After Death Communication
ADC
After Death Communications are communications that either are
believed to or appear to have been received from a person who has
died. Precise definitions of ADCs vary. According to Bill and Judith
Guggenheim, an ADC occurs when a person is "contacted directly and
spontaneously by a deceased family member or friend, without the use
of psychics, mediums, rituals, or devices of any kind" .
Psychologist Allan Botkin uses the term induced after-death
communication for his practice of inducing perceived reconnections
with key people for grief therapy.
"It's estimated that 50-100 million Americans - 20-40% of the
population of the United States - have had one or more ADC
experiences".
Ghost
A ghost is usually defined as the apparition of a deceased person,
frequently similar in appearance to that person, and encountered in
places he or she frequented, or in association with the person's
former belongings. The word "ghost" may also refer to the spirit or
soul of a deceased person, or to any spirit or demon. Ghosts are
often associated with haunting, which is, according to the
Parapsychological Association, "the more or less regular occurrence
of paranormal phenomena associated with a particular locality
(especially a building) and usually attributed to the activities of
a discarnate entity; the phenomena may include apparitions,
poltergeist disturbances, cold drafts, sounds of footsteps and
voices, and various odors."
Ghosts are a controversial anomalous phenomenon. According to a poll
conducted in 2005 by the Gallup Organization, about 32% of Americans
believe in the existence of ghosts. The term ghost has been replaced
by apparition in parapsychology, because the word ghost is deemed
insufficiently precise.
Another widespread belief concerning ghosts is that they were
composed of a misty, airy, or subtle material. Anthropologists
speculate that this may also stem from early beliefs that ghosts
were the person within the person, most noticeable in ancient
cultures as a person's breath, which upon exhaling in colder
climates appears visibly as a white mist. This belief may have also
fostered the metaphorical meaning of "breath" in certain languages,
such as the Latin spiritus and the Greek pneuma, which
by analogy became extended to mean the soul. In the Bible, God is
depicted as animating Adam with a breath.
The astral
body refers to the concept of a subtle body which exists alongside the physical
body, as a vehicle of the soul or consciousness. It is usually understood as
being of an emotional nature and, as such, it is equated to the desire body or
emotional body. However, some philosophies conceive that the astral body is a
body made of ether (the soul body), built by each individual during the current
evolutionary stage (the Philosophers' Stone), which is said to give support to
the desire (emotional) body during the astral projection.
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia © 2001-2006
Wikipedia contributors (Disclaimer)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
