Ghosts - an explanation?

[metal68]

Asked SGS this question but thought it warranted a place here too.

Ive been reading a book where the author (Goswami) says that ghosts are not objectively real. They cannot be as light photons would be unable to reflect off them which does kind of make sense. He suggests that the consciousness of the deceased is able to induce the mind of the living to create mentally their image so as to 'see' them. It sort of explains why so many see and others don't and also makes sense as to why there isn't even a single credible photo of a ghost. The ghost exists only in the mind of the observer. Yes he says its a real entity but there is nothing actually existing physically.

I have to say this sounds plausible - it makes sense of the lack of empirical data while at the same time acknowledging all the anecdotal evidence.

Goswami is very strongly of the opinion that the consciousness that survives , he calls it a quantum monad rather than a soul, CANNOT interact physically in our world but can communicate with a receptive mind ala mediumship.

[Light Seeker]

Vibrations my friend... Most every haunting I have investigated has been residual, very rarely is it visitation. The question then , I suppose.. Is...Are you tuning into the vibration of the environment alleged to be haunted... That is to say... The Ghost you see ...may in fact be a replay of a kind.


In my experience , you understand .

[metal68]

That seems very likely for most hauntings, however where there is communication between the two parties it falls outside of that.

Case in point, a man killed himself in my family home some 50 years ago. Years later, our housekeeper was observed to be chatting away to an unseen presence on the stairs on a couple of occasions. When finally questioned by my mother, Florrie described the man to a tee even down to the single glove he wore on his crippled hand. She knew nothing of him prior to this but my mother did know his appearance as she had known him from her childhood. There must have been an intelligence there to create conversation although only Florrie could see him (apart from the dogs who always acted weird looking at the stairs)

[Light Seeker]

We are possibly drifting towards mediumship as opposed to actual ghosts, that said.. I have come across in very rare cases crisis apparitions , usually twixt folk who are very close mentally/emotionally etc. Further there are cases of visitation needing to be pointed in the direction of the light.

Now please don't think me strange but. 51 years before I was born The Titanic Sank. 19 years before I was born Hiroshima and Nagasaki was levelled. 100 years before I was born, The battle of Gettyssburgh took place.... The dead and dying in those instance still scream out to me in anguish and yet they are all most probably moved on and doing other things, possibly in other lifetimes.

It don't stop us getting those messages though.

[r6r6]

Ghosts? I belive people have claimed seeing ghosts for many years, decades centuries(?).

We can see some narrow band( 450 nm - 750nm ) of EMRadiation with the naked eye.

We can see near end infra-red with special glasses. We can see other EMRadiation frequencies with other special viewing instruments.

We know little to anything regarding what repulsive dark energy is, rather scientists only see its effects on that which can be observed.

Same goes for virtual particles, we presume their existence based on effects of other particles.

Same goes for attractive gravity, it is not observed.

Ghosts?

1} maybe one of those latter three above,

2} Maybe hallucinations in brain ergo not something coming in through the eye balls.

3} Maybe optical illusions that are coming in through the eyeball,

4} ?

r6

[engellstein]

Residual energy is a good explanation. That housekeeper was probably unknowingly skilled at interpreting it.

You should look up ghost photos on youtube. There are plenty in circulation. I chalk them up to the same energy explanation.

The way I understand it, when we die we leave this life. Period. We can come back but that's another series on the tv, not a new season of the same show, if you get me.

The reason the people seem to be lingering around is because you can't get rid of the energy they left behind. Whether this energy becomes entities or certain people can just pick up on it is unclear to me. With the photos, it could be that it was the living people in the photo or in the area that picked the energy up and somehow translated it to the camera.

That kinda don't make sense but it does at the same time. If you keep your ears open you'll notice that random people don't have stuff like that happen. It's usually certain people that are always present. To me they are the common denominator, not the "ghosts" (deceased people that haven't passed on).

[metal68]

Arent most of those fakes on Youtube?

So you wouldn't think it possible that it was a real spirit/mind that was present? Just a recording?

Its actually the only thing that makes me open to life after death, if he survived his death then so must we all

[engellstein]

Some are probably fake, but for the ones I saw, the guy explained what was happening and what the person/people in the photo said about it.

Like there was a photo of a woman at her husband's funeral (I think) and in the back seat was sitting her husband. There's all sorts of stories like that.

My grandma was into some stuff I would consider strange, and I remember one time while she was on vacation with my parents her camera, which was hanging in front of her by a strap around her neck, started taking a bunch of pictures on its own. When they got the film developed there were UFOs in all of them. She was really into that stuff and had all sorts of similar stories. I say she was the cause of them all (unwittingly).

