-
Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.
Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:- Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
- Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
- Access to private conversations with other members.
We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!
Why are people scared of ghosts?
- Thread starter Eddi
- Start date
Viker
Häxan
There's alleged "documented" (unsubstantiated) events involving ghosts having harmed and even killing.
At the end of the day, most who are prone to this fear do so out of fear of the unknown or uncertain. Fear of the dark is hardwired into us as a survival mechanism. Ya never really know. Something dangerous could be waiting in the dark.
At the end of the day, most who are prone to this fear do so out of fear of the unknown or uncertain. Fear of the dark is hardwired into us as a survival mechanism. Ya never really know. Something dangerous could be waiting in the dark.
They're scary in that the mainstream conception of them is metaphysically incoherent. That incoherence means their actual presence would signify a total breakdown or shift of the apparent world as we know it. Next thing we know, folks could be able to cast fireball spells from dungeons and dragons in the apparent world too. Imagine, folks having nukes at their literal fingertips? Nah, not a great scenario to envision.
wellwisher
Well-Known Member
A few days, after I moved to my current apartment, I saw the ghost of the elderly woman who had lived there. She had died about a year before. She was still walking around. This does not bother me. I have had enough experiences for this to be normal. Her son now owns the building, and she was still looking out for him. They has a good relationship; duplex. She must have finally become content and stopped appearing. He was a friend from long ago and I knew his mother to some degree.
I used to walk my dog, in an old historic cemetery, because it is one of the nicest green spaces around; well maintained, with 100 year old trees with a huge endowment. This was a good place to commune with the departed, many of which dated back centuries. Some graves rarely, if ever have visitors; forgotten souls. My dog was sensitive to some of graves and would visit; stop and smell. Some people would get upset thinking he was being disrespectful, but I would say he was visiting those who had no visitors. He could see.
My dog was killed in a freak accident a few years back. After he died in my arms, about five minutes after the accident, I saw my late brother call my dog; his spirit, and the two walked away; until we meet again. That day was an unexpected twist of fate.
My belief is that the 2nd law; entropy of the universe has to increase, implies a universal endothermic effect, where energy is absorbed for the universal entropy increase; red shift. Since the 2nd law has to increase, like time has to go forward, the absorbed energy is net removed from the universe of else entropy could not always increase. I could reach steady state or reverse. Since it goes forward, energy is tied up in ever increasing entropy. This energy is conserved. This implies that the material universe is bleeding energy via the 2nd law. Ghosts and other such things are part of this conserved entropic energy. The departed can be experienced where there are endothermic nodes. I can hook up at times; right place or time. It can be comforting.
Life and the brain generate a lot of entropy increase; metabolism and neuron firing, adding energy to the pool. Our memory is based on structured entropy changes; synaptic correspondence of language. It reasonable that an entropic image; soul, is retained in the conserved entropic pool. Such things as ghosts are a matter of your consciousness instrument, calibrated to receive this data.
I used to walk my dog, in an old historic cemetery, because it is one of the nicest green spaces around; well maintained, with 100 year old trees with a huge endowment. This was a good place to commune with the departed, many of which dated back centuries. Some graves rarely, if ever have visitors; forgotten souls. My dog was sensitive to some of graves and would visit; stop and smell. Some people would get upset thinking he was being disrespectful, but I would say he was visiting those who had no visitors. He could see.
My dog was killed in a freak accident a few years back. After he died in my arms, about five minutes after the accident, I saw my late brother call my dog; his spirit, and the two walked away; until we meet again. That day was an unexpected twist of fate.
My belief is that the 2nd law; entropy of the universe has to increase, implies a universal endothermic effect, where energy is absorbed for the universal entropy increase; red shift. Since the 2nd law has to increase, like time has to go forward, the absorbed energy is net removed from the universe of else entropy could not always increase. I could reach steady state or reverse. Since it goes forward, energy is tied up in ever increasing entropy. This energy is conserved. This implies that the material universe is bleeding energy via the 2nd law. Ghosts and other such things are part of this conserved entropic energy. The departed can be experienced where there are endothermic nodes. I can hook up at times; right place or time. It can be comforting.
