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

After watching a lot of "most haunted" on living recently I thought it would be interesting to see what people think on the subject of life after death. I am some what of a skeptic although I believe to have seen many supernatural occurances I tell myself its my mind playing tricks on me. I mean if ya in a haunted house and you know it to be "haunted" you expect things to happen and you scare yourself. If anybody as watched most haunted they'll know of that psychic they use Derek somebody and he seems to get possessed by these spirits now can this be real or is it very convincing acting?? I cant help notice the ex blue peter presenter (can't remember her name) seems to portrait fear very convincingly but then she is also the exec producer of the show, so...

Finally to lighten the mood doe anyone actually care about Blaines stunt to stand in a box for 40summat days?!?! Jeez Heskeys been doing that for years lol

MaRc

Not seen the programme, but seen ads for it but that's not really enough to be in a position to comment. The ex Blue Peter presenter is Yvette Fielding.

Can't say I care much for David Blaine, silly little berk he his. For his next "trick", next year he should go up in Qinetiq 1 without a spacesuit.

My opinion: there is no life after death, here or anywhere. 'Hauntings' are not caused by spirits.

I have no idea

Aren't most hauntings caused by some kind of energy given off by teenagers?

I know it sounds wierd but it's something to do with puberty and negative emotions, or something....
Anyone know what I'm talking about, or can explain it in a better way than I have?

Yes it's definately teenagers. Weird happenings, strange noises and things flying across rooms. Got to be teenagers

You know what I mean!
It's something to do with mystical energy fields, which scientists seem to find more believable than ghosts .

Science does not find mystical energy fields any more believeable than ghosts. Anybody who starts talking about mystical energy fields is not a scientist.

Sorry! My bad! Not a scientist. But it's something like that- not mystical energy (a term I'm sure I just made up ), but some technical term. Anyone help out?

Do you mean psychokinetic energy?

Appols if this is not the right place to put this, but it seems to be in the same sorta area.

I have seen a couple of things recently where science seems to be treading on the toes of spirituality.
The concept is that there is ( as yet unmeasured) force surrounding the brain and interacting with the neurons. This interaction has, I believe, been observed once or twice, possibly!
The force itself does not sound unreasonable. After all, the brain runs of electricity which we know generates a magnetic field. If such a thing did exist then it is reasonable to think that the electromagnetic field surrounding the brain would interact with the electric signals within it. After all, you cannot have an adaptive learning process without feedback. Apparently the observation leading to this is that sometimes neurons which should fire have some sort of interaction which fails the firing, or they shouldn;t fire but do.

Sounds...interesting, wonder what other think?

the electric signals thing IS interesting.

Whoever said it was teenagers was obviously right. I mean, I've seen loads of films about ghosts and hauntings and scary stuff, and they're always full of teenagers too! Coincidence?

Yeah! That's it! Pyschokinetic energy. That's the one. Glad it's not just me that's heard of it then. The teenagers thing seems to be true as well- I've got a friend who works in a centre for teenagers with mental difficulties and imbalances and things, and the amount of wierd poltergeisty things that go on there is just mad. Plates moving, doors slamming etc.
Spooky stuff.

Yeah, you sometimes hear someone saying that poltergeists are not ghosts but caused by telekinesis. Usually credited to some stressed teen going through puberty. Though I don`t think anything such as this has ever been shown.

A field around the brain? Well, wouldn`t be a surprise. That`s what those EEG-thingys measure surely. And "mystical energy" is the kind of phrase that makes me reach for my revolver.

I`ll get into the life after death later.

I already apologised for the "mystical energy".

But really, I'm sorry.
Truly.

Interesting ideas some what digressed from topic but still interesting

Hard to discuss 'life after death' because there haven't been any reliable first-hand reports coming back from the other side.

Since it's probably impossible to discuss life-after-death after death, we're left with life-before-death. Or just plain Life, whatever meaning that might have.

The two words 'life' and 'death' are not opposites of the same thing anymore than larva, coccoon and butterfly are opposites. They are different stages along a progress.

But there being so little evidence on which to base opinions of the situation and conditions in the 'afters' it's likely best to take a wait and see approach and enjoy life.

Must say I'm surprised to hear Gnomon apparently dismissing all the magic and mystery of life as being no argument for an after-life. But perhaps that's the point; magic and mystery and ghostly phenoms which appear to us in the living world are by definition part of Life, not death. There are many mysteries and much magic in Life. But no one can say anything exists in the afterlife so as Gnomon suggests it really is silly to assume any magic or mystery comes from there.

I think it is generally agreed that things must exist on one side of the life/death line or the other. The cross-over seems to be one way and permanent. We simply cannot say what lies beyond and we ought not to suggest that anything we might encounter in this Life is in any way a part of the great mystery of Death.

The idea of anything coming back across the line is quite ghastly and morbid and probably in bad taste. No wonder it is mostly teens who claim the ability to span this great divide with impunity.


~jwf~

This has been sort of a difficult issue in my personal life lately. As you might know, my first husband died 2 years ago when my kids were almost 2 and 3. Now my oldest is trying to wrap his little head around it. Actually he's quite verbose about it, announcing to everyone he meets that his 'old daddy died.' Anyway, what has been hard is that he has Mormon paternal grandparents. After a week or so of visiting them, they come back telling me how 'Daddy is in heaven with Jesus and Heavenly Father." I don't mind people using whatever sort of inspiration they choose in order to deal with life and loss, but I think it's unfair to hoist it upon little kids who don't know any better. Especially when I have to spend a week afterwards deprogramming my little ones from whatever religioua platitudes they were subjected to. Am I wrong to be so annoyed? The idea that their Daddy is in heaven sure *sounds* nicer than Mommy's agnosticism on the matter, but it's in the same way that I would prefer living in Fairyland to living on earth. I would rather my kids have honesty and a fairly blank slate with which to examine the world when they are old enough to do so, without having to sort through a bunch of emotionally charged mythology. I believe in plurality certainly, but when it is age-appropriate.

Yesterday, I think I came up with a solution, I explained to the kids that Jesus is not the only person who is dead, and that not everyone believes in Heavenly Father. Then I taught them to say, instead of, 'Daddy is with Jesus,' to say, 'Daddy is with Jesus, Buddha, and Nietzsche.' I figure that's true enough, right? Assuming that dead people all end up in the same place regardless of which religion is true. What do you think?

>> Assuming that dead people all end up in the same place...<

It is always tricky to 'assume'. There are probably as many 'versions' of an afterlife as there are people living but no conclusive evidence of anything.

Some would not expect to encounter Nietzsche when they get 'there' ands would be quite surprised to see him. Some would not expect to encounter Jesus, while many do expect that result. Others have other plans, oh yes, they have it all worked out just who gets in and who doesn't.

But I'll agree with your assumption, because I do believe it's "all the same place" on the other side. Death was there at the end of Life long before any of the living started imagining the possibilities in their own image. Whatever lies beyond Life has always been there and nothing any living person has ever had to say on the subject is valid.

Not to dismiss lightly my genuine sympathies for your predicament with 'grandparents' rights - you will inevitably have to escape these people - but fear not for the minds of children. Give children the opportunity to have input from a thousand sources and they will make up their own minds. Just don't insist that they believe you are more right than anyone else. Better to just smile and say, 'So crazy Grandpa told ya that eh?' and then smile harder and knowingly. Kids believe what they see, not what they hear.


~jwf~