Question about death to Atheists.

[Cyberman]

Stimbo hopes you like Weiner's....

I was thinking more bratwurst, actually.

[Whateverist]

Hi again.

On my last post about Near Death experiences, I received some interesting and insightful responses. I want to thank everyone who gave me an answer for that. The question I am about to ask may seem as though it is slightly biased. However, if you can, please slightly make an exception and look past the bias 

So at my church, I recently talked to an older woman who told me that while she was in the hospital with her husband (who was terminally ill), she held his hand. She said that while he was lying in his hospital bed, that she saw some white looking entity leaving his body. She said it almost looked like his physical body was a shell, and out of the shell came this white, transparent 'spirit' form of him. She said that soon afterwards doctors had examined him, and reported that he was in fact dead. I could tell that this lady was being sincere in what she was telling me. Later that day I got home, and found a multitude of different stories which were similar to hers. 

At first I thought, maybe it is just a coincidence, then I remembered something else:

My mom has repeatedly had this phenomenon where she will wake up one morning feeling "strange", she will say that she dreamed about a loved one, and that she knows something bad happened to this person. About 10-15 times, it has happened where she will get a call very soon in the next day or two saying that a person she knows (usually the person she dreamed about) has died. 

Now, these two phenomenons that I touched on will likely be dismissed by most, but I want to know, how can some atheists on here be so sure that there is nothing after death when there are so many unexplained things? Although some people may be lying to get attention, I am sure that the two examples I gave were not lies. Even if that means there is another explanation we do not know about. How would you atheists react to some of these things if you were to give the claimer the benefit of the doubt that he/she was not lying?

The imagination and our capacity to see what we expect to see is a marvelous thing.

[The Valkyrie]

Stimbo hopes you like Weiner's....

I was thinking more bratwurst, actually.

"Ask her if she'll take a delivery of German sausage."

Hugh Laurie before House

[Cyberman]

The imagination and our capacity to see what we expect to see is a marvelous thing.

Indeed. It's amazing what the brain can conjure up and really remarkable how convincing they can be. I've had experiences myself, but of the natural variety.

[Cyberman]

I was thinking more bratwurst, actually.

"Ask her if she'll take a delivery of German sausage."

Hugh Laurie before House

Poor old Prince George...

"Sausage time!"

[The Valkyrie]

"Ask her if she'll take a delivery of German sausage."

Hugh Laurie before House

Poor old Prince George...

"Sausage time!"

Just like socks...

[Cyberman]

Yeah, I never dreamed they were talking about me.

"Tons of it about, and I never seem to get any!"

[Angrboda]

The "file drawer problem" (a term coined in 1979 by Robert Rosenthal, a member of our Advisory Board) refers to the bias introduced into the scientific literature by selective publication--chiefly by a tendency to publish positive results but not to publish negative or nonconfirmatory results.

http://www.psychfiledrawer.org/TheFiledrawerProblem.php

People love to tell stories. Particularly if they notice what they think is an odd and unexplainable pattern cropping up. But it is a part of our natural heritage to be afflicted by confirmation bias. We'll remember the hits (or the near hits, "I had a twinge of pain while thinking about grandma, so that was a premonition of grandpa dying," or even, "I had a funny feeling"), and forget the misses. (How many times a day does she think about relatives? Was the funny feeling directly about the relative? How many times has she had a feeling and nothing happened?) This bias is hard at work shaping what goes into the stories we tell. We're human pattern seeking devices. We'll find patterns even when none are there to be found. I'm like Stimbo on this, yes I believe your mother says she has these premonitions, but that doesn't give much to go on. And the stories when investigated usually turn out underwhelming.

I'm reminded of when I was a Hindu who worshipped the goddess Kali. There were times I was so sure that life events were an example of the goddess sending me messages. Sometimes I would go crazy trying to interpret these messages, wondering if this was a sign or that was a sign. There is a powerful urge to make sense of the patterns in our life, whether weak or strong. And it's easy to get caught up in superstition trying to assign meaning to these patterns. It makes us all a little crazy. But that's not the story that gets told. The amazing coincidences are long remembered and the craziness forgotten.

[The Valkyrie]

Yeah, I never dreamed they were talking about me.

"Tons of it about, and I never seem to get any!"

Sorry...

[Cyberman]

Yeah, I never dreamed they were talking about me.

"Tons of it about, and I never seem to get any!"

Sorry...

Hey now, we're supposed to be having fun!