The Ghost, The Machine, and The Universe

Last time we talked about definitions and the scientific method.  Now I'd like to bend your mind into another form of research, that of the "thought experiment".  Don't laugh, it's not daydreaming!  When it is physically impossible to carry out an experiment because of a lack of technical ability and/or sufficient knowledge and equipment, some very great minds have just 'thought' about the problem; basically, they just talk their way through to prove their math.

One well known example is by Einstein to explain Time Dilation.  Special Relativity Theory predicts that the closer a moving object approaches the speed of light, the slower time will pass for anyone or anything on the object. Disney did a nice cartoon on this in the 1950's.  Queen used it in one of their songs on the "Night at the Opera" album - 'Year of '39'.  In the 1970's this was actually physically tested by Messrs. Hafele and Keating, using the fastest airliners of the day and comparing their on board time with ground based time using two synchronized atomic clocks.  And guess what?!... Yes, Virginia, time does slow down with speed; Einstein got it right!  But when Einstein first thought this out he had to use a story like the Disney cartoon to explain because he had nothing technologically available to directly test his theory, other than his equations drawn on the blackboard.
That one was easy.  Most physics or high school science students get this story before they graduate, if only in passing.  The next one is a bit harder:

In 1935 Erwin Schroedinger designed a thought experiment to illustrate a principle in quantum theory called 'superposition', also known as quantum indeterminacy or "The Observer Paradox".  The basic principle he wanted to illustrate is that, in quantum theory, the observer can determine the outcome, because there is more than a single outcome possible, but the observer can't see more than one outcome for any given observation at any given time and/or place.  Like Einstein, he didn't have the technology to actively demonstrate the theory at the time, hence this story:

Take one very real, living, breathing, meowing cat and place it in a steel box along with a container of very strong poison, in this case hydrocyanic acid.  Also place a trigger mechanism which can provide a random "kill shot", in this case a very small amount of a radioactive substance which will of course constantly decay during the test.  Schodinger then rigged a sensor to a relay to a tripper mechanism that would break the container and release the poison if it was struck by an atom flying off during the decay process of the radioactive material.  Since the sensor was very small and the decay is in all directions, the cat can only die if an atom hits the sensor and the tripper breaks the container. Because the box is steel with no windows, the observer can't see the cat; quantum theory therefore says that the cat is both alive and dead simultaneously because he has not been observed.  However, the moment we break open the box to look, the cat will instantly be dead or alive because we've looked.  Some theorists take this even farther and state that the observer's belief that the cat is dead or alive will create the fact upon opening the box and observing the cat.  Mind blowing?

Zoom forward to the late 20th century.  We now have lasers and other techno-wonders that allow us to test Shroedinger's thought experiment.  The results?  Mind blowing.  It seems, at least at the subatomic level, that superposition is a fact; using interference as a stimulus, science has been able to prove that a single particle can be in multiple locations simultaneously.  Further, these simultaneous points can all react to anything done to just one of them as if it was done in all these separate places to each individual point at the same time.

This is science, not the supernatural, the occult, the religious.  Yet this scientific result ranks right up there with some of the radical thoughts of Metaphysics, Philosophy, Jungian Archetypal Consciousness and Dream theory, Theological and Theosophical existence theory, and Mythology and Spiritualism.  In a word, (my favorite word for today!), mind blowing.

So what does this have to do with believing in ghosts?  Think about it.  What if some of the 'Observers Paradox' is valid for atomic particles?  What if quantum theory can be used to explain some of the results of paranormal and parapsychcic research?  What does it mean?

In various religious and philosophical teachings, and in Metaphysics there is the belief that you can be in more than one place at one time.  You know, the 'Nine Levels of Hell', the ' Nine Planes of Existance', the eleven or so currently agreed upon dimensions of our universe....

Think about it.

Newslinks for Today:

Palmgren: Case of Missing Woman
http://timesfreepress.com/news/2011/jul/21/psychics-peer-into-palmgren-case/ 
More than 100 psychics from around the world have peered into the case of a missing Signal Mountain woman in hopes of providing investigators with clues.

 How to be in Two Places at the Same Time

An ambitious experiment to make a glass sphere exist in two places at once could provide the most sensitive test of quantum theory yet.

Test Confirms Roswell Debris Not from Earth

A teacher at the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell may have discovered the first scientific evidence of manufactured debris made on another planet.


Starting Your Paranormal Book Collection
Have you ever wanted to start your own personal paranormal library?  Here are some tips from the Paranormal Research Society website.

What to Do if You See a UFO

Finally, from the MUFON website, 10 things to do if you see a UFO.

Finally, if you have any places or articles you think would be interesting to link to, please let me know.

