We all tend to by fascinated by questions about the afterlife – what happens to people after they die, for example, or what we will experience after we transition. Connected to these questions is the issue of ghosts and apparitions. What do these phenomena say about the afterlife and our universe?

I have pondered these questions myself over the years, in addition to having some direct experiences that have given me information, and would like to offer some insight that may shed more light on these topics and give more than the usual explanations.

The Afterlife

I’ve been privileged to tap into the Other Side over and over again in my intuitive work with clients over the years and have somewhat of an outsider’s glimpse into it as a result. (As I write “outsider,” I have one of those “not quite true” gut feelings that denies what one has stated – probably because since birth I’ve felt more comfortable There than here on Earth.) At any rate, I’ve been able to get a glimmer of the Other Side over and over again.

Most of us have witnessed mediums communicating with departed loved ones, one of the ways that many people have gotten a sense of the afterlife. What has struck me about mediumship is that every medium I have thus far seen appears to be communicating with the personality of the person who died. But that’s not what I get when I tap into the transitioned loved ones of my clients – and frankly this has puzzled me.

When I tune into someone who has died, I often have to do two things: first, tune into the person in life (when he/she was still alive) to verify that I’ve got the right person, and, secondly, to then tune into the person at the present time. However, when I tune into the present, I don’t usually get the personality of that last lifetime. Instead, I get the higher soul awareness, rather than the Sue or Tom that my client would recognize or know.

What I’ve come to learn is that we have a different persona (or personality) from one lifetime to another. Just as we will change gender, race, nationality (planet), etc. in different lifetimes, so too will we have different personalities.

At some point after we transition, we drop the persona of that lifetime and get into our higher soul awareness, the awareness that transcends and incorporates all the personas we’ve adopted from lifetime to lifetime. Whereas in life we may have been American, for example, our higher soul awareness is that of a child of the universe, not identified with any one country or culture. (Yet we can always remember who we were in any lifetime.) I’ve seen some people who were able to get into their higher soul awareness almost immediately upon transitioning (perhaps because they had a deeper or more conscious spirituality during their previous life), and I’ve seen others who took much longer to do so (and were actually struggling to acclimate to where they were for any of a variety of reasons). The length of time it takes to acclimate will vary from person to person (bearing in mind, of course, that time as it may exist on the Other Side, has no direct correlation to our experience of time here). Yes, it does get complicated!

Insofar as what people are doing on the Other Side is concerned, I’ve gotten quite diverse things – things that have given me an even better sense of the afterlife. (Because I’ve covered that in my book Invisible Blueprints, I won’t detail it here.) What I would like to say here, though, is that our loved ones don’t forget those they left behind on Earth. Even though they get into their higher soul awareness at some point and have dropped the personality of their last lifetime, they remember their loved ones, are aware of what they are experiencing, and are fully able to project their personality to their loved ones whenever they choose to. This may be what mediums are communicating with: the projection of the personality. And the reason for this may be that loved ones left behind would not take as much comfort from a communication from the higher soul awareness, devoid of the personality they knew in life. Passed-on loved ones are aware of this fact, choosing to project what would be both recognizable and comforting to those on Earth.

Ghosts and Apparitions

No discussion of departed souls would be complete without a discussion of ghosts and apparitions. I recently attended the Mensa Annual Gathering at which there were two presentations on ghosts, in addition to mine on intuition. (And, yes, Mensans were genuinely interested in these topics.) Neither presenter on ghosts covered the source of the “hauntings” in much depth – i.e., what caused them. Yet the question fascinates me.

I have read a great deal about the subject of ghosts in the last forty years, and I even lived in a house that was haunted back in the mid-70s outside of Chapel Hill. From what I’ve read and experienced, I feel that different hauntings can come from a range of causes.

Let’s take that haunted house I lived in. The house had been built in the early 20th Century and lived in by the same family for about fifty years, but had been vacant for almost twenty years when I moved in. The first night I spent there, I saw a ball of light go through the room after the light had been turned off. This was my first such experience – and it really jolted me. (It’s one thing to read about such things and quite another to experience it for the first time.) I also heard noises, like a party going on, from a room across the hall, a room that was physically empty at the time. Over the next couple of years, there were noises upstairs that sounded like children running through the room (even though the room was full of boxes and furniture and had no clear path for anyone to run through) and drawers being opened and closed. Footsteps were heard coming down the stairs a few nights, articles were moved on occasion, and the dogs would sometimes yelp and jump off the front porch. A figure fitting the description of the father of the family would sometimes be seen outside at dusk.

