explanation does not necessarily mean that it is a 'paranormal' phenomena.

If we had detailed background information about those cases, or if we could repeat or observe them in our labs then we could explain them in our terminology."

Professor C. D. Broad acknowledges the problem with this wholesale rejection attitude. He thinks that 99 percent of supernormal physical phenomena is not worth of serious attention, since they are either capable of a normal explanation or deliberate fraud. However he believes that the alleged cases of supernormal cognition is worth of philosopher's attention:

In my opinion the evidence, both experimental and non-experimental, for the occurrence of these kinds of supernormal cognition is adequate to establish a strong prima facie case, which philosophers and psychologists cannot ignore without challenging invidious comparisons to the ostrich."

(Philosophy and Parapsychology, edited by Jan Ludwig Ph.D., Prometheus, 1978, p. 177).

The a priori objection can be divided under three titles. In this paper we cannot evaluate these objections, which as you can expect, received objections from other philosophers. Here is the summary of those objections:

1) The Epistemological Objection. Claiming that "someone had a non-inferential veridical precognition of X at a certain time" is a contradictory statement, according to philosophers who object precognition epistemologically. They reject the concept of precognition without feeling any obligation to explain certain impressive cases: "How can it be said that X stood in a certain relation to someone at a time when X did not exist? A non-existing thing or event cannot stand in any relation to anything."

Nevertheless, this objection is rejected by a parallel argument for another case. If this objection to precognition is valid than our memories of events in the past should not exist, or they should be considered as fake as precognition. Memory, being a non-inferential postcognition is similar to non-inferential precognition in regard of non-existence of the event X. The event X does not exist whether it is remembered or prophesied. Therefore, the epistemological objection is not valid.

2) The Casual Objection. How can you foresee an event before it happens, since the event cannot have any effect in your mind or your brain? Any past experience have causal descendants in your remembering them. But an event which has not yet happened cannot have causal descendants until it has happened. Every future event has always a causal ancestor somewhere in the universe. This causal ancestor is outside the mind of a person who "prophecies", unless it is a self-fulfilling prophecy. How can a person foresees an event when that event has no causal representative, either ancestor or descendant, in his/her mind? There are several strong criticism to this objection. Unfortunately, in this short paper we cannot summarize them.

3) The Fatalistic Objection. If ostensible precognition is possible than the event which is prophesied must have already completely predetermined at the time when that precognition took place. In this case we cannot claim that there are different alternatives. Therefore, the concept of ostensible precognition cannot co-exist with the concept of freedom of choice. Some replied the Fatalistic Objection by claiming that we should distinguish a certain pair of statements, such as "the future is predetermined" is very different than "the future is predeterminate." In order to render the concept of precognition intelligible, some philosophers presented new theories, such as the Four-Dimensional World, or the Multi-Dimensional Time theories. The argument continues and it is sometimes a difficult-to-follow ping-pong tournament.

Therefore, in this paper I won't dwell in a priori arguments which can complicate the issue rather than illuminate. I would like to give several examples of different kinds of precognition. I hope that, one day I will be able to classify and evaluate them in detail.

Here I will give three different examples.

1) An impressive psychic reading followed by a possible sceptical explanation.

2) An "interesting" fatalistic pattern in the life of a historical figure which I think is difficult to explain in terms of coincidence.

3) A chain of personal experiences which is presented as a challenge for skeptics. Psychic Reading or Psychic Reaping?

"I should remind you that I (not Edip Yuksel!) used to believe that fortune telling and witchcraft were nonsense; however, a very interesting experience compelled me to believe in them. In 1978 we were coming to Istanbul from Germany for our summer vacation.

