s/o Do you believe the dead are present among us?

[sonrisa]

If so, do you believe they are generally a malevolent force and should be expunged with sage (or whatever method you prefer)?

[ginger]

I think so in some sort of manifestation. I'm just not sure I believe it's the "ghost" theme that's thrown around so much.

I think some are benevolent and some malevolent.

I don't think burning sage does anything personally.

[Deleted]

I do believe, but I do not believe that they are all malevolent.

[iamgrace]

I think there are positive and negative energies. I don't know if they are the result of the dead.

[codec]

I am not sure but my SIL who lost her father years ago and my H who has lost both of his parents both say that they "feel" them still with them. They each said this independently after discussing some of the stuff going on in my life lately.

One is Agnostic one is Christian FWIW.

[sonrisa]

I personally think there is something to the idea of one's ancestors being present - whether metaphorically or literally. I don't think of it as a malevolent thing.

I felt the presence of my father more strongly right after he died than I had in the days leading up. My daughter would talk to him for a while. Unfortunately something changed a few weeks ago. I almost feel like I've lost him again (if that makes sense).

[codec]

Jul 29, 2012 16:32:14 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

I personally think there is something to the idea of one's ancestors being present - whether metaphorically or literally. I don't think of it as a malevolent thing.

I felt the presence of my father more strongly right after he died than I had in the days leading up. My daughter would talk to him for a while. Unfortunately something changed a few weeks ago. I almost feel like I've lost him again (if that makes sense).

({) (}) I am so sorry you are feeling this way.

[ginger]

A coworker's elderly family member died recently. One of the little boys went up to his mama and grabbed her face in his hands and told her, "Nana's gone to be with Jesus" and then ran away to play again like nothing happened. They were at the hospital in the waiting room at the time.

Sure enough, at that moment she no longer showed any brain activity.

This is just one example of why I believe there's more out there and possible spirits/ghosts/whatever among us.

[cahabalily]

I do, and I think they can be good or bad. I lived in a house that was haunted during a summer internship. I lived there alone and every other intern before and after me also swore it was haunted.

[sonrisa]

Jul 29, 2012 16:37:23 GMT -5 ginger said:

A coworker's elderly family member died recently. One of the little boys went up to his mama and grabbed her face in his hands and told her, "Nana's gone to be with Jesus" and then ran away to play again like nothing happened. They were at the hospital in the waiting room at the time.

Sure enough, at that moment she no longer showed any brain activity.

This is just one example of why I believe there's more out there and possible spirits/ghosts/whatever among us.

My baby (who had been sleeping through the night for months) woke up crying and we were trying to soothe her when we got the call about my dad. On the drive over, she said "grandpa" even though her only previous word was "dada."

[sonrisa]

Jul 29, 2012 16:34:46 GMT -5 @codec said:

I am so sorry you are feeling this way.

Thanks, codec. I think it is time for me to get some counseling.

[codec]

Jul 29, 2012 16:41:20 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

Jul 29, 2012 16:34:46 GMT -5 @codec said:

I am so sorry you are feeling this way.

Thanks, codec. I think it is time for me to get some counseling.

:Y:

[bonquiqui]

Jul 29, 2012 16:32:14 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

I personally think there is something to the idea of one's ancestors being present - whether metaphorically or literally. I don't think of it as a malevolent thing.

I felt the presence of my father more strongly right after he died than I had in the days leading up. My daughter would talk to him for a while. Unfortunately something changed a few weeks ago. I almost feel like I've lost him again (if that makes sense).

I am very sorry, and i can't imagine how hard this must be

[ginger]

Jul 29, 2012 16:40:28 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

Jul 29, 2012 16:37:23 GMT -5 ginger said:

A coworker's elderly family member died recently. One of the little boys went up to his mama and grabbed her face in his hands and told her, "Nana's gone to be with Jesus" and then ran away to play again like nothing happened. They were at the hospital in the waiting room at the time.

Sure enough, at that moment she no longer showed any brain activity.

This is just one example of why I believe there's more out there and possible spirits/ghosts/whatever among us.

My baby (who had been sleeping through the night for months) woke up crying and we were trying to soothe her when we got the call about my dad. On the drive over, she said "grandpa" even though her only previous word was "dada."

What a sweet moment to remember. I don't know how, but some kids just know.

[ElizabethBennet]

I'm not sure what I believe honestly. I've had a lot of death in my life and most of those people I've dreamed about but they were more than normal dreams, it's hard to explain but I felt like there were actually there talking with me.

I am a Christian so I do believe in Heaven but I'm not sure what I believe about the dead still being here.

[Deleted]

I believe there are spirits with us. Just like there are malevolent and benevolent people there are malevolent and benevolent spirits.

[Robot Jen]

No, but my family members have a lot of stories about spiritual encounters and such. They are for the most part pretty superstitious people, however. I've never had one and will continue to be skeptical until/if I experience something for myself that I can't find a rational explanation for.

[ginger]

Jul 29, 2012 16:32:14 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

I personally think there is something to the idea of one's ancestors being present - whether metaphorically or literally. I don't think of it as a malevolent thing.

I felt the presence of my father more strongly right after he died than I had in the days leading up. My daughter would talk to him for a while. Unfortunately something changed a few weeks ago. I almost feel like I've lost him again (if that makes sense).

I'm sorry Sonrisa. I suck at knowing what to say, but I didn't want to say anything. So, I'm sorry. I hope you find some comfort again.

[pantsparty]

I don't know. I actually thought after my brother died I might somehow see or hear from him, although that thought scares the shit out of me. Like I might have a heart attack if he appeared one night and was all, "Hey sis!"

