(June 5, 2015 at 12:53 pm)rsngfrce Wrote: So... I've just joined and this is my first post ever on an Atheist forum. I am an Atheist. The reason I am posting is because of an occurrence which has forced me to question my logic and I am looking for input from those who may possess a better understanding (to the degree that is possible) of these things than I do.
My grandmother was 97 years old. I had a very special bond with her, she was the relative that I inherited my intelligence from. She believed in god, but at her age, I cannot blame her for that.
She had been in poor psychical health for a long time and was in hospice for the SECOND time. Mentally, at age 97, she was 100%! She was strong proof that mental strength beats psychical strength any day. I was always convinced that she would live until she was ready to go.
Without any particular forewarning, I knew she was going to die yesterday. When she died yesterday, I knew it happened. I am serious, I am not trolling, this is not easy for me!
I struggle to understand how I could have LOGICALLY both known this was going to and did happen. I had some connection to her that was cut (or something) and I can't understand the existence of that in a logical world...
[url=//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/][/url]
No, you did not have a forewarning. I don't doubt you had a feeling, that felt real. But it is a false perception based on selection bias and sample rate error. There are lots of times in your life where other people have near misses or do die where you don't have that feeling. It is retrofitting after the fact subconsciously. There are other times where you worried about her and nothing happened, but you ignored those times .
With my own mom, I have freaked out over a perceived heath issue, for it only to turn out to be minor, where as other times I have been blindsided with a phone call from her retirement home that she was on her way to the hospital.
To know how wrong that false perception is, you need to look back at your entire life with other family and friends who died where you didn't have that "feeling". They don't even need to die, they can also have a severe sudden medical problem, or be involved in an accident. Other people also make that claim in that context as well.
You also have to think about the fact that every human dies, and on average worldwide 50 million humans die from everything from old age, stillborn, childhood cancer, natural disaster, crime, famine, disease and war.
Humans make claims like this all the time and it is simply your own false perceptions. I am sure you loved your grandma, and it always sucks to lose a loved one, but your feeling of seeing it coming was false.