We stopped at Luleburgaz (a city about 100 miles away from Istanbul) for a rest. We heard about a fortuneteller in the town. My wife wanted to visit the fortuneteller. So, we went to that small town of Luleburgaz. "There, in a cave-like place we saw an old lady with long gray hair, wrapped in white cloths. She looked at my hand and said: "When you leave here, give some money to the poor girl so and so, in the town. If you don't give her your charity, your car's windshield will be broken in the evening,

and three period of times later you will have surgery from your stomach." I laughed at it and considered it as nonsense and gibberish. "My father in-law lives in Kasimpasha (a region in Istanbul). We are at his house. The sun has just set. A noise from outside! We jumped out. What we see was incredible: Three Gypsy teenagers were running away with clubs in their hands, after braking my car's windshield. Immediately, I remembered the words of fortuneteller lady in Luleburgaz. This time I feared about my stomach. But, I was muscular and I was careful about my diet. There was no reason to have any trouble with my stomach.

"Later, we returned to Germany. Exactly three months after the psychic reading a severe pain in my stomach. I rushed to the hospital. They immediately took me to the surgery room. The readings of the fortuneteller lady was fulfilled verbatim By God, my friend, I don't make comments any more on this kind issues."

These are the "extra-ordinary" experiences of Mr. Yurda, a hairdresser in Yesilkoy, Istanbul. Let's analyze this apparently striking report about a psychic reading. We have two main options:

1. It is probable that the reporter is not remembering all the events correctly. Or, he is just lying for some reasons.

2. If we are satisfied that the reporter is telling the truth, then, we can critically evaluate that particular psychic reading.

Let's assume that this report is accurate. Before evaluating this incident we have to keep in mind an important lacking information: We don't have any idea about how many of psychic readings of that fortuneteller did not materialize. Yurda's whole story may be merely a winning lottery ticket with only two digits consisted of an odd (broken windshield) and an even (surgery) number.

Even if we isolate this incident, still it does not necessitate a paranormal mechanism. Below is one of the possible comments that we can make. The accuracy of our evaluations are proportionally related to the volume of accurate details we know about so-called psychic readings. Here is a simple explanation

The fortuneteller must have a high income, since she is well known in that region. Her town is on the route of Turkish workers who come from Germany. The poor girl whom she recommended for charity is most likely her relative or confederate employee. There is a gang of Gypsy teenagers around, hired by the fortuneteller to monitor naive clients. Our hero, Mr. Yurda, while visiting the fortuneteller lady did not believe her readings.

He exposed his disbelief by not paying "charity" to the recommended "poor girl" in the town. Obviously, disbeliever visitors are potential danger for the reputation and business of the fortuneteller. They should be punished occasionally. If the punishment can serve as an advertisement for the fortuneteller, it is the best punishment. The Gypsy gang saw that Mr. Yurda did not stop by to pay the recommended money. Therefore, they followed him with their car to implement the prescribed scheme. As a matter of fact, they carried their job at Mr. Yurda's next stop. Mr. Yurda acknowledges this fact, since he, by chance, saw the Gypsy teenagers with clubs in their hands. Otherwise, he would likely interpret the incident as "an extra-ordinary explosion of windshield by demons".

Luleburgaz, the hometown of the fortuneteller lady, is one of the famous location of Gypsy minority. However, Mr. Yurda lost his rational ability when he saw his car's broken windshield. He must have had a conscious or subconscious doubt in favor of the credibility of fortuneteller, since he chose a paranormal interpretation for a normal event. The shock of the event made this irrational perception easier for him.

His mind made a leap from broken windshield to the "prophecy" of the fortuneteller lady. While his eyes saw the Gypsy teenagers, his mind did not see their tricky relation with the fortuneteller. We can claim that Mr. Yurda's initial disbelief in fortune telling and witchcraft was not based on a well established intellectual knowledge. Therefore, he easily fell in the trap.

The second prediction, that is, the surgery in the stomach is a very clever augury. First, it is a common health problem among adult males. The probability of having a stomach ulcer is pretty high among Turkish population (there may be correlation with extreme smoking). A clever fortuneteller bets on a winning horse, not on a lame one. Furthermore, the fortuneteller increased this probability by a clever chronology. She prophesied the stomach surgery after the breaking of windshield. Indeed, Mr. Yurda increased his risk of having a stomach surgery by his belief in the first prediction, that is the broken windshield. As a matter of fact, he acknowledges that he started concerning about his stomach just after the windshield incident.

