If you are fascinated by the spirit world, beware. Psychologist Karen Nixon warns dabbling can prove dangerous
Spiritual beings, or at least the idea of spiritual beings, are a part of our life.
Recent movies portraying ghosts and spirit possession such as The Sixth Sense, Ghost and City of Angels have been highly successful.
Angels have been particularly popular; they appear in books and various objects. Traditional religions have saints and angels who appear to a select few.
In new age circles, spirits are perceived as real. Some notable people apparently channel the thoughts of spiritual beings.
Whether spirits exist in reality or not, perhaps we humans have a deep-seated psychological need to make some sort of connection with the spirit world.
There is a danger, though, that once we open ourselves to spirits, we might find ourselves the victim of a psychic attack.
Robert Moss, the expatriate Australian, famous in America for his books on dreaming says, "if you open yourself up to the spirits they will come".
While engaging in psychic experimentation, Moss found himself making contact with all sorts of entities that seriously disrupted his psychological equilibrium and caused havoc in his life.
As a psychologist, I have clients who report contact with the spirits.
Completely normal in every other way, these sensitive people claim to be haunted, to sense the presence of spirits or to have had some sort of contact with deceased relatives. While contact with deceased relatives is usually healing, many spiritual experiences are distressing.
The individual often becomes so afraid that they virtually have a panic attack. Their heart races and their palms sweat. The only difference is that they know the cause of their anxiety, while those having a panic attack do not.
One sure-fire way to eliminate the possibility of psychic attack is to simply not believe.
This works because either the spirit does not exist, or the spirits are not interested in making contact with non-believers, or non-believers discount any actual spirit contact. In any case, you are safe.
If you do believe in spirits, then some precautions are necessary.
As Moss advises, don't call on the spirits unless you know what you are doing.
Work through all emotional issues that make you vulnerable. Hate, vengeful thoughts, conflict in relationships should be resolved. You need to be in a state of grace by making compensation or apologies to all those you have harmed, and by forgiving those who have harmed you.
Shamans, who claim to see and know the spirit world, say that what attracts the spirits are high emotions. Intense fear, love or hate are equally attractive, they suggest. So being calm lessens their interest.
If you do experience some sort of disturbing spiritual contact, then a cleansing ritual will eliminate it. This involves designing an appropriate ritual that is meaningful to you, and then carrying it out while telling the spirits to leave.
Shamans and some in the new age movement claim that spirits are like humans, in that they come in all sorts of varieties. Some are petty, some are troublemakers who can lie, cheat and steal, some are supportive, some are powerful and some are weak.
Maybe you thing there's enough complication with the beings that inhabit the material world to be bothered with any in the spirit world.
Thursday, April 19, 2001
The Courier Mail