Signal Graces or psychotic magical thinking?

[dostoyevskyfan]

First off, I get paranoid often but it usually ends up that people are actually conspiring against me. I was driving in my car the other day listening to the radio and the DJ said, “How long has it been since your last confession?” It had nothing to do with Catholicism. I think it was some kind of promotion on the radio that had to do with song requests and listeners favorite songs. It turns out I haven’t been to mass in 3 weeks, and I went to confession 2 weeks ago but didn’t go to mass the next day. So it’s been 2 weeks.

Was God speaking to me through the radio and trying to tell me to get my … back into confession or was it just magical thinking. Sometimes I take what people say out of context or what I read on a billboard or somewhere and ascribe it some other type of meaning as it relates to myself.

How do you determine the difference between magical thinking and signal graces? Has anyone had a similar experience?

 

[Deb_H]

I get that stuff ALL the time … I have no authoritative answers on it , I was at one point taught that it was in fact signal graces and I should not ignore them . The person telling me that was not Catholic and did not use that phrase , but that was her intent . I think God uses whatever means He can to help us , and that includes that little nudge we get when we hear something . Its like a verbal highlighter . If you dont have any reaction to something I would say perhaps it is just a random occurrence , but if it comes with a nudge and a question I would certainly pay attention and in your case I would examine my conscience and see what was there and get my patootie to confession and to mass if at all possible . I am curious as to how others think and what you end up thinking about this , please keep posting ! Thanks for bringing the question up .

 

[3DOCTORS]

I think we all get some of these nudges, I know I’ve gotten some. It’s important to use discernment, though.

Has anyone had – or known someone with – the opposite issue? I have a friend who is so into this that she doesn’t seem to want to say “I decided to do (whatever)” anymore in recent years, it’s “God told me to do (whatever).” If it rains and she prayed for rain, she points that out. Other people have gotten irritated and pointed out to her that she was not the only one who prayed for rain or sun or whatever. I mean, it’s hard to separate out, I know she is sincere about a lot of it and really does want to be close to God, and she doesn’t have any serious mental illness (though she does have eccentricities, but so do I and many people).

The point is, though, I do see some of what she does as childlike magical thinking and sometimes it has caused conflict between us. I am working to adopt a more patient attitude and to just react with neutrality to some of it, which helps some. Your thoughts?

 

[GerardMajella]

It’s a normal, psychological phenomenon to focus your attention on sensory stimuli in your environment that resonate with your thought patterns.

A perfect example: You are thinking about purchasing a new car. You do some research, and decide that you want to purchase a Honda Civic. You’ve never seen a Honda Civic before as far as you can tell – It’s just like any other car. But, you look at the pictures of the car on the Honda web site, study its features, maybe even peruse the brochures.

I guarantee the next time you go out on the road, Honda Civics are going to be jumping out of the blue and capture your attention everywhere you turn. Hey, there’s one on the freeway!

You get the idea. If you’re thinking about confession, it’s not uncommon to hear conversations, radio dialogue, and other stimuli in your environment that resonate with this thought.

Now, that is not to say that these aren’t signal graces, either. They could very well be. But it could also be normal, psychological functioning of your mental alertness to things, people, places, and ideas that are of high interest to you.

In your environment, you are bombarded with tons of stimuli and information, and you have to filter this information to decide what is most important to you. If you are constantly thinking about going to confession, anything in your environment related to confession is going to jump out at you.

Sometimes, however, things like this are just too uncanny. I have had numerous personal experiences such as yours that are just too indescribably unique to not be signal graces.

 

[Deb_H]

It’s a normal, psychological phenomenon to focus your attention on sensory stimuli in your environment that resonate with your thought patterns.

A perfect example: You are thinking about purchasing a new car. You do some research, and decide that you want to purchase a Honda Civic. You’ve never seen a Honda Civic before as far as you can tell – It’s just like any other car. But, you look at the pictures of the car on the Honda web site, study its features, maybe even peruse the brochures.

I guarantee the next time you go out on the road, Honda Civics are going to be jumping out of the blue and capture your attention everywhere you turn. Hey, there’s one on the freeway!

You get the idea. If you’re thinking about confession, it’s not uncommon to hear conversations, radio dialogue, and other stimuli in your environment that resonate with this thought.

Now, that is not to say that these aren’t signal graces, either. They could very well be. But it could also be normal, psychological functioning of your mental alertness to things, people, places, and ideas that are of high interest to you.

In your environment, you are bombarded with tons of stimuli and information, and you have to filter this information to decide what is most important to you. If you are constantly thinking about going to confession, anything in your environment related to confession is going to jump out at you.