The noises were quite real. If I had had a tape recorder, I’m sure they could have been recorded. However, those noises felt to me that they were simply an accumulation of daily noises from the past – a residue still in the house — auditory manifestations devoid of any volition or intent. In other words, the children weren’t trying to haunt and I didn’t feel that a presence was trying to create them. The daily activities and noises of the family from over the decades were simply imprinted in some way on the house and its atmosphere.

The articles being moved, on the other hand, did seem to have volition behind them, as if someone had willfully and deliberately – if not mischievously – moved them.

What this means is that not all apparitions or manifestations are caused intentionally or that there is an intentional haunting.

There are often hauntings and apparitions in locations where there was tragedy, massive death, or great pain and suffering or stress. Take the battlefield at Gettysburg, for example, which has been reported to be haunted, or a house where there’s been a sudden, violent, or tragic death. I feel that a place that has seen intense or consistent suffering is imprinted with the emotional intensity – the emotional residue – of those involved, without any volition or intent to haunt. After all, emotions are energy, and intense emotions are intensified energy which can imprint on a physical location.

A friend recently visited an old battleship and felt the presence of the spirits of the men who had served on the ship still there. She questioned the haunting nature of this experience. Yet it may not be a true haunting in the sense of someone departed trying to haunt a place. The ship certainly saw a lot of emotional intensity during its service – fear, intense focus during battles, painful death – and that emotionality very well may have been imprinted on the ship. And, additionally, some spirits may still be there, haunting it.

A few years ago, I visited a courthouse in a small town in Arkansas widely reputed to be haunted. I was told by the guide that people who attempted to spend the night in the courtroom were usually spooked (pun intended) by what they saw, sensed, and heard – and often flee from the building. In the courtroom myself, I could feel a sense of all the people who had been in there over the years and I could sense their anxiety as they waited for their cases to be heard. Whether that was a residue or there were presences still there, I failed to try to determine. In one of the stairwells, the guide asked if I could feel anything and I replied that I had the sense of someone’s death, perhaps a rope. It turned out that someone had been lynched and hung there. The intensity of that fear and pain, I feel, was imprinted on the place, even though it didn’t feel that the victim was truly haunting the spot intentionally.

That said, there can also be intentional haunting, by those who have died and haven’t acclimated to where they are and haven’t moved on. In this case, I would say that they haven’t dropped their personalities from the lifetime and are clinging to aspects of that life and unresolved issues. It is this type of case in which people – ghost whisperers, if you will – will attempt to assist them by getting them to “go to the light” or helping them to resolve their unresolved issues. For all I know, in situations like these it’s also possible that the person did indeed get into his/her higher soul awareness after transitioning and the haunting may be an imprinted residue due to the intensity of the situation or a projection from the higher soul awareness, due to something being unresolved. (It gets even more complicated!)

Here’s yet another cause of an apparition: one presenter at the Mensa Gathering mentioned a Tibetan priest who had intentionally physically “resurrected” someone who had passed on – conjured him/her up physically. We could call this type of instance a ghost, but one has to wonder where its consciousness is – and this situation would be devoid of volition on the part of the ghost.

And now consider this instance: there was a fascinating and widely related account of two English women, Anne Moberly and Eleanor Jourdain, both academics from Oxford, who went to Paris on holiday in 1901 and toured Versailles while there. Finding their surroundings strange and encountering oddly-dressed people (in old-fashioned clothes), the two women felt that things were not quite “right” and subsequently did some research after their return to England. They discovered that the Versailles they had visited was the Versailles of the 18th Century without the architectural details and changes that had been made since that time. One woman they had seen in Versailles they later realized was Marie Antoinette. They subsequently wrote an account of their experience in An Adventure. (A good account may be found at http://members.aol.com/timeslip8888/versailles.html.) Basically these two women upon arriving in Paris had suddenly stepped into a former century.

How do we explain this type of apparition – more of a time warp than a haunting? It would appear to be the intersection of two time periods – two dimensions that inexplicably intersected, with one supplanting the other. In instances such as these, we have to wonder if the people populating these other time periods can see us and our present time period.