A self-fulfilling prophecy! He incubated a strong belief about having a stomach problem in "three periods of time". This conscious and subconscious strong negative faith must have created a permanent stress. This stress, probably supported by overeating and smoking etc., eventually created ulcer in his stomach after three months. Stress, according to the modern medical studies, is one of the main factors which cause ulcer.

The "three periods of time" is a very vague and broad expression. Psychic readers deliberately and commonly use this kind of vague expressions to extend the time period of their prediction, virtually until the death of their clients. This unique expression provides an apparently very specific timing. Unfortunately, many people perceive it that way. However, in reality, it is a little bit more specific than saying "in your life time".

In our case, the "three periods of time" serves another important function towards the goal of the experienced fortuneteller. It will supply Mr. Yurda with continuous stress in frequently repeated climaxes. Three days, three weeks, three months, three seasons, three years are all "three periods of times." Each of these periods would create high stress for Mr. Yurda, since he was strongly expecting the retribution. Finally, it happened. After surviving the three days, and the three weeks, Mr. Yurda was defeated by "three months".

Naive Mr. Yurda, evidently, payed dearly for believing the fortuneteller. Ironically, he became a very efficient advertiser of that crook: a volunteer and sincere advertiser... He was punished to advertise his enemy. He became a double victim: Physically and mentally. We can infer that the fortuneteller lady in Luleburgaz (probably her bosses) is very experienced and clever. Her prophecy about Mr. Yurda intrinsically contains the "punishment of advertising" in the case of disbelief. She, thus, guarantees a positive fame for her business.

If the client believes the fortuneteller and pays the money, then, the job is accomplished. His car's windshield won't be broken that night without reason. Even if he suffers stomach pains later, he won't remember the fortuneteller. Because he had wiped out that psychic threat from his memory by paying the money. Even if he remembers the psychic he would most likely blame himself by thinking that he must had paid little money to the recommended "poor" girl.

If the client does not pay the money, and furthermore, makes fun of the fortuneteller, then, the first part of the reading will be carried out on him. He, out of naive faith, will most likely inflict the second part of the reading by himself. Ultimately, he will be an unfortunate evangelist for the fortuneteller.

Fortune telling is one of the oldest and biggest fraud in human history. There are thousands of fortuneteller around. But, not even one of them can predict the number of a winning ticket in the lottery. Not a single of them can predict the unknown ten digits of pi. However, they are very successful in reaping off naive people. They make good money. Their only product is self-fulfilling prophecies on mentally abused and econimically exploited clients.

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

The life of M. Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, is claimed to be encoded by number 19. This interesting pattern was first published in 1951 in Turkey, long before the discovery of 19 which was claimed to be the code of an intricate mathematical structure in the Quran. Those who examined the mathematical system and accepted it as an ultimate proof about the divine origin of the Quran have a coherent interpretation for this historical pattern. They claim that it is a divine sign from God, to show that He supported M. Kemal Ataturk to end the rule of corrupt Ottoman Caliphate and Muslim clergymen who were abusing God's name.

Here are some of the historical facts from Ataturk's life:

(19x101). (May 19 is the greatest official holiday in Turkey).

The proponents of the "Miraculous Mathematical System of the Quran" assert that this and similar phenomena are the examples of God's promise in the Quran:

"We will show them our signs in the horizons, and within themselves, until they realize that this is truth. Is your Lord not sufficient? He witnesses all things" (41:53).

The interpretation of this mathematical pattern in the life of Ataturk, or its relation to the so-called mathematical miracle of the Quran is not relevant here. What is relevant is this: if it is accepted as an unintended pattern it refutes one of the objections made against the possibility of precognition. In other words, if you have difficulty in accepting this historical pattern as a mere coincidence, then you must have difficulty in rejecting precognition based on fatalistic objection.

