--- In [email protected], "authfriend" <jst...@...> wrote:
> It's very easy to dismiss experiences you haven't > had on the grounds that the mind can fool you and make > patterns out of nothing. But it's not very intellectually > honest. In fact, it sounds a lot as though that > conclusion is your mind making a pattern that you're > more comfortable with. > I believe that there was mass hysteria in the room. It is hardly intellectually dishonest to come to that opinion. I have read about suggestibility. I have read about cognition. I have met highly suggestible people. I have met people who unequivocally made cognitive errors about experiences. I draw my opinions based upon my knowledge and experience. It has nothing to do with comfort or discomfort. I acknowledge that these are opinions, not fact, and thus may be wrong. I say that I have yet to be convinced that my opinions are not correct. This hardly intellectually dishonest. You and I can disagree without either of us being painted as dishonest. You can disagree with me without minimizing my opinion which happens to be different than your opinion. You are one of the few people I have ever "met" who appears unwilling to agree to disagree. Your analogy to sex and orgasm was interesting. Of course, sexual response is mostly in the head. So to speak.
