Do You Believe in Ghosts and Spirits?

[AgnosticBoy]

So here's a question. Do you believe in ghosts or spirits, why or why not?

I believe in ghosts but I admit that there are some problems with the concept of ghosts. If ghosts are defined as being 'immaterial' then some objections can be raised on that. How would they interact with us? How do they see and generate sound, etc. The closest I can relate to how ghosts can be immaterial is if our mind is also not material but yet we can mentally visualize people and sounds, like when we dream. We come up with immaterial or non-physical concepts like logic and numbers.

 

[s2a]

So here's a question. Do you believe in ghosts or spirits, why or why not?

I do not. Notions of a "life-after death" seem silly, and wishful thinking.

I tend to accept the explanations that those that desire to "see" them, do. Not unlike the similar claims of Sasquatch, Nessie, UFO's, etc.

I have yet to encounter even one skeptic that has ever claimed a sighting of any of such phenomena.

Maybe it's like magic or para psychological events: if you don't believe, you are immune?

 

[Runewolf1973]

I do not. Notions of a "life-after death" seem silly, and wishful thinking.

I tend to accept the explanations that those that desire to "see" them, do. Not unlike the similar claims of Sasquatch, Nessie, UFO's, etc.

I have yet to encounter even one skeptic that has ever claimed a sighting of any of such phenomena.

Maybe it's like magic or para psychological events: if you don't believe, you are immune?

Perhaps it can work both ways...

If you believe strongly enough that they do not exist, you may be psychologically blocking them out without even realizing. They may be there, but you block them out the same way people who experience traumatic events sometimes block those events out as well.

 

[s2a]

Perhaps it can work both ways...

If you believe strongly enough that they do not exist, you may be psychologically blocking them out without even realizing. They may be there, but you block them out the same way people who experience traumatic events sometimes block those events out as well.

Indeed.

Yours is the common argument put forward by sooth-Sayers, conjurors, magicians, and ghost/alien/ spirit hunters. Skeptics scare away the ghosts! Well dang it all. Sorry for spoiling the show. Blame my repressed life traumas and psychological blocking instead.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming....

 

[Runewolf1973]

I believe in ghosts but I admit that there are some problems with the concept of ghosts. If ghosts are defined as being 'immaterial' then some objections can be raised on that. How would they interact with us? How do they see and generate sound, etc. The closest I can relate to how ghosts can be immaterial is if our mind is also not material but yet we can mentally visualize people and sounds, like when we dream. We come up with immaterial or non-physical concepts like logic and numbers.

How does anything interact? If there is any such interaction, it is only because there are Fundamental Forces present which in fact ARE those interactions. I vote that if ghosts do exist, then they must be a type of highly interactive field. They are perhaps composed primarily of electromagnetic energy. But they are not just any ordinary electromagnetic energy, they are a complex form, or a highly interactive form. Those Fundamental Forces are what gives us the "illusion" of solid matter and its various forms. Matter itself is primarily empty space....99.99999 percent. It is possible there are more "illusions" or forms we simply do not know exist.

 

[s2a]

How does anything interact? If there is any such interaction, it is only because there are Fundamental Forces present which in fact ARE those interactions. I vote that if ghosts do exist, then they must be a type of highly interactive field. They are perhaps composed primarily of electromagnetic energy. But they are not just any ordinary electromagnetic energy, they are a complex form, or a highly interactive form. Those Fundamental Forces are what gives us the "illusion" of solid matter and its various forms. Matter itself is primarily empty space....99.99999 percent. It is possible there are more "illusions" or forms we simply do not know exist.

Is it "possible"? Sure, is it possible that the earth is flat?

Let us at least realize the distinctions between what is "possible", and what is "most likely"

Indeed, most of all matter is, at its most basic elements...IS empty space. WE haven't even touched upon the conundrums afforded by "dark matter" and "dark energy" yet...

..not that they can not be measured or "seen", but because they remain unexplained as to the "what" they comprise or are "made of", per se.Hence the terminology utilized as "something" being "dark"

However, and this is important..."ghosts" do NOT offer science any measures from which to discern anything of value. NOTHING.

And, for what this is worth, such rationales border on "conspiracy theories" that offer no evidences of any value, but a never ending series of..."Well, ok, you can debunk that, but now what about this "possibility"? Ad infinitum.

There remains conjecture and wild speculation about "things" (ill or non-defined) that may be "possible" vs. "things" that are deterministically defined over years of independent research, discovery, and revelation...to conclude what is "most likely" to be true, or even "fact".

"Possible" should not, nor ever be conflated or construed as ,"probable" in the same context.

 

[Runewolf1973]

Is it "possible"? Sure, is it possible that the earth is flat?

Let us at least realize the distinctions between what is "possible", and what is "most likely"

Indeed, most of all matter is, at its most basic elements...IS empty space. WE haven't even touched upon the conundrums afforded by "dark matter" and "dark energy" yet...

..not that they can not be measured or "seen", but because they remain unexplained as to the "what" they comprise or are "made of", per se.Hence the terminology utilized as "something" being "dark"

However, and this is important..."ghosts" do NOT offer science any measures from which to discern anything of value. NOTHING.

And, for what this is worth, such rationales border on "conspiracy theories" that offer no evidences of any value, but a never ending series of..."Well, ok, you can debunk that, but now what about this "possibility"? Ad infinitum.

There remains conjecture and wild speculation about "things" (ill or non-defined) that may be "possible" vs. "things" that are deterministically defined over years of independent research, discovery, and revelation...to conclude what is "most likely" to be true, or even "fact".

"Possible" should not, nor ever be conflated or construed as ,"probable" in the same context.

