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Why Your Brain Wants to Believe in Ghosts and the Supernatural


OverSword

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After receiving reports of strange goings-on at a shopping mall in rural Southern England, paranormal enthusiast Hayley Stevens searched its gloomy corridors for clues.

Stevens had obtained permission to search the premises after hours in 2006.

Her search uncovered no evidence of the paranormal. But just as she had finished up her investigation and was approaching a shop window, a loud bang startled her, as though someone had struck the glass from the inside.

The store, however, appeared to be empty. There was little explanation of what had caused the noise. What Stevens did know was that the site was constructed on the ruins of a castle built in the 12th century by Anglo-Saxons. Excavations of the surrounding town had found tombstones and burial sites.

Though Stevens has considered several possible explanations for that night, “we’ll never know for sure,” she says.

Tales of the ostensibly unexplainable — sudden, chilling bursts of cold, levitating tables, blinding silhouettes — continue to fascinate and haunt humans in the 21st century.

God, Ghosts or Science?

Belief in orthodox religions is on the decline, but beliefs in the supernatural are as popular as ever. More than 4 out of 10 Americans believe that ghosts or demons exist, according to a 2019 poll by YouGov, and over a third say they have felt the presence of a ghost or spirit. Such beliefs are equally popular in Britain, where people are more likely to believe in ghosts than a divine Creator.

 

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My brain has no inclination to believe in ghosts.

My mind however is undecided and indifferent about the topic.

 

 

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There are lots of odd things people believe in.

Gamblers believe they can figure out a system to beat the house in independent games such as roulette wheels or craps. (With cards the hands are not independent since the choices are reduced as cards as played)

People are believing in astrology again.

People believe in homeopathic medicines that are nothing but water.

People believe in mind reading and palm reading and all sorts of unproven talents.

People believe in dowsing yet no dowser can pass even a simple test. Dowsers even believe after they fail tests.

Lots of people believe in ghosts and even think they sense ghosts. They make up all sorts of stories about ghosts and claim who the ghost is and all sorts of things. The truth is these origin stories for ghosts are made up baloney.

 

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My brain is too busy keeping me alive to be bothered with superstitions.

My mind is too jaded to be bothered either.

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My brain is conflicted here, in that it wants to believe in ghosts, but unfortunately finds no real reason to lol.

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On 1/27/2022 at 11:43 AM, OverSword said:

Such beliefs are equally popular in Britain, where people are more likely to believe in ghosts than a divine Creator.

Not trying to derail, just had this verse pop to mind:

I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?

It's Luke 18:8

He was reassuring  His disciples of the justice he would bring when He returns but wondering out loud if He'd still see any faith.  Apparently, if He doesn't come pretty soon, He won't be finding any in western nations...

Edited by and then
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My brain believes in ghosts from a rational assessment of all the evidence and claims. With things like physical phenomena, video/photos and multiple witnesses something indeed seems to be occurring that cannot be explained-away as people's illusions. Although 'illusion' explains some cases.

Edited by papageorge1
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Replying to the OP. When I was young I apostated from the church because of this reason. My curiosity for understanding the supernatural was not being met, so I decided to search elsewhere. Eventually I came back to Christianity and repented my sins. What I found out after reading the Bible myself is that I had been denied a lot of Biblical knowledge about spiritual knowledge in Church and whatnot because of the unbiblical doctrines denying us these stories to children and whatnot. 

It turns out God had a plan for certain tribes of Israel in the ancient days for this very reason. They were planned to defect from the religion and return later in life after their spiritual needs had been met. I might not have even of left if I had known more. I think a lot of people are doing the same thing because they have been denied more of the better parts in the Bible from their church. Their rational mind has to seek elsewhere for what they sense to be true. Even though it was probably at home the whole time, just hidden from them.

Edited by Opus Magnus
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On 2/5/2022 at 8:50 AM, papageorge1 said:

My brain believes in ghosts from a rational assessment of all the evidence and claims. With things like physical phenomena, video/photos and multiple witnesses something indeed seems to be occurring that cannot be explained-away as people's illusions. Although 'illusion' explains some cases.

There is zero evidence to support ghosts only stories, claims and blind faith.

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17 hours ago, the13bats said:

There is zero evidence to support ghosts only stories, claims and blind faith.

That is anecdotal evidence and has been used to convict people of murder.  Even in cases in which a body was never recovered.  What you mean is there is zero proof that you would accept.

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There is no rational reason to believe in ghosts. The stories are just stories. For some reason our brains conjure up supernatural ideas for no known reason.

I suppose it is simpler to make up a supernatural story than find out what is actually happening.

