To ask why people believe in ghosts and other supernatural nonsense?

[BowieFan]

I just don't get it, I really don't.

There has been no scientific evidence of any genuine psychics or people who can contact the dead (and trust me, people have poured millions into trying to find genuine ones) and yet people still believe this rubbish. How do mediums still make money when it's obvious all they're doing is cold reading?

There's never been a single clear sighting of a ghost or any photographic proof of one.

I really feel sorry for the people who believe this nonsense - they must be lacking something that they feel they have to rely on something that doesn't exist to get answers in their life.

I think it's just best not to scoff at people's right to belive anything as long as it's not hurting them or anyone else.

what benefit is there in trying to tear apart other people's beliefs op be thry religious or spiritual.

Why would you want to?

DioneTheDiabolist

I'm 40 on Friday.

Also: I live in an apparently "haunted" house. It's very old, part of it is built on an old graveyard, we found a hidden room not on the plans when we moved in, locks on the outside of all the bedrooms, and I have lost several people who are very close to me. And I still don't believe in bloody ghosts or other supernatural stuff.

bowie- why are you so bothered about what other people believe? How does it affect your life if someone wants to believe in ghosts?

Well I saw a ghost once. Not what you'd think of as ghostly either. So that's why I'm open to ghosts obviously. I don't believe in God though.

Nikki1171

Science absolutely can explain the intricacies of relationships and that's how we know how attraction works.

I'm a bit offended that you think me believing in science makes me autistic - it really doesn't. My DS2 is much more open to paranormal things than I am, and he's on the spectrum.

I personally believe science because so far it has explained everything I need it to. I would listen to actual scientists over Yvette Fielding and someone at the end of Blackpool pier any day of the week.

I don't see things as black and white. If there was even a single piece of credible paranormal evidence, I'd be much more open to believing in it.

Mindtrope

It doesn't bother me. I just don't like seeing people being taken advantage of and I especially don't like people who tell you after a bereavement that they know people who can get in touch with your loved ones. They are bottom feeders.

Psychics have been proven as fakes countless times, and yet they're unregulated.

My post was about WHY people believe. I don't personally believe and I worry about people who do, but it doesn't mean I care if they believe or not - that's up to them. But equally, I don't like being told that science hasn't been able to explain things, and therefore ghosts must exist - that's just bullcrap.

If you saw a ghost would you think you were mad then?

I get that somebody else's anecdote convinces nobody, yet, there are a lot of individuals who that that 1) they are logical and critical thinkers and 2) have seen a ghost.

I never thought I would. It was 26 years ago in spain, I was only 19. At the time I used critical thinking to determine if I was dreaming, I wasn't. I don't talk about it much because I've no interest in persuading anybody else to believe it. I'm not invested in to other people believing in ghosts.

I just don't like seeing people being taken advantage of

Your benevolence knows no bounds.

I know what I've seen, but each to their own.

Nobody takes or took advantage of me. I didn't have to pay out money to see what I saw.

Dame you saw something you didn't understand or couldn't be readily explained. To conclude from this that you saw the spirit of the undead visiting from the other side is a huge imaginative leap, not an act of critical thinking.

If I saw a ghost I would think I was hallucinating, or I was being tricked, or I was dreaming, or it was an optical illusion. I probably wouldn't think I was mad, because I would be unlikely to be able to have that sort of rational thought if I was.
When I was about 5 we moved to a house where I I became utterly terrified of the scullery and wouldn't go in because of the "green man" I could see. This went on for some time with no explanation being found and my very rational parents becoming increasingly spooked. Then one of them thought to get down to my level and saw the splodge of green paint under a shelf that looked exactly like the head of a witch-type person.If they have been believers they, and I, would have believed I had seen a ghost to this day.

And I think it's important that people's beliefs are questioned and challenged. Because if people don't think rationally about things they are easy prey for charlatans. And for people in all walks of life who will spin them yarns.

You didn't experience it.

I was not under the influence of anything. I got out of bed. Turned on the light. Ascertained that I was awake. Thought about it, wondered why I wasn't frightened. Felt calm. Got back in to bed knowing when I turned off the light the face would be there like a reflection on a puddle. Three inches from my face.

To say that I didn't understand it is so bizarre. It is me that experienced it.

I'm not asking you to believe in it. But it was my experience, I understood it.

Good night.

DamePastel

Well I'm pretty sure I'd be able to realise that my eyes were playing tricks on me. I've seen things which some people might think were ghosts, but they weren't. In the cold light of day you can see what happened to make you think they were. It's no coincidence that when I saw one of these "ghosts" I'd just finished a D of E weekend where I'd slept about 3 hours over the weekend. It was my tiredness and eyes making me see things that weren't there.

"I know what I've seen, but each to their own."

Actually, it's been proved time and time again that we don't know what we've seen!

DamePastel

You do realise that you can completely convince yourself of something even though it isn't true? My eyes have made it look like there are orbs floating around the room, but there aren't.

It doesn't bother me. I just don't like seeing people being taken advantage of and I especially don't like people who tell you after a bereavement that they know people who can get in touch with your loved ones.They are bottom feeders.

Psychics have been proven as fakes countless times, and yet they're unregulated.

This all over. I'm amazed people openly applaud and are in awe of vulnerable people being deeply exploited. I know it's not the same as ghosts and ghoul believing but the fact that people do believe in the supernatural allows fraudsters to have a platform for their vulture-like performances.

I don't think Bowie is on a one woman missions to destroy all believers but (like me) is baffled as to why people do believe this. I'm also baffled as to why people are religious, doesn't mean I'd want to strip them of their right to believe

I only ask about your age OP, because I thought that you were still the the "I'm right and everyone else is wrong" age group and usually passes with experience, insight and maturity.

No one likes to see people being taken advantage of, but adults are allowed to make their own choices even if others don't agree with them. As for regulation, counselling is not regulated. Despite BACP and other bodies trying to have it introduced, the govt will not introduce laws regarding who can call themselves a counsellor, so I very much doubt they are willing to spend the time and money drafting legistlation to regulate psychics or mediums.

You asked why people believe and now you know, so I hope you have found this thread helpfil.

And I most definitely saw my green man. It was just that it was a splodge of paint, not a ghost.

The human brain is a pattern seeking metaphor generating organ. That's why people see the face of Jesus (remind me how we know what he looked like again?) in a loaf of bread or find a face in a pattern of shadows on the floor.

Witness statements about crimes are notoriously inaccurate. People interpret what they see in a way that accords with their world view.

Ghosts always seem to spend their time switching electrical appliances on and off or rattling windows. They never seem to do anything purposeful. If I had the power to come back as a spirit after my death I hope I could do something more helpful or reassuring than shake a baby gym.

Energy is conserved after death. Some is lost as heat and the chemical energy that remains in the physical body is either lost as heat during cremation or eaten etc by decomposers and insects/worms during decomposition.

With regard to what DamePastel described above, this is interesting:

"Hypnagogic or hypnopompic hallucinations are visual, tactile, auditory, or other sensory events, usually brief but occasionally prolonged, that occur at the transition from wakefulness to sleep (hypnagogic) or from sleep to wakefulness (hypnopompic)....Visual hallucinations usually consist of simple forms such as coloured circles or parts of objects that may be constant or changing in size...over half the individuals who experienced hypnagogic or hypnopompic hallucinations had no evidence of physical disorder, substance-abuse disorder, sleep disorder, or other psychiatric disorder."

patient.info/doctor/hypnagogic-hallucinations

To say that I didn't understand it is so bizarre. It is me that experienced it.

As I said up thread you experienced something you didn't understand. I don't doubt that. But to discount all other explanation other than the supernatural is absurd.

Oops, forgot this bit: "A formed image of an animal or a person may appear and it is often in colour."

"My DS is 9yrs old and already understands that different people believe different things."

9-year-olds' understanding of such matters depends a lot on how their parents present them.

My DD as a 9-year-old understood that some people believed in all sorts of silly stuff but that she was to question everything and use her brain.

Now 11, she sometimes tells me about the ghost, spirit etc stuff her friends talk about and explains why she doesn't think they are true.

"Different people believe different things and they are all worthy of respect, not one is more worthy than another" is a foolish thing to teach a child, not least because it is false.

Leave people be, it's each to their own, we're not all going to agree on things. Some people are spiritual others are religious and others don't believe in anything. Believing in ghosts isn't harming anyone and can actually bring comfort to people.