What happens when an "Advanced Manifester" focuses on negativity...

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by Daffy Duck

It's interesting that most reports of levitation are from the past where we can not witness them.

In one important sense, these reports from the past are more reliable than a contemporary report today. Why?

Well, if you saw or read such a report today, would you trust it? We know that Hollywood technology is very advanced these days, don't we. All sorts of special effects are possible.

Contrast a case like Yogi Pullavar, levitating in 1936. Open air, broad daylight, 150 witnesses, including journalists, 4 continuous minutes of levitation, witnesses are allowed to walk around him at close proximity to check.

This is in 1936. What kind of special effects do you think were available then? I don't think they were able to make movies like Superman or the Matrix, in those day. Colour film didn't even exist, never mind Photoshop.

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by Daffy Duck

It's also interesting that Sai Baba will not let himself be observed in a controlled experiment.

Yes, it's reminiscent of Jesus refusing to perform miracles to entertain the Pharisees.

If we consider the question far enough, you'll see that there is little point. Assuming in the first place that Jesus and Sai Baba are genuine articles, you can see how their reasoning might run. There will never be enough miracles to convince the skeptical.

UK psychic Matthew Manning was not as wise as Jesus and Sai Baba. Matthew volunteered a few years of his life, as a guinea pig, for scientists to study him under lab conditions. The simple fact is that nothing that much ever happened, because his abilities were so inexplicable that in the end, science is largely unable to say anything about it.

However, his encounters with Matthew Manning did lead Nobel-prize winning physicist Professor Brian Josephson to do research into telepathy. Prof Josephson still continues with his research, at Cambridge University, up to today.

The story of your uncle is interesting, but I do wonder if schizophrenia can be cured by a strong belief in a miracle. In other words, the placebo effect.

But of course. The placebo effect IS one example of how the Law of Attraction works. Even Jesus said that you gotta have faith, otherwise you'll just stay blind / lame etc.

[forynav]

Sathya Sai Baba is like a half hour drive from my place.

I've been there only once, and just looked from afar. Wasn't too interested. But, one good thing is miracles or no miracles, he does a lot of social work. Good on him.

[Daffy Duck]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

Well, if you saw or read such a report today, would you trust it?

It would depend on who was reporting. I suppose a skeptic can never know for sure unless he/she sees and tests it themselves, much like Doubting Thomas. This is very true nowadays where CGI is practically lifelike (so video evidence means almost nothing), and has always been true.

It's just funny that Yogi had to have those tents around him. Tents, curtains... sounds like today's illusionists (who openly admit it's fake). It would be cool if he just decided to float in the middle of broad day, with nothing hiding him. I guess that's asking for too much.

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by Daffy Duck

It would depend on who was reporting.

You mean, like perhaps on a national news programme, faraway from Hollywood?

YouTube - Qi,move things without touch!believe it?

Or perhaps a documentary by a well-recognised documentary maker? Like Discovery Channel?

Figure 8 Films - John Of God

Doesn't help, Daffy. Jesus would not be able to produce enough miracles for skeptics.

It would be cool if he just decided to float in the middle of broad day, with nothing hiding him. I guess that's asking for too much.

Like Daniel Dunglas Home? Floating around for a few decades in all sorts of places for all sorts of people including skeptics?

Doesn't help, Daffy ....

[Daffy Duck]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

Doesn't help, Daffy.

It does help. It's because of the sheer quantity and reports from more reliable sources that I believe there's a strong possibility of many things we call "supernatural." However, I don't feel there is enough evidence for other things.

I believe there's enough evidence to say gravity exists. I believe there's enough evidence to say the sun exists. These things are especially convenient because I can test the concept myself. I can throw a ball and see gravity exists. I can look at the sun.

I don't think there is enough evidence to say that human levitation exists with a degree of certainty ... but hopefully one day there would be. Unfortunately, since the ability to levitate is seemingly so rare, it is hard to test the concept ourselves. I contend that a belief in levitation is still a matter of faith, not scientific fact.

Who knows! I try to be open-minded, but also not gullible. It can be a hard balance to maintain at times, and since I'm honest I often just have to say "I don't know."

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by Daffy Duck

I believe there's enough evidence to say gravity exists. I believe there's enough evidence to say the sun exists. These things are especially convenient because I can test the concept myself. I can throw a ball and see gravity exists. I can look at the sun.

About gravity.

Gravity doesn't mean that if you throw a ball up, it will come down. This is merely an implication of gravity.

