Ghosts

Do you mean "what is a ghost?" (spirit of dead person) or "what are the things that people mistake for ghosts?"

Do you mean "what is a ghost?" (spirit of dead person) or "what are the things that people mistake for ghosts?"[/quote

Both really, Crowan. I have a notion about them: spirits of the dead/living, and a 'recording' of past emotions.

What would a shaman make of them?

Love,
Patsy.
xxx

This is something I am not sure of myself. Sone cling to the living.
Hovering around wondering what has happened to them....

Some are "free souls" (the part of us that carries our awareness into death - the bit most people mean when they say "soul") who are stuck here. (Most stuck souls are not here and therefore aren't perceived as ghosts.) They need help.
Some are what you refer to as a 'recording' - I understand these to be the memories of spirits of buildings or land. Sometimes these spirits are traumatised by what they have seen or experienced and keep replaying it over in their memories. The house or land may then need help.
Some are land spirits and house spirits who belong where they are and who don't need any help.
Some (particularly those who 'haunt' graveyards and cemeteries) are the "body soul". They occasionally need help but usually not.

Some are "free souls" (the part of us that carries our awareness into death - the bit most people mean when they say "soul") who are stuck here. (Most stuck souls are not here and therefore aren't perceived as ghosts.) They need help.
Some are what you refer to as a 'recording' - I understand these to be the memories of spirits of buildings or land. Sometimes these spirits are traumatised by what they have seen or experienced and keep replaying it over in their memories. The house or land may then need help.
Some are land spirits and house spirits who belong where they are and who don't need any help.
Some (particularly those who 'haunt' graveyards and cemeteries) are the "body soul". They occasionally need help but usually not.

What about those ghosts who hang around familiar objects, not wanting to let go of them? An old boyfriend of mine once bought a second hand piano that had a ghost attached to it.

This seems as if the ghost has a conscience of some sort.

Love,
Patsy.
xxxx

Now we're getting into the nitty-gritty.....;)

What actually happens after death? We do not all suffer the same. Some go peacefully,some go with a tug and a push.

Not all physical bodies want to depart the earth plane....
Souls have memories of relatives,loved ones.
If the soul didn't care,why would we bother to try and say 'Goodbye'?

What about those ghosts who hang around familiar objects, not wanting to let go of them? An old boyfriend of mine once bought a second hand piano that had a ghost attached to it.

This seems as if the ghost has a conscience of some sort.

Love,
Patsy.
xxxx

That is a 'stuck' free soul, and can be helped.

(Ever see a Chinese film called Rouge? It's about a haunted writing desk.)

Now we're getting into the nitty-gritty.....;)

What actually happens after death? We do not all suffer the same. Some go peacefully,some go with a tug and a push.

Not all physical bodies want to depart the earth plane....
Souls have memories of relatives,loved ones.
If the soul didn't care,why would we bother to try and say 'Goodbye'?

We'd bother because we care.

This is something that intrigues me because I have once had an experience that i can only describe by using the words 'I saw a ghost' I would be interested in peoples on thoughts on what I saw.

It was on a paranormal investigation in York Railway museum . I decided of my own volition to wander off on my own. No-one asked me to or could have predicted I would do so. I walked away from the group and in the distance I saw a figure and the phrase that crossed my mind was ' Thats a spooky looking mannequin.....I don;t think i want to go any closer' So I turned round and walked back to where the rest of the group were conducting a vigil. A few minutes later the whole group was waling back the way I had walked.......and that is when I realised there was no mannequin there. At that pint I freaked a bit and told the rest of the group what I had seen......which was a woman in victorian dress. She was standing outside the royal train that had been used by Queen Victoria.....something I was unaware of.

I have tried to debunk this every which way, and cannot....and I am highly sceptical of paranormal phenomena The experience was VERY real. What fascinates me is this... if someone else had walked with me would they have seen her...?

I have heard from others that York Railway Museum is haunted, although I haven't heard any consensus as to what it is haunted by.

Only visited once and that was many years ago.. Is that the place where the Roman soldiers were seen?

Everyone,

I think this has been touched on before, but since ghosts seems to be part of the human experience, does anyone have any ideas about what they might be?

Love,
Patsy.
xxxx

It is like elephant to a blind man. People have their guesses, their takes, their experiences, but who can say for Sure?
Different folks respond differently to the same phenomenon. Individual rather than universal.
Very Occasionally I hear a crash and wallop, a gentle cat purr, a slight murmur, a gentle or jerry movement. It is very unintrusive. It seems they are not engaging with me, or are oblivious of us being there. Just as I'm to that energy other that brief moment of hearing something. Then I forget about it altogether. Sometimes the two coincide for a brief moment and then go living and doing our own thing. To me, it seems they are doing their own thing...whatever that might be....a remnant energy, a memory, another dimension, another world altogether, another reality, a parallel universe. ?.endless possibilities. Who can Say? Well, I cannot say. I delight in my ignorance. It is luxurious not to know and live this mystery.
For who can know for Sure?

For who can know for Sure?

Those who take the trouble to find out.

Those who take the trouble to find out.

A Mystery reveals itself only to those who are steadfast seekers but are also prepared to just be lost in the mystery of it.
Taking the trouble to find out? Even a mathematical solutions reveals itself in a state of abandonment. Scientists working on a complex problem fall asleep and the solution reveals itself. Life's mysteries don't have a set answer. The claim of knowing is absurd. Knowing is relative. It is not absolute. So good luck to those who know.

You can go only so far, the rest comes to you. It comes when it stops being a trouble and mind is settled and heart is receptive.

