a few words about ghosts

[ArmsMerchant]

One of the knotty problems with talking about metaphysics is semantics--just what do I mean by "ghost", for instance. Here, I shall use the word as a general term to refer to ANY unexplained sighting or feeling of some sort of non-physical presence, usually confined to a specific locale.Thus, by this definition, a "ghost" might "really" be any one of the following: an extra-terrestrial; a time traveler; a psychic imprint; a poltergeist-related phenomenon; a hallucination; or a discarnate entity. Here, I am speaking of the discarnate entity--that is, the spirit or energy of someone who had physically died but has not yet passed over.

FYI, I saw my first ghost at a very young age. I saw this stranger, a skinny and dark-haired guy looking very sad, standing in the doorway of our apartment. I asked my Mom who the man was. She said "What man?" I described him. She related the incident to our landlord, who said I had described the previous tenant, who had hanged himself in that doorway.

This was typical. Ghosts are usually people who died suddenly, often violently, and are usually not happy campers. They CANNOT harm you--this is very important to get clear--they may scare the bejesus out of you and you might run into a wall or something trying to get away from them, but a ghost cannot do you any physical damage. (Now, entity attachment--or possession--is another matter.) They may disturb your sleep, annoy your pets, and make a place pretty much uninhabitable. But a ghost you can see cannot really hurt you.

Why are they here? Usually, they fall into one of three categories. One, they died so suddenly they don't realize they are dead. Two, they are afraid they will go to hell if they cross over (just because you are dead doesn't mean you are smart--there is no such place as hell). Three, they have some sort of unfinished business, often relating to revenge.

Communicating with them is difficult to impossible for most people. (I suspect that one reason so many of them are so angry is due to simple frustration at not being able to communicate--think how YOU felt the last time you wanted to make a cell call and got nothing but static and noises that sounded like robot-farts.) I have to be in a shamanic state of consciousness (ie, theta--deep trance) to do so, and sort of meet them on their own ground. Then I talk to them like I talk to another person during ordinary waking consciousness--but the conversations tend to be outre. Often they are merely frightened and confused, and are glad to pass over when they know the score. Vengeful ghosts can be more difficult to deal with. Thus far, I have a perfect track record in terms of "persuading" them to pass over. The toughest was the ghost of a martial arts master who was vastly more powerful than I am, and whose rage was terrible to behold--no way would he listen to me--so I hit on the idea of getting in touch with the ghost of his sensei, and the sensei persuaded the guy to cross.

Some people claim to be able to communicate with them during ordinary waking consciousness--John Edwards springs to mind--but I doubt that very much. I have heard he simply does cold readings from the start--I don't know, he may be on the level--but as a rule, doing psychic stuff is just not as easy as he glibly makes it look. But I digress.

The bottom line is, ghosts are real, they are individuals, and they are mostly harmless. Then again, so is a coral snake, but you don't want to mess with it. Oh, and those "other" ghosts--most of them are, I think, fairly self-explanatory. Poltergeists, however, are generally considered to be more psychic manifestations than actual entities. And "psychic imprint" is a phrase that rarely comes up in conversation, and it is one of those bits of jargon that is difficult to translate into everyday vernacular, but I'll try--you know if you walk into an elevator in which someone has recently farted prodigiously--there is a sort of olefactory imprint lingering in the air. A psychic imprint is pretty much the same thing, only the result of a sort of prodigious mental or psychic fart.

And I bet this article is the only one on the net with the words "coral snake," "poltergeist," and "fart" in the same paragraph.

[robinhoody]

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22coral%20snake%22%20AND%20%22poltergeis t%22%20AND%20%22fart%22

Google turns up 10 results that have all three phrases in them, but only the first one really fits the bill.

Not surprisingly, it's this article posted over at PS.

[Chaosphere]

could you provide some information on detecting weather a place is active or not?

[Bukujutsu]

I think I may may have had an experience with ghosts. Seriously, I sent you an email a few months ago, but you did say you hardly ever check your email. It was weird, I could only see them in photos I took with a digital camera and they kept changing form. I have no idea if it was more than one entity or what it even was. I still have the photos. I remember that I could sense them. Never had any major experience with them, just took some cool photos and then they where gone after about a month.

[Graah]

I'm not saying you're wrong, but what makes you so sure?

And if they exist, how so? Do they actually take up physical space? To see something, it either has to trick your mind, or more commonly, have light bounce off it, and into your eyes, where it sends signals to your brain. So how do you see them?

[SephirothAngelus]

Graah, I theorized that perhaps the visual manifestation of a ghost is simply the way your mind is interpreting an interaction you are having on the astral plane, rather than an actual light refraction your eyes are receiving.

Which would also explain why ghosts are not visible to all at the same time.

I wonder what Arms has to say about this.

[ArmsMerchant]

I'm not saying you're wrong, but what makes you so sure?

And if they exist, how so? Do they actually take up physical space? To see something, it either has to trick your mind, or more commonly, have light bounce off it, and into your eyes, where it sends signals to your brain. So how do you see them?

I am sure about this the same way I am sure about what I had for breakfast--personal experience.

I have read that we only perceive about one-billionth of all the available data--for instance, we can only "see" a tiny portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Many of the things I "see" do not require the use of eyes.

[AngryFemme]

I still have the photos.

Any chance you'd post the photos here? I'd love to take a look-see, and I bet others would too. Unless of course they're too personal.

Thought it couldn't hurt to ask.

[Bukujutsu]

Any chance you'd post the photos here? I'd love to take a look-see, and I bet others would too. Unless of course they're too personal.

Thought it couldn't hurt to ask.

I already posted them in the "attempt to prove ghostly entities exist" thread. Oh well, at least someone will focus on them this time. Oh man, now I have to make the long trip to photobucket...oh well I needed to upload some pics anyways(lazy)...Alright, I'm there. Here they are in the order I took them:

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y252/bukujutsu/ghost.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y252/bukujutsu/ghost2_0001.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y252/bukujutsu/g_0005.jpg

[AngryFemme]

What's circled in the first one?

[Bukujutsu]

Copy and paste it to something that lets you zoom in. I can zoom in pretty well if I view it in "my pictures".

[Famous Monster]

So how would you explain John Constantine??

[-SpectraL]

Meet the spooks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vyq_kZHNCqc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deoJUBW9CI8&mode=related&search=

http://www.spookable.com/2007/06/12/waverly-hills-louisville-ghost/#more-51

http://www.spookable.com/2007/06/24/ghost-picture-and-video-slide-show-video/#more-68

Still not sure?

[AngryFemme]

If all they can do is hover around or appear in your television set - it would seem like they're merely ornamental and a conversational piece for when company comes over.

From what I've read here, it seems like the best method for dealing with them would be to wipe the mental manifestation out of your mind completely.

Skepticism as a weapon! To serve. To protect.

[SephirothAngelus]

In my beliefs, ghosts are actual spirits. They can interact with you on the astral plane. Simply wiping them from your mentality won't solve any issues.

[ZX Diet Pepsi]

I grew up with several entities in my house. I've posted my lifetime-story of ghost experiences on here before, and maybe I will do so again at a future date. I've been a paranormal investigator (one of my hobbies) since the age of 13, and I've seen a lot of things. And as for this quote...

This was typical. Ghosts are usually people who died suddenly, often violently, and are usually not happy campers. They CANNOT harm you--this is very important to get clear--they may scare the bejesus out of you and you might run into a wall or something trying to get away from them, but a ghost cannot do you any physical damage. (Now, entity attachment--or possession--is another matter.) They may disturb your sleep, annoy your pets, and make a place pretty much uninhabitable. But a ghost you can see cannot really hurt you.

I have to say that it is FALSE. Although it is VERY rare, spirits CAN harm you. I've had a refrigerator door ripped off of its hinges, and thrown across the floor at me before. It broke three of my toes, and sprained my right ankle. Not my scariest experience, but definitely my most painful.

So, DON'T go around acting like a jackass, thinking that they "can't" hurt you. Because, quite frankly, they can.

Otherwise, good post.

[Rizzo in a box]

If all they can do is hover around or appear in your television set - it would seem like they're merely ornamental and a conversational piece for when company comes over.

From what I've read here, it seems like the best method for dealing with them would be to wipe the mental manifestation out of your mind completely.

Skepticism as a weapon! To serve. To protect.

To protect you from what? Yourself?

[AngryFemme]

To protect you from what? Yourself?

On the contrary. I've been unfuckwithable thus far by the ghosts that haunt other people and, as mentioned, makes their lives unmanageable.