What Are Ghosts, Really?

Last time I just blogged, I asked if anyone believed in ghosts.  I tried to give any reader an idea of the philosophical and religious connections we have with ghosts.  This time I'd like to be less philosophical and more scientific, even though that isn't exactly what will happen - I'll warn you now.

First, let me say that most of us use the term "ghost" to describe a large variety of different paranormal anomalies; we kind of lump it all under one big term.  However, there are lots of separate pieces of action going on here!  Let me show you just a few of the different definitions you'll find in various paranormal glossaries which most of the population In the USA generally categorizes as GHOST:

APPARITION:  A visual appearance or hallucination, often of a person or scene, generally experienced in a waking or hypnagogic / hypnopompic state.

BANSHEE:  An omen spirit of Scotland and Ireland; supposedly when its scream is heard by someone that person shall die soon.

DAEMON:  A guardian spirit who communicates inspiration and advice.

DEMONS:  A malevolent, or inhuman essence that is said to have the ability to enter your home via various behavior, it is claimed that in such cases a demon/daemon will attach itself to an individual and not the home and therefore will follow where ever that person goes, similar too but not to be confused with possession. 

DISCARNATE ENTITY:  A spirit or non-material entity.  Often used to refer to the personality of a deceased individual.  See also channeling, communication, mediumship, possession, survival.

DISEMBODIED VOICE:  A voice heard that comes from no physical body. Can also be captured as EVP.

ECTO-MIST; ECTOPLASMIC MIST:  A cloudy substance caught on film but usually not seen at the time it is filmed; it normally look like a fog.  The term is popularly used to describe anomalous manifestations which appear as a light mist, inexplicable smoke, or a dense fog which may take on apparitional form.

EVP:  Electronic voice phenomena. Voices captured on audio tape when no one is present. It is believed that these voices are from spirits attempting to communicate with living people.

GHOST:  Generic term to describe a deceased person or image appearing to the living.  Animals and even inanimate objects, like buildings, can also be ghosts.

GUIDE; SPIRIT GUIDE:  A spirit who is believed to assist a person's spiritual journey.

PHANTOM:  An apparition or a spectre, existing only as an energy form.

POLTERGEIST:  A German word for "Noisy or mischievous ghost".  A destructive spirit or energy able to move objects (through PK, telportaion, or an unknown direct exertion).

RESIDUAL; RESIDUAL HAUNTING:  Believed to be a psychic imprint of scene upon the objects and materials of the scene.  This form keeps repeating itself and does not interact or react with those who observe it.

SPIRIT:  An entity or energy believed to exist in an invisible realm that may only be seen under certain circumstances or by persons with advanced psychic abilities.


There are more to the list than these, but this will give you an idea of the scope of material that is covered by the generic terms GHOST and HAUNTED.  While we're looking at the list, however, you will see that there is a common theme running through most of the terms and definitions.


For the most part a ghost is apparently anything that may no longer be living but has a probability of having once been alive.  The exceptions to this appear to be anything that could be explained as the result of Psychokinetic (PK) energy from a living source, non-living entities of unknown origin and energy capabilities such as demons, elementals, angels, etc., aliens from other dimensions (don't laugh!), and god- or godlike beings.  So, with this almost infinite possible selection where is the truth?  Is there a truth?

The scientific method requires research, observation, detailed analysis, and the creation of a hypothesis in order to design and observe experimentation within a controlled environment to determine the validity of the hypothesis.  If sufficient information presents itself, the hypothesis then becomes a theory and undergoes further continuing study and scrutiny.  In other words, if ghosts exist and are a real part of our universe, then they must follow some known laws of this universe which can be observed or implied through indirect observation, measured, or manipulated with measurable sources of energy or matter interactions.
 
Ghost Hunters use some of this method: they attempt to capture EVP, photograph anomalies such as orbs, mist, streaks, apparent vortexes, apparitions, and other anomalies; they also take readings of the temperature, note the weather conditions, humidity and time of day; they test for abnormal areas of electromagnetic energy, radioactivity, and geological abnormalities such as magnetic areas which might affect the observers.  Then they take this evidence and, if they are serious, try to analyze it by determining what is most probably not paranormal (voices in another part of a building, car lights through a curtain causing moving shadows in a room, cold drafts from a poorly sealed window, electrical wiring with insufficient shielding, dust or smoke reflected and lit by the camera flash, and so on.  Then they compile and examine the remaining data that could not be discarded.  This is what they base their final field analysis on and determine the possible "Hauntedness" of any given location.

