genericaccount
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- Posted: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 04:43:39 +0000
I understand this is a repeat thread, please forgive me. I simply wanted to post a thread of some substance and research.
The age-old question: Do ghosts exist?
I personally do NOT think ghosts exist. I am skeptical of most superstitions and such. This article talks a bit about a possible explanation for malevolent or positive encounters with the dead.
Its like that show I saw on discovery channel in which a woman lived in a location with a significant amount of electromagnetic fields. She also had no skin resistance to these fields. Her vivid spiritual experiences suggest a correlation between ghost phenomena and exposure to electromagnetic fields.
Images of ghosts are also easily hoaxed. By simply taking a picture over an already exposed film strip or by using flashlight trails you can easily fake an encounter. http://www.ghostresearch.org/ghostpics/ is a website database with some explainable ghost images, if you are interested.
However, If one just listens to EVPs, electronic voice phenomena, one begins to doubt logical explanations. Supposedly, EVPs occur when someone tape records the silence in haunted locations. Sometimes questions are asked and then those at the recorder wait for a bit to allow spirits to answer. Though at the time of the recording, nothing is heard, when the tapes are played back there are voices in the previously blank spaces.
GIs member Roger was talking to Barbara about the sudden drop in temperature and how she had become cold, when this voice was recorded saying "So is the dead"
http://www.ghostpix.com/gis/evpg1.html
source: http://www.ghostpix.com/
But remember, people always seem to hear different things when listening to these voices, suggesting that differences in perception may account for random sounds appearing to be messages from beyond. People often do not hear a particular message unless they are told what to listen for.
Take this EVP for instance: http://media.ghostpix.com/barry/helprev.wav
What did you hear? (Highlight white text below for answer)
According to those who recorded it, the message was "God, why wont you help me?"
However, many faiths and cultures tie the existence of spirits to their philosophies. Take Thailand for example. In my years of living there I saw many spirit-related superstitious behavior. Nam Nak is a famous ghost in Thailand. She reportedly died during childbirth and to this day resides in a tree where people pray to her to ask for favor and luck. The houses or street corners sometimes include ?spirit houses? intended to keep ghosts appeased and out of the way of the living. I had a nasty fear of ghosts after I heard of a type of malevolent spirit that sits on sleeping people?s chests and suffocates them.
So, as for the discussion:
Do you believe in the paranormal?
What encounters have you had?
What is some additional evidence supporting the existence or non-existence of ghosts?
How closely does the belief in ghosts relate to various religious beliefs?
The age-old question: Do ghosts exist?
I personally do NOT think ghosts exist. I am skeptical of most superstitions and such. This article talks a bit about a possible explanation for malevolent or positive encounters with the dead.
Quote:
Holograms
Stare at your own face long enough, and you?ll suddenly realize it?s just another face. The face in the mirror is, of course, yours. But after a while, it won?t feel like that anymore. The face you see could be anybody's.
Most neuroscientists agree the same applies for your consciousness. The thing you call your ?self? is most likely an illusion, created by your brain. Your brain gives you vision, sound, speech, feelings, and thoughts. When you add all these things up, you?ll have some overall feeling of awareness you call your consciousness. But still, your brain is the thing running it. Your feeling of ?self? is best compared to a software program running. It looks very real ? but it isn?t.
Of course, most people believe there is something like a ?soul? or a ?spirit? living inside of you. But when it comes down to facts, there just isn?t any evidence for that. Every thought you have, every move you make, every emotion you feel - it?s just brain, brain, brain.
There are actually experiments that prove it. When you disturb your brain in a certain way, your feeling of ?self? can get detached from your brain. Suddenly, it will feel as if ?you? are not inside your body anymore. You experience what is known as an ?out of body experience?, or a ?near death experience?.
But you don?t have to be nearly dead to feel it. The sensation can easily be created in a laboratory, by placing a helmet with rotating magnetic fields on your head. The magnetic field acts like a ?jam signal? on your brain. Suddenly, you'll feel like you're floating outside your body. But you aren?t. It?s just your brain going confused.
And you don't really need a helmet to do the trick. Visiting a place where the movement of the Earth's crust generates magnetic fields can give you the experience. Being in a situation where your brain doesn't get enough oxygen sometimes does it. Certain brain operations bring out the experience. Meditation and intensive prayer can generate it.
