No Se

Ivan Daniel Perez
Professor Freeman
28/11/12
The Human and the Divine
Reflection: Reality of the Seen
Perhaps one of the most impacting memories I have is of a paranormal state. I was probablyaround eight years old when one morning I got up to make myself some cereal. On my way to the kitchen I spotted a man sitting in one of the chairs of the living room; I go in and talk to him.Immediately I recognize that it is my great uncle Luis, which had recently been sick in the hospital. At the end of our small conversation he says to me “Go get your father and tell him I am here” so I do ashe says gladly. Once in my parents bed I wake up my dad and tell him that my uncle Luis is there calling for him. My father with red eyes tells me that it is impossible, he insists on it, when I askhim why that would be and he responded that uncle Luis had died yesterday. As we got back to the living room, Uncle Luis was not on the chair.
The impact this event had on me was tremendous, as Itruly realized that I had an encounter with the beyond. I first realized that God was in my life, and that life after death was indeed real. I agree with William James when he says in his chapter that“material sensations actually present may have a weaker influence on our action than ideas of remoter facts” (James, 51). This encounter with the paranormal redefined and uplifted my spirit as I sawthat loved one’s stay with us even long after their passing. I believe also that the unseen ideas of love, justice, and envy are what drive the human to accomplish almost anything it proposes.Therefore, if love is to be believed in, why not should the paranormal be also very present in our lives.
I do not know what William James would have said of my case as it is not a case of what he calls“experience of hallucination” (James, 58). As the definition of hallucination suggests that it is the perception of “something there” without stimulus, what I experienced was not a hallucination but...