[SC] Auras

Reoil

When I was younger, I read a book by Pete A Saunders titled "You Are Psychic".
One of the things that intrigued me about this book was the aura.

I am now very sceptical of auras and the book in general.

Do you believe in them?
Can you see them?

O.

bookreader

Hi, you said that auras intrigued you, so why did you become skeptical? I had my aura photographed twice. So so beautiful. My aura is all purple/pink and as one becomes more spiritually evolved more blue comes into it. And we all have psychic gifts, and we have free will as to whether we will open up to them, we also have free will to stop if we dont like the journey or the path, or any path that we are walking really. So much out there to be learned and questions answered. It is wonderful.

Genghiz Cohen

bookreader wrote: »

Hi, you said that auras intrigued you, so why did you become skeptical? I had my aura photographed twice. So so beautiful. My aura is all purple/pink and as one becomes more spiritually evolved more blue comes into it. And we all have psychic gifts, and we have free will as to whether we will open up to them, we also have free will to stop if we dont like the journey or the path, or any path that we are walking really. So much out there to be learned and questions answered. It is wonderful.

Pics?

Blank out any identifying features of course.

bookreader

No, I myself was there sitting surrounded by the colour from my body to out about 6 inches from my body, it wasnt done with an ordinary camera or it wouldnt have picked up the aura. There is a printout of what the colours mean and what areas of your emotional life you need to work on. Stress levels, how your energy points (chakras) are in your body, what they mean and what you need to work on to become more calm, less stressed and more positive. There was a follow up chat going through the findings and help received with what was going on in my life at that point, very empathic and helpful, very very reasonable at e35, from two wonderfully spiritual helpful people who had gone through their own hard times and are now here to help others.

kylith

Auras are just as bunk as just about every other form of Woo that people will charge you for. I recall, in my youth, being told that if you stare at someone standing in front of a white wall you can see their aura; it's just an optical illusion caused by the difference between the colours of their clothes and skin and the white of the wall, as I discovered by staring at various non-living objects, like tables, in front of a white wall and seeing their 'auras'.

As for aura photography at best it's Kirilian photography which essentially passes a small electric current across a grounded object (you) and the resulting 'aura' is nothing more than a corona discharge of the air, an Infra Red picture of the radiation of body heat, a picture of the EM field of the electric charge in your muscles caused by being alive, or at worst it's a coloured filter or some quick photoshop. The readings that accompany them are the same vague Barnum statements and cold reading techniques that you'll get from any street-corner 'psychic'.

http://www.csicop.org/si/show/aura_photography_a_candid_shot/
http://www.skepdic.com/kirlian.html

endacl

kylith wrote: »

Auras are just as bunk as just about every other form of Woo that people will charge you for. I recall, in my youth, being told that if you stare at someone standing in front of a white wall you can see their aura; it's just an optical illusion caused by the difference between the colours of their clothes and skin and the white of the wall, as I discovered by staring at various non-living objects, like tables, in front of a white wall and seeing their 'auras'.

As for aura photography at best it's Kirilian photography which essentially passes a small electric current across a grounded object (you) and the resulting 'aura' is nothing more than a corona discharge of the air, an Infra Red picture of the radiation of body heat, a picture of the EM field of the electric charge in your muscles caused by being alive, or at worst it's a coloured filter or some quick photoshop. The readings that accompany them are the same vague Barnum statements and cold reading techniques that you'll get from any street-corner 'psychic'.

http://www.csicop.org/si/show/aura_photography_a_candid_shot/
http://www.skepdic.com/kirlian.html

Thanks for putting that more politely than I ever could.

bookreader

So with all of your knowledge, can you tell me how, when myself and my son, (who had his aura photographed, and was totally different to mine, all greens and blues), went into the second room to have a chat about what came up for both of us, the man there, said one word, and it opened the floodgates for exactly what was going on in our lives at that time, and was so so helpful for both of us, at seeing our situation in a different light, that I would have paid e200 in thanks, but the fee was only e35,each, that was with two people working with both of us. Don't knock it till you've tried it, I would say, and everything isn't analysable by science.

kylith

Without having a transcript or video it'd be impossible to give any kind of proper explanation. My gut would say that you were either overheard talking about things beforehand (possibly clandestinely), the guy got a lucky guess, or your problems aren't as unique as you might think. I hope that doesn't offend; what I mean is that there are a limited number of things that people worry about; health, family, finances, love, work, so they have a fair chance of landing a hit just by making a guess based on your age, clothes, gender, tone of voice, and body language.

