But he does have a body.

I resent that statement. I grew up in a haunted house. Saw my first manifestation when I was three years old. I had no Wiccan beliefs and I am skeptical about most forms of Neopaganism, as many of them have popped up far too recently to have any real ideological clout and seem like a means of making money instead of a means of understanding the world. My family being both Irish and gypsy did have an undercurrent of superstition in their outlook, but my grandfather, who lived with us and worked as a jet engineer had none. He too didn't go in the basement after dark and stayed clear of the apple tree outside where slaves used to hang. It is not a matter of some people being more special than others or being inbred or sorcerous, I think it's a matter of attuning yourself to certain feelings in certain places. In some these faculties are greater than others, but it's not claiming magical powers. Some people are doublejointed. Some have no arms. Some have good hearing, some are deaf. It's a sense that anybody could experience faintly in the right place that gets interpreted differently. Going down a lonely road late at night, you feel like you know somebody died there. Somebody who is more attuned or looking harder feels more or catches a glimpse of a car careening off the road or hears a momentary snippet of crying. Who here can't say they haven't felt like they've been to a place where it feels like something's crying out, like the ground itself is suffering? Who here hasn't felt like they're not alone somewhere late at night? It's not just paranoia, it's sensitivity, impressions we can't always pick up, but that are there. Next time you feel something like that, try following the sensations, thinking about how close we are all to death and how mysterious the process is. See if the feelings don't come in even a bit clearer. Tune the radio instead of just tuning out. Do I seem like a stupid person, a hillbilly or a religious fanatic? Do I come across as somebody who would believe something they have no reason to believe? I certainly hope not. Fanatics and skeptics have one thing in common in this world and that's a closed mind.

Yes, I believe in ghosts.

Welcome back.

Doc that was an awesome post.

http://www.angelwebdesign.com/nella/giggle.gif

I voted no, but I can't say for sure. I've heard all the stories about families having a ghost in their homes, etc. When those stories were reported, I always thought, "He/she must be on something!" but later, more and more stories were reported. Either a lot of folks want attention and/or money for their "experiences" or, perhaps it is possible. I wasn't raised to believe in ghosts, but I do have an open mind about things now that I didn't have when I was younger. I started the thread about God. He can't be seen, but I still believe in Him. It's called having faith. However, I don't want to give anyone the impression that I think God and ghosts are one and the same. Maybe I used a bad analogy here. ;) I would have to see for myself to be able to say that I do believe. I don't remember ever being afraid of ghosts because my parents told me there weren't any. If I ever encounter one, I hope it's friendly. :)

you have to realize that there is a flip side to having the open mind (to this particular thing .... i do believe i have an extremely open mind - but that doesnt mean i wont eventually come to conclusions i believe to be my truths)

people who want to believe - will see things .. you can convince yourself that things are real if you really want to believe they are.

there are things like mass hysteria, self fufilling prophecies ..etc ..
when i was a kid i was afraid of the dark and convinced myself i could see things.

the people who want to believe claim this to be what the uncluttered, unbiased mind of a child is able to see. I dont believe that in a second.. it is a mild form of hysteria - the brain manufacturing things.

push that too far and it becomes delusion.. There are all kinds of people who can, or claim to see things that arent there - because they have a sick brain.


I pretty much stand on this the same way i do for any possible belief of a higher being or life after death ...

in my heart of hearts i believe these things to be completely false - but i also believe other folks have the right to believe what they want ...

dont agree with them ... i can't for a second understand how they can believe in these things ... but thats their right..


interested to know if you think anyone has been abducted by aliens ever ... they may seem to be unrelated - but people have the same conviction of belief in these things too.

As I haven't witnessed alien abduction, I'm unsure of its validity. Life after death seems to me like a natural function of the system, life on other planets may or may not be. The experience of seeing ghosts is based on emotional and spiritual connections to events past and people's sensations. Aliens would be a tangible phenomenon with roots outside the Earth. I don't think I could know it without seeing it. As I have seen ghosts, I believe in them. Ghosts sightings do not frequently appear as artifacts of hypnosis either and several reputable figures have had ghostly encounters or believed in ghosts. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did. Who's more rational than the guy who created Sherlock Holmes? Victor Hugo did as well, as did Goethe and William Blake. I haven't seen people whose genius indicates they must possess clear enough minds to write some of literature's greatest works standing up for ufology. This doesn't mean I couldn't believe in it or if an accquaintance of mine who I trusted told me they had seen an alien, seemed serious about it and did not discover it along with mysterious ritual satanic abuse under hypnosis, I wouldn't believe them. I would ask to recount their story, look into folklore, accounts of all kinds of phenomena and local legends to see if something else could account for it. I do believe in cryptids and various freaks of nature because of the general oddness of some of the animal kingdom and of the animals we have discovered over time. But one thing to rationally think about regarding paranormal phenomena could be mass hysteria since it's experienced similarly in various places under various conditions. Psychological disorders tend to manifest usually under the same occasions for the same types of mind, which for some witnessing ghosts is not always the open mind that wishes there were ghosts. I've been around people who did not believe or want to believe and came to believe through observation and feeling. That's all I'll say on the subject. Skeptics have a right to their beliefs as do I, but I think skeptics should stop telling people that they're clearly schizophrenic or regressive.

Grammar is fun!

that sucks for me, because there's a little boy on my stairwell.

now I have a few questions for my mother:mad: