The term miracle implies a public event or phenomenon caused by something supernatural, such as a magical or mythical power. So if you doubt the supernatural, then you’re probably skeptical about miracles.
However, you can be amazed and impressed by what is extraordinary and inexplicable in the world. Here are some examples for your consideration. Are they miracles?
1. Are miracles shown by extremely gifted people?
Incredibly extreme mathematical, musical, artistic, and mechanical abilities have been among the talents demonstrated by a small number of individuals. Examples include performing rapid mental calculations of large sums, playing long compositions from memory after a single hearing, and repairing complex mechanisms without training. They seem kind of like miracles.
Kim Peek had below average intelligence, but she could quickly read a book in about an hour and remember almost everything she had read. Furthermore, according to an article in The Times newspaper, he could accurately recall the contents of at least 12,000 books. Peek enjoyed getting close to strangers, and if they told him his birth date, he would tell them what day of the week they were born on and what news was on the front page of the major newspapers that day.
Orlando Serrell did not possess any special abilities until he was struck on the left side of the head by a baseball in 1979 when he was ten years old. He can remember the weather, as well as (to a greater or lesser extent) where he was and what he has done every day for a period of almost 40 years since the accident.
Daniel Tammet recited pi correctly from memory to 22,514 digits. He took five hours and nine minutes. He knows ten languages. He learned conversational Icelandic in a week and then appeared in an interview in Kastljós on RÚV speaking the language.
2. Miracles of a vital force in nature?
We see living growth in all of nature. From the simplest fern to the most perfect tree and from unicellular protozoa to the tallest mammalian structure. In them the organic cells multiply and the sexes unite by a spontaneous impulse.
Nature preserves what it has procreated. The seeds are surrounded by shells. Animals have protective colors to camouflage themselves and birds build nests for their young. The love of offspring is found everywhere. There are other animal instincts as well, such as the ability of salmon to return across thousands of miles of ocean to the same rivers and streams in which they were born. The gift of eels when recognizing a thimble of rose scent diluted in a lake that covers fourteen thousand square miles. And the talent of male moths to detect the presence of a female of their kind thirty miles away.
3. Miracles of human consciousness
There is nothing more natural and ordinary than human consciousness. However, speak science. How can a piece of mere biological tissue like the human brain, albeit incredibly complex, have consciousness? How can something physical have a subjective sensation of redness or acidity, or feel pain or pleasure, or experience ideas and fantasies?
There is a lot of neuroscience out there to show how different networks of neurons fire when a person experiences certain thoughts and feelings. But this work fails to explain the possibility of consciousness, only that the physical brain somehow reflects and modifies it.
The scientists found evidence that when we remember something, the brain produces new proteins. These are formed locally at the connection between nerve cells. It seems that this increases the strength of the connection and strengthens memory. But if physical matter itself has no consciousness, where does consciousness come from?
Ordinary not seen as natural
Not everyone assumes that the abnormal and unusual have a magical or mythical explanation. Hindus and Buddhists believe that miraculous powers are the “natural” result of ascetic practice and spiritual realization.
Miracles happen every day, change your perception of what a miracle is and you will see them all around you. (Jon Bon Jovi, American singer-songwriter)
You may view ordinary and extraordinary things with wonder and amazement as you feel that they are due to a hitherto inexplicable force or energy that natural science may never be able to discover. One that transcends the material world and is beyond the limitations of human beings. Also one that is revealed to be a design in nature (compared to the Darwinian explanation of accidental mutation).
An idea of what causes miracles.
The spiritual philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg wrote about a non-material reality that he called “the spiritual world.” As a result, he had the concept of a general inspiration of divine life from this transcendent realm.
Animals are… controlled through a general influx from the spirit world because they are in their own pattern of life, a pattern that they can neither distort nor destroy. (Emanuel Swedenborg)
According to this view, humans, along with the rest of nature, are like vessels receiving a life force beyond ourselves. Therefore, he believed that this general spiritual influx comes from a non-physical realm: and results in our natural growth, healing, bodily functioning, consciousness, abilities and instincts, etc. He attributed its source as the Infinite Compassion Goodness that transcends but permeates all of existence, with creative design and providential preservation.
I believe that miracles happen every day. Each person is a miracle. Every moment is a miracle. If we can only open our eyes, we will see God’s love everywhere. (Bo Sánchez, author and Catholic preacher)