Ghosts: Do They Exist?

[Jupiter Man]

Do you think ghosts exist?

I had one experience with Amazon cubensis. At the peak of the trip, I was laying in my bed and looked into the hallway to see something I saw when I was a child, and in the exact same spot — an aura of multiple shades of orange in the shape of a human. When I saw this "ghost", my facial expression did not change, I was just laying there, staring at it for about ten seconds. There was no fear of this apparition. After this, I turned my head to the center of my room, away from the door and hallway. The aura was stationary; when I changed the direction of my vision, the aura stayed in the same place. When I looked back to the hallway, the apparition was gone.

After this, I firmly believe that ghosts exist, but we don't understand their virtuality; I don't think at the moment we have the technology to confirm that ghosts exist, but perhaps we do. I do not think that ghosts exist on the material plane, rather they are strictly physical entities, like electricity, time and gravity.

 

[jungleheart]

Agree.

I frequently have sleep paralysis and think that is ghosts and other beings messing with me.

 

[benzyme]

I'm inclined to agree; I require more evidence, but have experienced paranormal activity, as have my family and peers. I'm agnostic on the subject, but I hypothesize they exist as residual energy, which by definition, can neither be created nor destroyed.

 

[fink]

The energy of consciousness certainly seems to take on more forms than the one we take for granted. Although I often question as to why we assume anything of this type to be a classical ghost, or something that has lived like us and then died. To me it seems just as likely that we come in to contact with things that are living in a different way.

 

[benzyme]

What is reality, but a figment of consciousness?

being a person who applies the method, I first rule out knowns. The rest then becomes questions, experiments, and data. Questioning is mandatory, nothing is learned by being certain of something lacking data and evidence.

I don't think at the moment we have the technology to confirm that ghosts exist

Devices capable of processing quantum entanglement data may answer alot of questions previously thought improbable.

 

[downwardsfromzero]

I've experienced apparent telekinesis, and undeniable dematerialisation of at least one object, but no apparitions. I therefore remain undecided about ghosts from the point of view of a personal experiential phenomenon, although the circumstances of the dematerialisation were such that it strongly suggested the action of some supernatural entity but that still doesn't mean it was a ghost. It may have been a nisse (Scandinavian house elf)

 

[Voidmatrix]

I feel like the question could be reframed as "do minds exist separate from physicality?"

Spirits, ghosts, entities, etc all seem elusive to empirical modes. That doesn't really say much about their potential ontology, but more about what we're able to uncover with the tools we have. If they are inherently non-physical, then we'll never have any empirical way to establish their ontological existence or function. It may be one of those unverifiables that we go on for eons without having a satisfactory answer to.

One love

 

[Jupiter Man]

I feel like the question could be reframed as "do minds exist separate from physicality?"

Spirits, ghosts, entities, etc all seem elusive to empirical modes. That doesn't really say much about their potential ontology, but more about what we're able to uncover with the tools we have. If they are inherently non-physical, then we'll never have any empirical way to establish their ontological existence or function. It may be one of those unverifiables that we go on for eons without having a satisfactory answer to.

One love

I am a physicalist; I consider physicality as an absolute requirement of virtue. A non-physical being would succumb to it's existential complexity and cease to exist. You're right, if they are non-physical, there is no way to test for them; existence is physical, testable state of being.

 

[Voidmatrix]

I feel like the question could be reframed as "do minds exist separate from physicality?"

Spirits, ghosts, entities, etc all seem elusive to empirical modes. That doesn't really say much about their potential ontology, but more about what we're able to uncover with the tools we have. If they are inherently non-physical, then we'll never have any empirical way to establish their ontological existence or function. It may be one of those unverifiables that we go on for eons without having a satisfactory answer to.

One love

I am a physicalist; I consider physicality as an absolute requirement of virtue. A non-physical being would succumb to it's existential complexity and cease to exist. You're right, if they are non-physical, there is no way to test for them; existence is physical, testable state of being.

I figured as much from some of your posts highlighting your atheism

Being more of one who practices skepticism, I cannot feasibly attribute any label to myself. And I wasn't saying that since we can't have physical confirmation that they don't exist. Just that many ways in which we are convinced will not produce conclusive results one way or the other. I'm not one to say that non-physical things don't exist: While the process of our thoughts seem "physical," I wouldn't say that the contents of those thoughts are non-physical (such as the pink elephant I'm presently imagining).

One love

 

[benzyme]

Parapsychology is the data-driven study of the paranormal and metaphysical.

 

[Jupiter Man]

Parapsychology is the data-driven study of the paranormal and metaphysical.

Thank you for the link, benzyme. I did some research on quantum entanglement and I'm trying to understand it. How would you explain it in your own words? Sometimes I have to go over things multiple times before I understand it; I understand metaphysics better than I do physics itself.

 

[benzyme]

It's tantamount to quantum theory, regarding states of matter....it basically states that photons are inherently interconnected (entangled), regardless of distance. It's paradoxical, when viewing from the lens of classical physics.

 

[Jupiter Man]

It's tantamount to quantum theory, regarding states of matter....it basically states that photons are inherently interconnected (entangled), regardless of distance.

Ah, ok. For some reason that was easier to understand than the Wikipedia article.

 

[benzyme]

unrelated to QE...It sounds cliche, but I think as the mind develops, so do filters in the mind. The ability to perceive the 'imperceivable' is sometimes mistaken for "madness", especially in children.

The question that stumps me is...is it actually an entity or a hallucination?

 

[BundleflowerPower]

I feel like ghosts are the same as spirits. Plant spirits say. Or animals. Or ancestors. Or even other humans. There’s some kind of disconnect in the modern world where people can’t or don’t see that.

 

[BundleflowerPower]

especially in children.

I think children know more about the world in that sense than adults do generally