It may be a mind of sorts created as a thoughtform, but whether is was really there or not doesn't disprove/prove an afterlife. I think the two things are separate.

It could also be what people say it is at face value. But if it is, my question is why isn't the world filled with ghosts? Billions have died over the eons and many by terrible means. There should be packs of ghosts roaming the countryside by now, yet there's only a few that show up in particular circumstances. To me the face-value explanation leaves too many questions behind.

[anditmakesmewonder]

Mmm...Idk. I've seen "ghosts" only during my childhood(probably before I was 10 years old).

The first time basically we were expecting a visitor, I was curious to see who it was, since he was once my mother's boyfriend (before I was born). I looked through the window and saw a grey haired overweight black man wearing a brown suit. I was surprised that my mom dated someone old enough to be her father. So I described him to her and she was like, "What? no, My ex boyfriend is about my age." So I went to the front door to see him and there he was just a middle aged white dude, dark hair wearing a white shirt. No sign of the old man I had seen.

My family just conclude that he had to be some spirit guide, specially because his father followed an African religion that "sets" a guide to protect people. My mom also considered it could be his father himself(that btw never liked her and had died) but she said he was bald and the man I saw had hair. So there's no way it could've been a residual ghost. This house has always been w/my family, was just a lot in the past, it seemed that who I saw was following him like a bodyguard.

Other "ghost" I've seen was when I was playing w/shadows, making bunnies w/my hand past midnight while my mother was washing dishes. I was alone in my bedroom and another shadow hand appeared playing w/me. I just froze I didn't want to look to my left to see if there was someone there. I walked away not looking to my side.

One funny thing is that in my family at least two female cousins have seen a "ghost" shadow playing back to them when they were children, "who/what" it could be we have no idea. Maybe this is a more common occurrence? (gonna google to see if anyone mentions the same lol)

Another "ghost" was when I heard a sound of fork falling down in the kitchen and I kept asking my mother and an older cousin to come w/me and look what was the sound. They ignored me as they were more interested in discussing a soap opera episode. I then decided to go alone, but I was short and couldn't turn on the lights. I saw a faceless spectral boy, just made of white light, I could see the contour of his whole body and clothes. It was as if he wore a shirt, a short and even a baseball cap. Despite the darkness he glowed and he was in front of the stove. He seemed to be, judging by his height 11 to 13 years old. And he looked at me, as if caught by surprise, ran and disappeared within the stove.

• The thing is OP, I don't think the first "ghost/guide" even noticed me, he seemed unaware of me watching him, he just walked straight as a bodyguard on duty. I don't think he tried to induce me to seeing him.
  
• The "ghost/shadow" was trying to play, so I guess it could've made an effort to be seen, materialize, etc. I don't think it was my imagination, if I was to make an imaginary friend I think I'd be glad I was seeing it and not scared of it. (never had imaginary friends btw).
  
• The "boy in the kitchen ghost" seemed to be caught by surprise/accident so I also guess he didn't want to bring attention to himself whatsoever and that's why he ran away.

And what about haunted places that supposedly lots of people see the ghost at the same time? Could a ghost induce so many people to see them inside their minds at once?

I never got to see a ghost again, I know for sure I would never fake a picture. I could never try to capture them in a photograph as I wasn't expecting to see anything at all and was too young.

So I don't know, what Goswami said seems to make sense. For a medium seeing a ghost is trivial, still we don't see many credible pictures. Why don't they take one? As your author said, because these ghosts are only being visualized by the mediums' mind and do not exist physically. Still I don't know if I agree all ghosts induce us to see, judging by my own short experience. For me it was like they were minding their business and I got to spot them by chance.

I guess a ghost can induce a medium or a normal person(that share some sort of bond) to visualize them in their mind when they want to make contact thus making easier to establish a connection. But they can also be seen by accident, without trying. I feel like what he said is right, but not the rule, just the facilitator.


My grandma has lots of stories and holds some weird beliefs like: if we leave leftovers in the kitchen ghosts come to (try to) eat it and that in a funeral if we look to the coffin behind your own legs you get to see the ghost of the deceased person. That is the one that brings me more curiosity but I'm a coward so I never tried She says she saw the deceased man sitting above the closed coffin. O.o' Anyone willing to try and see if can get a picture?

Other funny stuff: a santa claus toy without batteries(for a year probably) once started playing out of nowhere and a duck toy also without batteries started quacking, normally w/batteries if you pressed his hand we would quack "Singing in The Rain", but without batteries he just started emitting single quacks. lol Random quacks out of nowhere. We got rid of the toys.

[organic born]

An individual having an out of the body experience may well look like a ghost to us should our paths cross. :)