Brace yourself fluiddruid, because ironically, you are haunted by ghosts. I’ve always been skeptical of the popular conception of Ghosts and Spirits as disembodied physical manifestations and the cheese that Time-Life and the media perpetuates. However, I am a very real believer in the subtle, psychic, concept of ghosts and spirits. I believe that people are haunted by images of dread and fear much as you have come to realize. I believe it is not irrational to hold beliefs or fear as a “ghost” or haunting…rather a rational way for your mind to deal with true fears of death and other “psychic turbulence” in its own reflective language of archetypes. If you can come to terms or peace with the true underlying fear then you have exorcised your haunting ghost, or spirit, or demon, or banshee.
I would hazard a guest that your true underlying fear and aversion to ghosts is the same reason they exist… fear of death and the absolute uncertainty of what comes after death. This is a fear that everyone has and there is no way to truly get over it, rather acceptance or, perhaps even a belief in ghosts and spirits is a way to come to terms with it. Unfortunately, I can’t give you an easy solution. Meditation on mortality and a belief structure might help alay fears and give you peace… maybe.
Interesting ideas, folks. Perhaps I do have some anxiety issues and this is just the throttle for those things. I don’t really have anything real to be anxious about right now, things are going well! Also, the time period where I remember being bothered the least by these fears is the time I was most stressed. Interesting.
I rather like this, honestly. I mean, in dealing with an irrational fear, an irrational defense makes sense. I ended up in bed giggling about having a knee-high robot teddy bear with laser eyes and metal teeth and claws patrolling my bedroom. (This idea would probably creep other people out but I found it amusing.) For whatever reason I find it terribly appropriate that a creature of such absurdity should defend me from the absurd.
I’ve given this some thought, and, frankly, while this might be true for someone else it isn’t true for me. I’m not afraid of death, and frankly am not afraid of the condition of being a ghost. I really think it’s a matter of control - it’s fear of the unknown. While I’m not sure what you mean by “‘psychic turbulence’ in its own reflective language of archetypes”, I just don’t see it as a deep-seated emotional and psychological issue. I just see it as a hold-over from childhood.
It’s somehow comforting that many other people seem to have this issue on occasion. Like I’ve explained, normally I’m fine, it’s just once in awhile I get all creeped out (usually by spending alone-time at night). I’m in an unfamiliar place and the noises and lights of the bedroom at night are different, and it just hits some primal thing. I think Sunrazor described it well.
I’m a great believer in truth. I’m not going to try to convince myself to believe in a religion just because I find it comforting in some way; the very reason I’m not religious is because I desperately looked for evidence of god(s) and found nothing. 'sides, I had these fears when I was a very religious child and teenager (and to a far greater degree because I didn’t find them as irrational at the time).
I used to get hung up on aliens too, way back in the day. I’d fear some sort of odd abduction after I’d watch some program on UFOs with my dad. I finally got down and figured that an alien would have to come from billions of miles away, pick Earth, and after that happen to pick a hemisphere, then pick a country, then a state, then a city, then a house.
The chances, I rationalized, were infinitesmal at best. I should stop worrying about that and focus on more earth-bound things…like WHO KILLED J.R.? (it WAS J.R., right?)
I don’t obsess over it, but I have the same fears. It’s a fear of what is outside of my capacity to understand and explain. Ironically, the books that I read as a kid that literally kept me up all night, intermittently, for years were - yes, the Straight Dope. The articles on alien hand syndrome, stigmata, and, especially, spontaneous human combustion still have the power to creep me out.
Luckily for me, I have absolutely no fascination with any of it. I don’t watch scary movies (the Ninth Gate, which my boyfriend assured me wasn’t scary, scared the bejeezus out of me), don’t click on ghost links, etc.
That seems to be how obsessive thoughts/anxiety works - when you’re busy with real problems, you don’t need to invent ones. Now that the real problems are taken care of, your mind is free to do anything it wants to keep you in that upset condition that is so familiar. If ghosts and supernatural stuff are what scares you the most, that is what your mind will use to get your attention, because it always works. It’s a bit paradoxical.
I have many, many irrational and stupid fears. A fear of newspapers (they feel gross). A fear of automatic doors (I swear, one shut on me once). A fear of chickens (I was pecked continuously when I was younger). And more.
