Hello everyone,
I am an agnostic, and many of you have answered my questions over the past few months. Many of you seemed to suggest that my questions were rather irrational. After taking time and reading all of the responses I have received, I have become more skeptical about things. Many of the answers you guys have given me have caused me to think more critically about the things people tell me. Today at school, a few of my colleagues were telling me anecdotal stories about ghosts being found in government buildings in Bratislava (capital of Slovakia). This was after we read about doctors in Malaysia claiming to see ghosts in their operating rooms. Some people who work in this government building have claimed to have spent the night in the government buildings in Slovakia, and even heard stairs creek really loudly with no one in sight. One colleague of mine also claimed that there is a ghost who exists at the hospital at which her mother works. She showed me a picture. At first, I was shocked, it looked totally real, and I cannot exactly explain what it was, assuming she is not intentionally lying. She said that the ghost shows up every night right before that section of the hospital is closed. There are many of these stories of people seeing, and even speaking with ghosts. Some claim they hear something.
In the past, I would have blindly accepted it. Now I came back at the students making the claims, and asked them what proof they had that these stories were true to begin with. I think that there is a chance they were all made up. Even if they were not, and there was some sound that people claim to have heard, it doesn't mean that it was a ghost/spirit that made that noise. It could be that people even expected to see these ghosts and imagined it, or that people who spent the night were in some half dreamlike state while these experiences occurred. I think it is important to say that we don't ultimately know what happened. Because we don't know, means that we can't even attempt to guess what exactly happened because the possibilities are endless. Also, every time someone has tried to capture an image or video of a ghost, they have always failed. What do you guys think about my opinion?
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Your skepticism is a very healthy personality trait!
I also think your skepticism is great!
I'd also like to add another way these stories can be explained: when people tell stories (ghost stories or otherwise) we often embellish them. Then someone else retells the story and embellishes it a little more. What comes out the other end is an amazing story; but one that can not be verified (since it has so little to do with the original events after so much embellishment). I'm sure you have experienced this with non-ghost stories. Where your friends relate a story to a new person, a story which you were an original eyewitness, and their telling of the story doesn't match up with your memory.
"In the past, I would have blindly accepted it. Now I came back at the students making the claims, and asked them what proof they had that these stories were true to begin with. I think that there is a chance they were all made up..."
It warms my heart to hear this.
I'm quite sure that the more you train your mind to filter out superstition, the more the world around you will make sense and the less it will scare you.
Keep up your free thinking and skepticism.A critical mind is a good one.
Pork222: Take a look at this page.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_prizes_for_evidence_of_the_paranormal
It's a list of rewards offered for any evidence of ghosts, paranormal powers, etc. Some date back to the 1960s. Huge amounts of money are on offer to anyone who can provide proof. Not one of these prizes has ever been won. Ghosts are the products of imagination, nervousness, suggestion, and fraud.
Scenario 1 -
People want and need their ghosts and spirits. They need to know that they are there because they validate "the other side" of the mortal existence their hopes and beliefs yearn to know exist in truth.
Scenario 2 -
We used to play a game in elementary school to see if the human chain of communication could keep a message intact. One person was given a piece of paper that had a short message on it. He or she then whispered that same message to the next person, and so on, until the last person stood up and spoke aloud what he or she had been told. It never worked. There was a discipline for purposely changing the story so everyone tried to faithfully pass on what they were told.
The operative word here is faithfully. This is obviously a far cry from "factually" in the above illustration of the basic human failing to accurately communicate. We faithfully think we're receiving truth, but probably aren't, and then pass it on as such but perhaps with some creative license innocently affixed that can and does further stray from the original message.
It's not a big leap from scenario 1 to 2.
Scenario 3 - The bible.