I'm sure most of you are acquainted with it, but I've recently been researching Subconscious Cold Reading: Cold Reading that happens without an attempt at deception. Karla McLaren is a prime example. She has quite the bio; she used to believe that her abilities were some form of psychic New Age power, and then she realized the truth and since then is still able to enjoy using her skills, just under a truthful and scientific viewpoint; which she clearly explains to all her clients.

Furthermore, I'm trying to discover what leads someone to the brink of transcendental temptation: the point where they begin to think they are really psychic and are therein usually really fubar. Banachek briefed on this in is PSI series, and I've heard it talked about in many a cold and contact reading resource, including Reader of Minds by Paul Voodini (which I absolutely love).

What are your personal thoughts on the two?

You don't want my thoughts.

But I will say that to use "fubar" to describe people, especially those you don't know is telling!

Peace

Tony

Well obviously McLaren doesn't appear to be so, but there are many who have gone simply dotty. Technically there is no such thing as fubar.

Tony-

Your take on this would be valuable, I'd sure love to hear it.



"...the point where they begin to think they are really psychic and are therein usually really fubar."

I went thru this. After I trimmed the Ego a tad, I came to the assumption that what it all was, was normal somehow, and valid. I didn't necessarily need to discover the definitions and explanations of the processes, just needed learn to use them correctly.

What leads someone to that point, I think, is the accuracy of the evidence.

It's how you handle all that that determines Fubar or not Fubar.

So everyone understands, "fubar" is an acronym meaning "f'd up beyond repair"

Accuracy of evidence referring to personal experience or other's words?

Slight Note: (I primarily use fubar as I'm a programmer, and there's a common variable name known as foobar (as derived from fubar). I hope I didn't offend anyone. I put it in to mean seriously in trouble with possible mental health issues.)

It is a military acronym meaning as I stated. Using it to describe anyone, never mind a group of people because they have a different outlook or belief system is, well I'll leave it up to you to decide.

I'm not going to debate as we are all entitled to look upon the world in our own ways.

Peace to all,

Tony

If you believe that people such as McLaren really were psychic or could communicate with spirits before, then my apologies.

Im sure Derren Brown's "The system" special is a great starting point for questions such as these.

Another source you may like to look at is called "A mind of its own how your brain distorts and deceives" by an author called Cordelia Fine. Her work doesn't deal with psychics per sea but the discussions are just as applicable.

I have been reading on and off for many years, and doing more now than ever. I really enjoy it, perhaps more than any other aspect of my work.
In the beginning I hit some remarkable successes. My ex-wife also did a bit of reading. Both of us began in the same way: Joe Riding's Learn the Tarot in Seven Days. She never progressed beyond this, while I have read extensively on the topic. Both of us gave some very accurate and surprising readings.
I am firmly grounded by a strong atheism and a sense of scepticism. She is also a non-believer, but through lack of conviction rather than strong conviction. She, I think, believed that she had some gift that the Tarot was unfolding. I never believed this.
I have a strong sense that we are all intuitive (in the sense of unconsciously assessing factors and getting feelings about them). I do not believe there is anything psychic, supernatural, or otherworldly about the process. It is a complex psychological process, nothing more.

I think SNAFU would be kinda more appropriate here...

Not how it is usually used but think about it...

Nothing supernatural is really going on but if you want to believe then...

"Situation Normal, All F'cked Up" it is...

Fubar pie

Come on guys! No need to be insulting to people with different beliefs, right?
If believing that psychic phenomenon is real (as many very smart people do) makes you FUBAR, what about believing in any of the major religions?
What about the less than major religions?
If you believe you are psychic and you help people would that make you FUBAR?
Or what if you don't believe you are psychic but through counseling, therapy or medicine you harm them?

In the spirit of the discussion;

I think a lot of the skeptical bent, which refers to people who believe in psychic phenomenon as fubar, was popularized by a bunch of skeptical REMF's who never dealt with readings and readers in the first place (see Craig Browning's free ebook posted a few weeks ago). The grunts, even skeptical ones, seem to be a lot more understanding in general.

BTW, the main point of this second post was to share the term REMF with everyone, which I just looked up after completing the FU trilogy in my above post.
REMF is a great term that I only just learned, if you don't know what it means ...google it.

I encourage others to incorporate military slang into their responses.

I think he's talking about the ones who DO go over the edge in their beliefs.

I knew one woman who kept her old dog alive and in pain, for at least a year, waiting for the dog to 'tell her', psychically, when it was ready to die.

She was sure ignoring the signals I was getting from that dog.

Having dealt with painful deaths of humans and animals I can understand having powerfully mixed feelings about euthanasia.
One persons waiting for a psychic message could be another's uncertainty or someone else's fear.

I know someone who has done the same thing in the belief that death is natural and things happen the way they are supposed to.
Personally I find this belief system (held by someone who is conveniently wealthy and privileged) to be more than a little upsetting. I don't have a full conclusion drawn from that statement, but it seemed related. I think some people would find one belief system acceptable and the other repugnant, even though the results are the same.



PS I apologize to any Pogues, REMFs or Fobbits who might have been offended by my last post.