A sureshot way to eradicate superstition / myLot

India

December 26, 2012 6:29am CST

Often I come across articles in magazines claiming that ghosts and spirits don't exist and that believing in them is just a superstition.Also there are magazines that,it seems,have launched an agitation to eradicate superstition.I highly appreciate their good intention,but sometimes a question strikes my mind.If these writers and editors are so motivated to eradicate superstition,why don't they spend a night or two in the houses and places that have been called haunted? Such houses and places are scattered across the world. If these writers and editors decide to implement just one night in any such place,I am sure they would send a very positive message to their readers and they would successfully eradicate superstition and blind belief. Would you please tell me what you think? Would it not be a very practical way to crack down on superstition?

2 people like this

7 responses

myl999

@myl999 (2093)

• India

26 Dec 12

yes very truely there are positive and negative things about the same thing.Like as you said some people do not believe in ghosts existance but they are not able to explain some deaths under certain circumstances without an explanation or some situation occurring under strange circumstances.I say it this way as there is darkness after the lighted part which is true is not it possible that when there is existence of god is there negative energy also named evil stands there.I have personally many experiences which people will not believe and say those may be pure hallucinations but at the age of 43 I know those were real incidents happened before me.I believe in existence of ghosts and spirits like I believe in god.But I also do believe that superstition also exists on a big part of this country because of which many real incidents are not accepted as real.There are groups and people who are trying to fight the superstition , many a times I have seen tv programs doing programs where in they say that this is seen live but no one showed any ghosts.I believe that ghosts can be seen but recording the meeting with them in a planned manner is not possible.Many thing happens in our life which do not have any explanation and normally people do not believe them...I am much educated having a professional qualification but my personal encounters and experiences made me believe that these things exist and this can not be changed by anyone. One example I can cite here..in my region it is believed that ladies acquire some vidyas to achieve prosperity but to sustain the knowledge or sidhhi they need human blood and stool everyday and it is believed that they suck blood at night getting their physical appearance changed.I personally have not seen any one sucking but examined the marks believed to be made from those kind of suckings after the night and many really are seen like the forms of lips and dental marks also ca be seen. But though many rude incidents also happens which are termed as crimes because of these believes but never proved and it is true that this things can not be proved before law.I can say a lot more but think will be much longer...

@else22 (4317)

• India

26 Dec 12

You are absolutely right.It is yet to be proved whether ghosts exist or not.No scientist has been able to prove that they don't exist.In this situation,how can we say that believing in ghosts is a superstition?Like you I too have witnessed many things that can't be explained.I am also an educated man and a firm believer in God.My mother had once seen a woman cooking something in our kitchen at midnight.At first,she thought it may be any of my sisters in law,but at the same time she saw that all my brothers' rooms were closed.Frightened she shut the door,came to me almost running and told me what she had seen a few seconds ago.We both then returned to see who the woman was,but the kitchen was shut and nobody was there. This was only one incidnt that had taken place in my life. One of my friend does not believe in ghosts,but when I asked him to accompany me to the cremation ground at night,he developed cold feet. I think,it would be more scientific to say that ghosts may or may not exist.What we have seen,experienced or proved is just the tip of the iceburg.There is still a lot that is still unknown. Hope you have got me.I believe ghosts exist.We can't defy their existence just because most of us have not ever had spooky experiences. I fully agree with you. By the way,myl,how is your mom now?Hope,she must be fit and well.

myl999

@myl999 (2093)

• India

26 Dec 12

very true...my mother is still struggling with the back pain she developed and for this she had to cancel her pilgrimage for which I feel sorry and now she is undergoing treatment and I hope she will be ready to travel till summer and then the exams of my kids will be over and we are planning to let her complete her pilgrimage then with the family I hope she will enjoy it more than going alone.Thanks for your concern and I am happy you remember. Even when talking about ghosts I can give one real experience of mine..it is almost before 1990 I was in a scout group and we were assigned to handle some movement going to save some area and mobs were there to control.we travelled to the place in a bus which is a somewhat remote area and unfortunately we were given a place to stay which was earlier a maternity hospital as per the adjustment and as scouts volunteers we were not able to deny or resist and we stayed..in the night we all could see in our bare eye the shouts of ladies and movement and shaking of beds ,changing of sheets and pillows,moving of the beds and stratures which are left broken.no one to go for help we all just lit up candles around us and stay awakened the whole night and had the trauma and the next early morning we all just run to the bus stop and went back to our homes even without seeking permission from the authorities who brought us there.later we heard that the hospital was closed for years after a lot of maternal and child deaths that was a real horrible night for me and many others we were some 15 in the group from different places.I can never forgot this incident till my life and I think the same is for the all who were there with me that night who spent sitting in one bed the whole night. But I still feel like talking to a ghost some day as I have come over the tender age and now have gained more knowledge about these kind of things.

