What I remember from the writings is that we can pray for souls who have gone on and intercede on their behalf; souls from the other side can, and do, pray and intercede on our behalf; and that no soul can influence this world we know in a negative or destructive way. Only for the better.
I would interpret that to mean that what we think of as ghosts, who "haunt" spaces, rattle chains, make furniture go bump... they do not exist. We need not fear the spirit world.
Sorry I can't give you citations; it's a good habit to look in the writings yourself to be 110% sure what the scriptures say. But the above is my recall and interpretation.
my wife, son, and I bought the house we now live in back in 2001. we proceeded to tear out the entire interior decor, gutting the 1970's brady bunch color patterns. and in doing so we felt as if there was a presence watching us. my wife was having reoccuring dreams of talking to an older person, tall thin african american man. there were odd occurances such as room lights not being left as they were, either on when they should have been off or vice verse. there was a temperature difference downstairs of always being unusually cold.
I visited our neighbors in search of the history of owners before myself, and discovered that 2 owners prior, the family had a grandfather pass away in house, meeting the same description.
my LDS brother-in-law asked if he could have some time alone in the house, so we said sure. afterward things seemed quieter, the on-off lights problem seemed to go away. I asked what he did, and he said he promised the ghost that he would perform a proxy baptism for the dead as soon as he could locate the name of the person. however the dreams did not go away.
we had multiple Baha'i devotions in the house, and read prayers for the dead. nothing changed. still had dreams and still had that feeling of being watched.
so we invited a psychic over to our house. she said gave an exact description of the person and said remodelling causes a frustration with souls stuck on the earthly plane. when I asked how she would fix the situation, she said she has an angel who takes the person across to the other side.
when she did this, the lights in the house became about 25% brighter, there were no more dreams, there was no more feeling of being watched, and there was no coldness in the downstairs.
I believe individuals who had no spirituality in their life can end up terrified when they die, possibly in denial that they are dead, and are able to exercise free will in not transitioning to the Abha kingdom.
as Baha'i we are advised not to mess with the spirit world, especially in things like ouiji boards.
when I once asked why there's no Baha'i scripture on performing out of body, or Kabbalah like mystic information...
the answer was that having mystics and non-mystics would create 2 classes of people when the entire goal is unity and oneness.
how does that feel to be a lawnmower man? must be a real rush.
Yes, I recall something about "bewildered" souls who aren't quite sure what is going on, or where to go.
Well...you sure have the evidence of ""bewildered" souls who aren't quite sure what is going on" right here!
"where to go"?....obviously into the pointless Cul De Sac of speculation about "Ghosts" rather than confront any pertinent issues.
Anything.....anything at all...no matter how lame....for the "bewildered souls" to avoid confronting real and pressing issues with honesty and integrity.
In it, 'Abdu'l-Bahá told her that they had actually seen what they had seen—it wasn't an illusion or collective hallucination—but that the soldiers were dead, and had been taken from life so quickly that they were confused as to where they now were. Her group had, yes, actually seen a ghost. He instructed her to pray for the soldiers.
one thing I have pondered several times, is "why does it matter that the body of a Baha'i not be buried more than 1 hour journey from the place of death? and why within 24 hours?".
I have theorized... that we will spend "some amount" of time as a ghost before we transition to the other side. perhaps being able to watch our body being buried brings some kind of closure and comfort in knowing our affairs on earth are complete.
how does that feel to be a lawnmower man? must be a real rush.
I asked primarily because there have been some supposedly paranormal incidents around my household. Personally, I haven't experienced anything I could not at least mostly explain away. But other members of my household, who I don't think are hysterical, have reported some compelling things.
Either way, just curious. I figure it's the sort of things that's mostly out of our hands anyway.
I asked primarily because there have been some supposedly paranormal incidents around my household. Personally, I haven't experienced anything I could not at least mostly explain away. But other members of my household, who I don't think are hysterical, have reported some compelling things.
Either way, just curious. I figure it's the sort of things that's mostly out of our hands anyway.
my opinion is...
the writings should contain instruction on what to do when one is in the situation I was in.
however I will defer my fallible opinion to what I believe is a Perfect Author.
in hindsight I wished I would have thought about holding a devotion, and then at the end having everyone invoke the name Baha'u'llah for assistance in helping a confused soul find their way home.
as a side note
I have a friend who I've taught the Faith to for considerable time. somewhere along the way she started doing out of body and traveling to other realms. I told her that could be dangerous, but she said "oh I have a guide so there's nothing to worry about"
she claims one time she "saw" someone of extreme high spirituality. she asked the guide who is that. he answered "you know who it is", and she replied no. he said "that's the Bab".
I never quite understood why she was supposed to know the Bab.
and I was also confused how someone could "know" the Bab exists and not become a Baha'i.
but life is full of mysteries.
how does that feel to be a lawnmower man? must be a real rush.
