It`s all in the mind! |
Despite years of efforts by ghost hunters on TV and in real life, we still do not have good proof that ghosts are real. Many ghost hunters believe that strong support for the existence of ghosts can be found in modern physics. Specifically, that Albert Einstein, one of the greatest scientific minds of all time, offered a scientific basis for the reality of ghosts.
A recent Google search turned up nearly 8 million results suggesting a link between ghosts and Einstein's work covering the conservation of energy. This assertion is repeated by many top experts in the field. For example, ghost researcher John Kachuba, in his book "Ghosthunters" (2007, New Page Books), writes, "Einstein proved that all the energy of the universe is constant and that it can neither be created nor destroyed. ... So what happens to that energy when we die? If it cannot be destroyed, it must then, according to Dr. Einstein, be transformed into another form of energy. What is that new energy? ... Could we call that new creation a ghost?"
This idea shows up — and is presented as evidence for ghosts — on virtually all ghost-themed websites as well. For example, a group called Tri County Paranormal states, "Albert Einstein said that energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only change from one form to another. When we are alive, we have electrical energy in our bodies. ... What happens to the electricity that was in our body, causing our heart to beat and making our breathing possible? There is no easy answer to that."
In fact, the answer is very simple, and not at all mysterious. After a person dies, the energy in his or her body goes where all organisms' energy goes after death: into the environment. When a human dies, the energy stored in his or her body is released in the form of heat, and transferred into the animals that eat us (i.e., wild animals if we are left unburied, or worms and bacteria if we are interred), and the plants that absorb us. If we are cremated, the energy in our bodies is released in the form of heat and light.
When we eat dead plants and animals, we are consuming their energy and converting it for our own use. Food is metabolized when digested, and chemical reactions release the energy the animal needs to live, move, reproduce, etc. That energy does not exist in the form of a glowing, ghostly ball of electromagnetic energy, but rather in the form of heat and chemical energy.
Many ghost hunters say they can detect the electric fields created by ghosts. And while it's true that the metabolic processes of humans and other organisms actually do generate very low-level electrical currents, these are no longer generated once the organism dies. Because the source of the energy stops, the electrical current stops — just as a light bulb turns off when you switch off the electricity running to it.
Most of the "energy" that any dead person leaves behind takes years to re-enter the environment in the form of food; the rest dissipates shortly after death, and is not in a form that can be detected years later with popular ghost-hunting devices like electromagnetic field (EMF) detectors. Ghost hunters who repeat the claim that Einstein's theories provide a sound basis for ghosts reveal less about ghosts than they do about their poor understanding of basic science. Ghosts may indeed exist, but neither Einstein nor his laws of physics suggests that ghosts are real.
Source: LiveScience
And here is my view:
This article is so right on some points, but totally off-base on others, because the arguments that this piece were written on are undoubtedly centred more on personal belief than Einstein`s Law.
The author`s contention is that Einstein`s laws applies only to physical organisms that generate electrical energy, and have nothing to do with the thought processes that controls them.
His view is that when the producing organism dies, the energy is released and that there remains nothing there.
And on that point I totally and absolutely agree.
I would also agree that nobody can prove (and indeed disprove) empirically the existence of `ghosts`.
But here I separate my agreement.
The human body is much more than just an electrically powered machine, it also holds what some would call a `soul` or to others the `mind`. It is intangible, it has no solid or organic moving parts, it instead has independent thought, reason, emotion, a sense of `being` and is uniquely housed inside the body until death when, as he puts it, ` the electrical current stops — just as a light bulb turns off when you switch off the electricity running to it`.
For that in principle is the whole reason for the existence of a body, it is a machine that contains this complex of of our intellectual `being`, and conveys it through the process of life as a car drives us to a destination.
It is during it`s tenure on earth as much part of the body, and without it the body becomes a piece of meat that can only be supported on a life support machine.
But it is clear that the author doubts the real existence of ghosts - (as he puts it), because this `living` mass of thought and personality cannot be measured or quantified by the current laws of physics nor indeed by any other known means of measurement or equation.
But regardless, it is still energy, and it is capable of operating independently of the known laws of physics. It is not that he is right, it is simply that the laws of physics still harbours `undiscovered country`.
But as he undoubtedly has never seen or experienced the paranormal, the argument ends, and his seemingly arrogant assertion that Einstein`s law`s remain unpolluted by belief and the `flawed` contention of `amateur ghosthunters`.
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