Cork Views: Tis the season of predictions, but it’s all crystal balderdash!

It’s A Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas film described as being loosely based on Charles Dicken’s novella A Christmas Carol.

The film stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a man who has given up his personal dreams, in order to help others in his community.

His suicide attempt on Christmas Eve brings about the intervention of his guardian angel, Clarence Odbody. He gives George an opportunity to look back on his life and to see how he has touched the lives of others, and how different life would be for his wife Mary and his community if he had not been born.

It’s A Wonderful Life became a classic Christmas film and is screened every year on some channel or other. Lots of us watch it because we like the idea that someone might really be looking out for us

There’s no doubt, we would all do some things differently if a guardian angel could give us a tip-off about where we were going wrong, but communicating with them is still a bit tricky.

However, that might be about to change...

It has been predicted that human telepathy could become a reality in 2025. This could be the year the secrets of the human mind are unlocked, and telepathy could become a reality, stepping out of the realm of science fiction.

According to History.com, a lady called Baba Vanga predicted that scientists will allegedly discover a way to harness brainwaves for direct communication, and if she’s right, this breakthrough would revolutionise everything, from how we learn, to how we socialise, and promises to provide a massive shift in human interaction.

It could be a future world where thoughts flow effortlessly between people, with no need for phones or written messages. Imagine that.

I’m not sure how the initial contact would be made though. Would there be a little bell in your mind to alert you to an incoming call?

And how would you manage if you didn’t want to talk to the person? You couldn’t very well pretend to be out, and even thinking about not wanting to talk to them could land you in hot water because the person would be reading your thoughts.

I’m not so sure about this mental telepathy business at all, but in any event, this piece of news comes with a health warning because Baba Vanga also predicted a nuclear war that would last from 2010 to 2014, which, thankfully, never came to pass and she also prophesied that we would have a visit from aliens.

I have met some dubious characters over the years, and while their behaviour could be classed as being out of this world, I’m pretty certain they were all homegrown.

Vanga also said the US would use a “climate-changing weapon” on Muslim-controlled Rome, and predicted that in 2100, we’ll apparently start using a man-made sun. By 2130, humans will start living underwater thanks to the intervention of aliens.

Baba Vanga seems to have had a thing about aliens, but who was she exactly? According to Historyhit.com, she was born in 1911 in Strumica, a small town in modern-day North Macedonia. She lost her sight aged 12 after, in her words, a ‘tornado’ lifted her into the air and threw her into a nearby field.

After a long search, she was found with her eyes covered with sand and dust, and was left with a gradual loss of sight. Rumours also circulated that Vanga was blinded and received her prophetic powers after she was struck by lightning.

She gained recognition for her so-called predictions about future events, which included the Chernobyl disaster, the death of Princess Diana, 9/11, and the fall of the Soviet Union.

As a result, Vanga became a legendary prophet during the 20th century and was often referred to as the ‘Balkan Nostradamus’. She died in 1996.

I don’t believe in this mumbo jumbo. As far as I’m concerned, it’s not possible to predict the future, but there are others who believe otherwise, and followers of Nostradamus would argue that many of his predictions have come to pass.

According to history.com, opinion about his talents remains deeply divided to this very day. A cynic may argue that his predictions are cannily phrased in such a way that vagueness and obscurity reign supreme, allowing his words to be tailored to any given situation after the fact.

I have tried reading some of the Nostradamus predictions and, to be honest, I couldn’t make head nor tail of them, and you would need a good imagination to match them to any actual event.

Before dismissing Baba Vanga out of hand completely though, it’s only fair to say that, over the years, she did make a number of predictions that had the appearance of being right, like the Kursk nuclear submarine disaster. In 1980, she said Kursk will be “covered with water and the whole world will weep over it”.

In the year 2000, a Russian nuclear submarine called Kursk did indeed sink, killing all 118 sailors on board.

Vanga also “predicted” the 9/11 terror attacks in 1989, when she said, “Horror, horror! The American brethren will fall after being attacked by the steel birds. The wolves will be howling in a bush, and innocent blood will be gushing.”

And some think she foresaw the 2004 tsunami when she predicted: “A huge wave will cover a big coast covered with people and towns, and everything will disappear beneath the water. Everything will melt, just like ice.”

I still don’t buy into it, and as we are about to welcome another new year, I don’t want to know what lays in store for me over the next 12 months either. I’ll take my chances.

I wouldn’t mind a quiet chat with my guardian angel though, if they’re listening.