Life and the brain generate a lot of entropy increase; metabolism and neuron firing, adding energy to the pool. Our memory is based on structured entropy changes; synaptic correspondence of language. It reasonable that an entropic image; soul, is retained in the conserved entropic pool. Such things as ghosts are a matter of your consciousness instrument, calibrated to receive this data.
☆Dreamwind☆
Active Member
Partly because it taps into our oldest survival instincts of the unseen. Think about it, you're in the dark and you hear a noise in your house such as whispering or footsteps. You're suddenly very much on alert. Did a robber or a murderer break in? But there's no one there.
Most people can't communicate with or see ghosts, so you're not sure of its intentions. Does it simply want attention? Is it a deceased loved one trying to communicate before passing to the afterlife? If it can affect physical objects, is it capable of hurting you? After all, some people are violent and mean while they're alive. Who is to say they can't be violent and mean if they're stuck as a ghost?
That's not much different to the oldest, primitive part of our brain hearing animals in the dark forests moving around, and being unsure if its a large predator, or a prey animal just doing its thing.
The other part is that pop media often portrays ghosts as strong enough to affect the physical world and are usually very violent or deceptive. What's the point of making a horror movie if you can't give your audience a good scare? That's what they paid to see after all.
Most people can't communicate with or see ghosts, so you're not sure of its intentions. Does it simply want attention? Is it a deceased loved one trying to communicate before passing to the afterlife? If it can affect physical objects, is it capable of hurting you? After all, some people are violent and mean while they're alive. Who is to say they can't be violent and mean if they're stuck as a ghost?
That's not much different to the oldest, primitive part of our brain hearing animals in the dark forests moving around, and being unsure if its a large predator, or a prey animal just doing its thing.
The other part is that pop media often portrays ghosts as strong enough to affect the physical world and are usually very violent or deceptive. What's the point of making a horror movie if you can't give your audience a good scare? That's what they paid to see after all.
Tamino
Active Member
I agree, I am not scared either.
One idea: perhaps many people have lost the traditions of ancestors veneration and dealing with death?
And then they don't know how to deal with experiences that they ascribe to dead people... Just because they don't have any useful concepts or rituals to deal with it.
I'm so into the paranormal that I welcome the idea.
But I can certainly understand the natural fear of something unknown and usually invisible being around especially when some ghosts can be spirits in a dark place. Some can be malevolent.
HonestJoe
Well-Known Member
They're not really. People are scared of the unknown. It is a perfectly natural reaction to fear an unidentified noise or mysterious figure in the dark, because for our ancient ancestors, it would sometimes be something actually dangerous.
People then came up with ideas like ghosts (and fairies, goblins, gods, demons etc.) because having an explanation, especially if it comes with ways to protect yourself from them, can be comforting for a lot of people. Ironically, our willingness to believe in the effectiveness of these imagined protections has reduced but our ability to come up with imaginary explanations has, if anything, increased.
Hence you end up with lots of people building ever more complex and diverse ideas of what could be out there and scaring themselves even more because they can't imagine equally effective ways to protect themselves. The element of other people who intentionally come up with scary imaginary ideas for books, films and the like, because they enjoy the emotional thrill of being frightened in a controlled environment probably doesn't help.
Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
Can't be scared of something that hasn't been proven to exist.
Messianic Israelite
Active Member
Good morning Eddi.
The Bible seldom refer to ghosts, but to angelic and demonic beings. When a person dies, they are dead. They are dead and they'll remain that way until Yahshua returns to judge the living and the dead (2 Timothy 4:1). I know of people who have claimed to see dead people and I believe that they actually believe that this is the case, nonetheless, I know that these manifestations are not actually dead people wandering the earth, but rather fallen angels who are tricking people to believing a lie, masquerading as a particular person and this is done in my opinion to sway people in believing the lie perpetuated on this thread, that when people die our so called spirit can roam this earth, which is simply not true.