A Mystery reveals itself only to those who are steadfast seekers but are also prepared to just be lost in the mystery of it.
Taking the trouble to find out? Even a mathematical solutions reveals itself in a state of abandonment. Scientists working on a complex problem fall asleep and the solution reveals itself. Life's mysteries don't have a set answer. The claim of knowing is absurd. Knowing is relative. It is not absolute. So good luck to those who know.

You can go only so far, the rest comes to you. It comes when it stops being a trouble and mind is settled and heart is receptive.

Whatever you wish to think ...

Most ghost stories are connected with the idea that spirits are the souls of people who died under difficult circumstances, murder for example. A year ago, my Pal back in college days, invited me to stay from one of his crib. It’s an exactly 148 years old house, but it doesn’t look so creepy or anything outside and inside because of its continued maintenance. For two weeks I stayed there, a cry coming from a girl’s voice always echoing in my room almost every night when the clock strikes 10. First, I thought it’s only Cara (my friend’s daughter) playing outside my room. But as days passed by, I’ll keep seeing this nightmare of a girl with a tattered dress, vague face just crying while looking at me. She always disappears whenever I try to talk her. Then, it will follow of a scream which causing me to wake up. According to my Pal, the daughter of the previous owner of that house died in that spot (where my bed is) after a stranger broke in and rape her. I was shocked of course knowing this story. But they did not believe in my story, knowing that I’m always fooling around, they thought I’m only joking or messing around. They lived there for almost 10 years now, and they never experienced anything paranormal in that house until my encounter. Oh well, just sharing. 🙂

There's a similar thread running on another website. It's easier to say what ghosts aren't rather than what they are.

There's a similar thread running on another website. It's easier to say what ghosts aren't rather than what they are.

Hi mac,

Well, they aren't dreams, that's for sure.

Patsy.

It is clear that many people would far rather think it a mystery than find out - and maybe help some souls in trouble.

There are two very different issues concerning interest in mysteries and actually being able to help.

The 'spooky' associations of ghosts and/or so-called ghost hunting seems to attract certain individuals. For a short time I wondered about what ghosts were (along with a whole bunch of other stuff) but my interest quickly waned as I began to appreciate their place on the life/death/afterlife spectrum.

What does seem to be a reported feature of ghosts is that they're unable to be interacted with. It would be debatable, then, that any attempt to help could be successful.

Where communication/interaction has been reported it's not in connection with a ghost....

I've talked to several.

You've talked to several what? And what did they say in reply?

You've talked to several what?

Ghosts.

And what did they say in reply?

They are individuals. Would this have any meaning out of context?
My comment was in reply to yours that ghosts are unable to be interacted with.

Of course they are discarnate individuals and out of context it would mean little but in the current one it raises further questions. Did you see them as ghosts? If so, why?

Do you mean why do I call them ghosts? Because that's what others call them. This thread (like the general population) has been using the word "ghosts" for several things - the first post asked if we had any idea what they might be. Personally I'd probably reserve the term "ghost" for a soul of someone no longer alive who is detectable enough in this reality (or 'on this plane', or whatever) for some people to be aware of him/her/it.. But I know that others use the term much more widely.

You say that others call them 'ghosts' so you use the word too. I asked if you consider the discarnate entities - the ones you've told us that you've spoken to - to be ghosts, particularly as I'd referred to the aspect that folk can't interact with 'ghosts'.

The corollary to that reference is what folk do interact with is something other than ghosts. It's the interaction or communication with the entity that is a key factor I suggest. It's my experience that words and terms are often imprecisely used and that leads to misunderstanding.

Maybe you'd better tell me what you consider a "ghost" to be. Otherwise, we are simply playing around with words. You seem to be defining a ghost as "something that can't be talked to."

Oh I wasn't playing with words but rather the reverse as I'd already suggested in posting #17 "It's easier to say what ghosts aren't rather than what they are." And in posting #21 "What does seem to be a reported feature of ghosts is that they're unable to be interacted with." I wasn't defining a 'ghost' at all but suggesting that it's hard even to say what they are let alone try to produce a definition.

The point I had intended to progress to is that a ghost does not appear to be a living entity in the way that our fundamental animating spirit forms are living and can communicate and may interact with those who are sensitive to their presence.

You said,

"What does seem to be a reported feature of ghosts is that they're unable to be interacted with."

Reported by whom? And where?
When Mrs.S. asked,

I think this has been touched on before, but since ghosts seems to be part of the human experience, does anyone have any ideas about what they might be?

it seemed reasonable (particularly after I’d asked) to assume that she meant, “What are these things that people call ‘ghosts’?” So I replied to that.
I use the term “ghosts” to mean souls of dead people who are close enough to here to be detected by those sensitive enough to do so. But I also allowed that other things might be mistaken for ghosts.

Some are "free souls" (the part of us that carries our awareness into death - the bit most people mean when they say "soul") who are stuck here. (Most stuck souls are not here and therefore aren't perceived as ghosts.) They need help.
Some are what you refer to as a 'recording' - I understand these to be the memories of spirits of buildings or land. Sometimes these spirits are traumatised by what they have seen or experienced and keep replaying it over in their memories. The house or land may then need help.
Some are land spirits and house spirits who belong where they are and who don't need any help.
Some (particularly those who 'haunt' graveyards and cemeteries) are the "body soul". They occasionally need help but usually not.

Three of these can be communicated with. The other, the ‘recording’, is a memory. The spirit who has the memory can be communicated with.
It seems that you are considering “ghost” to be something else, but – so far, at least – I am not understanding what that is.