Gravity actually means that every two masses in the universe exert a force that tends to pull them together, this force being calculated based on a formula involving something called a "gravitational constant", the two masses and the square of the distance between them.

Thus gravity implies that right now, I am exerting a pull on you (wherever you may be) and you are exerting a pull on me (wherever I may be).

It isn't actually a very easy concept, for you to test personally.

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by Daffy Duck

I believe there's enough evidence .... I don't think there is enough evidence

Well, it works like this.

First you have a hypothesis. It should be a falsifiable hypothesis. Now, if one event, just one single, genuine, reliable event occurs, the hypothesis is proven false.

Taking levitation for example. Obviously we can point to some formulation of conventional scientific knowledge, to form a hypothesis that levitation is not possible.

Now, we do not need 1,000 genuine examples of levitation, to falsify the hypothesis. We only need ONE genuine example of levitation, to falsify the hypothesis.

The fact that there are 100,000 fake examples of levitation is also irrelevant. It's just like the black swan example. Do black swans exist? Finding 10,000,000 white swans cannot prove that black swans do not exist. But finding one black swan will prove that black swans exist (ok, maybe it proves that ONE black swan exists).

Same thing for your supernatural stuff. 1,000,000 examples of ghostly encounters which are fake, do not go to prove that ghosts do not exist. One single authentic example of a ghost, however, does prove that ghosts exist.

What happens when the hypothesis is falsified? Well it does not mean that everything in science is thrown away. It means that the hypothesis needs reformulation. It needs to be revised, but it does clearly need to be a big revision. It means that the conventional scientific understanding is .... wrong.

[Daffy Duck]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

Gravity doesn't mean that if you throw a ball up, it will come down. This is merely an implication of gravity.

Yes, technically speaking, but I think you know what I actually meant.

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

Same thing for your supernatural stuff. 1,000,000 examples of ghostly encounters which are fake, do not go to prove that ghosts do not exist. One single authentic example of a ghost, however, does prove that ghosts exist.

Indeed. The problem is that it is very difficult to find any single authentic example, simply because there are 1,000,000 fakes.

That's why I say I believe supernatural things are possible, but I do not find that there is enough evidence (one authentic example) to say for sure. I'm aware that you believe Daniel Dunglas Home was an authentic example. I don't hold the same degree of belief about him that you do at this time.

I've had my own encounter with a ghost. One that was very clear to see, with my own eyes. One that just interacted with me alone, on one night, for no particular reason. It was many years ago. And when it happened, I left my bed and went to sleep in another bed because of it. I woke up the next morning in the new bed, which is evidence that the ghost encounter was real. But even I still can't say for sure if ghosts exists (or something that appeared to be a ghost). Maybe I imagined it, and then walked to the new bed in my sleep?

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by Daffy Duck

I've had my own encounter with a ghost. One that was very clear to see, with my own eyes. One that just interacted with me alone, on one night, for no particular reason. It was many years ago. And when it happened, I left my bed and went to sleep in another bed because of it. I woke up the next morning in the new bed, which is evidence that the ghost encounter was real. But even I still can't say for sure if ghosts exists (or something that appeared to be a ghost). Maybe I imagined it, and then walked to the new bed in my sleep?

I also have had my encounters with ghosts. All in my own house. Which I found out belatedly was built on a graveyard. And my neighbours have the same problems.

By now, the encounters have been numerous. My wife has encountered them. My children have encountered them. My live-in maids have encountered them too (I have had 14 different maids over the past 8 years, most of them resigned due to fear about their encounters).

We have also had encounters together. That is, two or more family members at the same time sensing the same thing, at the same place and time. One example is here.

I say "sensing" because not all of us perceive the entities in the same way. My little daughter hears them (sometimes they talk to her) but she never sees them. My little son sees them, but he never hears them.

And the only reason why my current maid continues to work (happily) with us is that she's used to ghosts. She says that her own mother was a medium and that she herself (my maid) has been able to see ghosts since she was a kid.

-------------------------------

I can tell you a lot more but by now you think I'm crazy. Ah well.

If you prowl through my blogs, you'll find more accounts. And really, there are more than those. After a while, I don't bother to record them all in writing. It's all just part of daily life, you know?

[Daffy Duck]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

I can tell you a lot more but by now you think I'm crazy. Ah well.

Why do you think that? Obviously I'm open to the idea of ghosts, especially since I just told my own personal story.

I wish someone else was there with me when I had my experience. It would be easier to believe myself if someone else saw the same thing.

