Paranormal and the afterlife

[Redux]

One of the strangest things, to me anyways, are the people who scoff at the idea of paranormal entities or ghosts/spirits of those who have passed on.   Yet, those same people believe in some form of an afterlife.  I've also met people where the reverse is true.  Atheists I can completely understand scoffing at both notions just like devout Christians tend to believe in both.  So I thought I would ask the question and gauge what people believe in or are open to as a concept anyways.

 

For me I chose Other.  I believe that the standard concept of an afterlife is quite misconstrued.  I feel like our conciousness could potentially be the key to the afterlife if there is indeed one.  I'm more agnostic than anything, but possibilities are endless given what limited knowledge we have of everything when it comes to life and death.    I don't believe in a grand oasis or a fiery pit waiting on us, but maybe some grand energy or force that our conciousness ascends to posthumously.  On the paranormal portion, I think it's far mor likely entities are snippets of alternate realities or dimensions we get glimpses of rather than deceased people.

Edited January 25, 2018 by Redux

[Landlord]

I don't scoff at the idea of paranormal entities or ghosts/spirits, I mostly just scoff at any kind of Ghosthunters/The Exorcist/produced for ratings ideas of what they are. 

 

I don't see there being much usefulness to spending a lot of time thinking about it. I've never had any experiences, and I know a lot of people have. Nobody has any real proof or concrete evidence, so who's to say? 

[NM11046]

I just want to say how much I'm loving these polls as a distraction from very boring office day for me at work.  Fun to tickle the brain a little!

[ZRod]

We're all just star dust. Nothing more, nothing less. And that's beautiful!

[NM11046]

ZRod - you are beautiful, no matter what they say.

[Landlord]

3 minutes ago, NM11046 said:

ZRod - you are beautiful, no matter what they say.

 

 

Do you ever feel like a plastic bag?

[BigRedBuster]

Well, this question is very hard for me to answer, but this was closest to me.

 

Quote

Believe in an afterlife, but not the paranormal

 

My wife, on the other hand, completely believes in paranormal activity and questions me as to how I can believe in the afterlife but not in paranormal activity.  Honestly, I don't have a good answer.

 

One thing about paranormal activity that I don't understand....is....why do people always believe it's bad or some how the ghost that's there is going to hurt them?  I travel through Cody Wyoming from time to time on business.  My favorite hotel to stay there is the Erma Hotel which was built by Buffalo Bill and is on the list of most haunted hotels in America.  Supposedly, there is a woman who died from a gun shot wound in the hotel.  She has haunted the hotel ever since.

So......when I check in, I always ask for the room closest to the room that supposedly she haunts the most (the one she died in).  I would love to see her and experience it.....but....sadly, it's never happened.

[Nebfanatic]

I believe in the afterlife and i also believe in the paranormal in the sense that i believe spiritual forces beyond our comprehension are acting in our physical world. I would consider that 'paranormal' but its not necissarily ghosts and what not. I am more unsure about the traditional idea of the paranormal, but not enough to completely rule it out.

[knapplc]

The supernatural has always fascinated me. I've read tons of books about Kirlian photographs, the astral plane, auras, souls, the occult, satanism, dowsing/divination, the metaphysical... all that stuff is interesting to me.  I just don't believe any of it is real.  I don't believe in ghosts, I don't believe in an afterlife, I just believe we're meat-based creatures that have life with no soul, and when we die we're dead and that's it.

[GSG]

I chose Other as well. I have no idea if there is an afterlife or what it's like. I think it's one of those things that you only find out when you get there

 

I'm not sure about the paranormal stuff either. I've seen some videos that make me think it could be real, but then there's the garbage shows on TV where it's all fake-suspense nonsense.

[Danny Bateman]

I answered the same as BRB. I think I believe in an afterlife but not the paranormal. Mostly just because I've never experienced it. I had to think about it a long time, though, because I'm not 100% sure that there aren't ghosts or otherworldly beings in some form out there.

 

I'd like to second what @Landlord said though. I can't believe how popular Ghost Hunter type shows have become. I think those are one of the stupidest things in existence. I can't believe people are able to monetize that type of thing & people actually tune in. But I'm kind of a grump when it comes to reality TV in general. I think it's just awful.

Edited January 25, 2018 by dudeguyy

[Redux]

57 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

My wife, on the other hand, completely believes in paranormal activity and questions me as to how I can believe in the afterlife but not in paranormal activity.  Honestly, I don't have a good answer.

 

One thing about paranormal activity that I don't understand....is....why do people always believe it's bad or some how the ghost that's there is going to hurt them?

 

I can answer both these questions with one response: It's because of the lore attached to the paranormal.  You're comfortable believing in an afterlife because religion is still pretty widely accepted as normal whereas "ghosts" are widely regarded as silly.  The evil stigma is due to shows like Paranormal Lockdown, Ghost Adventures, My Ghost Story, Paranormal State etc.  These shows did more harm than good.  They portray all hauntings as evil because TV expects drama.

 

True story, when we first started out investigating, My Ghost Story emailed us and asked if we had any footage to share in consideration to appear on the show.  The catch is this: No talking about the technical aspects of it like equipment, No talking about debunking claims, No offering logical explinations.  Only discuss how it made you feel and bonus points for being scared/traumatized.

Edited January 25, 2018 by Redux

[Redux]

And my personal take on hauntings is that most are just stored energy based off of events and natural elements in the area.  How those factors come together is still an unanswered  question.   I don't necessarily truly believe ghosts are trapped souls.  Of course, it's a possibility or theory.  But I prefer the multiverse aspect of it.

[teachercd]

Shoot, I think some of that stuff is real.  When I was a kid growing up I had a good friend that lost a cousin to a motorcycle accident, they were close and he was the "cool older cousin"...one day in his basement he swears that he say a hand with a motorcycle glove on it slowly pushing open the door to the laundry room.  He was freaked the f#*k out and ran up stairs...

 

Who knows but it stuck with him for a very long time.  He swears it was his cousin.

[Redux]

1 hour ago, Landlord said:

I don't see there being much usefulness to spending a lot of time thinking about it. I've never had any experiences, and I know a lot of people have. Nobody has any real proof or concrete evidence, so who's to say? 

 

To the bolded, I can understand that if it's not a subject that interests you.  For me, we can't think about it after we die if there is nothing so may as well ponder it now.  For some it's the opposite.

 

To the rest, neither have I really.  I've had a lot of things happen I can't exactly explain, but still nothing that changes my mind completely.