Reply #10: A certain set of monks [View All]

[Occulus]

and I honestly can't remember what sect, but I think they're in Tibet- are known for their ability to survive conditions, unprotected, that would kill any other person. They're in trance when they do it.

Clearly, the mind/body link goes much deeper, and is capable of much more, than current medical science can account for. It's a bit related to the saying 'the eyes are the windows to the soul'- the eyes are the only part of the brain that makes contact with the outside environment (I say 'part of the brain' as there's a direct connection between the eyes and the brain via to optic nerve); looking at someone's eyes can tell you a bit about what may be going on inside their head. It's been observed that truly evil people occasionally can have their eyes get darker over time. I read one report of a man who self-described as 'becoming evil' over time- since reformed- however, his family tells of his eyes actually getting darker as his mood progressively changed for the worse, eventually becoming almost entirely black. I saw a photo of the guy, once, on a Discovery Channel special about people who had a "near death experience"; the photo was taken just before he almost died, and his eyes were almost completely black. They were dead holes in his face, devoid of almost all humanity. It was creeeeeeepy.

Now, if our moods can control the color of our eyes (even mine change from green to grey-green for no apparent reason; seems to be connected to my mood), it stands to reason that the brain can have an effect on other aspects of our bodies as well. Persons with severe depression might show a weakened immune system; the very old, upon losing their lifelong spouse, are known to occasionally lose their desire to live and quite literally will themselves to death.

Again, I think this only points yet again to a brain-body link deeper than we are really willing to recognise, probably because it smacks of magic (keep in mind, these 'abilities', such as the guy in this article and th Tibetan monks I mentioned above, are usually ascribed to holy men of X religion). I personally think that we wouldn't have legends of 'magical' abilities if there weren't really something to it at the basest of levels.

Why can't people have these abilities? Why is it 'impossible'? Because we can't explain how it might happen?

Isn't that a bit thin?