In fact, exactly this is why some people see ghosts, or Maria, or feel like they are visited by aliens. It is an incredible weird experience to be ?outside of your brain?. Your brain will try to make sense of it. Immediately, the rational part of your brain will come up with an ?explanation? for the experience. You will sense a ?presence? near you. If you?re religious, you might see Maria, or Jesus. If you believe in UFOs, your brain might tell you you?re visited by aliens. If you believe in ghosts, you?ll feel the presence of a ghost of a dead person. But in reality, it?s your own feeling of self you?re experiencing.
source: http://www.xs4all.nl/~mke/exitmundi.htm
Stare at your own face long enough, and you?ll suddenly realize it?s just another face. The face in the mirror is, of course, yours. But after a while, it won?t feel like that anymore. The face you see could be anybody's.
Most neuroscientists agree the same applies for your consciousness. The thing you call your ?self? is most likely an illusion, created by your brain. Your brain gives you vision, sound, speech, feelings, and thoughts. When you add all these things up, you?ll have some overall feeling of awareness you call your consciousness. But still, your brain is the thing running it. Your feeling of ?self? is best compared to a software program running. It looks very real ? but it isn?t.
Of course, most people believe there is something like a ?soul? or a ?spirit? living inside of you. But when it comes down to facts, there just isn?t any evidence for that. Every thought you have, every move you make, every emotion you feel - it?s just brain, brain, brain.
There are actually experiments that prove it. When you disturb your brain in a certain way, your feeling of ?self? can get detached from your brain. Suddenly, it will feel as if ?you? are not inside your body anymore. You experience what is known as an ?out of body experience?, or a ?near death experience?.
But you don?t have to be nearly dead to feel it. The sensation can easily be created in a laboratory, by placing a helmet with rotating magnetic fields on your head. The magnetic field acts like a ?jam signal? on your brain. Suddenly, you'll feel like you're floating outside your body. But you aren?t. It?s just your brain going confused.
And you don't really need a helmet to do the trick. Visiting a place where the movement of the Earth's crust generates magnetic fields can give you the experience. Being in a situation where your brain doesn't get enough oxygen sometimes does it. Certain brain operations bring out the experience. Meditation and intensive prayer can generate it.
In fact, exactly this is why some people see ghosts, or Maria, or feel like they are visited by aliens. It is an incredible weird experience to be ?outside of your brain?. Your brain will try to make sense of it. Immediately, the rational part of your brain will come up with an ?explanation? for the experience. You will sense a ?presence? near you. If you?re religious, you might see Maria, or Jesus. If you believe in UFOs, your brain might tell you you?re visited by aliens. If you believe in ghosts, you?ll feel the presence of a ghost of a dead person. But in reality, it?s your own feeling of self you?re experiencing.
source: http://www.xs4all.nl/~mke/exitmundi.htm
Its like that show I saw on discovery channel in which a woman lived in a location with a significant amount of electromagnetic fields. She also had no skin resistance to these fields. Her vivid spiritual experiences suggest a correlation between ghost phenomena and exposure to electromagnetic fields.
Images of ghosts are also easily hoaxed. By simply taking a picture over an already exposed film strip or by using flashlight trails you can easily fake an encounter. http://www.ghostresearch.org/ghostpics/ is a website database with some explainable ghost images, if you are interested.
However, If one just listens to EVPs, electronic voice phenomena, one begins to doubt logical explanations. Supposedly, EVPs occur when someone tape records the silence in haunted locations. Sometimes questions are asked and then those at the recorder wait for a bit to allow spirits to answer. Though at the time of the recording, nothing is heard, when the tapes are played back there are voices in the previously blank spaces.
Quote:
GIs member Roger was talking to Barbara about the sudden drop in temperature and how she had become cold, when this voice was recorded saying "So is the dead"
http://www.ghostpix.com/gis/evpg1.html
source: http://www.ghostpix.com/
But remember, people always seem to hear different things when listening to these voices, suggesting that differences in perception may account for random sounds appearing to be messages from beyond. People often do not hear a particular message unless they are told what to listen for.
Take this EVP for instance: http://media.ghostpix.com/barry/helprev.wav
What did you hear? (Highlight white text below for answer)
According to those who recorded it, the message was "God, why wont you help me?"
However, many faiths and cultures tie the existence of spirits to their philosophies. Take Thailand for example. In my years of living there I saw many spirit-related superstitious behavior. Nam Nak is a famous ghost in Thailand. She reportedly died during childbirth and to this day resides in a tree where people pray to her to ask for favor and luck. The houses or street corners sometimes include ?spirit houses? intended to keep ghosts appeased and out of the way of the living. I had a nasty fear of ghosts after I heard of a type of malevolent spirit that sits on sleeping people?s chests and suffocates them.
