Kevin Daly
Skilled Investigator
OK folks,
Wild speculation time (because that's what I do):
If we allow the possibility that the self persists in a meaningful way after death (and I know that even among those who believe in ghosts that is not a given, but this is spec) there must be a transition of some kind between our experience as fully-paid up members of the physical universe and the unimaginable "What Comes Next".
Dying has been compared with falling asleep - but what if that's more than a metaphor (and I'd argue in favour of our consciousness being a kind of sleep in any case)?
If some individuals fail (at least initially) to make the transition to the afterlife version of consciousness, could their condition be similar to a kind of dreaming, with little control over their actions and little understanding of their situation?
The idea that ghosts don't know they're dead (when you'd think they'd notice something odd about their situation, assuming some ability to reason remains) would then be analogous to the state of a dreamer who doesn't know they are dreaming (I don't know about the rest of you but when I realise I'm dreaming, I wake up).
That would be fairly consistent with many accounts of hauntings.
Wild speculation time (because that's what I do):
If we allow the possibility that the self persists in a meaningful way after death (and I know that even among those who believe in ghosts that is not a given, but this is spec) there must be a transition of some kind between our experience as fully-paid up members of the physical universe and the unimaginable "What Comes Next".
Dying has been compared with falling asleep - but what if that's more than a metaphor (and I'd argue in favour of our consciousness being a kind of sleep in any case)?
If some individuals fail (at least initially) to make the transition to the afterlife version of consciousness, could their condition be similar to a kind of dreaming, with little control over their actions and little understanding of their situation?
The idea that ghosts don't know they're dead (when you'd think they'd notice something odd about their situation, assuming some ability to reason remains) would then be analogous to the state of a dreamer who doesn't know they are dreaming (I don't know about the rest of you but when I realise I'm dreaming, I wake up).
That would be fairly consistent with many accounts of hauntings.