Hi All

At first i wish you all a happy and creative 2003...all through my life i always tried to think and analyse everything that i encounter in a sceptic way trying to find all the time all possible solutions to a problem...in my early 20's i have dealt with psychology courses in a UK university but i gave up since my interests have changed quite a lot during all this period...i am always concerned about the "supernatural" activities although through a sceptic way all the time...i was thinking to even have my master's degree in a parasychology topic offered now on a university level but things didn't happen exactly this way...anyway i would like to pose a number of thoughts concerning these phenomena...browsing though this forum i noticed that most of the people taking part are from the USA and being raised in a different environment in Europe and more specifically Athens/Greece probably this affects my attitude against these phenomena since i have already developed a different way of thinking about all these...certainly here as well there are many stories and legends about Ghosts and other creatures such as vampires - Romania and Vlad Dracula is quite near - but people here tends to think of them more as a part of the local tradition that is history now...what i noticed through the forum is that people tend to go out and look for ghosts and in general are seeking for these phenomena in a more active way than we do here...although i don't personally reject anything whatever it might be from a social phenomenon to a paranormal one, i alway tend to search every bit of infos i receive and i never accept anything just the way it is told to me...Through my psychology studies i concluded that humans are feeling very unsafe about even there existence and their role here on earth and they have a constsnt tendency to look for possible explanations a fact which is very positive since makes the world go on...why do we beleive in ghosts ? is it maybe our hope for afterlife hidden there just like relegion has imposed us to think of death ? - i am not an atheist on the other hand i am an orhtodox christian but as i mentioned i alway dougbt about anything in life -...humans as well are always looking for logical explanations to their problems and if they can't find any then they tend to feel fear or inferior to the event that they are facing...eg if i here something during the night and i can't get any logical explanation of why this happened then i automatically tend to treat it as unexplained and i am restricing my self in trying to investigate it...further many "ghosts" are the result of our own minds who are actually looking to see a ghost and this is a well known mechanism imposed by S. Freud known as suppression - although reffering to other stuff - which really protect us from getting crazy with the idea of a ghost in our minds all the time - in other words our brain says "so you want to see a ghost - here it is "...apart from all these certainly there are some cases of really unexplained phenomena - like this month's featured photo which shows a woman which shouldn't bethere according to the photographer...
i just beleive that these category of phenomena should be trated more seriously than other since it seems that there is something there although we might refer to some kinds of eg energy forms that we don't still know...just keep in mind that the primitive man tended to fear of fire so much...i want to say that maybe in a far time from here things that we think as supernatural might be fully explained in a 500 or 1000 years time...a last point i would like to share my thought with you is how the environment and contect affects one person's behaviour...a couple of months ago i have been in the UK once again and slept at a friend's house...nothing supernatural have happened there but when my friend told me that this is 200 years old house i couldn't sleep easily for the rest couple of days i have been there...my dad's job is has to do with contruction and repairing of houses from time to time so when i was younger i went with him to give him a hand along with some ther people that my dad emploes regularly...after i have been with him for a couple of day repairing a big house destined to be a kindergarden i told him that i really liked this house which offered a very big yard and a lot of rooms and he told me that it was bought very cheap by the Greek state since there have been a couple of murders at the kitchen and therefore nomody wanted to by this house anymore...in another story i have heard by my dad there was a prisoner who was forced to lie down - mant yeas ago - on a blanket that they had some blood stains...they told him that this was blood from a person who was spitting blood trhough his langs...the next day he was found dead although the blood was coming from a pigeon !!...so from this i can see that context plays a huge role in human behaviour as well...as i mentioned i never reject anything in life even ghosts which might be an afterlife form although i tend to think that although we don;t want to accept it there it nothing after you are gone - although it would be really nice to live somehow -
and many of these come from our hope for afterlife and that anything doesn't stop here...always try and be critical about anything in life and never accept a thing as is...i am always willing to have your feedback for all these...

Take Care
Panos

Hi Panos, Welcome to SpiritKeep. I hope that you enjoy it here.

I find your ideas very interesting. In some ways I agree and in others I have different ideas. I do think that in some cicumstances we do see/hear things that we expect too. An example would be grieving for a loved one, in the earlier stages of grief we have not yet gotten used to our loved one being gone so we may still see or hear them because we expect to. But there is also another side to that in being that perhaps we are also more receptive to the spirit world at that time. I think that it can be either happening.

I also firmly believe that there is further life in the spirit world. I can't give you any reason for my belief because I don't follow any particular religion but it's what I feel in my heart. To me looking a ghost pictures and discussing experiences is about the mystery of them, and fun. I don't really expect to get any answers about the afterlife and I don't search for answers. I figure that when it's your time to know, then you'll know.

