Do you believe in the supernatural?

Question

Do you believe that ghosts or spirits exist? If so have you had any experience with them? Please tell me about it.

Answer 1

Sure I believe! I have so far not seen any GOOD reasons for NOT believing in the supernatural; only BAD ones...

1) First of all, the argument presented by “nondescript” does not really work. The fact that the brain is good at finding patterns does NOT automatically lead to (at least not using ordinary deductive, syllogistic logic) the conclusion that the supernatural does not exist. For example, using “nondescript”s own example, we see a face in a cloud because we have experiences not only of real clouds but also of real faces; so the fact that one may see a face in a cloud does not automatically lead to the conclusion that faces do not exist; rather, one could very argue that it is BECAUSE we have previous experience with existing faces that we also see the face in the existing cloud.

2) Argument number two by “nondescript” also does not work. The fact the people have dreams (whether those dreams are in a daydreaming state or not) does not prove that ghosts do not exist. I can, for instance have a terrible nightmare and dream about being chased by roaring lions; but roaring lions DO exist, although I haven’t seen them myself. So the fact that I had a dream about being chased by a roaring lion and personally never were chased by any roaring lions does not prove that roaring lions do not exist. Similarly, the fact that I may have dreamt about being chased by ghosts or aliens and haven’t personally had the waking experience of being chased by ghosts or aliens does not prove that ghosts or aliens do not exist.

3) The argument by “J.P.” does not work. He claims that although he has had both near-death experiences (NDEs) and out-of-body experiences (OBEs), he now understands the physiology of how they really happen, and that he now knows that these experiences are not actually supernatural in origin. But the actual state of affairs in regards to supernatural events and the scientists’ understanding thereof is practically zero. Bold materialistic scientists claim that these experiences are nothing else but “brain states” or some other chemical or biological processes in the human brain. This is, however, FAR from proven. In fact, the whole of philosophy of mind is back to the hardest question of all: what IS human consciousness? They don’t know even THAT. And therefore they cannot claim any knowledge about how NDEs or OBEs, in general, work. However, what the scientists MAY claim is that they can “simulate” NDEs or OBEs. But that is no more glorious than being able to simulate being chased by a lion or a car; and, more importantly, it doesn’t prove that there are no lions or no cars. Therefore, the (alleged) fact that they can simulate NDE and OBE experiences does not prove they know what NDEs and OBEs are; nor does it prove that they can explain what NDEs and OBEs are; the only thing it proves, if their claim is true, is that they can feed the brain with info in such a way as to make it SEEM as if it were an NDE or OBE. In other words, it’s just Hollywood again, but this time without the silver screen.

4) As far as the argument by “Questor” goes, he is wrong. One does not have to accept supernatural events to be reduced to natural events. If supernatural events are such that they embrace a multidimensional reality that encompasses more dimensions than what is currently being accepted by the physical/natural sciences, then it would be unreasonable to request supernatural events to be mapped onto natural events. In this case, the only, in principle, possible solution would be to do exactly the opposite, namely to map the physical/natural events onto a theory of supernatural events; for otherwise one would get distortion.

Also, an important point to remember is that one does not have to accept that “objectivity” or "science" is the ultimate test of reality or of truth. One can very well be accept the idea that “subjectivity” is the only real way to see the world in a correct manner. Thomas Nagel’s eminent (hard-core!) philosophy paper “What Is It Like to Be a Bat?” may help those who are interested in learning more about “subjectivism” and “non-reductionism” in relation to the sciences.

Answer 2

I do believe there are different levels of existance,and if you know the string theory(they say there are either 11 or 14dimensions within the same realm of existance)I cant remember the precise number but the mathematical equations are sound,so I believe its possible.The only supernatural event I can recall vividly isnt scary,its more angelic in nature and probably better for Christmas than Halloween but here goes.My father died of a massive heart attack,on Memorial weekend of 1996 and although he wasnt an evil man he did have hedonistic tendencies(cheating on my mother and such)I had a really bad feeling that his soul wasnt where it was supposed to go,He died in the late afternoon,and that night I was feeling this way so bad I couldnt shake it.I pulled into a gas station and a transient offered to wash my windows,I told him I'd give him five bucks if he prayed for my Dad.(I felt if a stranger said it,it would help or count.why I dont know but i did) so he prayed for Him right there,at the pump.A feeling lifted off of me,this heavy weight and I looked into his eyes.They were the most remarkable blue.After he was done I thanked him and he smiled,held out his hand and said his name was Irish,I left feeling better and a little silly.I looked for himthe next day,he wasnt around.I didnt see him for two years,and then one day I ran into him again,I let him clean my windows and paid him and in the course of the convesation he said his name was Irish.(i had recognized him of course but didnt mention about the last time we had met,but he remembered.I looked at his eyes and they were dark brown not the blue i remembered

Answer 3

If such things exist they must be explained in terms of the natural - not the supernatural, because the term "supernatural" explains nothing.

Ghosts and spirits are the residual holographic imprints of past life forms on the n-1 dimensional surface of the n-dimensional space-time manifold.

Answer 4

No. The human mind is capable of believing all sorts of crazy things that make no sense when looked at rationally.
Religion is an example of belief in the supernatural.

Answer 5

I do not believe in the supernatural. Even though I've had an NDE and multiple OBE's, I understand the physiology of how they really happen and know that they are not actually 'supernatural' in origin.

Answer 6

The first guy is talking a bunch of nonsense; if my computer starts typing by itself or my piano starts playing by itself that was my mind too? Yeah I believe in the supernatural

Answer 7

A man once said that there is no such thing as the supernatural.
Because everything in the Universe is natural.
I have seen many things. And believe my spirit is sometimes called into the spirit world to fight!

Answer 8

I believe in the Supernatural. I eat, drink and sleep it! It's real. It's good for some. Dangerous for others.

Answer 9

Of course not. The brain is good at finding patterns. What it is especially tuned for is other people. It is so tuned that it sometimes finds people when they aren't there. That's how we so easily see faces in the clouds or interpret a door squeak as a person saying something. That's one way people "see" and "hear" ghosts.

Another way is through what is called a waking dream. That's where you are halfway awake but still dreaming. You'll notice a lot of alien, religion, and ghost stories start with "I woke up and..." or "I was just lying down to sleep and...", or something similar.

Answer 10

Absolutely