And now, consider this case: a friend of mine related to me an out-of-body experience he had in the sleep state. In this out-of-the-body experience, he traveled to the place where his grandfather had lived – as well as to the time period that his grandfather was alive there. During this experience, he met, talked with, and interacted with someone there. He told me that he knew during the experience that he had gone to this previous time period and even told the person he was speaking with that he didn’t live there. He related to me the person’s total shock as my friend dematerialized before his eyes as he was preparing to return to his body. So this represents yet another potential cause of apparitions: someone time-traveling during an out-of-body experience.

As you can see, there are neither consistent nor simplistic explanations for these phenomena. We may want simple explanations and we may want to understand the afterlife in our normal or our customary cultural terms, but this is not the case. My sense is that the afterlife has many surprises for us. Passed-on loved ones are not restricted to their former personalities. And hauntings, ghost, and apparitions are not necessarily caused by the same factor – or by people always trying to haunt. What this speaks to, I feel, is that our world truly reveals a greater deal of complexity than we may either realize or give it credit for. Wonderfully intricate world fully deserving of our respect and awe, isn’t it?

This article was first published in the October/November 2007 issue of “Innerchange Magazine.”

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In this section we will deal with some of the phenomena relevant to our discussion on the subject of death as probed into by researchers on the paranormal. Two of the most interesting of these phenomena that have been researched into in recent years by scientists of varied disciplines and which indicates the plausibility, and perhaps proof of the survival of consciousness from the scientific angle, are the “Out-of-the-Body Experience” (OBE) and “Near Death Experience” (NDE). These two phenomena are just two of the many ways that the afterdeath state or the survival of the consciousness may be known. Other methods of the occult tradition, however, may include meditation, and spiritualism, or channeling. Psychic phenomena that indicate life after death are those of apparitions, hauntings, possessions, and reincarnation claims. In this section we will specifically discuss OBEs and NDEs and their association with the after-death state; aside from these we will also briefly look into the practice of hypnotherapy, where it is used as a tool to successfully regress patients to the pre-natal state to uncover their life experiences in the higher planes prior to birth.

These experiences of subjects describe in some detail of the nature and life in the higher dimensions, or subtle realms. The findings of hypnotherapy substantiate certain long held assertions and claims of psychics, occultists and metaphysicians concerning the nature of “death.” In addition to OBEs and NDEs, we will, therefore, consider what hypnotherapy has uncovered through the practice of regression, as the findings are surprisingly similar to the occult tradition. Parapsychological phenomena offer us a glimpse of what contemporary scientists are discovering about the nature and survival of the human psyche through the “great initiation,” as death is often called among initiates of Mystery schools. The survival of the soul through the change called death is on the verge of being openly acknowledged by scientists and scholars of academic circles. Why, there have even been scientists that declared that the soul weighs 2 grams!

NDEs

Although NDEs are laboriously researched into in modern times, this phenomenon was known centuries ago by savants such as Henry Cornelius Agrippa, and even scholars of the ancient Greek period. Agrippa remarks in his Three Books of Occult Philosophy that Plato was well familiar with the subject of NDEs and even recorded one such NDE case in his work, “The Republic,” where he relates the story of a certain individual named Phereus of Pamphilia who was slained in battle and laid with the dead for several days in a comatose state until he returned to tell the tale of his wanderings in the netherworld. The phenomenon of NDEs is likewise no stranger to Eastern cultures. Tibetans, for instance, are well familiar with this psychological anomaly. They call such a person who returns from the threshold of death, “Delog.” Tibetan delogs relate experiences remarkably similar to their western counterparts eventhough coloured by their cultural framework.

NDEs were probably first brought to the attention to the scientific community and society in general by medical doctors and nurses. There are literally hundreds of cases on medical record where dying patients were clinically pronounced “dead,” only to revive moments later in a spontaneous manner or resuscitated with the aid of medical instruments. Clinical death is where the consciousness, reflexes, respiration and cardiac activities are suspended; it differs from biological death where the organism begins to deteriorate gradually on the cellular level. This activity of dissolution is, however, counterbalanced with a form of nourishment to certain parts of the body, and this accounts for the phenomena of the growth of hair and nails found on those who were long dead and buried but exhumed for certain reasons.

