Paranormal and religion

Hello everyone,

I am new to this website and i must say i am completely overwhelmed by the information herein. I joined this site primarily to try and get help and some assistance in furthering my own spiritual journey. I am a 40 year old male living in Fiji. I was born into the Muslim faith and for the most part of my early life practiced Islam as my parents taught me. However as my mind matured i started asking questions and when the answers were not forth coming i concentrated on making money living life and just going through the grind of life in general until about a year ago when i turned 40. I started realizing more acutely perhaps that i was not immortal and as the years go by i am getting closer to death. This prompted me to start researching the web and i started reading up on NDE'S, Medium ship, and the afterlife. In many ways the information that i have gained has validated my beliefs and has brought me closer to God without the influence of organized religion. Most of you will know what i mean by this. Despite my new found knowledge and spirituality one question still bothers me and i hope some of you can help. Fiji is a country where the paranormal is widely regarded as normal and is accepted as part of life. For Example we have a tribe of people who are able to walk into fire and walk on white hot stones as if was normal and they perform this for tourists every day. They are also able to heal people with burns by touching them. This is accepted to be a gift from one of their spirit guides or ancestors. Even the Great skeptic James Randi was brought in to see this and he agreed that he could not explain it although he will never admit this publicly. This is taken as a part of our life and is not even discussed as something extraordinary in Fiji. Their are many such examples in Fiji. Over the years though i have seen many hauntings and possessions by bad spirits. In fact my great grandfather was a Muslim priest and i assisted him in the many exorcisms he performed. While he was able to assist the many people who came to him priests of other faiths such as Hindus and Christian's are able to do the same and i have witnessed these. This is intriguing as bad spirits seem to be scared of all the religions. If organized religion as we know it has very little basis for truth why do these "demonic spirits" if you may call them that run from chantings and things like the holy water. I would appreciate some answers and feedback from more knowledgeable members then myself as i cant find the answers.

[hannah]

I uhderstand what you are saying about organised religion, I think the problem is that it has become very dogmatic, following prescribed rules and rituals without any true faith or belief, true religion is found only in yourself, your heart, not in the clothes you wear or the rituals you follow.

I wonder if the exorcisms that you witnessed, the spirits were banished by the light in the performer's soul, his personal connection to God by whatever means he reached it, the holy water etc is just a symbol of this and his faith. If the person had no true connection to God then the exorcism would never work no matter how much holy water, relics etc he threw at it.

[Tobi]

What may be more powerful is the intent in the mind and astral forces of the person doing the work to banish the spirits. It may be because they hold such unshakable beliefs, they have a strength in them. When they utter certain phrases, or invoke certain Names which are used in religion, they have built strength into these things which empowers them, and the spirits are met with formidable force.

I cannot completely follow "religion" as such. Too much of it is man-made for it to have my allegiance. However, the Great Beings upon which such man-made religions are founded are a whole different matter.

Thank you for the replies to my post. I do believe that the explanations make sense. I guess every one who is a men of god invokes the power of God with such faith and conviction that even water becomes a symbol of that faith and hence becomes a weapon. I too have been disgruntled by the religions of today as i think they have added to many things that look very political and men made to me.

In the matter of Hinduism there is not a single mention of paranormal activity i ever heard.

Originally Posted by Reaaz24

Over the years though i have seen many hauntings and possessions by bad spirits. In fact my great grandfather was a Muslim priest and i assisted him in the many exorcisms he performed. While he was able to assist the many people who came to him priests of other faiths such as Hindus and Christian's are able to do the same and i have witnessed these. This is intriguing as bad spirits seem to be scared of all the religions. If organized religion as we know it has very little basis for truth why do these "demonic spirits" if you may call them that run from chantings and things like the holy water. I would appreciate some answers and feedback from more knowledgeable members then myself as i cant find the answers.

People are what they believe themselves to be... religion leaves us vulnerable to all sorts of dualistic assumptions about ourselves, and along with this, an assortment of accompanying imagery, that when activated can play havoc on our perceptions of living... so a belief in "possession" would also contain mitigating factors such as a belief in "holy water" as a potential antidote. Just because a culture is "spiritual", doesn't necessarily mean that it's holistically aware. Christianity considers itself spiritual and look at the mess that it is...