My Personal Experience:

In my personal life, I have experienced some fascinating events which have exhausted my scepticism about the ossibility of paranormal. The following experiences can be considered as examples for two sorts of paranormal phenomena:

1) Paranormal Relationship,

2) Inferential Prophecies or Veridical and Ostensible Precognition.

FT-19

In an international conference held in August 1980 I heard about the mathematical system of the Quran from A. Deedat, a lecturer from South Africa. I was excited, because the code of the system was my number. Two years prior to that conference I had decided to organize a group of students according to then my political position. I had thought about a name for the group. I came up with an original name: FT-19 (abbreviation of Fatih-19), which means Victory-19. At that time I had no idea about the role of number 19 in the Quran. It was just an arbitrary (!) choice. My organization was interrogated by police. It's name was published several times in the national newspapers. I was referred by my friends as "Mr. 19".

It was an interesting coincidence for me to hear that my number was the code of the most important book in my life, the Quran. Then, I published several books on the mathematical system of the Quran. This experience, by itself, can be interpreted as mere coincidence and its impact on my further life.

"Three Forty one"

My personal experiences are obviously nonfalsifiable subjective cases. But, they can be supported by diverse witnesses and falsifiable evidences. Here, I'll tell you the most fascinating one. The one that dramatically changed my entire life. This paper will not be enough to put it in its context. Thus, consider this as a snap-shot picture from the middle of a long story.

In 1st of July 1986, I made the greatest decision in my life. I came to the conclusion that the religion which I inherited from my parents were abysmally corrupted. My ninth book, The "Dangerous Articles," starts by mentioning the importance of that day. I had to criticize and reject most of my previous religious position published in my best-seller eight books.

I rejected the conventional traditional religion. My extensive research brought me to a startling conviction: Traditional Islam had nothing to do with Muhammad's original teaching. It could not be God's religion. Several months after that crucial day and decision, I encountered a big intellectual and spiritual problem. I found myself in a big dilemma. We discovered the the mathematical structure of the Quran rejects two verses (the last verses of Chapter 9). This was a very serious issue, since Muslim believe that the Quran is perfectly preserved by God. In fact verse 9 of Chapter 15 guarantees the protection of the Quran from human intervention.

I was confused, I was scared. I could not solve the problem. The mathematical code of the Quran, which I had no doubt about it, was exposing those two verses as man-made insertions. Indeed, there was some historical evidences about certain controversial arguments on those two verses.

However, the consensus of Islamic community was clear. The problem needed a crucial "Yes" or "No" from me. But, that would determine my fate, in this world and in hereafter as well. It was the most important issue in my life. I could be killed by fanatics because of my "Yes" answer. But, I was concerning about finding the truth. For approximately two weeks I was lost. I was persistently praying to God, asking a "sign" to save me from that dilemma. "God give me a sign" was my repeated prayer. One day, in November 23, 1986, at 1:30, I was alone sitting in my office trying to finish the second volume of "Interesting Questions." However the terrible paradox was eating my soul. I prayed again: "My Lord give me a sign." Suddenly an unusual thing happened. My heart started beating vigorously, as if I had run five miles.

First time in my life, I had that kind of heart beat without a reasonable reason. Shortly, I heard a very clear voice from my HEART. Repeating in Turkish: "Uc Kirkbir! Uc Kirkbir! Uc Kirkbir!", that is, "Three Forty one, Three Forty one, Three Forty one". I don't remember exactly how many times it repeated. My excitement was in climax. I was shocked. The only thing came to my mind at that moment was to look at the Quran, 3:41 (Chapter Three, Verse Forty one). My excitement reached to infinity with the greatest pleasure that I could ever get. The verse 3:41 was exactly repeating my Turkish prayer in Arabic with its Quranic answer:

He said, "My Lord, give me a sign." He said, "Your sign is that you do not speak to the people for three days, except by signals. You shall commemorate your Lord frequently, and meditate night and day." (3:41).

