Do you believe in ghost?

[boogieboogie]

An earlier post http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/ChatterBank/Que stion598762.html
got me curious.

Do people believe in programs like Britains most haunted, and Ghost hunters? I thought people watch this for a laugh but aparently not. Surely people can't believe in ghost these days.

[Octavius]

Naomi, if they appear as solid as any living person, then how do you know it is a ghost?

Do they sort of just appear and disappear like those people on the transporter of the Starship Enterprise? How do you define them as a ghost rather than say, visitors from another space time continuum somewhere in our distant future?

Is it that they always look like someone famous?

[naomi24]

Octavius, �How do you know it's a ghost? � Well if you're alone in a locked house, in broad daylight, and you suddenly spot a well-dressed lady standing calmly behind an armchair in the corner of your sitting room, it's not someone you've invited for tea, that's for sure - and it's not a burglar either!

The one I saw was just there when I looked, and I left the room before she did, so whether they appear and disappear like the people on the Starship Enterprise, I really have no idea.

I don�t know where they�re from, but I do know that people often recognise their visitor - and they rarely look like someone famous.

If you believe that spirits are all around us, why don�t you believe they can sometimes be seen?

[Teneref]

there are many ghost on answerbank.

don't you see them posting without names?

[Quinlad]

I often see a 90ft purple dragon perched on the roof of my house. And I believe it to be real.

Since human beings are not in possession of the total sum of the knowledge of the universe, does that mean it would be arrogant of someone to suggest I'm being irrational?

[naomi24]

No, it wouldn't be arrogant to suggest you're being irrational, Quinlad. Unlike the millions who claim to have seen ghosts, you seem to be quite alone in experiencing this particular phenomenon. Therefore, rationally, you could be lying, or it could be attributable to you having watched more scary movies than is good for a young mind - or it could be as the result of drinking one Budweiser too many. Either way, your experience isn't shared by anyone else and it has no other evidence to support it, so there's a very good chance that it isn't real.

[boogieboogie]

Quinlad you are probably seeing a Barney which is about 10 inches tall. The thing here is if it's close to you and your house is far away it may look like huge & sat on top of your roof. ie: right now I am holing a peach up and looking out of the window, O MY GOD a GIANT PEACH sitting on top of the roof top across the road. Why cows in fields only look 2in when driving past them.

[Theland1]

Of course they're real. Boo!

And Quinlad ..... Boo!

[123everton]

Don't watch "Most Haunted etc.
I believe in ghosts, I've experienced a ghostly happening. Many years ago before I was born my parents went on holiday to Wales with my two sisters whilst there they came across an old shell of a house all burnt out, my sisters went to play in it and collected pieces of broken pottery, they returned to the caravan and eventually went to bed.
My mother is very Catholic (my father very un-Protestant) and she had dotted about the place various icons (Virgin Mary etc) that night my father woke up because it was so cold inside.
The next morning all the icons had disappeared....
They collected the pottery and threw it into a stream (I'd of taken it back) my mother has never spoken of it since, my father only recently.

[Quinlad]

One in ten Americans claims to have seen an alien or an alien spacecraft.

Millions of people claims to have seen or heard God, often large gatherings of people at the same time.

Can a rationalist not legitimately say that any of these conclusions are irrational?

[naomi24]

When a great number of people claim to have witnessed the same thing, a rationalist can say what he likes - but if there's no proof either way, it doesn't necessarily make him right.

[Octavius]

Naomi, I believe that unseen spirits are all around us in the same way I believe that there is an unseen God in our presence. Some people claim to see and hear ghosts, and some people claim to see God and hear his voice. Invariably it is just a different set of beliefs and opinions. So whilst I believe that ghosts or spirits do indeed exist, I don�t believe we have the ability to see them, much the same way we can�t see God.

[naomi24]

Octavius, your rationale seems to be that although you believe they exist, because you haven't seen one, then it follows that they cannot be seen. There's a big difference between 'belief' and reality. I don't simply 'believe' ghosts exist, I know they do.

[Octavius]

That�s fine Naomi. I am accept that you see things that way, even though I don�t share the same opinion. Incidentally I don�t believe science can see these things either, yet. No matter how many floating orbs or radiation emitting number 2�s these ghosts are meant to produce!

[naomi24]

Ha! :o) Not sure about floating orbs - or anything else that comes from these idiotic TV shows - but it's encouraging to see you've said 'yet'.

[Octavius]

Well as I said, I believe they (ghosts, spirits, whatever) �exist� but equally believe that they cannot be seen. I don�t agree that humans can see them (of course, I know you do). Science may one day provide the capability of �visualisation� which I feel humans themselves (i.e. their own eyes) cannot. Others will consider that the reason science hasn�t provided us with this �visualisation� yet, is because they are simply not there to be seen.

[keyplus90]

I do not want to bring religion directly into it again. But Science still has not proven so many things which religions talks about. Hell, paradise, aliens, ghosts, spirits, angels, life after death, and above all God. But then again scientists did not know ten years ago what they know now.

So I always say one thing, Science has long way to go

[naomi24]

Octavius, you only �believe� that humans can�t see them. You don�t �know� that, and yet you don�t consider it possible. Your little attempt at ridicule (or was it a joke?) just about sums it up. Because this is something that you, personally, have no experience of, it is beyond your comprehension. Bearing in mind that millions of people claim to have seen ghosts, coming to such a definite, and unsubstantiated, conclusion, is not only offensive - it�s illogical. What you are saying, in effect, is that you know the truth - ghosts and spirits exist - but each and every person who claims to have seen them is either delusional, or they�re idiots, or they�re telling lies. Those who claim that the reason science hasn�t provided us with �visualisation� yet is because they simply aren�t there, assumes they know the truth also, but they don�t. Like you, they have no personal experience to call upon, and so it is a naive and ignorant assumption. No doubt science will provide us with many answers in the future - and it will provide us with answers to such complex questions that we, at this present time, cannot even begin to imagine will surface.

Keyplus, as I�ve said many times, I don�t believe spirits or ghosts or whatever you want to call them have any connection to religion, but have everything to do with nature. It�s true, science does have a long way to go - but it has progressed up until now, and it will continue to do so in the future.