So me, of all people, had a religious experience (page 10)

Nickolas

I see the same thing with Sab's poker story. He is predisposed to conclude it was a sign from something supernatural. But likely wouldn't have come to that conclusion if he wasn't, at least subconsciously, "looking" for it.

I'm afraid I must agree with you, unshackled. Coincidences are remarkable enough even to those who are predisposed to form other conclusions. All of which to say, we all seek to conclude something about our experiences on the basis of what we are predisposed to believe.

This is not an equitable analogy (though I'm sure you have others, but I see this one a lot). Someone has to win the lottery, and each person (according to the amount of tickets they play vs. are bought) has an equal chance. There is more to Sab's experience than that, regardless of coincidence or meaning.

Hey Tammy. LTNS. Yes, it is an inequitable analogy but only because the odds of winning the lottery are greater than what sab experienced. The odds of what he describes are quite small. I'm not going to try to crunch the numbers but probably in the area of 10 times less likely than choosing 6 lottery numbers out of 49. Still doesn't make it a miracle, though.

tec

True, SBC... it might go on for a couple/few weeks, but someone still has to win it, or at least someone always does win it. There is no higher chance for the person who does win it, than for any of those who did not win it - with exception to tickets bought per total tickets bought across the country. I don't think Canadian lotteries work any different in that sense than American ones. (except we get paid all at once, and don't have to pay taxes on our winnings )

Tammy

tec

Hi Nick. Glad to hear from you!

Tammy

jay88

I see where you are going with this Sab.

You had a defacto prayer and then you resort to an activity that you are very familiar with, where pattern recognition comes to you easily which could have assisted you, in perceiving it to be more than what it was.

>>>>>>>>

I pray to god for an answer, then I go to a meeting(church) that I have been to going to for over 30years and by-golly my chances of getting an answer is high.

bohm

keeping an open mind, have you tried to calculate the probability of the event? perhaps you can estimate it... i know nothing of poker, mind, but i suppose a "special hand" is like 4 or 5 particular cards drawn from the stack?

i mean, if this is a 1:100 event, it would be reasonable to say it is not a sign from God. but if its a 1:10E20 event, well, it would be impossible to dismiss:-).

ziddina

Hmmmm....

Very interesting, Sab....

But let me tell you what regulary happens with my deck of "casting" cards... [for want of a better term...]

I have a set of "Goddess" cards that basically work like a Tarot deck.

One shuffles the cards and picks out a 'suite' of cards, depending on which method you're using and what question - questions - you want answered.

Would you believe it?? That deck of cards has CONSISTENTLY produced HIGHLY SIGNIFICANT 'suites', no matter WHAT I do... And not just "Gee, I guess I can make this fit what's going on in my life, right now..." The results have been breathtakingly accurate, hitting at current issues present in my life!!

But personally, I think that my subconscious is detecting the position of certain cards in the deck - sort of like an advanced form of 'card counting' - and pulls them up as needed...

By the way, I shuffle the deck THREE different ways before I pull out a suite, just to be sure they're thoroughly mixed...

It's "spooky" fun, but I've never considered it to be "significant"...

Of course, my Wiccan friend in Texas would beg to differ...

Try it again, every week, and record your results!!!

Zid

trevor

sabastious

Take more water with it!

SweetBabyCheezits

TEC: This is not an equitable analogy... Someone has to win the lottery, and each person (according to the amount of tickets they play vs. are bought) has an equal chance.

TEC: it might go on for a couple/few weeks, but someone still has to win it, or at least someone always does win it.

That is the key, isn't it. Not that someone has to win it but if enough people play - and they do - someone is very likely to win it.

By the way the odds of person X winning Mega Millions is greater than 1 in 135,000,000. I take it you're saying that if 135,000,000 people play MM, the probability that someone will hit the jackpot is great? Of course.

So what happens if person X plays hundreds of thousands of hands of poker, How does that affect his chances of seeing a particular set of hands?

Also, I'd like to note that the lotto involves an attempt to accurately predict a random draw of numbers. In Sab's case, unless he didn't disclose this information, there was no PREDICTION involved, in any particular order. This must be taken into consideration. He said "the hands we both kept getting were always one of the sentimental hands, every time, no break."

That takes my mind back to this quote:

"That a particular specified event or coincidence will occur is very unlikely. That some astonishing unspecified events will occur is certain. That is why remarkable coincidences are noted in hindsight, not predicted with foresight."--David G. Myers

cofty

I remember playing Mastermind with a friend once and I got the solution right first time - 1 chance in 1296. Of course my friend will never believe that I didn't cheat but I know.

It was just coincidence

OnTheWayOut

We played for about 8 minutes and then I had to stop because I was speechless, dumbfounded even. The hands we both kept getting were always one of the sentimental hands, every time, no break. The chances of getting the cards we dealt out in the consecutive manner that we did (with the deck we always play with and with my brother trying many different methods of shuffling) is upwards in the billions to one ratio.

I am goiing to give you a chance to really demonstrate how remarkable this is.
How many hands are we talking about? 4 hands apiece? (Total of 8) More? Less? How exact was your sentimental hand in each case? I mean, did you win some tournament where you had those exact cards (exact suits and values)? What makes your hand and your brother's hand sentimental together? Was he playing that same tournament and had that exact hand at the exact time as yours? C'mon. Be detailed. What cards were they, exactly? Was it like: three 7's- the Heart, Club, and Diamond, along with the Jack of Spades and the Queen of Clubs. Don't tell me it was just three 7's, a Queen and a Jack and the suit was irrelevant.

Or how many "sentimental" hands do you have? Semi-professional players must have a bunch of memories from a bunch of tournaments or backroom victories over the marks ever since they stopped being JW's. Did the hands come out in some special chronilogical order?

If you can't accept big coincidences, then you should be able to explain the above. Strange things do happen, so win me over.

So me, of all people, had a religious experience

Share this