What do you make of this if you are a non believer?
For instance many Saints had them and lay people have them also, are these figments of their imaginations? What is the explanation for this phenomenon. If it can be even called one.
Can you deny to that person or to a Saint that that did happen to them?
Example, Marian apparitions, dreams, encounters with Jesus, Mary or an Angel, locutions.
Thanks in advance.
No, I do not deny those things happen to people. I’ve had some things like that happen in my own life. Some, I have reason to take seriously, others, not so much. (in my own life)
Some of them, I think there are very understandable natural explanations for. Having studied how the mind works and interprets stimuli and information, many of those things make more sense to me than they once did. People can and do experience all manner of powerful mental images in response to deep desire, excitement, fear, or in mind states brought about by certain mental or physical activities.
People interpret things they experience according to what they know and desire. So, a Muslim may see Allah’s name when they cut open a watermelon, I would not. A Catholic might see the image of the virgin in a water stain or the grain of the wood on a wall, a Buddhist would not interpret it that way. A pagan might notice various happenings in their yard and say it was the work of the wood nymphs, while their Christian neighbors might say it’s just the mischeivious crows.
As a natural pantheist, I start from the assumption that there is a natural explanation, because that is MY understanding of the cosmos, where someone of a supernatural faith might start from the base that there is a supernatural explanation…then we’d work from there to come up with an explanation that suited our beliefs.
How does a Catholic or Christian interpret such events when they occur to people of other belief systems? Do you assume that the deities of other faiths must be real because some of their followers have seen them, heard them, had a miracle event occur due to their intercession? No, you explain them from your understanding…that it is demonic, or the person is deluded, or perhaps a chemical substance, or sleep deprivation, or a dream, or deep meditation caused them to imagine it.
Same here, except I begin from the understanding that there is a natural explanation for it.
I’ve been to speeches or concerts and afterwords discussed them with others who were there…some say “that was so powerful, I could feel the energy in the room” another will say “that was dead boring, I kept falling asleep” another will say " I could see light all around his while he spoke" and another " I swear I saw his face morph into a demonic grin when he spoke about this."
Our experiences are colored by our moods, expectations, needs, health, etc.
I don’t think those experiences are meaningless, or silly, but I don’t interpret other people’s anomalous experiences to be proof that their religion is ultimate truth. I can’t. I’d go nuts trying to find the “real” truth, because every belief system has these types of stories to tell.What the stories have in common is humanity, I think these types of experiences have to do with human interpretation.
Even the Catholic church recognizes the shakey ground of these sorts of private revelations, etc, they do not state that the faithful MUST accept them, and they are very slow to call anything a miracle or verify such occurances.
So, my attitude is “I believe that those people saw what they said they saw, or experienced what they said they did, but what does that mean for me?”
If I feel there is something of use to be taken from another’s experience, I take it, if not, I leave it be.