I may be completely wrong, but I think it's likely that ghosts exist. But what are ghosts? Are they spirits? Some kind of dimension or time issue? Or something entirely different? I don't know...

[Acting Like Godot]

Note: "ghosts" is a very loose term.

If you go into it, there are a wide variety of non-physical entities. A tiny % of them, you should be wary about. However, they are truly rare. I know of them only theoretically, ie I have read about them, I am quite sure I've never met them (and I do NOT want to). They are referred to as "demons" or "evil spirits".

A minority are actually very helpful (the spirit guides, the angels etc). Go to Erin Pavlina's blog to find out more.

The majority of non-physical entities that people most frequently encounter are actually the "earthbound spirits". These are the consciousnesses of people who have died, but they failed, for whatever reason, to cross over into the white light.

There is generally nothing to fear about them. You DO get used to having them around. It has been upsetting for my family, but by now we are used to it.

There are other species of non-physical entities as well. They appear to be like ghosts, but they're not. They're actually thought-forms, sometimes known as artificial elementals. They're created (intentionally as well as accidentally) by:

(1) people who practise magick;

(2) people who are seriously into LOA and related stuff;

(3) people who aren't interested in the mind stuff at all, but keep putting a lot of emotional energy and thought into some personal issue that's very significant for them.

I do not believe that all the stuff that happened in my house were all related to ghosts. Some of them were probably thought-forms, left over from my unskilful uses of the LOA.

Okay, all this stuff is probably waaaaay too esoteric for you. Will stop here.

[Daffy Duck]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

Okay, all this stuff is probably waaaaay too esoteric for you. Will stop here.

Not really. I've studied so much religion (from Christianity to New Age) and other stuff over the years that what you said is as familiar as my computer mouse. I wasn't actually asking the question "what are ghosts?" for an answer... I actually meant it as a statement. They could be a number of things, as you mentioned.

Ghosts are such a money-maker over here in the USA. There are many television shows of "ghost hunters." I think the shows are 99.999% bullcrap. Still, even if 99 out of 100 car mechanics are scams (not an actual statistic, I hope), I wouldn't say that honest mechanics don't exist (or at least have the possibility of existing ).

[Acting Like Godot]

A very common form of "ghosts" is orbs.

I've seen one of these myself. I stared at it for a long time. I actually had the presence of mind to keep very still, observe it, and take note of my own mental condition.

No I was not drunk, no I was not sleepy, no I was not dreaming.

Later I reached out to touch it and it "popped" and disappeared, before I could actually touch it.

It was floating above and around my fish tank, in my living room.

Orbs have been captured on video and camera. Some of the accidental footage/images have been explained away by some people as effects of light refraction around tiny dust particles on the lens (and this is probably true). However, none of this explains the cases where a person (ie with human eyes) sees the orb, and deliberately takes a photo of it, and the orb also shows up on the photo.

If you want to see what orbs look like, well here you go:

YouTube - Ghost orbs

This admittedly is a highly dramatic example. Orbs usually show up less dramatically than that.

[Daffy Duck]

I see orbs all the time when I take photographs. One time, I went with some friends to a graveyard and we took tons of photographs. In about 30% of them there were orbs.

I think the "orbs" were just dust, indeed. I did not see any with my human eyes out there, but the camera picked up dozens. However, if I were to see one in person (like you), that would be quite amazing...

[Acting Like Godot]

Hi Daffy:

My maid just told me (literally, like 30 seconds ago while I was sitting in front of my computer) she had just seen a ghost early this morning. Just hanging around outside my front door.

An old man. He smiled at her, when she stepped outside to hang some laundry. She ignored him and quickly did her chores and came straight back into the house.

We've had him around before.

And that's it. This is life, with ghosts around. No need to kick up a big fuss about it.

[Daffy Duck]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

My maid just told me (literally, like 30 seconds ago while I was sitting in front of my computer) she had just seen a ghost early this morning. Just hanging around outside my front door.

And here we are talking about ghosts. How funny.

No need to kick up a big fuss about it.

... I don't think you or I were making a big fuss about it.

Do you feel we were?

[Acting Like Godot]

Well, no. Not you and I and not here anyway.

But the thing is, most people would think that the idea of ghosts is very amazing and very extraordinary and that if it were true, and if they had encountered one, it is something to feel very shocked about.

It isn't something to feel very shocked about. They do exist. Erin Pavlina talks to them for a living. Many of them are around all the time, just that our normal senses may not be able to perceive them regularly or reliably.

