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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
Reverse Speech	Joe	Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Question: Dear Brother I recently came across a site www.reversespeech.com that studies the phenomenon of hidden backward messages in everyday speech. This is a new and emerging field and they claim that it is different from backward masking. According to them, if human speech is recorded and played backwards, mixed amongst the gibberish at regular intervals can be heard very clear statements. These statements usually appear in short sentence form and are nearly always related to the forward speech. On the surface level, it can act as a sort of Truth Detector as Reverse Speech will usually correct the inconsistencies of forward speech. If a lie is spoken forwards, the truth may be communicated in reverse. If pertinent facts are left out of forward speech these may also be spoken in reverse. It can reveal hidden motive and agenda and other conscious thought processes. At deeper levels, Reverse Speech can reveal thought patterns that are unconscious, including reasons behind behaviour and disease. This information can be used to greatly enhance the therapeutic and healing processes. The FAQ on this site relates this phenomenon to the action of the Spirit. Would like your thoughts on how good or dangerous this can be for one's soul? Joe
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OMSM(r) Dear Joe: In a word, "balderdash". This pseudo-science is utter nonsense. The Skeptical Inquirer has a good article on this: The Demon-Haunted Sentence: A Skeptical Analysis of Reverse Speech. The human mind always searches for recognizable patterns. This is why we can see shapes in star clusters, in clouds, and the Bless Mother on a potato chip. The mind see certain geometric shapes, or in the case of audio, certain sound fragments, that might be familiar to the memory, and then automatically fills in the gaps or missing information to make it a cloud appear to be a shape of an elephant, or to see the Blessed Mother in a potato chip. This is all that it is. The claims made by this Reverse Speech profiteer sound almost identical to a snake-oil salesman, such as this statement from one of the Reverse Speech websites: With the discovery of Reverse Speech you now can find all those answers you may have been looking for, and know that they are the correct ones for you. Just by asking yourself any question on any subject, you will get an answer of truth from your unconscious mind that will bring insights and solutions on any decisions you have to make or any challenges you may have to face now or sometime in the future. This sounds a lot like divination, such as Tarot Cards and Astrology. Any "system" other than God that claims to find "all answers" is automatically false. Yes, I think involvement in this nonsense can be dangerous to one's soul. This is just another example of the dingbat zone. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary Footer Notes: This forum is for general questions on the faith. See specific Topic Forums below: Spiritual Warfare, demons, the occult go to our Spiritul Warfare Q&S Forum. Liturgy Questions go to our Liturgy and Liturgical Law Q&A Forum Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) Questions go to our Divine Office Q&A Forum Defenfing the Faith Questions go to our Defending the Faith Q&A Forum Church History Questions go to our Church History Q&A Forum

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

Reverse Speech

Joe

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Question:

Dear Brother

I recently came across a site www.reversespeech.com that studies the phenomenon of hidden backward messages in everyday speech. This is a new and emerging field and they claim that it is different from backward masking.

According to them, if human speech is recorded and played backwards, mixed amongst the gibberish at regular intervals can be heard very clear statements. These statements usually appear in short sentence form and are nearly always related to the forward speech.
On the surface level, it can act as a sort of Truth Detector as Reverse Speech will usually correct the inconsistencies of forward speech. If a lie is spoken forwards, the truth may be communicated in reverse. If pertinent facts are left out of forward speech these may also be spoken in reverse. It can reveal hidden motive and agenda and other conscious thought processes. At deeper levels, Reverse Speech can reveal thought patterns that are unconscious, including reasons behind behaviour and disease. This information can be used to greatly enhance the therapeutic and healing processes.

The FAQ on this site relates this phenomenon to the action of the Spirit.

Would like your thoughts on how good or dangerous this can be for one's soul?

Joe

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OMSM(r)

Dear Joe:

In a word, "balderdash". This pseudo-science is utter nonsense.

The Skeptical Inquirer has a good article on this: The Demon-Haunted Sentence: A Skeptical Analysis of Reverse Speech.

The human mind always searches for recognizable patterns. This is why we can see shapes in star clusters, in clouds, and the Bless Mother on a potato chip. The mind see certain geometric shapes, or in the case of audio, certain sound fragments, that might be familiar to the memory, and then automatically fills in the gaps or missing information to make it a cloud appear to be a shape of an elephant, or to see the Blessed Mother in a potato chip.

This is all that it is. The claims made by this Reverse Speech profiteer sound almost identical to a snake-oil salesman, such as this statement from one of the Reverse Speech websites:

With the discovery of Reverse Speech you now can find all those answers you may have been looking for, and know that they are the correct ones for you.

Just by asking yourself any question on any subject, you will get an answer of truth from your unconscious mind that will bring insights and solutions on any decisions you have to make or any challenges you may have to face now or sometime in the future.

This sounds a lot like divination, such as Tarot Cards and Astrology. Any "system" other than God that claims to find "all answers" is automatically false.

Yes, I think involvement in this nonsense can be dangerous to one's soul.

This is just another example of the dingbat zone.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

Footer Notes: This forum is for general questions on the faith. See specific Topic Forums below:
Spiritual Warfare, demons, the occult go to our Spiritul Warfare Q&S Forum.
Liturgy Questions go to our Liturgy and Liturgical Law Q&A Forum
Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) Questions go to our Divine Office Q&A Forum
Defenfing the Faith Questions go to our Defending the Faith Q&A Forum
Church History Questions go to our Church History Q&A Forum