Delogs of both eastern and western cultures, testify of their visions and encounters with beings, and experiences of certain conditions or events that their soul was going through in the transition state as it left the physical body before being redrawn into physical consciousness. In NDEs, the transition in progress is always somehow interrupted for one reason or another enforcing the soul’s return to the physical world. Although some scientists are skeptical as to the nature of these experiences, these “deathbed” visions, labelling them as “hallucinations,” there are others who are convinced that delogs do in fact relate actual events occurring in different dimensional spheres. Skeptics, nevertheless, are adamant in attributing NDEs to various physical causes such as mental illnesses, anoxia, brain fever, stress, chemical or hormonal imbalance, temporal lobe seizures, drugs, anesthetics, etc. Such skeptics even attribute consciousness or the awareness-principle to chemical action and reaction in the brain. Notwithstanding these assertions of skeptics, however, it should be acknowledged that hallucinations through drugs do indicate a similarity in imagery as that of the bardo; and in a sense, certain things seen in the afterdeath state are indeed hallucinations. From the occult point of view, drugs, like the process of transition, trigger the release of subconscious images and project them onto the screen of consciousness. The images in both cases are hallucinations, but the experiences are genuine. In both cases the survival of consciousness is not disproved. Skeptics are not able to prove the annihilation of consciousness through the great change. When the matter is investigated with any seriousness though, skeptics are often instead faced with indications pointing to the possibility and plausibility of the immortality of the awareness-principle. Concerning the nature of deathbed visions, Ian Currie, paranormal researcher and author of “You Cannot Die” comments:

“Our efforts to `explain’ deathbed experiences by finding normal, ordinary causes for them have ended in complete failure. They cannot be explained by the medical condition of the dying person nor by the state of his mind, nor by his religion or cultural background . . . the only remaining possibility is that they are genuine psychic experiences” (1995:175)

The majority of NDEs share common elements. A common characteristic of the experiences of delogs, for instance, is their sense of soul-transition as something joyful and idyllic. Resuscitated subjects claim that the dying process is a blissful or a beautiful experience. Some report of even strongly fighting the urge to return to the physical form because of the strong attachment to the dying experience. There are other common characteristics of NDE that researchers have found to be impressive such as a sense of peace, painlessness and weightlessness; a sense of being discarnated and dead but alive in a euphoric sense; a perception of oneself being surrounded by deceased friends and relatives, or a spiritual being of light waiting to receive or greet the soul; a tunnel experience where one sees a white brilliance at the distance; a life-review and a sense of ascending towards the heavens; a sense of mental lucidity; a heightened psychic awareness where one perceives grieving friends and relatives; a sense of being conveyed by a guide or a current of energy to one’s soul destination in the subtle spheres; visions of beautiful landscapes and sounds of heavenly music, etc.

Paranormal researchers have been very impressed by the fact that NDEs cause a very profound transformational effect on the psyche of those who undergo the experience. They have found that the moral quality of delogs improve dramatically by transitional experiences. A reverence for life, among other spiritual qualities, was one of the characteristical expressions of transformed subjects. Psychic abilities are often developed as a result of NDEs. This alchemical transformation of the psyche through a NDE is very much akin to the psychological transformation that occurs to astronauts as they orbit above the earth in outer space.

The accounts of deathbed visions of NDEs very much parallel the visions of psychics and mystics. Incidentally, psychics who were witnessed to deathbed events, confirm the statements of the dying who were undergoing an NDE or a real transition, of the presence of discarnate beings waiting to fetch or greet them on the Otherside. Sometimes discarnate beings in the presence of the dying are seen by ordinary individuals as well. When more than one individual perceives the same thing at the same given moment, it can hardly be called a hallucination, especially when animals also react to such apparitions. Such psychic visions capture the attention and fascination of the dying and weary soul to the point where the attachments to earthly ties are forgotten and the desire for release augmented. In the same work as the above, Ian Currie sums up the core phenomena of deathbed visions that are universal to NDEs-visions that goes beyond one’s cultural background or religious beliefs:

“1) Most of the apparitions seen by the dying were `other-worldly’-dead close relatives and religious figures.

“2) Most of them were there `to take the dying away to another existence.’

“3) Most of the dying were eager to accept the invitation and `go’-by dying.

“4) Most landscapes visions were of `otherworldly’ scenery of such compelling beauty that the dying did not wish to remain in this world.

“5) Medically-inexplicable mood elevation occurred in some patients shortly before death.” (1995:175)

OBEs

Like NDEs, the phenomenon of Out-of-Body-Experiences was also widely known to ancient mystics and psychics; but unlike NDEs, OBEs, commonly called astral projection in the occult tradition, is an innate ability of the soul to voluntary project its subtle form and consciousness–and this occult ability may be unfolded with the aid of psychic exercises and occult procedures; or induced through the use of certain hallucinogenic herbs or mushrooms. OBEs may occur spontaneously, or enforced in some cases–as through accidents or anesthetics; but usually it is a voluntary practice in the occult arts.