We ourselves are just consciousness with a physical body, and usually we have that notion that the consciousness is tied to, and dependent on that body.

But minus that notion, and minus that body, what are we? "Ghosts" too.

[torilink]

i see & chat with dead people all the time in my dreams, is it just me projecting my memories of them into my dream or are they ghosts? your thoughts?

I have dreams where everyone in the dream is dead except me, I call them my dead parties, I visit with my mom & dad, brother, sister, friends and acquaintances who've long passed.

[Acting Like Godot]

If you meet them in dreams, then they are not ghosts. Okay, to put it more precisely, they are not "earthbound spirits". They have already crossed over to wherever they're supposed to cross over to.

This means that they have much less ability to do stuff on the physical plane, ie they are not the kind of entities who are going to sit on your bed; upset your pet cat/dog; or do the poltergeistic things like make a door open and close on its own.

When you meet them in dreams, it means that it's you who's gone to meet them in their realm, or that they've come to meet you in the way that they can. They aren't able (or they find it difficult) to communicate with you in your physical realm, so they meet you in dreams.

Means that your dream isn't a normal kind of dream. Instead it's the kind where your consciousness has slipped out for a little tour of other sorts of realities. And it's meeting your mum, dad etc etc there.

[Daffy Duck]

It's possibly what ALG said, but it's possible (and most would say more likely) it's all in your head.

For example, I assume your mom and dad are nice with you at your "dead parties." But what if you have a dream where they are trying to attack and kill you? Do you really think it was them? In that case, I think it's likely that it's just your imagination.

[torilink]

Thanks ALG, since I do not have a working belief in ghosts or an afterlife for the individual identity, I was curious what others would make of this.

It's always perplexed me, but in general I think I've figured it was as Daffy said, I project memories into my dreams.

Certainly I believe that I create my reality through my beliefs so I am aware if I believed in such things as spirits or ghosts then I'm sure I'd experience them in my waking reality as well.

[Acting Like Godot]

I guess that there are a couple of schools of thoughts here.

One is that dreams are essentially meaningless garbage, spewed up by the mind when you're asleep.

Another is that some dreams are meaningless garbage, spewed up by the mind when you're asleep. However, some other dreams are significant (eg that there are messages from other entities, or your consciousness is going to another realm etc etc).

And a third school of thought is that NO dreams are meaningless garbage. ALL dreams have some significant meaning, it's just that most of the time most of us don't know what the meaning is (and usually cannot remember our dreams very well at all).

---------------------------------

Now the interesting thing is that this is one area where one can really do some fairly serious investigation. So far I haven't gotten round to doing it myself (I can only do so many mind projects at one time, you know ) but it is something you can try.

So this is how it works.

(I read this from a book on magick; dreams are just one chapter in it, because the book covers quite a wide range of magickal topics. As far as dreams are concerned, the book would follow the 3rd school of thought as outlined above. However, I think that the approach is sensible and would work equally for anyone who just wants to find out more about what dreams really are).

Every night before you sleep, you'll just repeat a few simple statements to yourself, like "I will remember my dreams clearly .... I want to remember my dreams clearly ... I will remember my dreams clearly tonight ..." etc. You'll also keep a notebook and pen, handy by your bedside.

In the morning, as soon as you wake up, you quickly jot down whatever you can remember, of any dreams you've had. The memories may be fading fast, just put down whatever you're able to. It may not be anything more than one or two sentences.

The author assures you that if you keep this up every day for some time, your ability to recollect your dreams will steadily increase. IIRC, he says that Day 30, you will easily be writing out full pages describing your dreams. And eventually (after a longer time) you will no longer need to do the writing, because you can remember your dreams as easily as events occurring in your daily life during your normal waking hours.

Now whatever dreams may be, this does seem plausible to me that the ability to remember dreams can be cultivated and developed, in the manner above.

And if you can remember your dreams, it will be possible for you to consider the content of your dreams more carefully.

And if you consider the content of your dreams more carefully, you should be in a better position to eventually decide whether dreams are meaningless garbage, or whether they have deeper meaning.

------------------

Now, personally, if I were regularly dreaming of deceased loved ones (and they've already passed away for some time, and I'm no longer still grieving over them or otherwise traumatised by their loss) ....

.... I would be very curious to investigate whether there is anything significant to these dreams. So I would probably do the exercise as described above.

But since I don't have such dreams, well right now, I'd rather do some other mind-related projects. But you, you might want to consider .......