"She could not entirely comprehend the fact that Donli was gone. It seemed as if at any instant yonder doorway would fill with him..." (p. 671)
My mother said this after my father's death. I am convinced that:
apparitions of the dead occur;
one explanation is that the bereaved project the apparitions;
this is not necessarily the only explanation.
When the recently deceased C.S. Lewis appeared to J.B. Phillips (see here), the latter's wife, although present during the apparition, neither saw nor heard Lewis but did see and hear her husband speaking as if conversing with someone. This confirms that the apparition happened but was subjective to Phillips, not objective. Apparitions are one of half a dozen phenomena that I think warrant objective investigation although they might indefinitely remain on the border-line of knowledge. What can be done other than to catalogue reports and attestations?
6 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Since I believe the spirits of the dead survives their bodies it follows those spirits might sometimes appear to living persons.
There has been investigations of such reports of ghosts. One of the books I have is Fr. Herbert Thurston's GHOSTS AND POLTERGEISTS, collecting reports of cases he investigated.
And of course ghost stories is a theme some writers have used, such as the stories of Russell Kirk. In his foreword to THE PRINCESS OF ALL LANDS Kirk stated the stories in that collection had kernels of fact.
Ad astra! Sean
PS. Btw, "Thurston" is the name of the ruling family of Boise in Stirling's Emberverse. Coincidence, of course!
Sean,
If spirits are invisible, then how can they appear and why should they resemble their former bodies?
Paul.
Paul - As has been said: "Now, my own suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose… I suspect that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of, or can be dreamed of, in any philosophy."
Best, ;)
Except that queerness just means contradicting out expectations which means that our expectations are wrong. We have evolved to perceive macroscopic objects moving at velocities way below light speed. Smaller and faster objects have different properties.
Paul - Sure. There are more things, after all - but until we come across, I'll trust what we see and can know and duplicate in experiment. Physics, you know? ;)
Kaor, Paul!
To me, I think it's obvious why so few of us can be convincingly said to have seen ghosts. The spirits of the dead may have abilities and powers not available to those still inhabiting physical bodies. Or it may require special/unusual circumstances or even divine permission before ghosts can appear to living persons.
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment