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 don't think people who believe in the supernatural (including religion) are unintelligent. I think it can be sad and scary to think that this life is all there is, especially if you have experienced a loss, and so naturally people gravitate towards the idea of higher beings and spirits. I think it is human nature.
Nevertheless, We are much more scientifically aware nowadays about how the brain works, for example, and I have never heard a woo story that cannot be explained by science/more rationally!
I don't believe in any woo whatsoever but respect the fact that for many it brings great comfort.

'Surely we're allowed to call flat Earth believers morons?'

Well you can, and you might be right, but you're not going to engage people on a rational, possibly opinion changing debate if you start from the premise they're an idiot..,
Start from the premise that yes, people DO experience things they can't explain, examine what, when and under what circumstances they saw it and you might get a convert. I've seen several threads on MN where people have experienced very real very upsetting night terrors and have never understood what they are - they are generally immensely relieved to hear there's a rational explanation.

itsmine

When there is scientific evidence to prove otherwise and yet people stil claim things, then we can call them morons.

There is scientific evidence for 99% of the encounters people call "paranormal". I don't think believers are morons, they're just misguided. I think most of the vulnerable people who believe this stuff would be better off having regular counselling sessions by qualified people. The fact that anyone can set up shop as a psychic with no guidelines or rules is worrying.

it can be sad and scary to think that this life is all there is and this is the answer to why people believe. They can't handle reality.

HeadDreamer

I do completely dismiss islam and christianity. It's for other people but not me and if it were up to me I'd get rid of all religions.

I'm a massive atheist but ethnically Jewish and Irish. I'm proud of those heritages but not the religious aspects. It's part of the reason we're getting married in a non religious ceremony and setting.

itsmine

I'm not calling believers in this morons though. I just think they're very very misguided. That's up to them, but I do feel sorry for them a lot of the time.

Question for you OP, have you ever been to see a friend or relative at the chapel of rest?

The first time I went - I felt like I understood so much of what I was searching for. I am scientifically minded (degree in biochem) but there is a mystery to life I never quite understood.

When my Grandfather died (when I was 25) I went with my sister to see him at the chapel of rest. Within 1 minute of going in - I was ready to leave. My grandfather was NOT there, sure there was a body that looked like him, but that special thing that made him him wasn't there. That's the moment that made me realise there is an energy that gives us our uniqueness and when we die, that energy goes elsewhere.

Having my children confirmed that each life is a miracle of unique perfect energy. There is no one on earth like my DH or my DD's.

After my grandmother died, I also wondered what it would be like to go see her body - and I found it exactly the same as with my grandfather.

I do have a deep faith and my experiences confirmed this (incidentally I was raised without an active faith - so this was choice and not blind following) and I describe this feeling as - science tells me how, faith tells me why.

There is more than we know. Those who seek to search for answers or have a belief or faith - I wish the best of luck. I don't need any sympathy or concern because of my faith. I look forward to finding out (or not) one day what this is all for.

Also I respect that everyone is entitled to their opinion, however, we do not have to respect said opinion! I do try to point out scientific explanations when people share their woo experiences with me, I don't just smile and nod. The same with religious beliefs.

Oh and I regularly experience woo, I just know it isn't!

But I don't hold anything for these people who say they can communicate with dead people - that's just taking advantage of people

And where have I sneered at anyone?

Basically, throughout all of your posts. When you are not being condescending or patronising.

Different people have different belief systems and trying to pass off your sneering attitude towards those who do not see the world you do as as "feeling sorry" for them is insulting.

most people who are believers have lacked something in their life at some point, which is why they turned to supernatural beliefs - to find what they were looking for.

Since you're so fond of evidence and the scientific method for proving things, please provide us with evidence to back up the above statement. It shouldn't be hard.

I just don't appreciate being told that I'm not allowed to express the view that it's nonsense.

Of course you're allowed to express that view. Who could stop you? Equally I am allowed to express the view that your attitude to other people's belief systems is condescending and captious.

we can call them morons.

You do not speak for me. The only people I consider morons are those who cannot accept that other people do not share their beliefs.

I just don't appreciate being told that I'm not allowed to express the view that it's nonsense.

Oh, please. No one has said that. What people are disagreeing with is that your view is the only way to see the world and those who see it differently are morons.

If you had said 'I don't understand why people believe in ghosts when their existence has yet to be proven' a very different conversation would have ensued.

Don't start a conversation with an argument and then whine that you're not allowed to express your views.

You are never going to hear definitively why people belive in religions or psychics or ghosts though are you? It's a stupid question.

I guess some people want comfort, they might seek company and support or they might have been convinced they had seen a ghost.

You just seem determined to brush off people's feelings and beliefs unless they produce evidence that you can belive in too.

Life doesn't work like that and as for psychic Sally she puts on s good show and we enjoy it just like a good film, ballet or a play.

DragonNoodleCake, I know exactly what you mean, and had the same experience when I found my chickens killed by a fox...
but also when I sat with my DF as he died
for me, there absolutely is something that maintains the complexity of life in a living organism, and when it's gone, it's gone and what's left is just matter, no energy- but I don't need a supernatural explanation for that, it's just how things are. A dead chicken is dead in the same way as a dead human.

I've seen a cat ghost at the same time as my sister. I put it down to 'time' not being quite right.

I do think ghosts exist, but that they are a slip in time. I would never see a medium or psychic as I think they are fake.

"Humans are inherently illogical."

Let's all just talk for ourselves and not for all of humanity

I think dragonnoodlecake explains it really well.

I don't get the need for people to feel sorry for or question other people's beliefs. So you don't believe in the same thing as others. The world would be a very boring place if we all agreed on and believed in the same things wouldn't it?

I like debating and like questioning for that sake. But to feel sorry for someone because their beliefs are different makes it sound like you think your superior and there's no point in it.

Sorry didn't mean you were stupid though op just the question can never be answered.

I do not belive it it all, but my mum lost 2 children and I never knew this till after she died that one night she had found my dead brother sitting on her bed.

When my granny died my sister and I decided to toast her memory and my favourite song spirit in the sky came on halfway through my stereo went totally dead!!!! A couple of weeks later my sons baby gym started moving on its own, no wind no nothing to make it move.

My mum died last year and all the years I have lived in this house I have never ever ever had this happen a little robin landed on the gate, then jumped onto the fence near me, then hopped onto the grass even nearer me, looked at me then flew away.

Then partners mum died in the six weeks holidays, since then all our lightbulbs keep going and this has not happened before, replaced them and one is still flashing, went away, woke up the next morning and the tree outside our apartment was surrounded in white feathers.

My aunt who had also been sick for a while before she died in January, I had a conversation with her (because it was not long after my mum had died) and my aunty seriously beleived in the after life, so I said to her, if its real please show me because I dont belive in it, then she died.

Do I belive in it all? nah not had enough proof yet.

crazywriter

I don't feel sorry for them because of their beliefs, I feel sorry for them because their beliefs are being exploited for profit by fraudsters.