Astral projection may be said to be the externalization or exteriorization of the consciousness from the physical form. In OBEs one feels and perceives oneself aware and functioning in a subtle, or astral body. In most cases, the astral senses perceive the physical form to be lying dormant and asleep as it emerges from the physical body. Usually though, this step is bypassed and the consciousness finds itself in another world, time, or place where physical laws do not apply. According to occultists, the quality or evolutionary status of the human soul and mind, as well as its willful expression may determine the nature of the astral form, and this very principle is being discovered by paranormal researchers. Although normally appearing as a counterpart of the physical form, the astral body is plastic-like, and may appear in any form imagined–and this quality is often taken advantage of by practicing occultists. Creative thought energy is a force that is often utilized by occultists to mould the astral form. Lycantrophy, or the so-called superstition of the metamorphosis of a human physical form into a werewolf is probably an occult practice based on the mind exerting its creative force upon the protean quality of the astral form within a certain mental matrix. It is reasonable to regard the shape-shifting of shamanism, of lycantrophy, to be of the astral form rather than the physical. In the Tibetan Tradition, one of the six realms is the world of animals. This refers to a locality within the lower astral realms where carnal and animalistic souls congregate or “incarnate.” Such souls with animal characteristics and traits assume animal forms as mentioned elsewhere in this work.

The transformable or unstable form of the astral body that occurs in OBEs is reflected in the statement of Filipo Liverziani in his book “Life, Death & Consciousness,” who along the lines of parapsychology, wrote concerning the OBE experience that:

“The projector may thus become aware of having the form of a small cloud, a wad of cotton or a luminous ball floating in space, just as he may see himself as possessing a very clearly defined human form that closely resembles that of his physical body.” (1991:33)

There are often cases in OBE phenomena where both astral and physical bodies are seen at the same time–although at different places. Technically, this is called bilocation. This phenomenon occurs when intentionally or unintentionally the vibrations of the astral form are lowered or densified with etheric substance, thus making it visible to physical perception momentarily–only to disappear at an unannounced moment. OBE subjects under such circumstances are often mistaken for “ghosts,” by Man and animals. In fact, a high percentage of ghost sightings of the so-called dead, are in fact sightings of the astral form of living human beings. As a side-interest, we may presume that, therefore, there are three kinds of apparitions: that of the dead, the living and the dying–the dying person, like the normal living individual, may spontaneously or unintentionally astral project to close relatives and friends. Apparitions of the dead and of the living share many common characteristics and abilities. This is stated emphatically by Ian Currie:

“Both the living and the dead have appeared as apparitions, been responsible for hauntings, communicated through mediums, appeared in death-bed visions, provided post-mortem accounts, spoken of a reincarnational past, and possessed the bodies of the living . . .” (1995:141)

From what we have stated so far, we may surmise that the trained mind may affect the astral form in various ways–it may affect the form of the astral, its density or frequency, and its locomotion. The astral form is described in parapsychological literature as being able to appear in three varying densities: as “invisible-permeable,” where it is invisible to physical perception, and physical objects offer no resistance as to its movement; as “transparent-semi-permeable,” where it appears as a haze to physical sight and somewhat subjected to physical laws; and “solid-appearance–impermeable to matter,” where it appears and behaves like a regular physical form and completely subjected to the laws of three-dimensionality. It should also be noted that the mind, when occultly trained and working through the astral form–and by manipulating etheric energies–may cause such psychic phenomena as the teleportation or the movement of objects. This is probably one of the many causes of the poltergeist phenomenon which is actually an unconscious manipulation of energy done by human subjects.

It is interesting to note how perception through astral senses differ from the physical. Unlike the five senses of the physical body, the astral senses are reported to be diffused throughout the astral form. Subjects of OBEs declare that they were able to see in all directions at once, that they possessed a 340-degree vision. Objects in the physical world are not perceived in the same way as through physical sight, though. Through astral eyes, earthly objects are said to appear “transparent.” According to reports, the magnetic emanations of objects are more easily seen than the physical forms themselves; and as for astral forms in general, objects in the astral world were discovered by adepts of astral projection to be “mental constructs” at the personal and collective level.

