Post by Janine Briscoe on Sept 5, 2015 0:33:34 GMT
Janine Briscoe
Philosophy 8
September 1, 2015
The issue of patternicity and apophenia is part of the human DNA. People want to believe that there is truly a deeper meaning to events and occurrences that happen in their lives. Eliot Benjamin believed that outer events can coincide with our own subjective wants and needs. The point where they intersect is looked at by many of us as miracles. The material I was assigned to read this week says that those “miraculous events” actually are scheduled to happen every 35 days. According to the law of numbers, LittIewood’s Law states that we experience miracles at a rate of 1 event per second. A special event happens at a frequency of one in a million. It is argued that me being alive would fall in that category. I had one in a 100 million chance to be born into this world. My father produced 100 million sperm, and I happened to be the chosen sperm that united with one of my mother’s 500 thousand follicles to create me! I admit that I am one of those people spoken about in You Are Probability. I want to believe that there is a spiritual reason behind “coincidences” in my life. My parents won the lottery when they had me! I would like to believe that me being born is a miracle after thinking of those odds. Did God want me to be here, or do I just fall into the rule of large numbers?
A few years back, I collapsed in my boyfriend’s house. I didn’t have any preexisting medical conditions. He rushed me to the hospital and I was kept in the emergency room until they ran some tests. I started crying. I wasn’t balling because I was in fear that something was wrong with me. Instead, I cried because I was uninsured and I knew that medical bill was going to come and bite me in the rear end as soon as I was released. I prayed about it and I trusted that everything was in God’s hands. My faith told me to believe that any bill would be taken care. Upon release, I started making phone calls and found a health care plan that catered to people in need. In the mean time while I was awaiting approval, expensive bills began rolling in. That one 4 hour visit to the ER cost about $20,000!!! There was no way I could pay for that expense. Lo and behold amongst all of the bills there was a letter from the insurance company that stated they approved me for medical benefits! It gets better! They told me that the start date of the benefits would be retroactive from the date of my ER visit! I was stoked! I believed that God was involved in every step.
I believe that story fits the idea of apophenia. I can equate the approval letter to the wave Fanning received during in the 11th hour of the competition. I wanted to find a way to pay for this bill, and I did research and scored! There is a scripture in the Bible which states, “ I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me.” I didn’t know how I would find a way to pay for this bill, but I believed and did the research. I want to trust that God had a hand it this blessing. I knew there were/are people who don’t have insurance (pre ObamaCare). Many of those people avoided going to the hospital because of exorbitant fees. Some go to the doctor and end up pleading bankruptcy because they can’t afford to pay. Are those people just unlucky or is it a lack of leg work and conducting research on their part?
The book Voo Doo and 2 More Waves spoke of a chant used to make a miracle occur. I know those boys didn’t believe the chant was magical, but they saw a connection/pattern and continued to play the game. I believe people of faith see patterns. They look at experiences in their lives, and believe that God has a hand in all of them. The book states also that miracles are a numbers game. If you play enough times, you are bound to win. It further stated that we don’t pay attention to the times we play and lose; instead we only count the times we win. In my faith believers in God know that all events positive or negative are significant patterns. I pay attention to the negative patterns/events, more than I do to the positive ones. Maybe I’m a negative Nancy. I pray and prayer doesn’t always result in a positive outcome. There is a passage in the Bible, 2 Corinthians 12:9, which discusses God talking to a man who is experiencing a terrible trial in his life. He asks God to get him out of the bind, and God’s response is, “…My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” When I don’t see miracles after prayers I don’t stop looking for patterns or connections. I feel that that trial is part of the pattern. Trusting that this period of a dry spell, will result in a tropical paradise one day.
Faith isn’t scientific. It will never be able to be tested in a lab. Due to the fact that I can’t prove t God had a hand in my debt being absolved, skeptics will refer to my claim as an appeal to faith fallacy. I believe that it was a joint effort. God can’t perform miracles in my life if I just sit on the couch and cry. I have to go out into the world and work. My number of attempts will fall into the the “numbers game” example. The point when my work is given that grace by God at the most critical time is when I’m in awe. Like the video stated, people have a tendency to find meaningful patterns in meaningless noise. The medical condition didn’t make any sense! I don’t understand why I collapsed. I don’t know what was wrong with me to this day. The doctors couldn’t give me any answers as to if it could happen again to me in the future. I didn’t feel confident mentally or physically leaving that hospital. I wanted to trust in my faith. I want to believe that the bad hand I was dealt, resulted in me having a positive “stroke of luck” in the future. I don’t believe in luck, instead I call it a blessing. To me all of these patterns are connected. Littlewood stated that things happen by chance. Many people think that events/miracles are supernatural. If I play the Lotto, due to the fact that it’s a numbers game, the more I play the greater my odds of winning. Prayer isn’t a game to me. I don’t think of the thousands of prayers I have prayed as a loss. I believe that what ever triggered me to pray that prayer was part of the overall pattern. The negative event or positive event which triggers me to pray is all part of the greater plan. To have a stronger relationship with God. I win either way.
