psychics - ghosts - spirits

[bronzie]

Bruce, not sure if im this forum or forum sub-heading is appropriote to post this, feel free to move or delete it... just thought if we are talking about spirituality, thought I would bring this up...

psychics? do you believe in what they say? any experiences?

ghosts? have you seen any?

spirits? have felt thier presence?

[Lor]

Bruce, not sure if im this forum or forum sub-heading is appropriote to post this, feel free to move or delete it... just thought if we are talking about spirituality, thought I would bring this up...

psychics? do you believe in what they say? any experiences?

ghosts? have you seen any?

spirits? have felt thier presence?
i believe i have experienced all of the above, but im open to them being explained away. i am sure there reasons for certain experiences, but i have not been content with any of the answers so far.

[belgareth]

I certainly believe in the spirits, powers or entities that inhabit the world around us. They are a part of my belief system.

[gabe1970]

Bruce, not sure if im this forum or forum sub-heading is appropriote to post this, feel free to move or delete it... just thought if we are talking about spirituality, thought I would bring this up...

psychics? do you believe in what they say? any experiences?

ghosts? have you seen any?

spirits? have felt thier presence?
Psychics - I believe in a lot of psychic phenomena but don't understand the mechanisms behind them or believe that anyone else does, either. I'm currently what I call an "anti-psychic" on most tests (see http://paranormal.about.com/cs/onlineesptests/ ). I influence things consistently in the opposite manner, depending on my intention. In college I was told that I score improbably low on many tests, too. And no, trying to do the opposite of what you actually intend or reporting th opposite of what you perceived does NOT work. Your mind seems to know when you're going to report the opposite of what you're experiencing. But when I was 17 i conducted an experiement with a friend who I used to play D & D and other RPG's with all of the time...

We had favorite dice, "lucky" dice that we were convinced would do whatever we wanted, or at least most of the time. So we pooled about 30 ten-sided dice and set up a complex chart, and the bottom line was that we could "call" or predict the majority of numbers that would be rolled, whenever we wanted. When we started spontaneously calling out the same numbers simultaneously and the dice were coming up with our "calls" over 80% of the time, we freaked out and stopped our experiment.

Ghosts? Spirits? Depends on your definition. I think there are many variations and causes. I once saw a Hooded entity, a "Spectre" that foretold an event, the night before it happened. I saw it clearly, but only out of the corner of my eye. When I turned my head or looked directly at it, it disappeared. When I looked away, it reappeared. It was pointing at someone, and appeared for the same reason that Spectres usually appear. I don't want to mention why or who on a public forum.

As a matter of fact, I think my current apartment is haunted. Either that or I'm a klutz. (or both...) I trip over NOTHING all the time, at night. I see shadows move within shadows. And I've gone out of my way to reproduce different shadows and motions but can't seem to get the same effect. I'm obviously not afraid of these things, the tripping is sometimes funny - and sometimes irritating - but the moving shadow thing is more than a bit eerie.

[gaf]

Gabe,
read this and it might help you realise you're not alone...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_people

[bronzie]

Bel & Lor, I also believe spirits, entities, paranormal, I have had some spine chilling experiences that have left me with the absolute belief that these "things" exist hidden in our world or parrellal world, or somewhere. If I didnt see these things with my own eyes, I wouldnt believe, and im pretty much a sceptic with everything in life. Some of the things ive experinced rival any horror film. Some things, are not optical illusions or from the imagination.

gabe, you said you conducted experiments, etc... my experience is best leave these things alone..

gaf, great link, that shadow people defintion is correct.

by the way, most church/religious institutions do not put too much emphasis on the paranormal, I think for good reason..

[belgareth]

Our society denies the existance of whatever powers or entities may coexist with us thus the term paranormal. However, for many thousands of years people acknowledged them and even made them a part of their everyday life. To me, from my own perspective, the true paranormal are those groups who either deny the existance of other beings or define them as evil.

[Lor]

i was lucky to have been brought up in a family where everyone was sitting around the kitchen table (as usual) with a pot of coffee going (as usual) even around 2 a.m. .... and as child i wanted in on the fun, and they were playing dice games, reading tea leaves and playing-cards, and all of this talk of spirits and luck and superstition was very open.

[belgareth]

That sounds a lot like the house I grew up in...except that my mother was VERY religious. The rest of us weren't and all the rest is the same as you described. She'd usually leave the room when the conversation went that direction.