Among occult adepts living in the physical plane, as well as discarnates of the subtle spheres, the astral condition is often utilized as a media of contact between dimensions. In the astral form one is free of certain limitations or restrictions where time and space are concerned. This very fundamental law of the higher worlds is an important tool utilized by highly evolved entities to promptly attend and assist incarnated souls (or even discarnate ones) in aligning and harmonizing themselves with what may be called soul-destiny in conformity with the Divine Plan. These guides are sometimes called guardian angels or invisible helpers. These invisible helpers, whether from the physical plane or higher worlds, function as protectors, guides, and as the inner voice of incarnated souls. Hunches and intuitive impressions are often derived from these beings. They also provide strength and courage to souls who are in need of moral support.

These guardian spirits, as stated above, do not always come from higher spheres. Some of these entities are ordinary human beings with the occult ability to astral project. More often than not, they are highly evolved with much soul experience and are able to minister and offer counsel to suffering or wayward souls, or even to fulfill certain prayers addressed to the Great One. In the case of possessions or hauntings it is normally the exorcist who acts on the physical plane as counselor to the lost, confused, or “earth-bound” soul. It should be noted that not all souls may accept the proffered help by invisible guides or exorcists. In the case of possessions, such entities are forcefully ejected from the hold that they have on their victims. Generally, invisible helpers only assist and guide souls who request such help. This very principle is recognized by Liverziani who comments in his aforementioned book:

“In the spiritual world of the other dimensions it is not possible to help somebody who does not want to be helped. Help is made effective only by the fact that those who stand in need become aware of this and therefore ask for help, accept it, and collaborate with those who give it.” (1991:132)

It will be helpful here to enumerate the various points of experiences as reported by OBE subjects. According to paranormal investigators, subjects of OBEs, and collaborated by subjects of NDEs declare the following sensations and discoveries pertaining to the astral body and world:

1) A feeling of being very much alive and more mentally lucid than while being brain/body bound.

2) A feeling of euphoria, of peace profound and joy, with full possession of mental faculties.

3) A feeling of possessing a novel body with a protean quality, alterable with the use of the will–with the use of thought and desire; and that it may be densified so as to be physically visible.

4) Discovery that locomotion is driven through the use of the will.

5) Discovery that the astral body may be subtle enough to pass through physical objects and that it may be densified where interaction with the physical environment may be effected or desired.

6) Discovery that the astral form and awareness may influence the psychosomatic principles of sentient beings, as in the phenomena of psychic healing and possession.

7) Discovery that the psychic senses are heightened or enhanced; and that the consciousness functioning in full awareness in the astral world, activities in the astral realms may be engaged in.
Discovery that the astral or mental environment may be personally “created.”

