Have you ever known a situation where you don’t think about something for ages and then all of sudden one topic seems to crop up in different places in a short space of time? Take for example the question of whether or not ghosts are capable of hurting physical people. In the past week I have come across that question three separate times – firstly in an article by Tom Cooney, secondly as part of an investigative paranormal television program and then as a question from my own ten-year old daughter. So can ghosts hurt us?
In the first instance of course there has to be an assumption that ghosts do exist in our physical world. I for one, am a person who not only believes in ghosts but I have actually seen some, and felt the presence of others at a number of times in my life. So for me it is perfectly normal to assume that ghosts do exist. But what about people who don’t believe in ghosts – are they capable of being hurt (assuming ghosts could hurt living people) by something they don’t believe in – well this is another assumption we will make – that if ghosts were capable of hurting people, then they would be able to regardless of whether or not they were believed in or not.
The second consideration that has to be thought out is a definition of hurt. Tom Cooney, who has written a number of different articles on the paranormal, asked this question in one of his discussions. He noted that if the term “hurt" included not only physical pain (which is often what the term is used to define) but also emotional, spiritual or psychological pain then it was possible that a ghost’s presence could have that effect on some people, so then the answer would be “yes" ghosts could hurt people.
For me though, I would be more interested in the intent behind any spiritual action, and it is my belief that true ghosts, as opposed to other spiritual entities, do not intend to hurt anybody living. They simply have a different method of communication than some people are used to.
If you watch any popular television programs that deal with ghosts there is generally some hysterical person who is in a state because he/she has been impacted by unexplained phenomena and quite often the program goes on to show an almost textbook case of mass hysteria occurring within the one building that is supposedly haunted by a ghost. It is this personification of haunting that have greatly maligned the whole idea of ghosts in our western society.
The word “hurt" implies to me a malicious intention; if you set out to hurt someone then there is often a negative emotion behind this action. Of course it is possible to hurt people through omission or even by accident; it is also possible to feel remorse over an action that may hurt another person but do ghosts have these same problems despite the fact that they operate on a separate plain of existence? Well I guess that depends on the ghost, but we are getting ahead of ourselves.
Logically a ghost is not capable of physically hurting a living person simply because they do operate on a different plain of existence. They do not have as solid a physical state as we do; while they may manifest themselves in a way we may recognize in terms of dress and mannerisms, the image is one that has no actual physical substance. So if you had a ghost walk up to you and slap you around the face it is unlikely that you would sustain any bruising or even feel any of the expected impact from the blow. You may feel a draft, you may feel a chill for a short moment as your energies meet the energies of spirits, but that would be the extent of the physical damage.
The question as to whether or not a ghost might emotionally or psychologically hurt a person is more difficult to address. Without being rude many negative ghost/living interactions are caused more by a living person who has his/her own reasons for rejecting the encounter, than being a fault of the spirit involved.
Many people have a social or religious reason for rejecting the concept of ghosts, so any paranormal activity in a family home could cause stress to the family. There are other people who believe that any paranormal experience could only be the work of the devil and so these encounters can be seen as evil – and unfortunately popular movies such as the Amityville horrors perpetuate this myth.
In both of these instances a ghostly encounter could cause emotional and psychological harm and there is plenty of evidence to show that major stress can cause negative physical symptoms. Is this the ghost’s fault, I personally don’t think so but of course situations involving persons who reject ghosts, can cause a negative reaction in a physical person so I guess the answer is relative and nothing more.
Lisa Oliver writes predominantly about issues surrounding domestic violence and abuse, but every now and then takes time out to write something a little more lighthearted. For some of her recent books visit http://www.olivergrouppublications.com/ebooks/content.htm
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