All of us believed (And I still believe today) that the old house was haunted. Lot's of strange but harmless weirdness in and around the property.

[bronzie]

Lor, Bel, sounds like my family, open and talking about things like this freely, but rather religious family, but anything was open to discussion. However, unforutantly for me, my curiosity for this stuff didnt end there, you could say we dabbled amonst friends in things we should not have, I traveled alot to of places, monastaries that were 1000 years old, sleeping in these places, well...there was a clear and ever present feeling that you were in contact with these entities, some for good, some for bad. As I discovered..

I now live in a castle, literally, 500 year old stone castle on the mediteranean overlooking the sea. im not kidding here...and the place spooks me out at times, because I know my ancestors who have come and gone from within these very walls. and just down the road from me there are some ancient roman ruins and a rather big graveyard. history and death is all around me. hence my interest in this area.

[belgareth]

Death has little to do with my beliefs other than your death can act as an advisor. After all, we are mortal and our actions should be guided by that fact. People behave as if they have unlimited time to waste when in reality, we don't. Any one of us can die at any moment. Each of us should act appropriately to that fact.

The powers or entities that exist in this world have nothing really to do with death as, by normal definitions, they never lived. The term haunted is conveinent but really doesn't describe the concept. I wouldn't call them ghosts nor would I show them disrespect. But that's my own beliefs. How each of you believe is entirely up to you.

[gabe1970]

<snipped>
gabe, you said you conducted experiments, etc... my experience is best leave these things alone..

gaf, great link, that shadow people defintion is correct...

I conducted ONE experiment with dice. Oh, and I did the Tarot card thing. I don't think that's very risky. The shadowy pecker isn't an experiment, it's an annoyance. I just want it to go away.

Edit: Bronzie - being tested for Psi ability in an academic environment or on the internet is not even remotely similar to pushing your psycho-spiritual luck in sacred places.

[gabe1970]

Our society denies the existance of whatever powers or entities may coexist with us thus the term paranormal. However, for many thousands of years people acknowledged them and even made them a part of their everyday life. To me, from my own perspective, the true paranormal are those groups who either deny the existance of other beings or define them as evil.

I don't think society denies their existence - normal "folk" religion accepts it. It's religious and academic authorities who deny it, for the most part.

[belgareth]

Perhaps not on a whole. Here in the bible belt the few who have ever admitted they could exist considered them evil. Most believers in the 'supernatural' that I knew in California could only be considered on the lunatic fringe and were best avoided. The last group I have experience with are pretty quiet about their beliefs. It can take a lot of work to get them to trust you enough to share their knowledge.

[gabe1970]

Perhaps not on a whole. Here in the bible belt the few who have ever admitted they could exist considered them evil. Most believers in the 'supernatural' that I knew in California could only be considered on the lunatic fringe and were best avoided. The last group I have experience with are pretty quiet about their beliefs. It can take a lot of work to get them to trust you enough to share their knowledge.

Well, you can consider me as part of that last group, depending on where I'm at or who I'm with. I've been hit over the head by a Bible on more than one occasion, but that's not how I was raised to act as a Christian. My nuclear family was very liberal, catholic and jewish with a hint of eastern philosophy (many in my family are martial artisits), and my grandparents are old world catholic - certain things just weren't discussed around them, but all of their children were/are fairly liberal. Things like Halloween, Ghosts, Paganism, UFO's, and Cryptozoology were not dismissed as "tricks of the devil" as they are in the south (ahem - my ex- is a shing example of this attitude). They were/are things to be debated.

[gabe1970]

Death has little to do with my beliefs other than your death can act as an advisor. After all, we are mortal and our actions should be guided by that fact. People behave as if they have unlimited time to waste when in reality, we don't. Any one of us can die at any moment. Each of us should act appropriately to that fact.

The powers or entities that exist in this world have nothing really to do with death as, by normal definitions, they never lived. The term haunted is conveinent but really doesn't describe the concept. I wouldn't call them ghosts nor would I show them disrespect. But that's my own beliefs. How each of you believe is entirely up to you.

So you lean towards what - a Pantheist worldview? Or are you talking more along the lines of there being a misunderstood hierarchy of Spiritual Beings, ala Theosophy or Totemism. And no, I'm not trying to put you in a box, I'm trying to understand how your views relate to a trinitarian, kabbalistic, or (neo)pagan cosmology. Those are the perspectives I understand most deeply.