Quote:
Spirits
"The world of the Thai villager (and that of many city folk as well) is inhabited by a host of spirits of greater or lesser relevance to an individual's well-being. Although many of these are not sanctioned by Buddhist scripture or even by Buddhist tradition, many monks, themselves of rural origin and essentially tied to the village, are as likely as the peasant to accept the beliefs and rituals associated with spirits."
Phi (pee). "Most important are the spirits included in the rather heterogeneous category of phi, thought to have power over human beings. The category includes spirits believed to have a permanent existence and others that are reincarnations of deceased human beings. Phi exist virtually everywhere--in trees, hills, water, animals, the earth, and so on. Some are malevolent, others beneficial."
Ghosts. "The ghosts of persons who died violently under mysterious circumstances or whose funeral rites were improperly performed constitute another class of phi; almost all of these spirits are malevolent. In contrast, the ghosts of notable people are said to reside in small shrines along the roads and are referred to as "spirit lords." They are often petitioned in prayers and can enter and possess the bodies of mediums to give oracles.Among the more important of the spirits and ghosts is the evil phi pop (ghoul spirit), which, at the instigation of witches, can enter human beings and consume their internal organs."
Chao (jou-oh). "Another category consists of the chao (guardian spirits), of which perhaps the most important is the chao thi, or guardian of the house compound (an alternative name is phra phum). Fixed on a post in the compound of most houses in Thailand's central region is a small spirit dwelling. Food offerings are made to the chao thi on the anniversary of the spirit's installation in the house, on New Year's Day, and on other special days. The spirit is told of the arrival of guests who are to stay any length of time, of projected journeys by members of the family, and of births and deaths. The spirit's intercession is also sought during illness and misfortune.
Other spirits protect gardens, the rice fields, and the wat. The spirit of the rice field is worshipped only once a year, at the beginning of the rice planting; the Rice Goddess receives offerings when the seedbed is to be prepared and when the harvest is ready. The Mother Earth Goddess often receives offerings at transplanting time."
source: http://wrc.lingnet.org/thailand.htm
"The world of the Thai villager (and that of many city folk as well) is inhabited by a host of spirits of greater or lesser relevance to an individual's well-being. Although many of these are not sanctioned by Buddhist scripture or even by Buddhist tradition, many monks, themselves of rural origin and essentially tied to the village, are as likely as the peasant to accept the beliefs and rituals associated with spirits."
Phi (pee). "Most important are the spirits included in the rather heterogeneous category of phi, thought to have power over human beings. The category includes spirits believed to have a permanent existence and others that are reincarnations of deceased human beings. Phi exist virtually everywhere--in trees, hills, water, animals, the earth, and so on. Some are malevolent, others beneficial."
Ghosts. "The ghosts of persons who died violently under mysterious circumstances or whose funeral rites were improperly performed constitute another class of phi; almost all of these spirits are malevolent. In contrast, the ghosts of notable people are said to reside in small shrines along the roads and are referred to as "spirit lords." They are often petitioned in prayers and can enter and possess the bodies of mediums to give oracles.Among the more important of the spirits and ghosts is the evil phi pop (ghoul spirit), which, at the instigation of witches, can enter human beings and consume their internal organs."
Chao (jou-oh). "Another category consists of the chao (guardian spirits), of which perhaps the most important is the chao thi, or guardian of the house compound (an alternative name is phra phum). Fixed on a post in the compound of most houses in Thailand's central region is a small spirit dwelling. Food offerings are made to the chao thi on the anniversary of the spirit's installation in the house, on New Year's Day, and on other special days. The spirit is told of the arrival of guests who are to stay any length of time, of projected journeys by members of the family, and of births and deaths. The spirit's intercession is also sought during illness and misfortune.
Other spirits protect gardens, the rice fields, and the wat. The spirit of the rice field is worshipped only once a year, at the beginning of the rice planting; the Rice Goddess receives offerings when the seedbed is to be prepared and when the harvest is ready. The Mother Earth Goddess often receives offerings at transplanting time."
source: http://wrc.lingnet.org/thailand.htm
So, as for the discussion:
Do you believe in the paranormal?
What encounters have you had?
What is some additional evidence supporting the existence or non-existence of ghosts?
How closely does the belief in ghosts relate to various religious beliefs?