Sometimes, however, things like this are just too uncanny. I have had numerous personal experiences such as yours that are just too indescribably unique to not be signal graces.

I certainly agree . The difference I can see is that when God touches you as one of these events happen , its unmistakable . His touch is not like any thought I have ever had , and I dont know where He keeps that highlighter He is forever using either ! lol

 

[3DOCTORS]

I think this helps me understand even more the situation with my friend. She underwent a conversion and so now maybe she’s **trying so hard **that everything becomes overly significant. She definitely has some OCD, and even is admitting to it more these days. And I have OCD myself, so “it takes one to know one” (and sometimes to be irritable with one).

Being around her makes me wonder if I compartmentalize God too much at times myself. But God did create us as individuals and we’re to use our intellect and will, right?

Venting just a bit now; please bear with me:

My friend seems to never want to claim her decisions as her own anymore. It’s as if, if she doesn’t mentally categorize every decision as based on what "I heard (whatever she thinks God told her to do). . . " or “God told me . . .” that she is afraid she’s not giving God the credit for directing her life along the right path?

She also “corrects” others including me, if, for instance, I/they remark about something like a sunset she has to remind us that God made it; or mention a problem, remind us to pray, etc. in this sort of kindergarten teacher way. It irritates me.:banghead:

I want to say sometimes, “I *know *it’s God, I’m not stupid and I’m not an atheist and I do pray and I do give God credit. Stop nagging!”

OK. Got it out of my system. My friend was not always this way, and it has taken some getting used to. :coolinoff:

 

[pat]

There’s a balance to this sort of thing: There are people who refuse to believe that any coincidence is incapable of being a form of communication from heaven, and people who believe everything relating to their life is a unique supernatural intervention. Perhaps the latter group need our prayers more as they might become presumptuous of receipt of “signal graces” and neglect what is necessary in the temporal order.

 

[HCC]

One Friday night in December 2000, I was walking in Chicago and could not get thoughts of becoming a priest out of my head. I finally said to the Lord, “Lord, if that is your will, please give me a clear sign. Not an indication, but an absolutely clear sign.”

I turned a corner and–“Oh NO!” I yelled inside, as I looked up at an all black billboard with just a little white cut-out representing a priest’s collar, with the slogan in bold, "ARE YOU CALLED?"

What do you think of THAT?

 

[MindOverMatter2]

Was God speaking to me through the radio and trying to tell me to get my … back into confession or was it just magical thinking. Sometimes I take what people say out of context or what I read on a billboard or somewhere and ascribe it some other type of meaning as it relates to myself.

How do you determine the difference between magical thinking and signal graces? Has anyone had a similar experience?

You can’t determine the difference. God sometimes uses natural events to speak to people. The thing with natural events, they are not in a strict sense designed, but it may never-the-less be within Gods providence that you would look in a particular direction or switch on the radio just as a message with divine connotations was being advertised. Sometimes the meaning can be so strong and consistent with your needs it can leave a strong impression that somebody is trying to communicate with you. If God is in fact communicating with you, the means that he uses is so subtle that you cannot really prove that it isn’t just a chance event. Its a matter of faith. But in any case, you should not ignore them, because they can be reminders of our forgotten duty.

I often have strange experiences concerning what I call “future recollections”. I interpret my self as having dreamt something, forgotten it, and then it happens in real life; but I only realise that I have seen this thing or dreamt it before as I am experiencing it, and I can almost tell what is going to happen next or what someone is going to say; its on the tip of my tongue, but I never quite remember in time before the event has fully occurred. Some shrug this of as dajuvu, a trick of the mind. But it could also be that I have dreamt the future. Its a matter of faith at the end of the day.

 

[GloriousOrder]

If an off-hand remark on the radio just seems “eerie” or “spookie”, then it is probably your imagination, or psychological progression. It seems, to me, that you can discern a “call”/signal grace by how it affects you. When you heard the radio D.J. mention confession off-handed, did it really make you pause and stare off into space, lost in thought? This having been the case, it was probably God suggesting to you, subtly, to listen to that radio station at that particular hour. On the other hand, if it just seemed like an eerie coincidence and you didn’t waste much time thinking about it just after the event, it was probably just a coincidence.

If something is really of the Lord, He will make it known in your mind.

 

[rosary_kat]

One Friday night in December 2000, I was walking in Chicago and could not get thoughts of becoming a priest out of my head. I finally said to the Lord, “Lord, if that is your will, please give me a clear sign. Not an indication, but an absolutely clear sign.”

I turned a corner and–“Oh NO!” I yelled inside, as I looked up at an all black billboard with just a little white cut-out representing a priest’s collar, with the slogan in bold, "ARE YOU CALLED?"

What do you think of THAT?

Get thee to a seminary!