Copyright © 2006 Luxamore

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This article is an open query to all ghost hunters, paranormal investigators, psychics, mediums, parapsychologists, and theologians regarding the possible moral obligations concerning assisting certain types of ghosts–as defined as the consciousness of deceased persons possibly trapped in the material realm–to move on to ‘the other side.’I am an amateur paranormal investigator with limited experience and many questions cross my mind, not only about the research and gathering ‘evidence’ of the paranormal, but also questions related to the moral, ethical, and spiritual aspects of this endeavor.My question is this:Do we have an obligation to assist ghosts in their transition to ‘the other side’?The question is based on a series of assumptions as follows.1. Ghosts are the consciousness of deceased humans and certain ghosts are ‘stuck’ in the material realm.2. Some ghosts may be unaware that they are ghosts and/or they are unable to muster the actions/steps necessary to ‘move on.’3. There is something beyond the material realm. A place or state exists that is a natural and probably desirable next step, and getting there is  necessary to complete the spiritual evolution of these free-floating ‘minds’ called ghosts. 4.  Thus we, as the living, being knowledgeable of the condition of their existence–and theoretically having the tools to assist them in their spiritual evolution–should render this assistance.The above assumptions possibly place us–as paranormal investigators and others concerned with the spiritual evolution of our species–in a unique position to be able to provide this assistance. If the assumptions above are true and/or you believe in ghosts, to not act based on these assumptions be could something akin to leaving Kitty Genovese bleeding on the street.If you believe that people should be altruistic–that is being obligated and willing to help our fellow humans (and ghosts)–we should seriously consider this issue.There is research that shows that humans can be altruistic. They certainly may demonstrate this trait. We operate in groups for the greater good and are social creatures. However, there is also social psychological research that demonstrates that we are very selfish, e.g. we may only clearly operate altruistically when it serves our own needs/ideals or that of our family. We may be unique in the animal kingdom considering our combination of altruistic and selfish traits. The discussion of  these psychological and sociological ideas certainly goes beyond the constrains of this article, but they do bear mentioning.So, when considering this question, one has to look deep into oneself and society and consider whether your answer to the question is self-serving or genuinely altruistic.Considering the popular television show Ghost Hunters, rarely do they televise cleansing efforts, involve religious authorities or psychics specific to this issue, and it appears that their activities in regards to their clients mostly involve educating their clients to paranormal phenomena with the tenet that knowledge reduces fear–and that there is really nothing to fear. At least for the humans involved.This is just on the surface, and TAPS (The Atlantic Paranormal Society) certainly provides more services than is discernable from their television show and  has demonstrated the capability to provide referrals to professionals and experts capable of operating under the assumptions I mentioned earlier.Anyone that has done any background research on Grant, Jason, and Steve–the force behind TAPS– realizes that their paranormal experiences far exceeds what is able to be shown in an hour television show. For all the commercialization and debates to as to whether the ‘evidence’ they present is valid, they do deserve immense credit to bringing the realm of the paranormal–and implications on the spiritual evolution of the human race–to light and educating the general public in regards to these type of phenomena as genuine and legitimate human experiences. Other television shows have a bent that lends themselves more toward addressing the possible  moral and ethical responsibilities that this article is questioning. Paranormal State, the team of young investigators and paranormal entrepreneurs from Penn State, definitely deserves credit for bringing this issue more to light and embracing a wider spirituality that underlies the entire endeavor. Both groups, Ghost Hunters and Paranormal State, are clearly human-centric. The living are more important then the dead. Their needs take precedent, being the primary needs in any case. This is a premise I have to believe, as my belief in ghosts and the afterlife are unresolved at best. If a child is scared, or an adult is being tormented by paranormal experiences, the impact on their quality of life is obvious. Why the supposed ‘ghosts’ are exhibiting this ‘behavior’ is always secondary to the needs of the living..Are we racist against ghosts? Do we neglect their needs in support of the living? Absolutely, but this is the way it is. There is a conscious and unconscious assigning of priorities in any paranormal investigation, and whether we are ‘racists’ considering ghosts is fodder for another article, the implications of which are not discussed here. I take this type of bias as possible indication of genuine altruism exhibited by the human race. It is one of the ways that demonstrates that we, as living humans, are part of the same family. Ghosts, by definition, are not, though perhaps they once were. Thus ghosts become the second-class citizens of any paranormal investigation. Though ghosts are the reason we’re investigating in the first place, in reality they are not. We are investigating for us, and sometimes ghosts are treated like nothing more then strange animals in a zoo where we go to gawk. Again, these issues are very interesting, but beyond the bounds of this article.So, we come back to the original question:Do we have an obligation to help ghosts move to the other side?Consider the following series of questions which represent a potential can of worms related to the question above. 1. What if some ghosts choose to stay?There are documented cases of people who are alive, astrally traveling or presumably engaging in ESP and appearing as apparitions to people, family members, or even complete strangers. How do you determine the difference between this phenomena and that of a  haunting? Then we would need to determine the difference between a residual haunting and an intelligent haunting, assuming that residual haunting is not caused by a conscious spirit.What’s left may be an intelligent haunting. If so, how would we decide if the ghost wants to be here, or that it doesn’t know it is trapped? What if the ghost knows it’s trapped, and believes that the other side is hell? Again, we have a can of worms here which may place us–as paranormal investigators–casting judgements that have already been decided by the concepts of God across a variety of religions.2. How do we determine the reasons why an intelligent ghost is staying?  