Which is more plausible: a man who can derive great insights about a person based on an invisible field hasn't made a ton of money as a psychotherapist/criminal investigator/investor OR some guy makes his living by cold reading strangers?

endacl

Bookreader, you're reading the wrong books dude...

bookreader

Ha, ha, there is no such thing as a wrong book, I am reading the right books for me, obviously they are not your right books, but they have led me to peace, quiet, calm, love, gentleness, non aggression, non judgement of others and am loving it!! As for the man, we went in to find out if my son had had a twin. Nothing was mentioned about our family situation. anyway, we believe and find comfort in our own way. everyone to their own.

kylith

I'm terribly curious now... Would you not know if your son had a twin? Is he adopted? If you're wondering about a twin in utero apparently most of us start out as embryonic twins, with the stronger foetus absorbing the weaker one.

Of course, you can ignore me or tell me to mind my own business if I'm being too nosy.

bookreader

I was told that I had had a full miscarriage when pregnant with my son, it did look like that and then they found out that he was still there. It had always been a question of mine as to whether there was another baby there and aura photography can help with this, so that is the path I took. I hadnt known at that stage that many of us start out as twins, I did myself. I wont go into that story, as to you it would sound off the wall!!!! So anyway, twin or no twin my son and I were there on that day and it helped us with lots more than the fact that he is a twin, so it was a good experience and very helpful.

ShanePouch

I never tire of pointing out the difference between belief and knowledge,

No one says "I believe my car has an engine" because they know, beyond doubt, that their car has an engine, and so, if asked, everyone says "I know my car has an engine"

We only have to believe in things when we are doubtful about them. People believe in Santa Claus, and homoeopathy, and the powers in crystals and so and so on, because they really have doubts. If they had the proof of reasonable evidence, they would not have to believe.

Bookreader, you'll be aware that what you are really saying here is that you want to believe in Auras because, it seems, they give you great comfort and that you consider this belief itself has been a great benefit. That’s hardly someone who is likely to be impartial.

bookreader wrote: »

So with all of your knowledge, can you tell me how, when myself and my son, (who had his aura photographed, and was totally different to mine, all greens and blues), went into the second room to have a chat about what came up for both of us, the man there, said one word, and it opened the floodgates for exactly what was going on in our lives at that time, and was so so helpful for both of us, at seeing our situation in a different light, that I would have paid e200 in thanks, but the fee was only e35,each, that was with two people working with both of us. Don't knock it till you've tried it, I would say, and everything isn't analysable by science.

What you are asking here is for someone else to provide an explanation for something which is impossible. You are making claims that the explanation was definitely based on auras, and asking someone else to disprove that is not really evidence for anything, except it appears as more evidence that you want to believe in auras, rather than you want to research the subject and see, based on evidence, how likely it is that auras have any real evidence to support them.

The anecdotal evidence of one person, whose starting point seems to be to want to believe in auras, is hardly evidence. For example, you seem curiously uninterested in the machine or how it is made, who made it, how they discovered how to make a machine which reads auras, and how the machine is tested or calibrated. You just know its a machine, a nice man has told you it is a special machine which reads auras, and you want to believe that.

I suspect that if you found out that the machine was a fake made along the lines outlined by another poster here, you still would want to believe in auras, and would say something along the lines that jsut because this one person has faked it doesn't mean everyone who reads auras and has machines are faking it.

bookreader wrote: »

Ha, ha, there is no such thing as a wrong book, I am reading the right books for me, obviously they are not your right books, but they have led me to peace, quiet, calm, love, gentleness, non aggression, non judgement of others and am loving it!!

