As you believe, so it shall be unto you - Jesus
Ghosts don’t care if you believe in them or not,
but they’re not likely to appear to those who don’t.
The “supernatural” was instilled in me early on
when, as a highly-impressionable young child, I was enrolled in Catholic school
where I was exposed to religious beliefs that challenged rational thought and
demanded to be accepted on faith alone. At
a time when make believe is such a large part of a child’s life, it was all
very confusing.
The central doctrine of Christianity is the
Resurrection, which begs the question: Once
you accept the story of Jesus rising from the dead, is it such a great leap to
believe that our departed loved ones are able to reach out to us from the
beyond, as well? Is the Resurrection not
a lesson in life everlasting?
My mother spoke to me of guardian angels all my
life, believed in them and passed that belief onto me. She died when I was just 23 and for several
years thereafter, I continued to feel her presence around me. There were phone calls from her in the
night. I could hear the ring of the
phone, feel my hand fumble for the receiver, perceive the darkness of the
bedroom. She would assure me, in a voice
that was as clear and present as if she were alive, that she was all right and
nearby. Then one morning I awoke to see
the figure of a person at the end of my bed.
Though it was only particles of light and energy, I knew it was my
mother coming to say good-bye. The
figure dissolved downward and disappeared, and I’ve never felt my mother’s
presence around me again.
In my twenties, searching for answers to this
mystery called life that I was attempting to slog my way through, I was given a
book called “The Nature of Personal Reality – A Seth Book.” Seth is a spirit entity – a ghost, if you
will – that speaks through the author, Jane Roberts, to explain the spiritual
laws of the Universe. Maybe because I
was already open to alternative ways of thinking, this book resonated with me at
least as much as the bible stories I’d read as a child. While both required a suspension of logic and
the willingness to accept powers outside of what our physical senses can
perceive, the bible taught that we are basically lowly human beings capable of the
occasional spiritual experience. The
Seth books taught just the opposite: We
are spiritual beings having a human experience and spirit, being pure energy,
has no limitations.
When a close friend of mine was suddenly killed in
a tragic accident, I was drowning in grief.
We’d had some recent disagreements and I needed to be able to say
good-bye. Again, in the early hours of
the next morning, he appeared in my bedroom.
Unlike the case with my mother, his face and body were clear to me. I can describe exactly what he was
wearing. He opened his arms and I went
into them. We hugged. I remember thinking, “He feels so thin.” And with that thought he was gone.
The bible tells of Jesus making appearances to his
followers after his death and Christians believe this to be true. Were his followers imagining these
appearances? Mine have repeatedly occurred in the early
morning hours. Dreams? Maybe.
But who’s to say in what form such visitations may take? I can only say they were real to me and I
believe them.
There is a reason our religious beliefs are called
“faith” and not fact. I would argue that
the same can be said for those of us who believe in ghosts.
