When They Prove Ghosts: What Next?


**Be sure you saw my earlier post today, a video, the first in my series of "candlelight tales" every Friday**

Suppose you’re watching TV when you get home from work, flipping through the channels and see a “Special Report” message. You stop and wait to see if it’s some disaster or shooting somewhere. No, this ends up being introduced not by a local, but a national reporter. The tone is serious. The message is stupifying, it must be a prank!

“A press conference is about to begin. Scientists from Yale University are going to discuss a finding that, well,” his voice deepens, “this is hard to say, but reportedly proof of the afterlife has been discovered and these top scientists in their field will be making an official announcement.” The reporter turns to the other reporter at the desk. “Did you ever think this day would come?”

The other reporter clears his throat. “I-I can’t imagine what can constitute proof of afterlife, but apparently we’re about to hear. They’re ready to speak.”

The screen then switches off to a room with a panel of men and women at a table, one standing at the lectern, leaning into a cluster of microphones, his eyes rather stricken, his body tense, his hands trembling slightly as he shifts his papers and waits for the reporters to quiet down.


At this point, I leave you to your imagination. As a hunter of the paranormal, I can’t imagine what “proof” would be irrefutable, as even an answering spirit could be interpreted as a hoax. Still, the day might very well come where the lines between our world and the next level of existence will be probed by science and perhaps, if we’re lucky, it will probe back and contact will be made.

We spend a lot of time talking about finding proof of the other side, but like the question of who we’ll clone when we clone people overrides the question of whether we should clone people, sometimes we get ahead of ourselves. Do we really want to clone the DNA of those who had their time on earth and do we really know what it will mean if we chase ghosts and we finally catch them?

Every aspect of our lives would change should we prove the afterlife.

That might sound like a silly statement. After all, those with faith believe in the afterlife already. Yes, they have belief, but with proof comes a conflict. What if the afterlife proves to be unconditional of what we practiced religiously on earth or perhaps even if we believed at all? Should you no longer be obliged to have a faith or practice a faith, what becomes of churches? Religious wars?

Some might say that without faith and the guidelines of one’s religious doctrines, the world would go mad with chaos and evil. Not true! I know a huge group of atheists, some of the kindness and most considerate and “Christian-like” people I’ve ever known. Their morals are deeply seated and cannot be bribed by heaven or greed. The roads would not fill with mayhem and looting, but the way we handle our lives might change dramatically.

Supposing there was no lingering doubt that you could be part of an eternal world without pain and hunger? Would a large group of sickly and elderly opt out of physical life? Would communication with the dead make it so families no longer grieved their dead? Instead, they simply wired themselves into the system and caught them up on their lives? Would the dead then become "slaves" to our need to continue to "keep them alive" by contacting them constantly? Would they have any "rest" in the afterlife?

These questions are the basis of a Sci-Fi novel I started many years ago and keep meaning to finish finally. I’m thinking of picking it back up and finishing it off finally, but I’d really like to pick your brilliant minds (I really do have the smartest followers in the blog world) to find out what you think the ramifications would be?

***Don't forget, from 7 pm onward this evening is a Lonely on a Friday Night on here. Jump on and comment. I'll be your hostess.***

Comments

  1. Religion would fall. No, religion would adapt. Most of them. They would take the information and spin it in such a way to adjust to their beliefs, regardless of the scientific output.
    As for the average Joe, I really don't think too much would change. Ramifications for being dead, sure, but no less love for the living.

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  2. Phil; Great observations. In my SciFi book, religion unifies into one business that runs the machines that talk to the other side. You can go to their churches and talk to your family, but you must be a member and pay your fees. Once a month, they let others use the machines for free as a "humanitarian" service. Interesting implications, huh?

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  3. No religion will not fall. Some will adapt and embrace ghosts. Others will assert that the phenomena is not ghosts but demons. Faith is faith and some people will believe no matter what.

    Spiritualism will boom again.

    Businesses (and churches) will develop angles for profit. Politicians will try to use ghosts to their advantage.

    I can imagine pollsters figuring out if ghosts are left or right.

    As for religious wars, an atheist can kill you as easily as a religious fanatic. Look at Mao, Stalin, and Pol Pot.

    It begs the question, if Hitler had something to share with the world, should we let him speak?

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  4. Barry;
    Great points. In my story, the church buys out the machine and the invention is kept under wraps so no one can duplicate it. At first, a lot of people who are sickly or unhappy off themselves, knowing they have a place to go, so the church tells people that anyone who kills himself will be in purgatory and the machine cannot speak to purgatory, but what they don't tell them is that they basically block them from the machine and they could have actually talked to them. There are rules for using the machine and people are under observation, such as you cannot speak to anyone who is not blood related, else poor Elvis may never be left in peace, and you cannot ask for advice or talk about the other side or the future. So, it ends up being very odd. People don't really die, they cross over with ceremonies to talk to them the first time on the other side. No one experiences true grief. So many ramifications.

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  5. Wow, what an interesting concept. I think everything should change, but would more likely to stay the same. And I agree with the comment above that there would be groups that would say the ghosts are really demons, and the there would be shows about demon hunters. There would definitely political spin and businesses capitalizing on it all...

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  6. It would be interesting to see where the science would lead. Once you have the proof of existence, you can work on the how's and why's and who's. Who knows where that process would lead.

    Recorded history would likely change as historians are given direct access to witnesses and important figures.

    If they were to discover how to disperse them, we could have long debates about the rights of the formerly living. Should poltergeist entities be jailed or have their energy dispersed to the four corners of the universe.

    Whatever would come, there would certainly come disturbing elements (including unintended results) that the world could do without. However, I don't think the knowing would be the problem. It is how the knowledge is dealt with. It would probably sort itself out and everything would find a new normal. Until the next big thing, of course.

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  7. As always, Pangs, you really give it some thought. I know I'd like to live in that world where we have proof. It might have some unseen ramifications, but I think it would actually be more beneficial.

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