Hi Panos... welcome to SpiritKeep.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. I believe in ghosts basically because I've had my own experiences which leave me no other logical conclusions, but I always look for a logical reasons. I know there are some out there that tend to believe without question, but everyone has a different approach. Some may need a connection to a loved one, some are just curious, some wish to prove it in a scientific way, etc. There are different levels of belief, I guess you could say. You're very correct in that some day, we may know exactly what ghosts are, but for now, it remains a phenomenon because it can only be explained in theory at this point. So, who knows what all of the collective research will turn up?

No ghost hunters in Greece, eh? I guess ghost hunting from your point of view might look a little strange - people out combing dark places to seek ghosts. But that is part of that way we study it, through photographs, EVPs, EMFs, etc. As for Freud, yes, he had many good ideas, but he also said women have p*nis envy. I'm just saying I don't feel he was 100% right on everything. I do believe that some see ghosts because they want to, but many of us aren't actively trying to see anything - it just happens.

Well, that's my two cents. Sorry if I didn't hit on everything! Again, welcome to the board.

Oh, that featured monthly pic you referred to, that is over on All About Ghosts, I believe.

Kell

Can't say that I have ever gone looking for a ghost but I have heard and felt them. I tried to find every logical explanation for what had happened but ended up with a conclusion that I couldn't prove or disprove. And I sure didn't want to have an experience.
In my Native American teaching, one is told that those who have passed over (died) will come to loved ones in our dreams or as ghost, apparitions or something within 7 days of their passing. This is supposed to be to let us know they are on their journey to the other side and to comfort us.
Having also worked in the medical field, I have talked to some people who, by medical definitions were dead, but who came back to life. Many tell of a wonderful place that they saw or what they experienced while 'dead'. Most of these folks had not heard about others who had similiar experiences while they were clinically dead. It's interesting that they would describe some of the same things that were so unlike here on this planet.
Just some of my limited thoughts since it's getting late and brain is beggin for some sleep.

drummaker1

Hi

I am really glad for the very warm feedback concerning some of my thoughts - and other's certainly - about what ghosts might be...yes, sure here ghost hunting is not so popular although as you might know Greece (Hellas) is an ancient land whith many battles fought and buildings to investigate...as far as i know there is some kind of activity but definitelly not as organised as in the US or even the UK...anyway apart from that to be a ghost hunter seems to be quite interesting for all these people involved and definitelly i don't want in any case to critizise their activities and interest on these issues...i have read that someone can become a ghost when he is not mentally prepared to die...this is a problem of our modern civilisation which really makes humans to be so much focused on life - issues such as making money - in most of the cases against others - while we should be more interested in being more creative and responsible for the other generations to come after we pass on, a fact that many "ancient" civilizations had as their main idea of being here...eg i have read that the first think the Pharaohs in ancient Egypt were doing is to prepare themselves for death by building their own graves - The well-known pyramids -...anyway all i want to say is that being here would not differentiate us from animals if we just cover our basic (or not so basic) needs for food, shelter,sex etc...i tend to think that our reason for being here is or should have to be much more advanced than all these i mentioned above...anyway thanks once again for the so warm welcoming of yours and i will try to post as frequentlly as i can since the whole fora are very interesting...

Cheers
Panos

Hi there!
My grandmother died about 8 years ago.
My imediate family as well as myself were there at Mississauga hospital and watched her die.
A little after the moment of death maybe 2 minutes later, her appearence changed. We all noticed this. It no longer looked like my grandmother, it looked like a representation.
She appeared smaller. She also emitted no life force whatsoever.
I sensed her as an object. This was disturbing as I loved her very much.
Anyways, 2 days passed then my mother told me of the visit she experienced. My mother said it was my grandma because she hugged her and she smelled her. She also felt warm and great love from the experience. Our family dog was nervous during this time. But I guess we were all greaving and the dog sensed this.
For over a year I had repeated dreams of my grandmother trying to talk to me both in semi-conscious half sleep states and in dreams.
On that day that my mother experienced her(at around 2PM), I remember someone or something looked like it went into her room. My door was open. I dismissed it as my nerves as I was very sad. Did we both hallucinate?
I will never know.

Welcome to the board Innerworld.
It's nice to hear views of others.
The people on this board have their beliefs but we enjoy the beliefs of others and we know none of us know exactly what's going on.

I agree with Kell about Freud. I admire him for what he has done but many of his theories are outdated. And many of his theories still hold.

I for one do not wish to see any ghosts. Hearing them, talking to them, hearing noises, etc.. doesn't bother me much. Seeing them bothers me. Scare the heck out of me. And the times I have contact is not when I am searching for it or expecting it. They do the contacting. So it's not like I run around looking for it or them. They come to me.

I always look for the most logical reasons for anything that happens. Only when it comes down to my experience being what it is with no other expanation or I am mental unstable. And I don't rule out mental instability either. But at some point you have to ground yourself and say something happened and take for granted that your not mildly insane.

I'm looking forward to more of your posts.