This extraordinary event not only saved me from the worst situation I have ever had, but it also thought me a great lesson: Don't care much about what people think about you. Seek the truth without any personal agenda. Later, somehow, I wanted to see whether there is any relation between this exciting experience and my accepting the Quran alone as the source of my religion. I was assured by an astounding mathematical relation. The number of days between 1st of July 1986 (the most important day in my life), and 23rd of November 1986 was exactly 114 (19x6) days, which is the total number of the chapters of the Quran. .

I am familiar with engineering, philosophy and psychology. But, I cannot doubt that event. For the sake of sceptics I cannot ignore or depreciate its factual existence in my history. However, to show that I am aware of paranormal problems, here I will list some of the possible objections by skeptics:

1. The narrator's subconscious, under strong stress, may have remembered the verse number where his prayer is mentioned.

2. It may be a schizophrenic event. The verse number and its matching text is coincidence.

3. The narrator is lying. Passport in 1st of July After my crucial decision in 1st of July 1986, I, as an ex-convicted political activist, started to fight against the government to get a passport. Though, I had two uncles in the National Congress, it took me two years to receive a passport. Interesting enough, the date of issue on my passport was 1 July 1988. Surely, this also can be objected as mere coincidence selected by a biased mind.

The birth date of my son, Yahya (John): 1st of July I was a virgin single until my early thirties. The verses 3:41 mentioned above was related to Zachariah and his son Yahya (John). Thus, I felt sympathy with the name Yahya. Just after I experienced the incredible paranormal experience, I gave a silly promise to God: "If I marry, and if I have a son, I will name him Yahya." This promise remained a secret between me and God, until my wife surprised me with another coincidence:

In 1989 I married here, in US with an Iranian-American lady. Soon after marriage she got pregnant. I was concerned: how can I convince her about the name Yahya if the baby is a boy? I was waiting for a good day and mood to talk about this issue. Another incredible thing happened. One night, two or three weeks after learning the pregnancy, she came to me and first time talked about the name of the baby. She suggested only one name: Yahya. (This name is a rare name in Turkey and rarer in Iran). I thanked God, and told her my story regarding my silly promise to God.

In the meantime, we received two interesting letters. One was from a close friend, who just had heard the pregnancy. He did not have any idea about my promise regarding the name. In his letter he wrote a prayer: "May God raise your child like Yahya." Why like Yahya? We had numerous heroes in our history. Another coincidence? My wife's mother's letter (again, within several weeks of the pregnancy), contained a poem about our coming baby.

The name of the poet was Yahya. We witnessed some other interesting cases regarding that name. Therefore, I became convinced that our child is a boy and he will born in the 1st of July, as a God's reward for my sincere decision and strive. I announced my prediction regarding the gender and birth-date of our child to more than thirty people in a meeting. The predicted day came, and the baby disproved the predictions of doctors and came to the world in the morning of 1st of July 1990. Both we hugged him by saying: "Welcome Yahya." He was a boy, indeed.

In conclusion

An a priori principle rendering the impossibility of supernormal precognition is a short-cut way of avoiding philosophical problems. Unfortunately, many facts were lost in the jungle of pure reasoning throughout the history. Any philosophical attempt to create a priori principles must simultaneously examine each step of reasoning by corresponding rival evidences. Many brilliant philosophers have lost their touch with the external world by relying an pure reasoning. (Remember Berkeley). There are impressive cases of paranormal phenomena which need special attention. The abundance of fake or misinterpreted cases does not prove that all of them are the same.

Though, I can produce some documents and witnesses regarding my paranormal experiences, I believe they cannot provide for others a substantial proof for the metaphysical implications of those experiences. They can be refuted by several sceptical arguments. However, if the mathematical system of the Quran is a solid proof for its authenticity, then, my related experiences cannot be easily categorized with hallucination, or selective cognition, or memory reconstruction, etc. The good news for sceptics: the mathematical system of the Quran is falsifiable. Face the challenge.

Edip Yuksel

ICS/Monotheist Publication

P.O. Box 43476

Tucson, AZ 85733-3476

Telephone/Fax (520) 323-7636