Monday, January 25, 2010

The Sixth Sense?

I’m reading a fabulous book about the history and development of modern physics as it applies to the origins of the universe. I can totally geek out over this stuff. And while some who might misunderstand the nature and character of science might think this information is contradictory to my spiritual beliefs, in fact, it is not.

So I think it’s funny that just as I'm reading about Einstein’s early ‘career’ my daughter says, “Oh, Mama—can I tell you something that happened at school today? I was sitting by Ethan at lunch and he was playing hangman with another kid and I could tell just from where he put the “E”s in the words what it answer was. It was Albert Einstein.”

“Um.” I said. “What made you think of that all of a sudden?”

“I don’t know,” she answered, “I just remembered it.”

“I’m reading about Albert Einstein right now. I don’t know that I’ve ever read about Einstein before. And I had no idea you even knew who Einstein was.”

“Who is he, anyway?” she asked.

I believe that science is testable and provable. I don’t believe in coincidences.

I might still believe in them if things like this didn’t happen so darn often. Not necessarily to this degree of oddity, mind you, but with enough regularity it gives me cause to wonder what, exactly, is happening when someone in my family appears to be able to read the mind of another. Well, not “read the mind,” per se, but, like pick up on things in other people’s heads.

My grandmother once had a dream that a family acquaintance died and then found out the next day that, in fact, he had been killed in an accident during the night. (I can’t remember the details, Dad—correct me if I’m wrong. And did you say you had a dream like that once, too?) I had a dream about my mom’s dad (Pa) in which his departed wife (Nana) appeared and indicated that she was going to take Pa with her. I found out the next day that he’d been admitted to the hospital overnight with serious heart issues (he did not die that night). Then there was that crazy dream I had on the morning of September 11th, 2001 which turned out to be eerily prophetic.

But it isn’t just dreams. It happens more often than I can accurately quantify that an obscure song unexplainably pops into my head while I'm standing in the kitchen and then I find out later that right around the same time, Dan heard it on the PA system in a convenience store somewhere. Or vice versa.

While I believe this kind of connection is related in some way to spirituality, my inclination is to believe that there is also a scientific explanation for this sort of extra-sensory perception. To date, I have yet to hear any credible theory (not that I’ve been looking for one or anything, so if any of you know something about this, please do share.)

Meanwhile, Dan and I have chalked it up to both of us using the same brain. But if Eiledon’s using it now, too, can it be more than a matter of time before Gavin moves in? Things are going to get a little crowded in there. Maybe Dan and I should move to a tropical island and just sip rum on the beach while the kids are in college. They’ll probably get better grades.

1 comment:

  1. There have been two experiences that make me a beliver in ESP (although one who thinks it probably is a rare occurrence).

    First, my mother (your grandmother, Bek) had a dream one night when we were at the cabin in Michigan. When she got up the next morning she told all of us that she had had the "funniest dream"; she had dreamed that a classmate of my sister's, Richard Lee, was lying in a hospital room surrounded by all kinds of bottles of medicine. We found out later that the night of her dream Richard Lee had had a serious auto accident in Columbus, Ohio, and ended up in very serious condition in the hospital.

    The other experience was my own. When I grew up on Westmont Blvd. our neighbor was Paul Swank and his wife. They had no children and Paul Swank sort of adopted me as his son. Among other things he used to show me the glass-encased model of a Great Lakes freighter he had in his study. This, and my own viewing of Great Lakes freighters on Lake Erie and later in Michigan began my love affair with these ships and with great lakes history in general.

    One night, after we had moved from Westmont Blvd. to our home on Crafton Park, about two miles away, I had a dream. In that dream I heard a voice saying: "If you don't go see Paul Swank's freighter model tonight, you'll never see it again." The next morning I turned on the T.V. news and learned that Paul Swank had been in an automobile accident the previous evening and had died shortly after the accident. While I have seen Paul Swank's model freighter since - in fact own it, since Paul Swank's widow sold it to my parents so they could give it to me - I am totally convinced I received an ESP message the night Paul Swank died.

    Dad :o)

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