else22

@else22 (4317)

• India

27 Dec 12

Oh my....!Thank God,you and your friends escaped safe.Such incidences often take place.Ghosts show their presence around you without being visible.My father had got a house built in our garden that was about one kilometer away from our place.Our garden was just in between two graveyards.Years passed by and the house was left desolated.Only the boys from the adjacent area or members of our family visited it from time to time.I can never forget that afternoon when I was in the building.Suddenly a frightening,spooky feeling gripped me.I could clearly feel someone invisible forcing me to leave the house at once.I could feel someone was staring at me from a corner of the ceiling.I can't tell you how frieghtning a feeling it was.And almost rushing madly I left the house.I still remember I was trembling even when I came to the place where our servants were watering the newly planted saplings.I won't forget the experience till my last breath.

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berting600

@berting600 (3453)

• Philippines

26 Dec 12

Does this mean that you do not believe in ghost?I do believe in their existence,as there are other entities we do not see are really existing,yet I can not forced anyone to believe me,including you,yet they really exist,and I believe in them.If you let them try to stay in a haunted house,I am quite sure the next day they would say they believe in the existence of these entities,as they fave feel their presence in the haunted house.All of these entities are present in our house.How many people are living in a house,that was also their number,and I do not know the reason,yet I know they are of the same number as to the occupants of a house.

else22

@else22 (4317)

• India

27 Dec 12

I believe in the paranormal.I firmly believe they exist as we do.The only difference is that they are not visible whereas we are.They become visible only when they wish to.Sometimes they just show the signs of their presence.I have felt their presence many times around me.If I go on narrating my experiences here,it will take me a long time. What I meant to convey through this discussion is that it is easy to deny their existence by writing articles sitting comfortably in airconditioned rooms.These seld proclaimed writers with a 'scienitific' mentality should be asked to spend a night in a haunted house.

else22

@else22 (4317)

• India

27 Dec 12

else22

@else22 (4317)

• India

27 Dec 12

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vanny

@vandana7 (98718)

• India

26 Dec 12

Actually I believe that there are gray areas. I mean its something you think you know but cant be 100 percent certain. Like you think you believe in god, but you cant be hundred percent certain. There is no way to confirm such things, as yet. However, some people have found ingenious ways to add to this uncertainty by playing pranks like pulling ash out of nowhere and doing other magics. Logic says ghost doesnt exist, because we have not come across one. Nor have our loved ones. The same logic should tell us god too doesnt exist, right? How many would be willing to accept that? So if god exists, so does the devil/ghost/whatever. Like god is not witnessed anywhere, nor is the devil. But, the human mind KNOWS that it cannot confirm it either way. Given that one percent loophole, the person who chooses to stay in the haunted house will have his psychology played upon by his own mind. It is one thing to live in a house that you dont know as a haunted house, and it is another thing to know about it, and experience apparitions. At the best, it is dangerous because any sound and light effect or breeze effect can cause cardiac arrest because mind of a rational person is open to all possibilities.

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vanny

@vandana7 (98718)

• India

29 Dec 12

If there are ghosts, I am sure my mom would have visited me, and protected me, and her mother too, and my maternal and paternal grand parents. :) I would have liked that very much. :) Seriously...we cant confirm either way..existence or non-existence of ghosts, god, devil, aliens, whatever - AS YET. Its up to people to believe what they wish to based on whose version they have more faith. What is annoying is some unscrupulous people making money out of such things. I mean ...if somebody wanted a property at a throwaway price, he would say this house would not be good because it is haunted or it is positioned in a specific way. Then they would come forward with a trick or magic to prove their point, and at times coincidences are there. Finally, they will come forward with a remedy or a party willing to buy it at throwaway price. Obviously, they are getting hefty commission in there. So those who are fighting superstitions are helping people identify magic or trick. I think that is a good thing. Dont you think? As to real existence, I am a great one for seeing is believing, and as yet I have not seen one, so I dont believe in it. That does not mean I wont change my opinion later..if I see one. And long ago, I read that human mind cannot imagine what does not exist. Likewise, human mind might be all potent to create what does not exist. Its almost like whether the egg came first or the chicken. So I dont know whether ghosts exist or whether they are from human imagination. Coincidences happen. Quite often, there are logical and legitimate explanations, which due to panic or preconditioning of mind, people overlook.

else22

@else22 (4317)

• India

28 Dec 12

I am not a superstitious man,vandana.At least I think so.But I believe if there is smoke,there must be fire somewhere.You can't rule out the presence of fire.There are a lot of people around you and me who have come across spooky experiences.I know many persons who had spent a night in a house that they didn't know was haunted.They stayed there without any pre-assumptions,but left the house suddenly at the very night or the next day.For example,see myl's response to this discussion. What I want to say is that if there are people who say they have encountered such things,if such incidents have been taking place across the world,the scientists should try to discover the truth behind them.We can't rule out the existence of ghosts just because they are invisible. And the writers and editors writing and publishing articles defying the existence of ghosts must be persons without any such presunptions.Why should they not prove their claims practically.