Its interesting that you claim to be non judgmental, yet you seem to have made a judgment about this man, and auras, based on the flimsiest of evidence.

In all your posts, replace the word “aura(s)” with “santa claus” or “homoeopathy” “or “healing stones” or “psychic” or “magic pink medicine” and you’ll see that what all these things have in common is they need people to suspend their faculties of judgment and a willingness to believe in bogus claims for which there is no evidence beyond anecdote.

Akrasia

Hi guys

When people say that they see some kind of an aura, this does not necessarily mean that they are lying.

Synesthesia is a recognised phenomenon Some people have a neurological condition where they can 'see' tastes or smells, or they can perceive visual disturbances where there is no external optical cause. Essentially, some people have a physiology that links senses that are usually seperate

If someone claims that they can see an aura around you. It might possibly be true, they might see something that they call an Aura, but this is something internal to their own perception, it is generated sub-consciously by their own brain.

(they might also be lying or fooling themselves, which is probably the majority of cases in those who claim to see auras)

The fact that people can see something that looks paranormal, does not mean that it is evidence of paranormal activity, especially when there is a more likely scientific explanation

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120504110024.htm

Dave!

Actually that ScienceDaily report is pretty poor. Have a read here.

The actual study writeup concludes:

“The discrepancies found suggest that both phenomena are phenomenologically and behaviourally dissimilar.”

Turns out people who see auras are just codding themselves!

Myrddin

The body generates a tiny electric field around it, as do all things that utilise electricity. To see & interpret this field, someone would need to be able to see wavelengths of light that the human eye just isn't capable of seeing.

Personally, I don't believe in the 'reading/fixing/healing' of auras, but that's not to say they don't exist.

Akrasia

Dave! wrote: »

Actually that ScienceDaily report is pretty poor. Have a read here.

The actual study writeup concludes:



Turns out people who see auras are just codding themselves!

Damn you Steven Novella!! You have made me look the fool for the last time!

hehe

Anyway, regardless of this particular study, I don't think we can say for certain what other people may be experiencing. We may have our suspicions that they're lying or exaggerating, but the human brain has a remarkable ability to construct it's own reality.

I know a young woman who has had cancer a few times and says that when she is on her treatment she can see auras around people, she can describe them and says they look different around different people.

I am not going to debate with her whether or not she really sees these images or not. She says she sees them, maybe she does, maybe she doesn't. The fact that images or artifacts appear in someone's vision is not the part of the aura story that is implausible, It's the cause and significance of these images that are the real story.

Human perception is highly subjective, and necessarily so, our brain filters and interprets our surroundings or else we would be overwhelmed by the enormous amount of information that is constantly around us.

It is far far more likely that there is something unusual going on in the brains interpretation of the world, than there is an entirely new world to interpret.

ShanePouch

Akrasia wrote: »

Hi guys

When people say that they see some kind of an aura, this does not necessarily mean that they are lying.

If someone claims that they can see an aura around you. It might possibly be true, they might see something that they call an Aura, but this is something internal to their own perception, it is generated sub-consciously by their own brain.

(they might also be lying or fooling themselves, which is probably the majority of cases in those who claim to see auras)

It is well known in medical circles that there are those who are convinced they are Jesus Christ, or Julius Caesar or others.

Just because someone is convinced they can see auras or are Jesus Christ doesn't mean they are right.

Thats not to say they consider themselves to be untruthful, but a personal conviction is not evidence.

Zombrex

bookreader wrote: »

So with all of your knowledge, can you tell me how, when myself and my son, (who had his aura photographed, and was totally different to mine, all greens and blues), went into the second room to have a chat about what came up for both of us, the man there, said one word, and it opened the floodgates for exactly what was going on in our lives at that time, and was so so helpful for both of us, at seeing our situation in a different light, that I would have paid e200 in thanks, but the fee was only e35,each, that was with two people working with both of us. Don't knock it till you've tried it, I would say, and everything isn't analysable by science.