2 Corinthians 11:14
"And no marvel; for even Satan fashioneth himself into an angel of light."
The Bible seldom refer to ghosts, but to angelic and demonic beings. When a person dies, they are dead. They are dead and they'll remain that way until Yahshua returns to judge the living and the dead (2 Timothy 4:1). I know of people who have claimed to see dead people and I believe that they actually believe that this is the case, nonetheless, I know that these manifestations are not actually dead people wandering the earth, but rather fallen angels who are tricking people to believing a lie, masquerading as a particular person and this is done in my opinion to sway people in believing the lie perpetuated on this thread, that when people die our so called spirit can roam this earth, which is simply not true.
2 Corinthians 11:14
"And no marvel; for even Satan fashioneth himself into an angel of light."
BrotherAlameen
CHFI | CompTIA | Cyber-Sec | OSINT | Medical |
As far as I can tell, as a certified parapsychologist, it has to involve with the apparitions effects on the psyche. Normally, people who believe in ghosts have a high level of failure in mathematics, and from experience itself, this is true.
Nonetheless, it involves the ghostly apparitions effects on the psyche that causes the person to be scared. Also, it depends on the energy of the Spirits. If they’re negative energy then it’s possible that they could kill or torture people.
Experienced people who know how to handle and work with ghosts with respect aren’t afraid of them, regardless; I even have a Paranormal YouTube Channel where I record events referencing Ghost Hunting called AKM UBREX which you can check out on YouTube.
Last edited:
Viker
Häxan
Some folks believe they might exist. Last time I recall being afraid of ghosts I was maybe 7yo. Never really saw one so just stopped thinking about them.
Scary ghost movies always seemed kind of stupid to me.
☆Dreamwind☆
Active Member
What are you on about?
BrotherAlameen
CHFI | CompTIA | Cyber-Sec | OSINT | Medical |
I’m meant to say that Ghosts ability to influence the way how people react to fear is because of the effects the apparition (or appearance) of the ghost has one psyche of the human mind.What are you on about?
Sgt. Pepper
All you need is love.
Hello Eddi,
In my opinion and from years of experience, I think that people are typically afraid of spirits because they don't understand what the spirits want and are unable to properly communicate with them. For example, a spirit may flicker the lights, turn on a television or radio, open a door, or move an object in an attempt to let the living know that they are present or even in an attempt to directly interact with the living. I'm not sure how else to phrase this, but the average person can't typically communicate directly with spirits unless they use a ghost box or another device for communicating with the dead (such as an EVP recorder or a Ouija board). Now the living can hear the disembodied voice of a spirit, but the encounter is generally brief because either the spirit is too weak to continue or the spirit grows tired of the living person misinterpreting them. A psychic medium, on the other hand, is able to communicate directly with spirits (either audibly or mentally) without the use of any device to facilitate the interaction. It is an advantage that I personally appreciate.
Finally, as I've said to those who participate in my paranormal investigations, if the spirits feel disrespected and are provoked to anger, they can be mildly scary to express their displeasure, or they can be extremely terrifying if they are enraged about being provoked. I've witnessed firsthand what spirits can do when they are ticked off by the living. I've only had one negative experience with a spirit expressing his displeasure towards me, but it was over just as quickly as it began. It was nothing compared to what I've seen happen to other people during a paranormal investigation. As a result of witnessing these incidents, I have one primary rule for everyone who requests to participate in my investigations, and that is to not provoke the spirits in order to elicit a response from them. I won't tolerate it or allow the person(s) who provoked the spirits to continue participating in my investigation. I also remind those participating that the spirits we are attempting to communicate with and interact with were once alive themselves and that they can still feel sadness and anger just as we feel these emotions. I tell them that we are in these spirits' home, and they, like us, don't like being yelled at and mistreated in their home.
Last edited:
Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
Stuff like this pretty much tugs our primal fears of the unknown and ghosts oftentimes fills the niche of being scared and afraid.
I never saw one either, but I've had several lucid dreams of Ghost Encounters that were pretty frightening.
It's good to know they don't exist in the real world.