Editing Prophecy (section)

==Explanations==
According to skeptics, many apparently fulfilled prophecies can be explained as [[coincidence]]s, possibly aided by the prophecy's own vagueness, and others may have been invented after the fact to match the circumstances of a past event (an act termed "[[postdiction]]").<ref name="Hines 2003">[[Terence Hines|Hines, Terence]]. (2003). ''Pseudoscience and the Paranormal''. Prometheus Books. pp. 66-73. {{ISBN|1-57392-979-4}}</ref><ref name="Pickover 2001">[[Clifford A. Pickover|Pickover, Clifford A]]. (2001). ''Dreaming the Future: The Fantastic Story of Prediction''. Prometheus Books. pp. 363-388. {{ISBN|1-57392-895-X}}</ref><ref>Forshaw, Mark. (2012). ''Critical Thinking for Psychology''. Wiley. pp. 46-48. {{ISBN|978-1-4051-9118-0}}</ref>

Bill Whitcomb in ''The Magician's Companion'' observes, <blockquote>One point to remember is that the probability of an event changes as soon as a prophecy (or divination) exists. . . . The accuracy or outcome of any prophecy is altered by the desires and attachments of the seer and those who hear the prophecy.<ref>Whitcomb, Bill. (2004). ''The Magician's Companion: A Practical & Encyclopedic Guide to Magical & Religious Symbolism''. Llewellyn Publications. pp. 530-531. {{ISBN|0-87542-868-1}}</ref></blockquote>

Many prophets make a large number of prophecies. This makes the chances of at least one prophecy being correct much higher by sheer weight of numbers.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.skepticreport.com/sr/?p=449 |title=Skeptic report, Prophesies for dummies by Allan Glenn |access-date=2018-01-15 |archive-date=2017-06-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170626201058/http://www.skepticreport.com/sr/?p=449 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Psychology===
The phenomenon of prophecy is not well understood in psychology research literature.  Psychiatrist and neurologist Arthur Deikman describes the phenomenon as an "intuitive knowing, a type of perception that bypasses the usual sensory channels and rational intellect."<ref>{{cite book |author = Deikman, A. J. |year = 1982 |title = The Observing self: Mysticism and psychotherapy |publisher = Beacon Press |location = Boston | page = 21 |isbn = 0-8070-2950-5}}</ref>

"(P)rophecy can be likened to a bridge between the individual 'mystical self' and the communal 'mystical body'," writes religious sociologist [[Margaret Poloma]].<ref>{{cite book |author = Poloma, Margaret |year = 2003 |title = Main street mystics: The Toronto blessing & reviving Pentecostalism |url = https://archive.org/details/mainstreetmystic00polo |url-access = limited |publisher = Alta Mira Press |location = Walnut Creek, CA | page = [https://archive.org/details/mainstreetmystic00polo/page/n123 115] |isbn = 0-7591-0353-4}}</ref> Prophecy seems to involve "the free association that occurred through the workings of the right brain."<ref>{{cite book |author = Poloma, M. M. |year = 2003 |title = Main street mystics: The Toronto blessing & reviving Pentecostalism |url = https://archive.org/details/mainstreetmystic00polo |url-access = limited |publisher = Alta Mira Press |location = Walnut Creek, CA | page = [https://archive.org/details/mainstreetmystic00polo/page/n134 126] |isbn = 0-7591-0353-4}}</ref>

Psychologist Julian Jaynes proposed that this is a temporary accessing of the bicameral mind; that is, a temporary separating of functions, such that the authoritarian part of the mind seems to literally be speaking to the person as if a separate (and external) voice.  Jaynes posits that the gods heard as voices in the head were and are organizations of the central nervous system. God speaking through man, according to Jaynes, is a more recent vestige of God speaking to man; the product of a more integrated higher self. When the bicameral mind speaks, there is no introspection. In earlier times, posits Jaynes, there was additionally a visual component, now lost.<ref>{{cite book |author = Jaynes, J. |year = 1976 |title = Main street mystics: The origins of consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind |publisher = Houghton Mifflin Company |location = Boston | page = 74}}</ref>

Child development and consciousness author [[Joseph Chilton Pearce]] remarked that revelation typically appears in symbolic form and "in a single flash of insight."<ref>{{cite book |author = Pearce, J. C. |year = 2002–2004 |title = The Biology of Transcendence: A blueprint of the human spirit |publisher = Inner Traditions International |location = Rochester, VT | page = 191 |isbn = 0-89281-990-1}}</ref>  He used the metaphor of lightning striking and suggests that the revelation is "a result of a buildup of resonant potential."<ref>{{cite book|title=The Biology of Transcendence|author = Pearce, J. C. | page = 192}}</ref>  Pearce compared it to the earth asking a question and the sky answering it. Focus, he said, feeds into "a unified field of like resonance (and becomes) capable of attracting and receiving the field's answer when it does form."<ref>{{cite book|title=The Biology of Transcendence|author = Pearce, J. C. | pages = 194 & 196}}</ref>

Some cite aspects of [[cognitive psychology]] such as pattern forming and attention to the formation of prophecy in modern-day society as well as the declining influence of religion in daily life.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thebeginner.eu/curious/481-the-fallacy-of-prophecy |title=The Fallacy of Prophecy - the Beginner |access-date=2011-04-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110425152322/http://www.thebeginner.eu/curious/481-the-fallacy-of-prophecy |archive-date=2011-04-25 }}</ref>