Given that Derren Brown was able to write an essay that when said essay was given to 20 different people they all thought the essay had been written about them, I would say that finding one word that produces the reaction you describe in most people is relatively trivial.

"Banana". Anything?

Genghiz Cohen

bookreader wrote: »

and everything isn't analysable by science.

Yes it is.

Akrasia

There's even an app for it

Rob Humanoid

Can't say I believe in Auras tbh.

maccored

Quote:

bookreader wrote:

and everything isn't analysable by science.

Genghiz Cohen wrote: »

Yes it is.

Poppycock. Science finds new things every day and then analyses them the next. No scientist would ever claim that science can currently analyse 'everything'. 'Everything we currently know of' would be a better term.

Rob Humanoid

That's why science is so cool... Because, it's always adapting and learning.

TP1969

maccored wrote: »

Quote:




Poppycock. Science finds new things every day and then analyses them the next. No scientist would ever claim that science can currently analyse 'everything'. 'Everything we currently know of' would be a better term.

Just because we don't yet understand or have an explanation for something doesn't mean there isn't a scientific explanation for it.

Science finds out new things every day.

bookreader

bookreader wrote: »

No, I myself was there sitting surrounded by the colour from my body to out about 6 inches from my body, it wasnt done with an ordinary camera or it wouldnt have picked up the aura. There is a printout of what the colours mean and what areas of your emotional life you need to work on. Stress levels, how your energy points (chakras) are in your body, what they mean and what you need to work on to become more calm, less stressed and more positive. There was a follow up chat going through the findings and help received with what was going on in my life at that point, very empathic and helpful, very very reasonable at e35, from two wonderfully spiritual helpful people who had gone through their own hard times and are now here to help others.

I'd love to know who decides all this and what sort of training they have to advise a stranger on how to conduct their lives.

Absolute rubbish.

IRWolfie-

bookreader wrote: »

Ha, ha, there is no such thing as a wrong book, I am reading the right books for me, obviously they are not your right books, but they have led me to peace, quiet, calm, love, gentleness, non aggression, non judgement of others and am loving it!!

It's interesting that they are the "right books" for you, but the truth isn't a factor in the things you find important to list.

Aura photography is so easily debunked a nine year old kid did it and got it published in a good medical journal: http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=187390

TP1969

IRWolfie- wrote: »

It's interesting that they are the "right books" for you, but the truth isn't a factor in the things you find important to list.

Aura photography is so easily debunked a nine year old kid did it and got it published in a good medical journal: http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=187390

The thing to realise (and this is as good an example of any) is that, often, those who choose to believe in supernatural events, choose to do so for reasons other than logic or proof can provide. No amount of evidence will convince such people, because the key word is "believe".

I don't have to believe that if I pinch myself it will hurt. Experience tells me it will, and science will provide an explanation as to why that is so. Thus, every time I pinch myself, ouch!

Therefore, if one is unsure about something, and there is not only no evidence to support it, or perhaps even evidence to the contrary, then one has to "believe" in whatever it is, and probably ascribe mystical powers as an attempt at fooling themselves.

In this case you have produce a reasonable explanation for "auras", and we all, in reality, know that if you get 12 people and 10 aura readers, its unlikely the 10 aura readers will come up with the same results under controlled conditions.

What would be nice would be for the guys who claim to believe this to be open to examine the evidence, as opposed to want to cling on to a kooky belief and ignore the evidence. However, that rarely happens.

I have no way of explaining why so many choose to ignore evidence.

MyNanoh

Is that true that aura has a color?

maccored

TP1969 wrote: »

Just because we don't yet understand or have an explanation for something doesn't mean there isn't a scientific explanation for it.

Science finds out new things every day.

Thats precisely what I was saying. then again, if you dont look for the explanation, and instead proclaim everything to be bull****, you'll never find anything. Science doesnt work that way, and scientists dont have such a simplistic attitude (or expect other people to run about 'proving' things to them).