I certainly believe there are things that cannot be explained.

[kellbell191]

I feel my mom sometimes but in things people say or do. I'll see myself in the mirror and recognize my smile as her smile. Or my hands as her hands. I will do something or say something and think she would have liked it or would have told me I was crazy. I don't know if I believe her energy is still around, but she will always be a part of me, who I am and what I do, and I know will be a part of other people too. Once I really understood and felt her presence in that way what happened to her literal spirit troubled me less. It took me awhile to feel peaceful about it, but I do hope you find that peace sonrisa. Losing a parent is really hard and I'm sorry you're going through it.

[blondemoment123]

I think it's comforting to know that loved ones who have passed are still among us.

[Pippin]

Jul 29, 2012 16:46:27 GMT -5 ElizabethBennet said:

I'm not sure what I believe honestly. I've had a lot of death in my life and most of those people I've dreamed about but they were more than normal dreams, it's hard to explain but I felt like there were actually there talking with me.

I am a Christian so I do believe in Heaven but I'm not sure what I believe about the dead still being here.

I also have dreams where family members that have passed are talking to me and telling me they are alright. I still dream of my grandmother once in a while like that and like you said those dreams are different from regular dreams and are usually very vivid. My son has always acting like there are people coming and going through our house. He occasionally points out the man in the ceiling to me and now my daughter is starting to stare around at things like he does. I've never felt like anything is bad in my house though it can be alittle unnerving.

[flex]

I think those who pass away remain closeby for a period time, but after that I believe they go to be with our Creator.

[ElizabethBennet]

Jul 29, 2012 17:30:42 GMT -5 Pippin said:

Jul 29, 2012 16:46:27 GMT -5 ElizabethBennet said:

I'm not sure what I believe honestly. I've had a lot of death in my life and most of those people I've dreamed about but they were more than normal dreams, it's hard to explain but I felt like there were actually there talking with me.

I am a Christian so I do believe in Heaven but I'm not sure what I believe about the dead still being here.

I also have dreams where family members that have passed are talking to me and telling me they are alright. I still dream of my grandmother once in a while like that and like you said those dreams are different from regular dreams and are usually very vivid. My son has always acting like there are people coming and going through our house. He occasionally points out the man in the ceiling to me and now my daughter is starting to stare around at things like he does. I've never felt like anything is bad in my house though it can be alittle unnerving.

The most vivid one for me was just a couple of months after my grandma died. She was even wearing what she was buried in, she told me she was proud of me and all that.

[karmasabiotch]

I like the idea of it. I'm very superstitious but I'm not religious. More than anything I want a sign from my Mom. I'm open to it but so far it hasn't happened.

I'm sorry Sonrisa. I know how hard it is.

[cleo29]

I think so and I do not think they are all bad.

[mamasaurus]

I don't know. Like Agent Mulder, I want to believe--that there's something beyond this life; that when we pass, we don't lose those we love and say goodbye forever. Now that I am a mother, it breaks my heart to think that someday, I will never see my daughter again. In fact, I get really upset and depressed thinking morbid thoughts like that occasionally, and my H just doesn't get it. It just doesn't bother him like it bothers me. I would love it if I had some strong feeling or evidence that goodbye isn't necessarily forever, but it isn't there for me right now. Then again, I am really lucky and haven't lost anyone close to me yet. I have only lost one grandparent, even, and we weren't close. Maybe something will happen when I inevitably lose a parent in the future that changes my mind. I'd love for something to change my mind. For now, I am a skeptic.

I did work in the Reid Murdoch building in Chicago for a while, the site of one of the city's biggest tragedies. It is reputedly very haunted. I did feel the cold spots people talk about, but then again, it's an old building on a river. It would be more strange if it was evenly temperate throughout, yes? I also would think I heard weeping sometimes when I was alone in the basement, but sound carried in a funny way in that place and it was a drama fest. There was, like, always somebody going through a breakup and crying in secluded places, or the bathroom. I am honestly kind of bummed that I spent that much time in such an allegedly haunted place and left of the same mind as I arrived.

FWIW, I am agnostic and think even if there is an omniscient creator, there is not an interventionist God. I think our finite knowledge and senses mean it is arrogant to think we ever know "the truth," including scientifically, because the body of scientific knowledge has changed so much in the last 100 years, and hypotheses/theories are constantly being proven, disproven, and called into question--it just goes to show that each generation thinks it has some privileged knowledge, some of which will be different by the next generation. So, even if science "proved" or "disproved" the presence of spirits, I don't know if even that would change anything for me!

[hubes]

Yes and no. I had an amazing vivid dream about my grandpa, where he told me he was with me and had been at my wedding and the births of all his great grandchildren. I believe he was speaking to me in that dream. Do I believe that he hovers over me and hides me car keys? No.

[eb777888]

I don't know. As an adult, I'd say no. But I have childhood memories of some crazy shit I vividly remember that cannot be explained. My sister saw the same crazy shit and we still talk of it to this day.

When it comes to all matters of God and ghosts, I admit, I don't have any firm beliefs. I have an open mind, grow more cynical as I get older but have really weird childhood memories I can't shake that make me think there's something else out there.

[cleo29]

After my Gram's funeral service at the church, I went to the back of the church to light a candle for her. I tried to light the first one and it went out. I thought perhaps there was a draft, so I moved to a different candle, it went out. I had to try five times, at various locations and among others candles that were already lit.

It felt like a sign from her that she was ok. Her faith was incredibly important to her and in a moment of such sadness, it made me laugh.