I must be doing something right.

[Ventured]

On the contrary. I've been unfuckwithable thus far by the ghosts that haunt other people and, as mentioned, makes their lives unmanageable.

I must be doing something right.

Or maybe you're doing nothing wrong.

[-SpectraL]

On the contrary. I've been unfuckwithable thus far by the ghosts that haunt other people and, as mentioned, makes their lives unmanageable.

I must be doing something right.

Interest attracts. They know their time is short, and they can win more casualties with easy targets than shielded ones. It's simple military strategy.

[AngryFemme]

*Levels up shields*

[Rizzo in a box]

On the contrary. I've been unfuckwithable thus far by the ghosts that haunt other people and, as mentioned, makes their lives unmanageable.

I must be doing something right.

Or maybe you just can't notice them.

[AngryFemme]

Or maybe you just can't notice them.

Not noticing would translate easily into being not effected. And it's surely not due to lack of inviting it.

[SephirothAngelus]

Spirits can affect you whether you are aware of them or not.

Erecting barriers can help.

[whocares123]

I already posted them in the "attempt to prove ghostly entities exist" thread. Oh well, at least someone will focus on them this time. Oh man, now I have to make the long trip to photobucket...oh well I needed to upload some pics anyways(lazy)...Alright, I'm there. Here they are in the order I took them:

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y252/bukujutsu/ghost.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y252/bukujutsu/ghost2_0001.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y252/bukujutsu/g_0005.jpg

In the first picture, after zooming in, I can see what looks like some weird distorted faces. Though I'm not even sure what I'm looking at in the first place, it looks like a pile of clothes and a halloween costume in the corner of a messy room, it's hard to tell what the "faces" really are. If they weren't circled, creating the illusion of a head, I'd probably just view them as lines and circles in the wall or floor, or just from the bad quality of the picture.

I don't see anything in the other two pictures. They just look blurry.

[AngryFemme]

Spirits can affect you whether you are aware of them or not.

In what way?

Erecting barriers can help.

Please elaborate. I would probably tend to jump the gun and assume automatically that my skepticism is the barrier you mention - but are you referring to something else?

[ArmsMerchant]

Spirits can affect you whether you are aware of them or not.

Erecting barriers can help.

Agreed, on both counts. For more info on the first, see Dick Sutphen's book, Unseen Influences.

On the second, here are things I have found helpful--smudging (the classic mix of sage and sweetgrass or cedar), sprinkling salt water (preferably sea salt) in the corners of the house, and burning a white, cinnamon-scented candle. Also wearing or carrying blue lace agate.

[Yoh]

I am sure about this the same way I am sure about what I had for breakfast--personal experience.

I have read that we only perceive about one-billionth of all the available data--for instance, we can only "see" a tiny portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Many of the things I "see" do not require the use of eyes.

Do you actually, visually see them with your physical eyes? Or do images come to you in your mind's eye?

Also, when you communicate with them, do you attempt to talk with them in plain English, or do you communicate with them through thought, emotion, and images?

[SephirothAngelus]

Barriers that I erect are done by basically setting up a self-pulling energy barrier. This should be during a "trance like" state.

You set up a "pull" and bring energy towards yourself, envisioning almost like a spherical shield (for the purpose of this anyway). Then you bring the pull away from yourself so that you are no longer actively pulling on it (otherwise prepare to be exhausted on a daily basis).

This is the way I was taught. It takes some basic skills.

I believe that other methods like what armsmerchant is describing are different ways of doing the same thing. The blue lace agate is representative of a barrier, yet you are not doing the pulling yourself, the lace agate is. The sea salt water does the same for your home, etc.

or maybe I'm just crazy

[ArmsMerchant]

Do you actually, visually see them with your physical eyes? Or do images come to you in your mind's eye?

Also, when you communicate with them, do you attempt to talk with them in plain English, or do you communicate with them through thought, emotion, and images?

Both--I saw my first ghost in ordinary reality, the others in the shamanic state of consciousness.

[ArmsMerchant]

And thus and lo, the last shall be first.

(That is, I have my settings so that I can access all threads for the last year--this one was the very last of 414, so I gave it the old bumperoo.)

[SephirothAngelus]

I wish I had more belief in the spirit world. It's boring feeling disconnected from it.

Hi arms. been a while...!