Why We Believe

Two hundred years ago, scientists could not detect radio waves, does that mean they didn't exist then?
Just because we now cannot scientifically detect supernatural and/or paranormal phenomena doesn't mean these things don't exist. How is believing in ghosts and reincarnation any different from belief in any religion. None of that is scientifically provable either. I'm willing to believe in the possibilities.

-Sighs- This is my view point on the whole 'ghost' nonsense. I'm going to use wigi boards as an example. When people use a wigi board, it moves by itself. Why does it do that? There has to be something there besides the person using it to make it move. Static isn't enough to move a wooden board. My youth leader was telling us how he used a wigi board before he turned to Christ as his Savior. Him and a couple of his college buddies were messing around with one, and of course, it moved by itself. It gave my youth leader a 1-800 number. When he got home, he called it and it was a recording that said ???This is the gateway to hell???, and he slammed the phone down and never touched a wigi board again. I personally believe that the ???spirits??? or ???ghosts??? that people think they can call from the grave are demons.

When people use a wigi board, the most common question they ask the ???spirits??? is ???are you a good spirit???? and of course it would answer yes. What is it going to say? ???No, I???m bad and I???m going to kill you???? I doubt that. In fact, people have ended up killing themselves because they played with that board too much. The people who keep messing around with demons and the ???undead??? eventually get what they have set up for them. You???re opening doors to things you shouldn???t be when you play around with stuff like that. And what surprises me is how eager people are to see what comes out of those doors.

This was a well written article that a lot of people can relate to. From one study that I saw recently, upwards of 1/3 of all Americans believe in Ghosts. Personally, I wasn't a believer until I saw the site www.ghostvideos.ws. Some of the footage on this site and sites like YouTube is so compelling that paranormal phenomena is out there!

Paranormal doesn???t mean beyond the realm of fact. It means beyond the understanding of current science. While closely related, there is a distinct difference between the paranormal and the supernatural.
Aliens, UFO???s, and E.S.P. are paranormal, they exist beyond our current understanding of science, but they aren???t beyond the concept - 100 years ago, a trip to the moon or Mars was science fiction. Now it???s simply expensive. 50 years ago, teleportation was a good way for sci-fi TV series to avoid having to show a shuttle flying down to planets. Now scientists, (including Charles Bennett of IBM) utilizing work pioneered by Einstein, say that teleportation of a human body is at least theoretically feasible, and teleportation at the particle level.
The Supernatural is generally considered a little more esoteric, but because one believes in things unknown, or even unknowable at our level of science, doesn???t mean it???s wrong or that believers are less intelligent or less capable of using the scientific viewpoint. I take some offense at your article - it seems to suggest that people who believe in anything beyond what science has discovered are intellectually inferior. Over 90% of society believes in a supreme supernatural being. Including many scientists. There is evidence on the Quantum level that there is some sort of intelligent pattern at work. Don???t forget that Einstein believed in God. And I???m sure he occasionally used the scientific method.
Reality is a tricky thing. You mention how our brain can be tricked into false positives, but on a metephysical level, isn???t science only another way to explain reality? It???s the accepted way, but science as it is currently understood, is an invention of the near past.
I???m not tauting the existance of God from the point of view of a devoutly religious man. I???m simply using Him as an example of a belief in unproven phenomena. The belief in ghosts, aliens, ESP, past lives, or even cryptozoological beings, does not make one inferior or sloppy in scientific endeavors. To say that they don???t exist is the worse kind of science. A scientist is required by definition to have an open mind. I think having a closed mind is much worse than having an excessively open one. And science run rampant or used to solely define reality can meet with catastrophic failure.
To quote the author H.P. Lovecraft; ???The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.

Sorry, but ghosts and magic are not real, nor are gods, devils, angels, and demons. I have complete faith that one day science can fully explain everything. Alot of this nonsense can be explained through current theory. For instance supernatural powers. It is entirely plausible that one day, through bioengineering, we will produce in humans the ability do perform supernatural feats (essentially forcing evolution down a path which produces psychic enabled humans). It is also possible that "ghosts" are nothing more than some subconcious level of psychic reponse, though it is more likely that it is just a trick of the mind.

Alternatively, much of the "psychic phenomoena" could be explained via quantum theory or other applicable dimensional physics. Stuff dissapearing could be as simple and mundane (even though it is an incredible process) of objects passing through worm holes, singularities (think black hole), or other spatial anomolies. Since we can't even explain or define the universe around us we cant not assume it is not a natural process or event. Another possibility is interference from an alternate dimension, something that is entirely plausible within the realm of science.

Although I will deny any such activity as occuring until the proof of it has been located.