How do we decide those reasons presumably using the tools we have now?3. Once we’ve determined the answers to #1 and #2, what do we do next? How do we decide which ghosts to help, and those that don’t need or want our help? What tactics do we employ to accomplish this?So, we are left with a series of questions that are very important, addressing the basic premise of what it is to be human–and to be a ghost–and our obligations and responsibilities as to what that means. Ranging from theology, spirituality, psychology, to the tactics of ghost hunting, this “hobby” certainly generates questions–and possibly answers–that may affect all of the human race.I have no answers, only questions. However, in my quest to become a more competent paranormal investigator, I believe the techniques and technology are the relatively easy questions to address. The questions behind why we are employing such tactics–the difficult part in my opinion–and our eventual goals become very important for all ghost hunters to consider.I firmly believe that we cannot flail blindly in the dark when dealing with such questions. I think, whether we believe in ghosts or not, we do have an obligation to help them if they need it. Not to do so makes you less human in my opinion. And, I feel that many groups neglect these questions or when they are addressed, it is done so in an cursory and self-serving way. I certainly do not exempt myself from this, and perhaps writing this makes me a hypocrite. In my opinion, there are many obstacles in the way of developing any type of consensus in these matters. One of the main obstacles is inconsistent use of language and even a basic ignorance, and perhaps disagreement, in regards to various terminology.For example, many groups state that their goal is to find proof of the paranormal. This is a misnomer. The fact is that paranormal phenomena does exist. I define paranormal as something that is currently unexplainable by science. There is plenty of phenomena that is unexplainable by science, as every scientist will tell you.One needs to clearly define the words they are using if they pretend they are doing something remotely resembling scientific research. If everyone uses the same word in a different way, no one has any idea what anyone is talking about. In scientific research, one doesn’t generally have to worry about this. In the field of paranormal investigation, I feel this problem is pervasive.Some groups clearly state that their goal is to prove the existence of the afterlife or life after death. These groups come more closely to presenting themselves in a way that elucidates their goals. But what exactly are their goals? Lets be frank, no one is probably ever going to prove the existence of the afterlife in the foreseeable future. A lofty goal, sure, but one in all likelihood is probably  unobtainable. Setting realistic goals is important in any endeavor, and ghost hunting is no different. Perhaps setting such an all encompassing goal undermines the method, and the ability to work toward obtaining this goal. Running around, taking strange photographs, capturing audio of unexplained voices, and documenting cold spots and spikes in EMF activity may not be advancing the body of knowledge toward proving the afterlife in any meaningful way. However, at this point, these are some the most popular tools we have.If you do want to prove the existence of the afterlife, and you capture some evidence of what you feel is a ghost, how come most people just walk away from it? They put the picture on their Web site and show it off, with little regard to the ghost itself. Even worse then that, they may return to the location–even bringing in more investigators–in an attempt to capture further ‘evidence.’ And yet, what is done as far as attempts to determine why the ‘ghost’ is there and what can be done to help it’s spiritual evolution? Again, this unfortunate spirit is reduced to an exhibit, a zoo animal, and something to be harassed. There has to be more then that, and as a ghost hunter or paranormal investigator, especially if you believe in ghosts, you should do something about it, and hopefully something that will help on a spiritual level. Otherwise, in my opinion, you are nothing better then a tourist and an amateur, and are solely thinking of your own needs and desires. In other words, you are being self-serving.Many groups are very committed to debunking. In my mind, these groups have less of an obligation to assist these disembodied spirits. For myself, I am not convinced of the existence of ghosts. The paranormal phenomena I have captured evidence of is simply that in my mind. It’s paranormal–unexplained by science. Subsequently calling such phenomena a ghost is a leap of faith I can’t make with any degree of certainty at this time. Thus, I’m fairly comfortable not attaching any spiritual implications or obligations to any such phenomena.Until I am actually convinced that there are such things as ghosts, I don’t necessarily feel any obligation to take further steps beyond just trying to figure out what “it” is. However, I do articulate this, and don’t run around identifying such phenomena as ghosts, then do nothing about it. Also, I do work with people who study these aspects of paranormal investigations, and feel that they have the skills to address these aspects if necessary.Of course, I may be wrong and self-serving and–in an effort to justify my actions and reconcile them with my thoughts and opinions on the subject–may be neglecting a very important piece of the puzzle. In fact, I have a nagging feeling in the back of my head this may be the very case.Given the original premise of this article, ghost hunters become elevated to a unique group– a group who has to have an understanding of human psychology, culture, and spirituality, and be able to offer advice and take action concerning a spirits spiritual well-being.The field of paranormal investigation will evolved only  if people consider the basic questions, motivations, and drives beyond just capturing evidence. Look at the original question underneath it all…why do we do this?To take a basic tenet of ethics, one must first do no harm. Regardless of whether ghosts exist–and by default this implies the existence of an afterlife–I sincerely don’t believe that most paranormal investigators are causing any harm. But if one does consider the spiritual implications regarding helping a trapped spirit, we are acting on a body of imperfect knowledge, and thus by doing so, perhaps could cause harm if we aren’t very careful and thoughtful in our methods.So, are there any answers in this article? Probably not, but there are many questions and the half-baked musings of an amateur ghost hunter who may just be in over his head.

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