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We still say 'it must've been an omen'... hindsight sees it as such though... but was it? Just what is an omen? Do you think they are genuine forcasts or are they self full-filling prophecies? |
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It would seem in most belief structures that there are types of omens and signs in them. Taking christianity for example, some people might hear a sermon and believe fervently that the sermon was for them...This example might be jsut a guilty conscious speaking. In other religious bodies, seeing a raven could be good luck bad luck etc etc... Now after blithering that out for a bit...I think there are types of signs and omens in all belief systems. I also think that there are several types of omens. These being spiritual, natural, and mental. To the last, generally these types are self fulfilling. You see something, and from social programming, person belief, etc etc etc, you think OMG something good or bad is gonna happen. Now in every day events, good and bad happens to everyone depending on your point of view of the situation. So it is easy to take this or that omen and say this was a warning for this thing happening to me... Was it? Who the hell knows, i surely don't, is something everyone has to examine theirselves and find out... The second is natural omens. A really simple example would be seeing oakleaves present their undersides being a precursor to a upcoming storm. This is one of those things that happen all the time and a wise person would do well to heed them. The natural world gives you little hints about changes allthe time if you would just look for them. In the case of the oak leaves, it signifies a change in humidity and air pressure. which causes the leaves to change position..and usually the wind picks up which also happens before a storm...A couple more natural example of omens would be a ring around the moon signifying a bitter cold night, or a very old one "red in morning, sailors take warning, red at night, sailors delight". Both of these things occurs because of certain fundamental scientific occurances. Another thing about natural omens is that some of them are only true in certain areas, where climate allows. For example, the "red in the morning sailors take warning"one, this is true for the area in which it was taken, the middle east, where the thermal air flow goes from east to west, as opposed to where i live, where the thermals come from the opposite way. All of our bad weather comes from the north and west. So our saying would be,"red at night, people take fright, red in the morning, there is no warning<on account of all the bad weather having done gone past us>". Now finally, the spiritual aspect of omens. You can really wander around in circles on this and everyone has their opinions about this. But hey, I'll see what i can come up with. First, if you consider the universe we live in to be a sorta conscious entity of it's own, and everything within it having it's own bit of wisdom to impart. It is not too farfetched to say that, at times, the world around you has something to tell you. Now how would a tree communicate with a person? Probably with some sort of visual stimulation that you would readily recognize as good or bad. Kinda like skull and crossbones on a bottle of poison. This in effect would be different for everyperson on how somethign would try and get your attention and say "hey lend a hand" or "hey you need to get the hell out of here". In my own personal view of the world around me, everything has a spirit and a voice, that if you would but listen, it might have somethign to impart. Anyhow i dunno, maybe i am not making any sense, but this is what i suspect and would love to hear other opinions. The Eternal RaVaN |
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| | From:  sæskwač | Sent: 10/8/2003 3:56 AM |
RaVaN is right...some Omens are genuine forecasts, these include many natural omens, such as the behaviors of plants and animals (Meteorologists could very well be considered to be Omen readers), and others very well may be the Universe, God, or whatever, sending us a message. We do have to be careful, though, when using Omens to direct our behavior, because they can (as Red suggested) become self-fulfilling prophecies. Omens were also signs used to lend authority to religious and mystical figures, such as the earthquakes the occurred each time the Buddha expounded a sutra. Extending the idea of Omens in nature, some more modern and involved ideas of omens may include the use of statistics to predict what will happen in the future, as well as data mining by the government to identify terrorism suspects based on purchasing patterns, phone use, travel arrangements, etc. |
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This is something I been thinking about alot lately. Does knowing what an omen is take away it's ability of being an omen? In this age of technological advances and scientific knowledge we tend to shrug off various things that just a few hundred years ago would have been a sign from the divine telling us to bugger off. One example would be the hurricanes hitting Florida...in light of the upcoming elections...you might say that it is a loud warning to KEEP IT HONEST...Another would be the Red Sox FINALLY winning a worldseries..breaking a curse that has been in effect since 1918...could that be a subtle sign that Kerry will win the election OR a warning TO vote for Kerry... Think about it for a bit. There are countless thousands of people either praying for a sign to show them who to vote for...OR that americans will be shown the way...years and years ago you would have had someone showing you what each and every omen meant...now that knowledge has passed away for the most part. So what if the divine DID give us a sign...how would you recognize it? Chances are you wouldn't. For the most part people tend to ignore or explain away things... Knowing how a hurricane is created doesn't take away from it being an omen or a warning or a showing of divine disfavor...yet some would like to say that it's a natural occurance therefore not divine. Look at various thing purported as miracles...say a guy being born of a virgin...this is not as impossible as it looks...but does that fact of it being possible and can be doen through artificial insemination take away from it being a sign or omen? It is really interesting how many things can be explained away yet still be a viable omen or sign...anyhow...don'tknowmyself...jsut thinking out loud  |
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| "As above, so below" came to mind when I thought about this... I tend to think the physical and spiritual worlds parallel one another and just as there are natural indicators (i.e animal behaviour, plants, meteorological, etc.) of impending changes so there are ones of spirit as well. It would stand to reason both genres of indicators/signs can be close to innumerable in their variations. And...as is the case with signs (i.e. RR Crossing = stop or you can could get hit) they are only of use if one has the awareness to read them... Leila | | | |
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