religion-practice

Why Divination Works (Psychologically) In 1948, psychologist Bertram Forer gave his students a personality test. Then he gave each one a "unique" personality analysis based on their results. The analysis said things like: "You have a great need for other people to like and admire you. You

The Science of Divination Humans have been asking the future for answers since before we had writing to record the questions. Bones cracked over fire. Entrails inspected for omens. Yarrow stalks cast according to ancient algorithms. Cards shuffled and laid in spreads. Stars mapped onto personality and fate. In every

What Anomalies Teach Us: A Synthesis Series: Anomalous Cognition | Part: 9 of 9 Primary Tag: FRONTIER SCIENCE Keywords: anomalous experience, consciousness, cognition, epistemology, edge cases, synthesis We've spent eight articles examining the strange edges of human experience—telepathy, precognition, near-death experiences, mystical states, sudden insight, prophecy, synchronicity, and

Consciousness and the Paranormal: The Hard Problem Connection Series: Anomalous Cognition | Part: 8 of 9 Primary Tag: FRONTIER SCIENCE Keywords: consciousness, hard problem, paranormal, materialism, dualism, philosophy of mind Here's something strange about the anomalous cognition debates: they keep pointing to consciousness. Telepathy implies mind-to-mind connection. Precognition implies

Synchronicity: Meaningful Coincidence or Apophenia? Series: Anomalous Cognition | Part: 7 of 9 Primary Tag: FRONTIER SCIENCE Keywords: synchronicity, Jung, meaningful coincidence, apophenia, probability, cognitive bias You're thinking about someone you haven't talked to in years. The phone rings. It's them. You dream about an

Nostradamus and Pattern-Matching: Why We See Prophecy Series: Anomalous Cognition | Part: 6 of 9 Primary Tag: FRONTIER SCIENCE Keywords: prophecy, Nostradamus, hindsight bias, confirmation bias, pattern recognition Nostradamus predicted Hitler. He predicted 9/11. He predicted the COVID pandemic. Or did he? The 16th-century French astrologer wrote nearly a thousand