Thread: Are ghosts real?

In sleep paralysis you are basically still dreaming, and are in the process of waking up. So you are awake but your body is still partly asleep, and so its possible to see dreams still. So basically you were just dreaming it. The same applies to sound. You can hear dream sounds in sleep paralysis as well.

I wouldn't discount everything you experience while on the boarder of sleep as a hallucination, though much is being generated by your own mind. I think your perceptions begin to become less focused in the physical plane, allowing the occasional non-physical entity to say hello.

Right, they are within your mind and are not dangerous to your mortality, but that doesn't mean they're meaningless. The point I'm getting at is if we share a mind, then the experiences within our minds are not isolated.

But sometimes you gotta lulz. Celebrity Ghost Stories, for instance, had Jaime Presley talking about her hypnagogic experience like it was a ghost attack.

Originally Posted by Tranquil Toad

I wouldn't discount everything you experience while on the boarder of sleep as a hallucination, though much is being generated by your own mind. I think your perceptions begin to become less focused in the physical plane, allowing the occasional non-physical entity to say hello.

I disagree. I think we have the greatest perception when we are most awake, and meditative. It's the opposite of sleep. Although the border of sleep gives an amazing view inward, the only way to see outward is to be as alert as possible.

Real doesn't have much value to me. What I look for is sustainability. What can you prove true through time? In the world I am capable of experiencing, what is reliable? What knowledge is valuable?

The truth is neither this wakeful world nor any other, it is simply the expression of the gestalt. Nothing less is the entire truth.

If you want to believe in ghosts and spirits and stuff, that is fine. However you also have to be aware that anything seen on the verge of sleep has a scientific explanation. If you believe in ghosts because things you seen while asleep or partly asleep, chances are you are just wrong, and whatever you saw was a dream. Which is why you should really look for evidence ghosts at stuff, while awake.

Originally Posted by Alric

If you want to believe in ghosts and spirits and stuff, that is fine. However you also have to be aware that anything seen on the verge of sleep has a scientific explanation. If you believe in ghosts because things you seen while asleep or partly asleep, chances are you are just wrong, and whatever you saw was a dream. Which is why you should really look for evidence ghosts at stuff, while awake.

Once when i was laying on the couch, i was talking to myself about something then all of a sudden i heard this bang from the basement like something heavy fell. Then i hear footsteps coming up the stairs, and towards me...it was not like a house creek, but more someone walking and making the floor creek. It stayed behind me for a good 10 seconds while i'm now paralized in fear, then it goes away as i hear that same bang in the basement. I just layed down, and i was full of energy that night and not a wink tired. I suppose science could explain it, but it was a weird moment, one i have never forgotten. I don't know if they exist (i'd love it if they did...i'd love to see my dog again!), i've had crazy expieriences but when you look at science, it can easily go from "weird", to "meh, explained!".

Fact was i WAS laying down, I wasn't tired, i was talking to myself about something...i do that sometimes when i'm bored. It probably was just because even though you are laying down, even if you are awake and talking you are also falling asleep since normally laying down means it's time to sleep. Then again it could have been a ghost, but i'm looking for a rational way out of a weird mess i can't explain.

Originally Posted by cmind

/facepalm

They're not real, they're hallucinations. You're not in some "special state" that allows you to see things that other people can't.

Speaking of hallucinations, i had the most trippiest one like a year ago. I have a thread about it around here.....I was getting tired, and then i closed my eyes, i saw this book infront of my eyes about 10 feet away, it was covered with jewels. I then see this green faced goblin or something, it was coming my way, i'm talking to myself going "what the fuck" while my eyes are closed, this thing is coming towards me, as he gets close i opene my eyes, and i believe closed them again after having a mind fuck, and saw him again but he was far away and did not notice me, i opened my eyes, closed them and just saw black. It was over. I also had one with my eyes opened, my whole room literally transformed into a map for cod4....mp_farm, by the 2 big oil tanks between both MG buildings. My room had no walls.....just the whole map. I also have a thread about that somewhere.

It is common to experience fear during sleep paralysis as well. So if your laying down, and are 'paralyzed' with fear and hear something strange, that is classic sleep paralysis. It may be strange that you were awake but as you said if you lay down for a long period of time your body can be fooled into thinking it is sleeping. That is the entire idea behind the WILD lucid dream technique, to let your body fall asleep while your still awake.

Originally Posted by Oneironaut

A Lawyer Presents a Case for the Afterlife

I took a peek at chapter 9 and chapter 25, at least that he is a lawyer is very clear. I saw nothing but misleading rhetoric and little actual evidence. He argues with such conviction in spite of being absolutely clueless about the scientific concepts at hand, all under the pretence of being a balanced critical thinker. "Irrefutable Objective Evidence" says the title, ha ha. And of course he's selling printed copies of this short 'book' for 10$.

Basically, he's a thief.

Originally Posted by Scatterbrain

I took a peek at chapter 9 and chapter 25, at least that he is a lawyer is very clear. I saw nothing but misleading rhetoric and little actual evidence. He argues with such conviction in spite of being absolutely clueless about the scientific concepts at hand, all under the pretence of being a balanced critical thinker. "Irrefutable Objective Evidence" says the title, ha ha. And of course he's selling printed copies of this short 'book' for 10$.

Basically, he's a thief.

I'm very aware of this, which is exactly the reason I said:

Originally Posted by Oneironaut

Whether or not you believe in the afterlife (or the credibility of the author, for that matter), there is some great stuff in here, to consider:

The guy is the typical lawyer, which - as you said - is very apparent. The reason I enjoyed the eBook is not because of his sales pitch, but because it's a compendium of a lot of good information on the subject of the afterlife, and the 'evidence' for it, over the years. If someone is looking for well known (or not so well known) stories about alleged sightings and experiences, a lot of which may lead you to do some cross-referencing and find out a lot of cool things about the subject that you otherwise might not have thought about, then it's actually a very interesting read. You just have to see passed his approach, and not take it too seriously.

Yes yes I agree. The comment wasn't necessarily aimed at you, just putting out the warning that the site is hardly what it claims to be.

Probably not but I don't know for sure. I've had some weird and scary things happening to me in the past, and sometimes still do. I'm a paranoid parrot if you will, so I tend to overreact to things that go bump in the night...

I think we can agree that whether or not ghosts are real, the imagination does most of the work.