h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm on record as saying it was my juvenile self, reasoning out my belief in ghosts that set the adult me on the path to being an atheist.

I used to absorb ghost stories and, Ghostbusters was a hit movie and the cartoon was on every afternoon. I frankly saw nothing peculiar about stories of grey ladies and folks walking through walls, until that is, I came to trying to work out what a ghost was. Eventually it dawned on me that no matter which way you sliced it, it involved there being some mechanism of surviving death.

Doubting that was at all possible if not a meaningless proposition, my childhood belief in ghosts evaporated, like oh so much mist in the morning sunlight.

I exorcised a cornflake bun over google chat once. It was a hoot.

I thought about exoercism... But it all seemed like far too much effort to me... oh, no, hang on a moment... that was 'exercise',...
Zombies have a long history... I think the first refernce to a zombie was the zombie Jesus in the bible... I tried talking to a vicar about it, but he didn't quite agree with the way I inturpreted it

Talking to vicars is OK. Never play card games against one, though.

Mmm. I'm seeing Zombieland on sunday

Did you know exorcism is still being practised (and not only in movies)?

http://www.thelocal.de/society/20080521-12011.html

"It is a normal, but rare event."

Normal

A mate was the victim of one a few years ago: the priest tried to exorcise the gay out of him.

And his folks still wonder why he won't speak to them

I vagely remember some nut cases in America 'Exocercising' the 'evil' from Homosexuals... I guess for some people the enlightenment was just somethign that happened to other people
I've gotten drunk with vicars a few times, but never played cards against them either... Hmmm.... I don't think this can be a coincidence...

For zombies you might want to read Wade Davis' 'The Serpent and the Rainbow' (but don't bother with the movie of the same name which has virtually nothing to do with the book. Davis is an ethno-botanist who, among other studies, investigated the *real* basis of the zombie stories in Haiti.

as for ghosts, etc. my comment would be similar to my post 16 on this thread: F19585?thread=6996958&post=87065183#p87065183

So what do You think of people who say they have seen ghosts?

Have You read Jesus Christ Vampire?

No. I've not read Jesus Christ Vampire. Sorry.

As for what I think of people who claim they've seen ghosts, I expect they've had experiences similar to some I've had. In my case, I never saw a reason to abandon the reasonable and obvious explanation for my experience. I can't speak for others.

Is it beyond reason to think that there are still things we cannot explain? Isn't modern science nothing more than a "working model" of the way things work? How does it go? Once apon a time we could scientifically prove that the solar system revolved around the Earth. The model worked!

Have You played Mid Evil?

No, it is not beyond reason to think that there are still things we cannot explain. In fact, my personal position is that there are certainly things that we cannot explain. I have doubts that there are things which *in principle* are inexplicable, partly because I have doubts that 'things inexplicable in principle' is a statement with any actual semantic content.

In any case, whether or not there are still things we cannot explain has no bearing on my personal experiences of what seem at first (pale) blush to be ghosts, all of which experiences are quite easily explicable *if one is not presupposing something difficult to explain*.

At times in my life I've spent a good deal of time driving lonely roads late at night or early, before sunrise. Countless times I've seen aerial phenomena which looked decidedly odd, but, despite my continuing love of Science Fiction, or perhaps because of it, I have not responded with 'a Flying Saucer!', I've responded with 'Oh. Look at that. I wonder what it is. I think I'll keep watching it. I'll make a note of where it is in relation to known stellar, planetary and terrestrial landmarks and check out my star charts and the satellite tracking web pages when I get home.' Virtually every time, by the time I finished that thought process, I've been able to identify the object as something mundane *while still driving*.

I know that wasn't a ghost story, but the same process applies. I refuse to begin with the conclusion.

No. I've not played Mid Evil.



I've translated 'Beowulf' into Modern English verse. Does that count?

This might sound very sad, but i do believe in ghosts.
I've had too many strange experiances not to, i also like the fact that we don't know the answers to everything.

Somethings are best left alone and it would ruin the mystery of them if we we're to know everything about this strange little world we live in.

'This might sound very sad, but i do believe in ghosts.'

It's not sad, but, it's not my way. I can't say I 'believe in' anything: I have a number of working assumptions based on the experience of evidence, but I do not approach a novel situation with a 'belief' of what is going on.

'I've had too many strange experiances' to proceed on the basis of 'belief'. But, again, that's me. If people conduct their lives on the basis of 'belief', I have absolutely no issue with it -- I will, indeed, celebrate it. Unless that 'belief' makes them want to kill me, of course. But that's another conversation (perhaps).

'i also like the fact that we don't know the answers to everything'

I'm sorry, but I find nothing attractive about ignorance. I agree that we are ignorant, but I do not find ignorance a state to be lauded.

'Somethings are best left alone and it would ruin the mystery of them if we we're to know everything about this strange little world we live in.'

Ah, yes, the discomfort Keats (foolish boy in this) felt with the unweaving of the rainbow. I don't share that discomfort. In fact, I revel in the wonder and mystery which comes from that very unweaving. Yes, it is a strange world, but it is not a little one. We will not likely ever know everything about it -- but, oh what ecstatic joy there is in the gradual finding out!

I just want to endorse / follow / support - everything Anhaga said in (#35/#38).

I'll second that, Clive.

Just because we have experiences that are beyond our wit to explain does not mean we should revert back to previous erroneous explanations of unusual phenomena.

It should prompt us to strive towards an explanation that is rational and based on facts.

t.