Research suggests 'ghosts' could be all in the mind..

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The whole article is Here .

If I get a chance later I will see if I can find the original study if anyone's interested in reading it.

I saw this story on the BBC website this morning.

It makes me wonder about the workings of the brain. The way I see it, just because a part of the brain is active when we experience 'supernatural' phenomena, that doesn't mean that the experience isn't real. Maybe these 'malfunctions' of the brain are actually intended and used to interact with the 'supernatural'. The fact that scientists can replicate such things does not make them illusory. I can press the accelerator pedal on my car and make it lurch forward. That is a far cry from its intended function of controlling the speed of my car.

We are no where near understanding the brain, never mind the 'soul'. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

I also read this article, it would seem to me that scientists have appeared to have found a way to manipulate a sort of manual tuning button in the brain, I always thought that our brains and bodies automatically are tuned to sense and pick up energies around us?

Ecthalion wrote: We are no where near understanding the brain, never mind the 'soul'. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Actually neuroscience has come a pretty long way in developing a better understanding of the human brain....
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_helmet

Zenchi wrote: Actually neuroscience has come a pretty long way in developing a better understanding of the human brain

A better understanding yes, but still a negligible one. There is far, far more that we do not understand about the workings of the brain than we do.

There is no scientific evidence supporting the evidence of the soul/spirit, all opinions on the matter are just that, opinions, and although we are entitled to them, they are not universal and should not be presented as such

I agree wholeheartedly. However, just because something has not yet been adequately explained and understood, it does not mean that it is an imaginary phenomenon. There are some subjects which science cannot tackle. These are the realm of the philosopher, the metaphysicist and the mystic. Imaginary? - Maybe, but I remain open-minded and am not quick to dismiss.

Of course Buddhists would just say that everything was in the Mind :silly:

There is a quote from House MD (Season 3?) when House - the great atheist - reported that he had had a supernatural event happen to him. He reported seeing the lives of several other people he had never met, Wilson (his best friend) asks whether or not it was real, House's response was "What do you mean by real? They were real experiences, as to what they mean? I don't know".

Ecthalion wrote: Maybe these 'malfunctions' of the brain are actually intended and used to interact with the 'supernatural'.

What do you mean by 'intended'? If it were an evolutionary thing, then what benefit would be gained.. and evolution doesn't 'intend' anything.. many things happen evolutionarily that aren't actually a benefit. And if you mean 'intended' in the sense of an intelligently designed purposes, then I'm still not sure what benefit there is to be gained. Or am I missing your point.

Edan wrote: What do you mean by 'intended'? If it were an evolutionary thing, then what benefit would be gained.. and evolution doesn't 'intend' anything.. many things happen evolutionarily that aren't actually a benefit. And if you mean 'intended' in the sense of an intelligently designed purposes, then I'm still not sure what benefit there is to be gained. Or am I missing your point.

By 'intended' I mean that the purpose of our lives might not be just to survive and pass on our genes as dictated by evolution. Maybe we are here for some greater reason. Maybe we are aspects of the 'divine' and, so as not to totally forget our true nature, we are given 'clues', such as sunsets, rainbows, dreams and the like which arouse 'spiritual' feelings. These are the 'benefits' of which I speak.

I suppose that I am proposing intelligent design, although I would hasten to add that I do believe in evolution as the vehicle for this design.

I may of course be totally wrong. This is my gut feelings rather than a scientifically supported theory. The way I look at it is that the nature of the universe is a puzzle. We can use science to understand the box we are in, but not to see what lies beyond. For that we rely on more 'spiritual' hints.

Ecthalion wrote:

Zenchi wrote: Actually neuroscience has come a pretty long way in developing a better understanding of the human brain

A better understanding yes, but still a negligible one.

Compared to what exactly? Where we were thirty or fifty years ago in regards to progress in the field of neuroscience?

Stating the progress made in this field is negligible I think is really cutting short how far we have come to understanding ourselves. That's of course not to say there's nothing left to discover in the field of neuroscience, but calling our progress negligible?

Zenchi wrote: Stating the progress made in this field is negligible I think is really cutting short how far we have come to understanding ourselves. That's of course not to say there's nothing left to discover in the field of neuroscience, but negligible?[/color]

Yes we do understand a great deal more than we used to but there is a huge amount we do not know. It's like understanding a tyre and a boot compared to understanding a whole car - petrol tank, electronics, engine, suspension and all.

Ecthalion wrote:

Zenchi wrote: Stating the progress made in this field is negligible I think is really cutting short how far we have come to understanding ourselves. That's of course not to say there's nothing left to discover in the field of neuroscience, but negligible?[/color]

Yes we do understand a great deal more than we used to but there is a huge amount we do not know. It's like understanding a tyre and a boot compared to understanding a whole car - petrol tank, electronics, engine, suspension and all.