To my knowledge there has never been any successful research done under controlled conditions.  If anyone has ever heard of such, please let me know!  Parapsychologists have researched some things which fall close to the paranormal GHOST such as PK, but I have never heard of controlled testing for EVP

So, now unfortunately it boils down to belief again.  Are you a skeptic or a believer?  Do you delve into Philosophy, Religion, Metaphysics, Psychology, or hard core Science? That in and of itself can skew your results because of the wonderful worlds of quantum.  But that is another story.

A paranormal sign of faith?

Stigmata.

 From "Paranormal Haze" comes an article for the beginner on the subject of Stigmata.  These enigmatic, self-generated injuries have been recorded and accorded to religious individuals throughout written history.  The link above, is a brief introduction into what is for many a serious study of the effects of religious belief and piety.

Do You Believe in Ghosts?

I know it's a silly question in the eyes of some people, but, do you believe in ghosts?  What are they anyway?  Does anyone really know for sure?

There are so many definitions and ideas regarding ghosts that it is hard to get things straight in your head sometimes.  If you have ever read anything about ghost hunting or ghost hunter's definitions, you'll find yourself dealing with terms like apparition, ghost, residual activity, etc., to the end of the glossary.  There are so many definitions and so many real ghost hunters are still fine tuning their own ideas of what is exact for each term, that the novice can be confused into just walking away.  Therefore, I would like to discuss the most basic question first:  Do you believe that there are such things as Ghosts?  For now any definition you are comfortable with will do, because hopefully we will get some kind of discussion going here.

What do you think they are?  Where do they come from?  Are they real or only in your mind?

Can they be studied scientifically or only by spiritualists and metaphysics students?  Can they be related to psychic phenomenon or are they just paranormal?


Well, do you believe in Ghosts?  Does your religion influence your tendency to believe or disbelieve in the existence of some part of an individual being after death?

We have probably been dealing with the question of existence outside our perceivable universe since we became humans .  Certainly our early ancestors held some kind of belief in the supernatural and/or a religion.  

Archaeological evidence shows they cared for their families and buried their dead with ritual and obvious respect 100,000 years ago.  Archaeologists and Anthropologists have shown that the belief in religion is very old and the Shaman/Priest has been the arbiter between the supernatural and the natural world probably as long as we have been able to make fire.  Primitive tribes today still hold strong belief in the supernatural and the power of the dead and ghosts to do good or ill.

Even though we think of ourselves as civilized and enlightened individuals today, many of us still believe in the possibility of something - the possible existence of life after death, and ghosts. According to Dana Clark Felty's article in the Savannah Morning News, 2006, a study done by Baylor University on American piety revealed that 37% of the surveyed population believed a place can be haunted.  Furthermore, 20% believed one could communicate with the dead, and 17% believed in psychic abilities (defined as, palmistry, medium ship, astrology and fortune telling).

What does this say about our society today?  This poll was probably conducted primarily among the christian population, although there is no indication of it's selection criteria in the article.  The "Big Three" religions of the western world today, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, are all historically related and all carry similar beliefs regarding the Occult, Psychic phenomena, and the Supernatural.  In general, communication with the dead or outside of our normal realm of being is strongly discouraged (to say the least!), with the exception of prayer to God.  Other religions, such as Paganism and Wicca, the Oriental "Big Three" Buddhism, Hinduism and Baha'i, and the lesser spread Shinto, Tao, Jain, Zoroastrian, and Shaman-based tribal beliefs incorporate spiritualism and belief in the supernatural into their doctrines, each dealing with the subject of the ghost and haunting in a slightly different fashion.

In general, almost all religions seem to feel that the ghost is an entity that lost its path at death and didn't reach the preferred destination.  Spiritualists, Hindu, and Buddhists believe that these may be enlightened individuals who have reached their goal, but have chosen to communicate with those still living to help them.  Buddhists also believe they may be "hungry ghosts", those who fell off the path and are now doomed to wander the world unable to relieve their discomfort.  The Western religions also seem to allow for the suffering ghost, doomed to haunt the world for sins made during life. Some religions, such as Confucianism, and some Shaman-based tribal religions see ghosts as possibly being ancestors who return to advise, or punish, depending upon the respect shown them by their descendants.

Have you ever had something happen to you personally that made you believe in the existence of ghosts?

Irregardless of your religion and religious beliefs, people have personal beliefs about the supernatural as well.  Even confirmed atheists can believe in something if it has affected them personally.  The difficulty is in how we deal with the perceived unknown.  Do we run, hide, deny, or investigate?  Ultimately that determines our perceptions, fears and expectations.

The universe we live in is amazing beyond measure, and we hold only a tiny piece of the puzzle within our grasp.  What kind of possibility do you see of the existence of something paranormal?

Do you believe in ghosts or do you believe in the possibility of the existence of ghosts?