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Professor2010

@Professor2010 (20162)

• India

19 Jan 13

I don't think this is the surest way to eradicate superstition. I believe in ghosts/spirits/ demons/witches/extrasensory perception/para psychology. Ghost do exist, they live in a parallel plane, most of them are harmless. In my home we have a 120 years drumstick tree, 2 ghosts live there, i have seen them, they never did any harm to us.

else22

@else22 (4317)

• India

19 Jan 13

I believe in the paranormal too.Although I have never encountered any ghost till now, many a time I have felt their presence around me.Believing in the paranormal is not superstition.We can't say that something we don't see or have not seen does not exist.Once the pujari of a local Shiva Temple had said to me he could show me a ghost,but as my mother was seriously ill then,I couldn't afford to spend a night at his hut. Thanks for the comment.

dee777

@dee777 (1417)

• South Africa

27 Dec 12

Superstition is the total opposite of believe, and I choose not to even read anything that will sidetrack me from my belief. With this I do not say that there are no ghosts etc., I simply choose not to focus on the dark side of life. There are too many other beautiful, positive things in life to give our energy to. Take care!

superstition vs belief

else22

@else22 (4317)

• India

29 Dec 12

Hi dee,I honor your views,but I want to say to you only one thing.Why do you like to focus only on the positive side of life?Why shouldn't you focus yourself on life as a whole?Everything around us has a dark and a bright side.Unless you focus on both the sides of life,how can you understand it?And if you firmly believe on the positive aspect of life,then the firmness of your belief cannot be shaken by knowing the dark aspects. Ihave a positive attitude,but I believe that the paranormal is the one thing that is still unknown and unexplained.Simply going on ruling out the existence of ghosts without having a practical experience of them is,in my opinion,absurd.If there is smoke,there must be fire somewhere.

cui_hezron

@cui_hezron (75)

• United States

26 Dec 12

For my own opinion, we cannot stop those people who still believe to superstitious beliefs. It is just like my mom. She has grown up with my grandmother who practice those beliefs. I, his son, do not believe those kinds. I told her so many times that it was just their 'unnatural beliefs'. I just can't stop laughing at mom sometimes because of that. But I still do respect them for their own beliefs. :)

@else22 (4317)

• India

29 Dec 12

No,no,cui,I think,we must not underestimate the spooky experiences and try to reduce them to blind beliefs.Stories and incidents of such wired experiences have been told and heard for thousands of years and all those who tell them must not be mistaken as liars.They have certainly experienced such things.I include myself in them.I have had such experiences.I can't explain them. I have also read articles defying the existence of ghosts.The writers of these articles xlaim themselves to be of scientific attitude and rational.If they don't believe in ghosts and the paranormal,why not they prove their claims by staying in a haunted house and escaping safe?Writing articles sitting in an airconditioned chamber is one thing,experiencing them practically is another.Don't they like to prove their claims practically?

anklesmash

@anklesmash (1412)

•

26 Dec 12

Whilst I think that believing in ghosts is nothing but silly superstition I don't think it would be possible to eradicate belief in it.If didn't work with people who believed the world would end on the 21st of December.I thoroughly explained the logical reasons why the world wouldn't end but some of them were still absolutely convinced that it would.Some ideas are almost impossible to remove from a persons mind.

else22

@else22 (4317)

• India

26 Dec 12

Unlike you I believe in the paranormal.I believe ghosts and spirits do exist.The universe we live is mysterious and we still don't know everything that exist in it.Writers who want to showcase themselves and rational write articles claiming that ghosts don't exist.A Hindi magazine always publishes articles that disapprove existence of ghosts.My question is,if all this is nothing more than a blind belief,then why don't these writers and editors summon courage to spend a night in the so called most haunted houses and places?Do they think they can eradicate superstition simply by writing articles or publishing them?If you believe something does not exist,it is your duty to prove your view practically. I believe ghosts exist,or may exist.Till now I have no proof defying their existence.