Is fire-walking a supernatural phenomenon?
Oh, those amazing feats! Signs, wonder and miracles… what the world of supernatural claims is made of. But some would-be skeptics still sound the old empiricist maxim, “seeing is believing.” In other words, they demand experience. And, experience is powerful and persuasive. But, contrary to this stock empiricist slogan, more fundamental to the human psyche is the maxim, “believing is seeing.” As more and more people study the effects that our beliefs have on how we perceive our experiences, they are forced to acknowledge that quite often we “see” what we expect to see—that is, we see what we believe. Experiences are tricky things. They often come without interpretations—we supply those ourselves, or we allow others to supply them for us. “Why did that happen?” “What does it mean?” These questions manifest our desire for immediate understanding, and significant meaning. But if we are not careful, we may be led in very dangerous directions. So, let’s examine the wondrous feat of fire-wal