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18 minutes ago, stereologist said:

There is no rational reason to believe in ghosts. The stories are just stories. For some reason our brains conjure up supernatural ideas for no known reason.

I suppose it is simpler to make up a supernatural story than find out what is actually happening.

Read post number nine in this thread:

Now assuming I'm rational and not just making the whole story up is there zero reason to believe in ghosts?  Is it hard to believe that there may be more to us than simple chemicals reactions or that we only imagine that the universe is a big and wonderful thing that you can never understand in it's entirety?  Or do believe you are just a meat robot who's existence is really just meaningless and explained mundanely?  

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26 minutes ago, OverSword said:

do believe you are just a meat robot who's existence is really just meaningless and explained mundanely?  

Most of them do. Reduce themselves down to nothing more than an automation. A clump of cell with no other function than reproduction. 

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3 minutes ago, XenoFish said:

Most of them do. Reduce themselves down to nothing more than an automation. A clump of cell with no other function than reproduction. 

Most of who do?

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1 minute ago, OverSword said:

Most of who do?

The atheist and non-believers. It's "science says" through and through. Very little room for imagination. Most appear to see themselves as meat machines.

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2 minutes ago, XenoFish said:

The atheist and non-believers. It's "science says" through and through. Very little room for imagination. Most appear to see themselves as meat machines.

Science cant explain consciousness, do you think they believe that it's just a hallucination? 

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1 minute ago, OverSword said:

Science cant explain consciousness, do you think they believe that it's just a hallucination? 

That's one of the theories. Personally I don't care all that much. 

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4 hours ago, stereologist said:

There is no rational reason to believe in ghosts. The stories are just stories. For some reason our brains conjure up supernatural ideas for no known reason.

I suppose it is simpler to make up a supernatural story than find out what is actually happening.

I believe its more complicated for some, ive seen various motivations one big motivator for claims of things like ghosts, spookies, demons, entities etc is they can be used by a true believer to show reason they believe in an afterlife because some folks are very scared of death, that when we die thats it over, i dont fear death as its out of my hands i do fear dying which is also out of my hands,

Some people just have a deep need to belong to something they feel places them above the rest of us sheep so they make claims of seeing ghosts having special powers etc,

Then the rub, they can not back up their claims for a true believer its not so bad their blind faith is enough but for some faith isnt enough and it really eats them up.

They end up acting worse than geller did on carson.

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On 2/7/2022 at 12:24 PM, OverSword said:

Read post number nine in this thread:

Now assuming I'm rational and not just making the whole story up is there zero reason to believe in ghosts?  Is it hard to believe that there may be more to us than simple chemicals reactions or that we only imagine that the universe is a big and wonderful thing that you can never understand in it's entirety?  Or do believe you are just a meat robot who's existence is really just meaningless and explained mundanely?  

Again there is no rational reason to believe in ghosts. Whatever you saw was unlikely to be anything other than something you were unsure of what you saw and have now created a story to match what you think you might have seen.

Are we meat robots? Sure if that is what you want to call us. We are living organisms. Our existence is the duration of the time we are alive.

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On 2/7/2022 at 12:59 PM, XenoFish said:

The atheist and non-believers. It's "science says" through and through. Very little room for imagination. Most appear to see themselves as meat machines.

There is plenty of room for imagination in science.

The atheists and non-believers see the world as it is and have no need to construct fantasies to augment reality. As a famous French mathematician told Napoleon, "God is an extraneous hypothesis"

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1 hour ago, stereologist said:

There is plenty of room for imagination in science.

The atheists and non-believers see the world as it is and have no need to construct fantasies to augment reality. As a famous French mathematician told Napoleon, "God is an extraneous hypothesis"

One fantasy for another. 

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6 hours ago, XenoFish said:

One fantasy for another. 

Except one is observable and testable and does not involve conflicting stories made up by people.

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10 hours ago, stereologist said:

Again there is no rational reason to believe in ghosts. Whatever you saw was unlikely to be anything other than something you were unsure of what you saw and have now created a story to match what you think you might have seen.

Are we meat robots? Sure if that is what you want to call us. We are living organisms. Our existence is the duration of the time we are alive.

You obviously didn’t read the account.

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7 hours ago, stereologist said:

Except one is observable and testable and does not involve conflicting stories made up by people.

Depends on who's funding the results, the amount of money those results will make and how many "studies" which are false get peer reviewed. You can make any experiment say what you want. 

The biggest problem is equating science with truth. Even if it's "proven" you like others need to realize that science is a process created by people. People are flawed. Our math is something we constructed. Same with our testing methods. 

Science is an opinion.

Edited by XenoFish
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