Yes, there's quite a bit we "don't know," but calling man's progress negligible? Again I ask the question, compared to what?

Psychology, psychiatry and brain surgery suggest we know how to do a little more than just change a tyre...

Zenchi wrote: Yes, there's quite a bit we "don't know," but calling man's progress negligible? Again I ask the question, compared to what?

Compared to the whole picture.

2tzb wrote: Psychology, psychiatry and brain surgery suggest we know how to do a little more than just change a tyre...

I disagree. We know so little in the grand scheme of things, but I will leave it there.

Ecthalion wrote:

Zenchi wrote: Yes, there's quite a bit we "don't know," but calling man's progress negligible? Again I ask the question, compared to what?

Compared to the whole picture.

That's very vague and generalized, and does not help to prove your point of view. Are you a psychologist, a neurosurgeon? If you have no significant experience in regards to specific fields of the human brain, then it is personal opinion, and you're entitled to it...

Zenchi wrote: That's very vague and generalized, and does not help to prove your point of view. Are you a psychologist, a neurosurgeon? If you have no significant experience in regards to specific fields of the human brain, then it is personal opinion, and you're entitled to it...

It may well be 'vague and generalised'. It is not intended to 'prove' my point of view. I am merely sharing my opinion. I am neither a psychologist nor a neurosurgeon but I do know that consciousness is a long way from being understood, as are dreams and NDEs.

Yes we know a lot, but there is much more that we do not. Of course this is only my opinion. Maybe we know 90% of all there is to know, but I doubt it.

is it a malfunction of the brain, or a function of the brain that we just don't have enough data on yet?

The movie "Lucy" was quite thought provoking!

Ecthalion wrote: Maybe we are here for some greater reason. Maybe we are aspects of the 'divine' and, so as not to totally forget our true nature, we are given 'clues', such as sunsets, rainbows, dreams and the like which arouse 'spiritual' feelings. These are the 'benefits' of which I speak.

I personally do not ascribe any divine purpose to the universe. I believe that things happen simply because that is the way things are. Does a tree need a "purpose" behind why it's leaves fall in autumn? Do waves need a "purpose" behind why they lap on shores?

Why are you focusing on the divine? One can ask the same question: "Maybe we are aspects of the 'manifest evil of the universe' and, so as not to totally forget our true nature, we are given 'clues', such as pain, terror, disease and the like which arouse 'spiritual' feelings'."

When one focuses on the positive one can just as easily focus on the negative:

Tao Te Ching 2 wrote: When people see some things as beautiful,
other things become ugly.
When people see some things as good,
other things become bad.

Being and non-being create each other.
Difficult and easy support each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and low depend on each other.
Before and after follow each other.

Therefore the Master
acts without doing anything
and teaches without saying anything.
Things arise and she lets them come;
things disappear and she lets them go.
She has but doesn't possess, acts but doesn't expect.
When her work is done, she forgets it.
That is why it lasts forever.

Akkarin wrote: Why are you focusing on the divine? One can ask the same question: "Maybe we are aspects of the 'manifest evil of the universe' and, so as not to totally forget our true nature, we are given 'clues', such as pain, terror, disease and the like which arouse 'spiritual' feelings'."

A good point. It's just a 'sense' I have. I see the physical nature of the universe as 'negative' but the spiritual as 'positive'. The two are necessary aspects of the same thing.

None of this is set in stone. It's all a mystery to me which I cannot understand (despite years of trying) and my views change often. I try to stay open minded (but often fail!).

In regards of the OP, as much as I would love to see a ghost, I've never experienced anything but my own imagination trying to scare dickens out of me... I acknowledge the theoretical possibility and potential energetic mechanisms, but beyond hyper-imagination, I've not seen anything to convince me...

In regards of Humanity progressing, we have not a shred of evidence that "man's humanity to man" is any better than in Plato's day or before...

We have some awesome Tech which hugely benefits a small percentage of the earth's population... But that doesn't mean humanity has progressed.

There is lots of evidence that our ancient forbears practiced brain surgery, that isn't a gauge I would use. Our medicines and vaccines do give us a leg up, but the way in which we distribute their benefits, still argues against improvements in our "Humanity"...

There clearly isn't much evolutionary benefit to "improving" humanity, so we'll just have to break the mold and boot-strap it ourselves...

One thousand years ago the Golden age of the Islamic civilization flamed out and bequeathed its spark to the European "Enlightenment" commencing some 400 years ago... We're still the same nasty brawling brats.

Just my 2 centavos.

Apologies to Edan for continuing the derail of your OP... :dry:

Of course ghosts are all in our mind, everything is. Everything we know starts in our minds.