As for alien life, it undoubtably exists, in an ever expanding universe, with an uncountable number of galaxies, stars, and planets, the probability of life occuring is very high. Unfortunatly, the odds of that occuring in two nearby star systems, or even galaxies is low. It is completly insane to believe that we are visited by aliens. The requisite level of technology required for interstellar voyages over countless hundreds of light years boarders on the arcane, and even from a hard science stand point, results in a logistical nightmare. Not only would any space faring race be required to build and maintain starships, they would need food sources, population management, propulsion capable of light speed travel, methods of life preservation (cryonics, cybernetics, cloning), advanced computing systems, among others; but any attempt made to voyage to distant starts without FTL (faster than light) propultion would result in the entire crew left stranded with no means of communication with a soceity they left behind so long ago it is either dead or has forgotten them. No aliens have not visted us.

Belief in the supernatural is truly the sign of a weak mind, just as complete disbelief is the death of imagination. Rational thought isn't about mocking people for thier weakness and scoffing at thier ideals, its about finding real explinations and the truth rather than saying incoporeal extra worldly entities did it.

I have never been a believer in the paranormal. Recently I have experienced strange things in my home. One incident in which I can't write off as my imagination, my daughter's wind up music box never taken off the shelf in her room began to play by itself in the middle of the night. i tried to recreate this event by tinkering with the music box to see if the winder would stick and maybe play later. I have no explanation for this event. I am not crazy, I am not blaming this incident on ghosts, but conventional science can not explain this.

As Carl Jung said," the inner way, the spiritual path, is a difficult one, sufficient enough to frighten off most , for it involves dealing with the SELF, which can be avoided so long as we can project all our negativity into the enviroment"
Most people who deny anything beyond what their 5 (accepted) senses tell them , (the waking dream)think they actaully are their ego, not their spirit.

What is the difference between a corpse and a human being? the ego,I think not...........



What is the difference between a corpse and a live human being?

I really enjoyed this ghost article, and felt it was an honest, up front truth. I've had two experiences that has may me a believer in ghosts. About five years ago I and my twin teenage daughters were living in a two bedroom apartmen. My oldest daughter with her 3-year old daughter came to live with us when she and her husband separated. I gave them my bedroom & started sleeping on the counch. After going to bed one night
it took me awhile to go to sleep, which is normal for me. Lying there awake & facing toward my twin daughters bedroom , a strange figure came out of there bedroom, turned and started walking toward me. Just before it got to the coffee table sitting in front of the couch-poof! it disappear! I sat up and told it to come back! The Ghost never fully materialized. The head nor the left side never materialized. . what I did see look like a muscalar-but not fat-young male (early to mid 20s?) wearing Kaki pants and plaid shirt (note: no color-shirt was in greys and white, kaki pants were solid but not in color- not gray or white either-they really reminded me of kaki.) he had a fast, striding walk, and the one arm I saw was swinging while he walked. I wondered what he was going to do but just before he got to the coffee table he disappear. That was the first and only time I have ever seen a ghost but it has made a believer out of me. My second encounter-if I can call it that-with the paranormal came couple weeks ago. On Tuesday, Oct. 14th, I was packing for a trip to Lexington, KY, a trip that I was looking forward to. Suddenly, for no reason, I started feeling fearful and bothered about this trip. I love to travel and had never been hit with feelings like these before. I couldn't figure why I would feel this way, and considered canceling but it would have been unfair to my friend. I started pacing in my apartment concerned about what I was feeling. Sudenly I felt a hand lay gently but firmly on my head as if to say stop. I did stop pacing and, surprisely, I felt comforted that all would go well on the trip. We had no traveling problems, and some negative stuff did happen when my friend's daughter got mad at her friend she brought on the trip and ripped into her. One other thing: I moved into the apartment I'm living in on January 31, 2008. I had the feeling I was being watched a lot & was having some trouble sleeping at night due to just feeling "antsy". And I was leaving my hall light on. The third night when I went to bed, I said "goodnight everybody", and suddenly felt peace and calm fill my bedroom. Although I have not seen them, I'm convinced I have ghost(s) in my apartment.

Dorothy Maxwell

I have had many encounters with discarnates. I have seen full body apparitiions and have also lived in an old house, a stagecoach stop. I really miss the activity. At times it would catch me off guard, but for the most part i find it fascinating. I do live in the here and now, yet every once in awhile welcome visits from spirits. My father died in a plane crash in 1965. I have not, to my sadness been able to see his spirit, yet i certainly enjoy having him turn a light off and on or the tv set. The phone will also ring on request. There is no one there. It is fascinating. I can't imagaine life without that occasional excitement. Someone actually crossing time and space. It is a miracle. Say a prayer and protect yourself. renee in michigan