[belgareth]

Don't know that I'd apply any of those labels as what I believe is a product of exposure to two widely divergent belief systems. Theosophy comes closet though. The biggest difference is that the system is internalized and individual rather than practiced as a group.

I was around Japanese people a lot when I was young and learned much of their old beliefs from them...I think the term is animisitic. And I still am involved in martial arts. That was the foundation.

When I was in college I encountered the southwestern indian beliefs. While the rituals are different, the core of their beliefs is very similar. It became the topic for a paper in a course I took, originally to fulfill a humanities requirement. But my exposure started me to paying more attention to how they believe and act on those beliefs. For me personally they are much more fulfilling than any of the various 'One God' systems. They are based on things other than guilt and punishment. Instead they require you to take responsibility for yourself, for trying to become something better than you are now.

[Lor]

Lor, Bel, sounds like my family, open and talking about things like this freely, but rather religious family, but anything was open to discussion. However, unforutantly for me, my curiosity for this stuff didnt end there, you could say we dabbled amonst friends in things we should not have, I traveled alot to of places, monastaries that were 1000 years old, sleeping in these places, well...there was a clear and ever present feeling that you were in contact with these entities, some for good, some for bad. As I discovered..

I now live in a castle, literally, 500 year old stone castle on the mediteranean overlooking the sea. im not kidding here...and the place spooks me out at times, because I know my ancestors who have come and gone from within these very walls. and just down the road from me there are some ancient roman ruins and a rather big graveyard. history and death is all around me. hence my interest in this area.
i want to visit!!!!!!!!!!:box:

[bronzie]

i want to visit!!!!!!!!!!:box:

Lor, sure you can, as can any other pretty woman from the LS forum, I have a welcome mat at the doorway! Plenty of empty but lonely rooms, this whole place/area took 150 yrs to construct beggining in the 15th century, it's on the internet if you want to view, it's heritage listed by my Government. It's very big.

[gaf]

Bronzie, you lucky bastard! I spent a few months in the med working on a ship and loved the area. It must be a great feeling being surrounded by your families history , seen anything spooky?!

I've had a few strange things happening around at my place at the moment. electronics turning off and on , windows being shut or shaken,but if I tell it to go away it seems to stop for a couple of days. Maybe its a guiding force of sorts as my life is a bit f**ked up at the moment , could be my grandma as I often find myself thinking about her at odd times.
Anyway , it is freaky stuff....:run:


Now I read this back I sound a bit mad, but it's all true! :angel:

[Mtnjim]

... it's on the internet if you want to view, it's heritage listed by my Government. It's very big.

URL??:blink::blink:

:type::type::type:

[Holmes]

Interesting topic.

"Psychics" - yes. Some amazing experiences. There are loads of charlatans out there, though.

Ghosts - yes. I lived in a house which was haunted. Not a fond memory. I was quite happy to leave.

Spirits - yes, but I've had to cut back recently.

[london-boy]

I belive in the paranormal alot! When my familly moved from our modern house in England to this huge house in the South-West of France, we definatly felt an odd presence. My mum was involved in the spiritual church so she could feel things, we all felt abit uneasy at 1st until we had a spiritual person come round to maybe calm them. The weird thyiyng is this house is in an area which was occupied by the Nazi's in the WWII, and when we 1st came in our celler there is this huge kind of 4meter tunnel which has been blocked off. My stepdad after about a ear attempted to knock it down to see what was behind there and found a few things, like swords, an old gun i think etc, i mentioned it all to my boss's dad at the bakery i worked at before, and he said there is a tunnel that goes under the groundall around the village that the French made to escape and hide from the Nazi's and my house was one of the few entrances of it. I alos learnt that people with psycholoigcal problems are often in touch with spirits, and i have a lot issues myself, and it wasn't until my mum mentioned that i sense their emotions, cos i do have constan outbursts of anger for no apparent reason, sometimes i'll be calm then suddenly start hittin things, and she reckons i sense their emotions and i react from them. My friends were temptedto bring a Ouija board round to my house but i thought better not. I have 2 friends who have been posessed in the past so i do belive very much indeed that thjere is such thing as spirits, never seen a ghost though, although i see alot of movements out the corner of my eye then when i turn i see nothing.