It depends on what you think ghosts are. I do not believe in the supernatural, but I do believe there exist forms or phenomena unknown to science. It is quite probable that there exist interactive forms which science is currently unaware of. The evidence to suggest that these other forms are possible or even probable is the fact that there are so many different forms already and there are new forms being discovered all the time. To say that there may exist interactive forms that science is unaware of is neither a conspiracy theory, nor is it pseudoscience. It is called having an open mind. That said, neither myself, nor anyone else can prove that ghosts exist. We can't say with any certainty that they either do or do not exist. We can only say that it is probable that unknown forms exist, therefore it is a possibility that ghosts could be one of those forms. To say that ghosts are made of ectoplasm is pseudoscience because in modern physics there is no such thing as "ectoplasm".



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[George-ananda]

I have yet to encounter even one skeptic that has ever claimed a sighting of any of such phenomena.

err, by definition you would no longer call them a skeptic...

I wouldn't mind a buck for every time I've heard things like 'I never believed in ghosts until....' (I've always been interested in hearing and seeking out paranormal stories and there are really tons of them. I am convinced that the skeptics claim that all can be explained away is not a reasonable position after all I've heard.)

 

[raw_thought]

There is no verifiable evidence of ghosts. I am not saying that there are no ghosts. I am saying that since I have personally never seen a ghost, I cannot believe in them. However, I am open to the possibility.
Interestingly, the pro-ghost site Ghosts & Peripheral Vision missed the obvious explanation. We think we see ghosts because we see better at night from an angle. This is because at night we will see something clearly and then direct our line of site to it, and it vanishes! This is because of the structure of the eye. Something that vanishes into thin air can be mistaken for a ghost.
PS If you want to see something more clearly in the dark, do not look at it directly.

 

[Gnostic Seeker]

So here's a question. Do you believe in ghosts or spirits, why or why not?

I do- both in unseen realms of various entities, and that the departed still exist.

 

[Pegg]

So here's a question. Do you believe in ghosts or spirits, why or why not?

i voted yes, but I believe them to be demons... not dead people.

 

[paragon]

I believe there are some things that go bump in the night.

 

[Estro Felino]

i voted yes, but I believe them to be demons... not dead people.

Unfortunately one thing does not exclude the other. so...as incredibly good people can become angels....immensely wicked people can become...

but that's my personal opinion...

 

[Pegg]

Unfortunately one thing does not exclude the other. so...as incredibly good people can become angels....immensely wicked people can become...

but that's my personal opinion...

what i read in the bible is this:

Ecclesiastes 3:18 I, even I, have said in my heart with regard to the sons of mankind that the [true] God is going to select them, that they may see that they themselves are beasts. 19 For there is an eventuality as respects the sons of mankind and an eventuality as respects the beast, and they have the same eventuality. As the one dies, so the other dies; and they all have but one spirit, so that there is no superiority of the man over the beast, for everything is vanity. 20 All are going to one place. They have all come to be from the dust, and they are all returning to the dust. 21 Who is there knowing the spirit of the sons of mankind, whether it is ascending upward; and the spirit of the beast, whether it is descending downward to the earth?


As much as the idea that we can become angels may seem a beautiful and a wonderful hope... it is nothing more then wishful thinking. We are not becoming angels... and if we become dust like all the other animals, then there are no 'ghosts' either.

 

[Gnostic Seeker]

i voted yes, but I believe them to be demons... not dead people.

Some of them very well could be. There are the realms of the powers, the realms of nature spirits, the angel realm, and on and on. Some departed persons may have to ascend through these various realms to achieve final liberation. I do not exclude some could actually be ghosts. Some may be trapped above or below the material realm, unable to ascend in hells of their making until they are purified from some impurities.

 

[lunamoth]

I voted maybe. I have had a few strange experiences that are certainly mysteries and seemed very ghost-like. In one instance I was sure I saw and heard someone on the front porch of the house where I grew up, in the middle of the night. I woke up and went downstairs to investigate (as a college student home on break). The sensation of seeing/hearing/feeling a presence faded, even as it chilled me to the bone.

I was so taken aback by it that I told my parents about it in the morning, trying to laugh it off. I said, "well, at least no one has died there on the porch anyway!"

My parents did not respond at the time, but later my mother told me that my paternal grandfather had indeed died right there on the front porch.

I've a had just a couple similar experiences. The scientist in me says there is no explanation, but otherwise I don't seem to be mentally ill or having hallucinations at random other times.

 

[Stormcry]

According to Hinduism, ghosts have subtle body, no physical body...And they're of the form of air ...

Absolutely I believe in ghosts ..There've been found many haunted houses .. Don't believe ..I know one.. You coming?

 

[Norrin-6-]

I believed in ghosts as a child who heard stories. The more I heard the more skeptical I became until I finally decided I just didn't believe any of the stories I was told. I did believe in God, and also in spirits (of the deceased) but I believed that when we die we all go back to God, none of us would stick around because of unfinished business or anything like that. Even as a believer I had trouble accepting things like demons, evil spirits, and guardian angels. I wasn't saying they couldn't exist, but I was pretty certain they weren't running their offices from here.

So that's how I used to feel about these things.

My current thoughts aren't quite as interesting, but I voted no on the poll. There are no ghosts controlling the lights inside your home, there are feasible answers that don't require you to reach strange conclusions.

 

[Renji]

So here's a question. Do you believe in ghosts or spirits, why or why not?

Well I do believe in 'wine spirits'. But since this is in the Paranormal Activity part of the forum, well I'd say no. There's just nothing empirical or substantial which could point out their existence.

 

[George-ananda]

There are no ghosts controlling the lights inside your home, there are feasible answers that don't require you to reach strange conclusions.

If it was just lights going on/off inside homes I would probably agree with your opinion.