Clear your mind... you are an extension of your soul... track yourself back to your own inner roots and leave others to the games that they play... :^)

Merry do we meet and well met we are (indeed).

I agree with much that has been said and I would like to expand upon the ideas offered by StephenK.

I believe that extreme faith can be a double-edged sword.

A person who believes in demons and demonic possession--
may well (also) believe that only a leader of their particular belief system can rid them of their affliction. They have faith in that leader's abilities and the sacred rights and tools of that faith.

For instance--in my Tradition--we belive that each individual has the power, right, and responsibility to choose what beings they permit to enter their personal space. It makes us very angry (not fearful) if an uninvited being dares to intrude upon that space--whether they have a physical body (or not).

We have the power to call upon the Spirits of our Deities, Guardians, and Ancestors--to banish these intruders (on the spot)!

I offer the opinion that whatever we believe (actually) becomes our own individual reality.

Peace and Love on your path to doing your own research and forming your own conclusions...

Blessed be...

[Reverend Keith]

Having come from a more "traditional" religious background, here's my theory, based on what I've discovered from my teachers and personal experience.

Most (perhaps not all, but most) of the "negative entities" our there (spirits etc), are actually human creations. They seemed to be formed out of the emotional/spiritual energy of individuals or groups. Many of them are created by human individuals and stay "attached" to that individual, but some are able to break free and influence others. In particular, the "egregors", "tulpas" or group spirits can influence a wide range of people.

These energy beings can also build up a strong astral reality and can even makes themselves present in some forms in the material world.

But because they are created by humans, they take on the patterns of the beliefs of the humans in question. "demons" created by Catholics, for example, seem afraid of holy water. This also applies to POSITIVE egregors or tulpas. For example, the "Virgin Mary" appears in all sorts of forms delivering all sorts of messages - but corresponding to what the local group of believers expects her to say and expects her to look like.

In dealing with negative entities, however, I have sometimes found it COUNTER-productive to respond to them according to their expectations. For example, I CAN drive off an "evil spirit" of the "catholic" variety with holy water and the standard prayers of exorcism. But... it often comes back, and it often comes back STRONGER, because by responding to it combatively, and in a way that is on the same frequency as it's nature, I've actually strengthened it.

These days, I find approaching such entities with total divine love is not only more effective, but reduces their negative energy and over time dissipates them.

I don't really believe dark spirits were driven away because of holy water or religion in general. Religion is man-made, rather than spiritually based.

I agree with Hannah, that light within someone's soul is what drove the entity out.

Originally Posted by Reaaz24

Hello everyone,

If organized religion as we know it has very little basis for truth why do these "demonic spirits" if you may call them that run from chantings and things like the holy water. I would appreciate some answers and feedback from more knowledgeable members then myself as i cant find the answers.

In the Bible, a person was healed and he thanked Jesus. Jesus said: it's your faith which healed you.

Also, Jesus said that you will do even more miracles than I did.

I believe that it's the faith that does things. If you believe in it, it will be possible for you. Not all can believe. Holy water and other things like candles and salts and stuff like that only help people to believe.

Because for some reason it's easier for us to believe that demons run from holy water than that we can command demons to just leave us alone.

So the extra stuff is just symbols to help us believe. That's why DIFFERENT things work on demons (or whatever it is). It's the faith that does things though.

I think it's the same with connecting to spirit guides. You can just connect by thinking about them (or you can't. depending on whether you have the ability or you don't). But some people like to use candles and stones and stuff like that. Because it's easier for them to believe that these stones will bring the presence to them, than just to realize that all you have to do is think...and they will come (if it's possible in the first place).

It's kind of like in that story in the Bible: the king had leprosy and came to prophet and asked for healing. Prophet said: go and put your head under the water 7 times. The king couldn't believe that such a simple thing could bring him healing, so he resisted in doing that. But if the prophet gave him a whole bunch of difficult steps to do, I am sure the king would then have been convinced that he would be healed through doing them.