Do you believe in signs?

[Rodafina]

Light heartedly, what I thought of on seeing the thread title, was signage, like road signs and signs in buildings to supposedly guide me. I can see and touch them, so, yes I do believe in them, but often they do not seem to be easy to understand. I'm often confused by signs.

Okay, I was on the fence with this, too. I was hoping for the one but expecting the other. It was the reverse. So I was driving through a city I'm not familiar with last weekend and followed the sign for my exit. About a half hour later, it occurred to me the light was glinting the wrong way off the clouds--I was heading west, not east! A couple of days later, I came to the same exist, again, and instantly understood my problem. The signage in that state comes before the exit ramp, but I've lived in states where it comes at or beside the exit ramp. At that exit ramp, sure enough, was the sign saying east and a big 'ole arrow pointing west. Arrgghhh!

But about the neoHumean's take on miracles, it may help to know Hume's position against miracles is quite circular.

Signs, both figurative and literal are wide open to misinterpretation… probably best to not take them too seriously in my case. Just a bit of mystical fun!

 

[Rodafina]

Dutch folks might find this one a bit funny:

 

[GypsyMoth]

Signs, both figurative and literal are wide open to misinterpretation…

@Rodafina, that's hilarious!

 

[Rodafina]

@Rodafina, that's hilarious!

It’s from an actual road trip. I had a good chuckle when I saw it… had to backtrack a little and pull over to get a picture.

 

[GrownupGirl]

At first I thought by the title they meant Zodiac signs. Then I thought signs you really should pay attention to but many humans ignore, like "STOP", "KEEP OUT", or "TRESPASSERS WILL BE EXECUTED"... I mean, "PROSECUTED".

 

[AprilR]

I believe in signs and look for hidden meanings in everything. I analyze my dreams, why i do the things i do, why certain things happened to me on certain dates.

 

[TheName]

So it's me and my daughter only in my life.... This is what You can see if you look at the night sky above my house (pic below) hmm️ I think I believe in signs lol

 

[Misery]

Honestly the problem with "signs", to me, is simply that I'm too much of a space cadet to notice them.

I mean seriously, I can lose track of my keys, right. My keychain is like 3 feet long and makes assorted noises if slightly moved.

I lost it once, couldnt find it for like 10 minutes. Know where it was? Draped around my neck.

I also once tried to open a hotel room door with my car remote. Took 5 minutes for me to spot the problem.

So yeah. I aint gonna notice signs.

I mean really, if some supernatural whatsit wants to point me towards something, that's fine and all, but ya gotta just put it into text that like, floats or screams or something, or I'm not going to spot it for what it is.

One thing I will never do, touch a Ouija board. Nope. Not ever, I don't care if someone offered to pay me that is something I will not mess around with.

Just out of purest curiosity... why not?

I aint saying you should/shouldnt, really am just genuinely curious, since your phrasing there has the exact same sort of ring to it that I myself would use when dealing with any activity that I consider abnormally horrifying.

 

[TheName]

I love the term space cadet. Would call that myself always lol
Problems with losing things that are right on front of You etc was and remain my struggle as well.
I remember being late to work as I couldn't find my glasses on the morning, I really needed them as I can't drive without. I felt like I need to find them first thing. I gave up after realising I'm already late. It happened that I had them on, just realized when washed my face and splashed water on them Oh well

 

[Outdated]

I never realised that this "not finding what's in front of you" was an autistic trait, I grew up with women abusing me for this, they always called it Husband's Disease.

And just to give you a smile - one of the few times I ever heard my mother really swear. She was getting ready for work while we were getting ready for school, she grabbed the tube out of the bathroom cabinet, squeezed some on the toothbrush and started brushing her teeth. With Dencorub. Not a happy lady.

 

[GypsyMoth]

Comedian Rita Rudner once had a skit about husbands and finding things in the fridge where her punch line went, "it's behind the milk." After hearing that, the saying became a staple saying in our house. Me, with my head in the fridge: "Hunny, do you know where the leftovers went?" Hubby: "I dunno. Maybe it's behind the milk?"

We took it to mean that maybe you're not seeing what's right in front of you, so that by moving some small things around maybe a new perspective will shed some light on the situation. So we also use it more as a concept than a literal interpretation--but it still comes in handy for reminding each other to move the milk once in a while.

 

[TheName]

Comedian Rita Rudner once had a skit about husbands and finding things in the fridge where her punch line went, "it's behind the milk." After hearing that, the saying became a staple saying in our house. Me, with my head in the fridge: "Hunny, do you know where the leftovers went?" Hubby: "I dunno. Maybe it's behind the milk?"

We took it to mean that maybe you're not seeing what's right in front of you, so that by moving some small things around maybe a new perspective will shed some light on the situation. So we also use it more as a concept than a literal interpretation--but it still comes in handy for reminding each other to move the milk once in a while.

The only thing that works for me is to keep things in the same place always, otherwise I'm done. I think it's one of the reasons why I like to live on my own...

 

[DaisyRose]

Yes I certainly do! They are small, but have a big meaning. I remember I was having a bad day and I had to step out. I saw this green worm come out of the concrete. I felt like it was sign of hope.

