So you're saying demons are undetectable? How can you know a demon exists and is there, if they're undetectable to the senses?
That's a good question.
You said...
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There was a time in my life that I experienced this phenomenon for several months in which
I had no idea what was going on.
I've been all over the map on this, in trying to figure it out. My mind went to all kinds of places, at one point I thought someone was breaking into my house. At another point I thought maybe I was having a psychotic break or something.
Then I stumbled upon a sleep study in my desperate internet searches to figure out what was wrong with me. It was a sleep study being carried out on sleep paralysis. When I read through the symptoms and explanations, every single one of mine was listed. So, I signed up for the study. Went in for testing and found out that it's called sleep paralysis.
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Eventually, you accepted the explanation of the experts who study the brain, etc.
Suppose you believed that there were experts in a field of study, that goes beyond 'the natural'.
What is more, you trust these "experts". Why? They have proven themselves reliable.
Moreover, unlike the human experts who often revise what they tell you, is the truth, what the "experts" in the field of the supernatural tell you is true, never has to be revised and changed. It always proves true - trustworthy.
What if you are informed that because these entities (demons) are unable to be physically detected, since they are invisible, and not affected by matter (
Scientists have not yet observed dark matter directly. It doesn't interact with baryonic matter and it's completely invisible to light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation, making dark matter impossible to detect with current instruments), but can affect matter, unknowingly,
except one is aware of their design (
All galaxies appear to be dominated by [Dark Matter. In] fact, galaxies are thought to form inside immense halos of dark matter), would you dismiss the possibility of their interference during sleep, and wakefulness, or both... especially having being informed of their interests in humans, and their high intelligence?
Think of a super neuroscientist, who doesn't have to learn and understand how your brain work, but knows exactly how it works.
I understand you are highly skeptical and lacking faith, so I can appreciate your clinging tightly to physical explanation for everything.
The evidence that convinces the Christian, might be evidence you dismiss quickly.
I do the same, when I hear explanation that I expect will change sooner, or later, or is simply based on ideas or assumptions.
(1 Corinthians 2:14, 15)
14 But a physical man does not accept the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot get to know them, because they are examined spiritually.
15 However, the spiritual man examines all things, but he himself is not examined by any man.
Okay. What sort of "form of life?"
They are referred to as spirit.
The understanding we get from scripture, is that it surpassed any form of energy and matter known to man.
I'm not sure if man will discover energy or matter different to what they currently know, but with the discovery of the hypothetical 'Dark Matter'... which is considered different, and the hypothetical 'Dark Energy', we know very little about what is out there, and beyond.
I'm always open to whatever the evidence indicates.
Good to hear. We like to see, more than we like to hear.
I explored every possibility available to me. I've poured through websites and blogs of all shapes and sizes in my search for answers. I don't dismiss possibilities that haven't occurred to me, of course. (That wouldn't make much sense.)
Perhaps you were not searching with anything specific in mind, and I can understand that. As you said, when you don't know...
I just typed in "sleep paralysis or demonic activity", and there among the topmost results, found this...
Sleep Demon
In part, it says...
While modern scientists consider sleep demons to be hallucinations, this is not the first or only interpretation of this phenomenon. Societies throughout history have developed their own explanations for these experiences, each stemming from a unique cultural context.
What "other explanation?"
The ones you dismiss.
It is known what is going on in the brain and body during sleep paralysis.
I've studied the brain for most of my life. Empirical evidence is the best evidence we have for pretty much anything.
There is no consensus that consciousness is the product of brain activity.
Don't take my word for it.
What if consciousness is not an emergent property of the brain? Observational and empirical challenges to materialistic models
The nature of consciousness is considered one of science’s most perplexing and persistent mysteries. We all know the subjective experience of consciousness, but where does it arise? What is its purpose? What are its full capacities? The assumption within today’s neuroscience is that all aspects of consciousness arise solely from interactions among neurons in the brain. However, the origin and mechanisms of
qualia (i.e., subjective or phenomenological experience) are not understood. David Chalmers coined the term “the hard problem” to describe the difficulties in elucidating the origins of subjectivity from the point of view of reductive materialism. We propose that the hard problem arises because one or more assumptions within a materialistic worldview are either wrong or incomplete. If consciousness entails more than the activity of neurons, then we can contemplate new ways of thinking about the hard problem. This review examines phenomena that apparently contradict the notion that consciousness is exclusively dependent on brain activity, including phenomena where consciousness appears to extend beyond the physical brain and body in both space and time.
Rapid advances in neuroscience have provided remarkable breakthroughs in understanding the brain on many fronts. Although promising, the role of these advancements in solving the problem of consciousness is still unclear.
Proving how imagination occurs is not easy
Researchers have long suggested that human imagination exists thanks to a widespread neural network in the brain.
However, clearly demonstrating that such a “mental workspace” exists has been extremely difficult with available techniques that only managed to examine brain activity in isolation.
What exactly consciousness is and why it does what it does is another question. For now we may only speculate that consciousness is imagination acting as a link between our observable universe and the underlying quantum field: imagination extracting reality out of possibilities.
What Is a Thought Made of?
...there are two possible definitions of a thought. Either it's a part of the material world - physical patterns of electricity generated by the neurons in our brains - or it's a part of something else, some kind of cosmic
consciousness that floats around the Universe completely undetectable by the instruments of modern science.
What thoughts are remains mysterious from a neuroscientific point of view.
As quotidian as talk about thoughts may be, what thoughts are remains mysterious from a neuroscientific point of view. They are certainly caused by brain function, but we do not yet have a solid idea regarding what it is about brain function that gives rise to them. Is it the particular kinds of neurons involved? The way a population of neurons fire? Do conscious thoughts require the activation of specific networks of brain regions or of tracts (the information highways that allow for brain regions to communicate with each other)? Do thoughts require activation of perceptual areas of the brain (a controversial notion)? At this stage of scientific understanding, we just don't know.
That is how science works. It follows the evidence. As I've done with my sleep paralysis. If a demon shows up one day, I"ll let ya know.
How can you let me know of something you don't even know yourself?
Come on Skeptic.
If you can demonstrate to me that demons are doing it, I'll consider your evidence.
If you can demonstrate that everyone who has the experience is experiencing sleep paralysis, or the other things you mentioned, I'll consider your evidence.
