[QUOTE=Skbaggage21;4988227][QUOTE=ciderguy;4988017 Now. Now I realize – big surprise – that it's just as self-righteous and pretentious to reject the supernatural. I'm sometimes back at the death and taxes place, then I'm with my parents and I feel so very good that I'm certain that they are as real as anything. I have a physical sensation when they're here but I've been in and out of belief for two reasons. The first reason is because they don't touch me. I don't have many real memories of my mother but my dad and I were always physically affectionate and I've thought that my mother would have been the same. That's not a great argument, really, because it's very possible that they simply exist in a different way.

What do you mean it's "self-righteous" and "pretentious" to reject the supernatural? The reason I ask is because when I decided to renounce religion, many people told me that I will burn in hell. I see no evidence for belief in anything supernatural (currently). Christians seem to think they are so above me intellectually, which really bothers me.[/QUOTE]

It hurts when I come here, but I can't stay away.

I find both extremes pretentious. It's trite to say it, but we've no way of proving either. Richard Dawkins is a joke for his rabid attempts to prove the non-existence of a deity. And the religious extremists are just as bad.

It's just impossible to "know" – that's part of, usually the stasis – of the crisis.

You're experiencing the self-righteousness of one group. It can really be annoying. I've been all over the place just in the past year, never to Dawkins' extreme, but feeling an intellectual superiority to atheists? Yeah.

Over the past year, I've had some experiences that I can only understand if I concede that they are supernatural. I know that I have mental issues, depression, anxiety and social phobias, and I know that I've had hallucinations, but in the past 3 months or so, I've rejected the idea that I'm delusional. I don't know of any instances, personally, of those who are delusional being able to question the delusion(s) and find another possible explanation. I'm guessing that there's nothing unique to being misdiagnosed.

My depression has been overwhelming lately. Yesterday was very bad. Today has been better. I'm not certain why you chose a psych board to ask your question – there's nothing at all wrong with your mind. You're asking normal and very healthy questions. If you thought that you had the answers to those questions, THEN I'd suggest seeing a therapist.