The Afterlife in This Life, Paranormal or Paranoid?

The afterlife has been a mystery for centuries. There is no concrete proof an afterlife even exists. Many people report near death experiences, including floating above their lifeless bodies and tell of deceased relatives waving them into "the light" at the end of a tunnel-like walkway. Since they are near death experiences, the events are short, and offer no real afterlife tales beyond the first few moments of death.

Physicians offer the suggestion that the "light and tunnel" scenario is actually the brain being deprived of oxygen. Hypoxia, lack of oxygen to the brain, is also responsible for the euphoria or peaceful feeling so many people who have had near death experiences describe.

Many skeptics argue that these people did not attempt to cross over, but rather had a dream as a result of anesthesia or trauma that rendered the person unconscious. Many people who have had a near death experience claim to have seen the Virgin Mary, or other religious figures upon their attempt to go into the light. Studies have shown that this is common among religious adults, and scientists believe they are actually having a "dream" based upon what their faith teaches them should happen when they cross over into the afterlife.

Believers of a life after death find comfort in knowing that our life as it is now is merely an exchange of sorts, exchanging a physical body for a spiritual world. In some cases this belief even helps us to cope with the passing of a loved one. Knowing that there is a possibility they will return to us making contact, and will also be there to welcome us when our time has come to move on to another plane of existence.

Many people also believe that spirits can return from the afterlife and make contact with us. Unexplained bumps in the night, voices, extreme temperature changes, or objects not being where we left them can have a host of logical explanations, but there are times when we cannot fully explain the how and why. Often times just a few of these occurrences are enough to force people to sell houses or call priests, however there are no proven cases of people being harmed or even killed by ghosts.

Angry ghosts seeking revenge and harming or murdering innocent people are merely the makings of urban legends and stories to tell around campfires. As humans, we tend to believe urban legends and run screaming at the first sound of a creaking floorboard or shadow cast on a wall. We don't take the time to debunk our experiences; we act first and think later.

Human nature plays a big role in our ability to be frightened. Horror films tend to pull in large sums of money at the box office, and hold high ratings during the month of October. Movie rental stores earn extra revenue with their horror rentals around the same time as well. We all know the actors went to a formal party after shooting the movie, yet we jumped and screamed as the star of the movie hacked his victims up into tiny pieces.

Some experts even suggest that houses or places aren't haunted, people are. These paranormal experts believe that select few actually have the ability to be sensitive to the spirit world, and most people are unable to see or hear spirits of deceased people. What appears to be footsteps on stairs or objects falling can be explained as anything but paranormal experiences, if the time was taken to inspect the house. Often times it can be the house settling or unleveled countertops which dishes and other objects placed on them slide very slowly over time, not noticeable to the eye, but at some point, usually over a span of many hours, the object placed will eventually slide off and into the floor.

Just because someone can hear spirits speak or even see them doesn't make the person a medium. The most common word used for this ability is "sensitive." A sensitive has the ability to open themselves to the spirit world, and communicate with the deceased. This is more common in children, than adults. Children are less fearful, thus allowing the spirit to manifest his or her energy in effort to communicate without a barrier. Most of these children outgrow this ability as they learn to fear the unknown with age.

Being sensitive in no way constitutes being psychic. They are very different things. Psychics are a little far fetched and tend to be "fortune tellers." Sensitives can communicate with the dead, but rarely have the ability to predict a future event. Just because you can see and speak with a deceased relative doesn't mean you are or will ever be psychic.

Truth be told, most "psychics" are little more than people that have studied human behavior long enough to get clues via body language and facial expressions to make a "prediction." Just about anyone can become a psychic if they have the patience to study people, and pay close attention to words used in conversation. Walking into a room and saying to a random person "I see someone around you that has passed away whose name begins with J" will often be accurate. J is a letter that that is used in many common names, so it's not a bad choice to use for test purposes. Almost every time that person will say "yes, my grandmother was Jane." That will open the door to new developments. If the person has a smile and a pleasant reaction, just saying anything nice will make you once again correct, and in the random person's mind, a psychic able to connect with those in the afterlife.

Whether you believe in the afterlife or not, it still offers us something to look forward to when our time living is over. No one will know for sure until their time comes to make the journey into a new phase of being. Many of us hope there is a new beginning after we are gone, and to meet once again with our dearly departed. Until then, we can only speculate, and wait until that time comes.