 

[Cryptid]

FYI:

Apophenia is the tendency to perceive meaningful connections between unrelated things. The term was coined by psychiatrist Klaus Conrad in his 1958 publication on the beginning stages of schizophrenia. He defined it as "unmotivated seeing of connections accompanied by a specific feeling of abnormal meaningfulness". He described the early stages of delusional thought as self-referential over-interpretations of actual sensory perceptions, as opposed to hallucinations. Apophenia has also come to describe a human propensity to unreasonably seek definite patterns in random information, such as can occur in gambling.

Apophenia can be considered a commonplace effect of brain function. Taken to an extreme, however, it can be a symptom of psychiatric dysfunction, for example, as a symptom in paranoid schizophrenia, where a patient sees hostile patterns (for example, a conspiracy to persecute them) in ordinary actions.

Apophenia is also typical of conspiracy theories, where coincidences may be woven together into an apparent plot.

Source: This Wikipedia Article

 

[Ken]

Do you believe in signs? Like little details out in the world that only a few would notice that can uplift, inspire, and motivate?

I do.
View attachment 86088
As many of you know, I’ve been quite down for a bit, but I came upon this tiny, mighty flower, persisting to exist in an ugly, dirty old parking lot. Something about it was very inspiring. I had to pass it everyday for work, so I checked on it each day. I built it a stone wall for protection and because it looked a little lonely. It has given me great hope for my own fate and future.

View attachment 86090

Here’s hoping there’s hope for all, especially if you feel like you lost it.

Sort of. I believe that you discovered an example of perseverance. I do take that as a "sign" from the nature of the universe. I don't believe in "signs" from some high power trying to communicate to me. I believe we are all surrounded by examples of life all the time. It's just when we notice them as dots to be connected is when they illustrate connections in our life.

This reminds me of the flower scene in the movie Joe vs the Volcano (2:40 into this clip). I find this sort of message as the whole message of the movie. One of my favorite, most inspiring movies. One that gives me hope when I am feeling hopeless.

Thank you for this post. It is very beautiful and meaningful!

 

[Ken]

Would like to clarify my previous post; I believe perseverance is the path to success regardless of subject. The plant in your photo, persevered in a very poor environment all the way to producing a beautiful flower, ensuring it's survival.
Perseverance: can't get any more beautiful than that.

 

[Judge]

Frankly given it some thought, I don't think I'm prone to noticing such things in real time, except for sometimes seriously pondering them "after the fact".

Those incidents in our lives in which there might have been a possibility of our death, which for whatever reason didn't happen. What some of us refer to as an "exit point". Things that may seem unimportant based on what didn't happen as opposed to what could have happened.

 

[Cryptid]

Certain natural signs I follow, mostly to do with the weather and farming. I can out-guess the weather-guessers on TV most of the time, and I know that planting in the spring at the first sign of warm weather could lead to lost crops.

I also know that when my wife says she's "Fine", it is a sign that she probably isn't.

 

[Rodafina]

My original post in this thread feels like such a long time ago. Looking back, I can say that tiny little flower in the parking lot was a very powerful thing to me. I don't think that signs are presented from a greater power specifically for me, but I do believe in ascribing personal meaning to things that we notice and using that meaningfulness to instill hope and inspiration.

It's been over a year now, and I think of that flower all the time. I think of the perseverance of even the tiniest things and how some things (and some people) figure out how to thrive in unexpected places. I watched that flower live its whole life in that parking lot. It grew from a tiny seed and flourished as a beautiful flower, its strong and vibrant color making it stand out against the gray parking lot. It stood tall through wind and chilly weather, and it never got run over by a car. In my eyes, it was a happy flower. A proud flower. A flower full of strength and loveliness. The idea of it has been a comfort and an inspiration to me. I am glad that I noticed it and watched it succeed as a unique and beautiful thing. It made me feel like perhaps, I can do the same.

 

[Ken]

My original post in this thread feels like such a long time ago. Looking back, I can say that tiny little flower in the parking lot was a very powerful thing to me. I don't think that signs are presented from a greater power specifically for me, but I do believe in ascribing personal meaning to things that we notice and using that meaningfulness to instill hope and inspiration.

It's been over a year now, and I think of that flower all the time. I think of the perseverance of even the tiniest things and how some things (and some people) figure out how to thrive in unexpected places. I watched that flower live its whole life in that parking lot. It grew from a tiny seed and flourished as a beautiful flower, its strong and vibrant color making it stand out against the gray parking lot. It stood tall through wind and chilly weather, and it never got run over by a car. In my eyes, it was a happy flower. A proud flower. A flower full of strength and loveliness. The idea of it has been a comfort and an inspiration to me. I am glad that I noticed it and watched it succeed as a unique and beautiful thing. It made me feel like perhaps, I can do the same.

Bravo!!

I think we are constantly surrounded by life signs like that. For the most part, we are blind to them. Then something may happen that draws our attention and triggers an understanding of what we are actually looking at. The very stuff of inspiration to persevere and keep on keeping on. I have learned to try to keep my eyes open to all the beauty around me. If I can just pay attention, it's all around all the time.