Philosophy 8
September 1, 2015
The issue of patternicity and apophenia is part of the human DNA. People want to believe that there is truly a deeper meaning to events and occurrences that happen in their lives. Eliot Benjamin believed that outer events can coincide with our own subjective wants and needs. The point where they intersect is looked at by many of us as miracles. The material I was assigned to read this week says that those “miraculous events” actually are scheduled to happen every 35 days. According to the law of numbers, LittIewood’s Law states that we experience miracles at a rate of 1 event per second. A special event happens at a frequency of one in a million. It is argued that me being alive would fall in that category. I had one in a 100 million chance to be born into this world. My father produced 100 million sperm, and I happened to be the chosen sperm that united with one of my mother’s 500 thousand follicles to create me! I admit that I am one of those people spoken about in You Are Probability. I want to believe that there is a spiritual reason behind “coincidences” in my life. My parents won the lottery when they had me! I would like to believe that me being born is a miracle after thinking of those odds. Did God want me to be here, or do I just fall into the rule of large numbers?
A few years back, I collapsed in my boyfriend’s house. I didn’t have any preexisting medical conditions. He rushed me to the hospital and I was kept in the emergency room until they ran some tests. I started crying. I wasn’t balling because I was in fear that something was wrong with me. Instead, I cried because I was uninsured and I knew that medical bill was going to come and bite me in the rear end as soon as I was released. I prayed about it and I trusted that everything was in God’s hands. My faith told me to believe that any bill would be taken care. Upon release, I started making phone calls and found a health care plan that catered to people in need. In the mean time while I was awaiting approval, expensive bills began rolling in. That one 4 hour visit to the ER cost about $20,000!!! There was no way I could pay for that expense. Lo and behold amongst all of the bills there was a letter from the insurance company that stated they approved me for medical benefits! It gets better! They told me that the start date of the benefits would be retroactive from the date of my ER visit! I was stoked! I believed that God was involved in every step.
I believe that story fits the idea of apophenia. I can equate the approval letter to the wave Fanning received during in the 11th hour of the competition. I wanted to find a way to pay for this bill, and I did research and scored! There is a scripture in the Bible which states, “ I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me.” I didn’t know how I would find a way to pay for this bill, but I believed and did the research. I want to trust that God had a hand it this blessing. I knew there were/are people who don’t have insurance (pre ObamaCare). Many of those people avoided going to the hospital because of exorbitant fees. Some go to the doctor and end up pleading bankruptcy because they can’t afford to pay. Are those people just unlucky or is it a lack of leg work and conducting research on their part?
The book Voo Doo and 2 More Waves spoke of a chant used to make a miracle occur. I know those boys didn’t believe the chant was magical, but they saw a connection/pattern and continued to play the game. I believe people of faith see patterns. They look at experiences in their lives, and believe that God has a hand in all of them. The book states also that miracles are a numbers game. If you play enough times, you are bound to win. It further stated that we don’t pay attention to the times we play and lose; instead we only count the times we win. In my faith believers in God know that all events positive or negative are significant patterns. I pay attention to the negative patterns/events, more than I do to the positive ones. Maybe I’m a negative Nancy. I pray and prayer doesn’t always result in a positive outcome. There is a passage in the Bible, 2 Corinthians 12:9, which discusses God talking to a man who is experiencing a terrible trial in his life. He asks God to get him out of the bind, and God’s response is, “…My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” When I don’t see miracles after prayers I don’t stop looking for patterns or connections. I feel that that trial is part of the pattern. Trusting that this period of a dry spell, will result in a tropical paradise one day.
Faith isn’t scientific. It will never be able to be tested in a lab. Due to the fact that I can’t prove t God had a hand in my debt being absolved, skeptics will refer to my claim as an appeal to faith fallacy. I believe that it was a joint effort. God can’t perform miracles in my life if I just sit on the couch and cry. I have to go out into the world and work. My number of attempts will fall into the the “numbers game” example. The point when my work is given that grace by God at the most critical time is when I’m in awe. Like the video stated, people have a tendency to find meaningful patterns in meaningless noise. The medical condition didn’t make any sense! I don’t understand why I collapsed. I don’t know what was wrong with me to this day. The doctors couldn’t give me any answers as to if it could happen again to me in the future. I didn’t feel confident mentally or physically leaving that hospital. I wanted to trust in my faith. I want to believe that the bad hand I was dealt, resulted in me having a positive “stroke of luck” in the future. I don’t believe in luck, instead I call it a blessing. To me all of these patterns are connected. Littlewood stated that things happen by chance. Many people think that events/miracles are supernatural. If I play the Lotto, due to the fact that it’s a numbers game, the more I play the greater my odds of winning. Prayer isn’t a game to me. I don’t think of the thousands of prayers I have prayed as a loss. I believe that what ever triggered me to pray that prayer was part of the overall pattern. The negative event or positive event which triggers me to pray is all part of the greater plan. To have a stronger relationship with God. I win either way.