Do you believe in Ghosts?

[bob smith]

was the question that I posed to a thai business acquaintance over dinner last night..

well that did open up a rather large can of worms....

 

he told me that he did indeed and not only that but he also went to fortune tellers on a regular basis. He also told me that he has changed his name 5 times now to ward off the evil spirits that he believes are out to get him.

 

I was stunned. 

 

This guy is apparently well educated. He holds a masters degree from a reputable university and has been working in a very demanding field for years, yet he lets his life and actions be dictated by fortune tellers and spirits.

 

how this all came about was that he is looking to start his own business and needs 1 million baht in capital to get it up and running.

he knows me through a mutual friend and knows that I am pretty flush at the moment so he had our mutual friend arrange a dinner at a swanky joint in town.

 

one of my little tricks when deciding to invest in someone is I like to get them drunk and then ask silly little questions like the title of this thread.

by asking such questions I can gauge the intelligence of an individual and whether or not he or she is worth my investment.

 

Sadly, he didn't pass the test.

 

The reason for this is because how can i invest in someone that lets their whole life be ruled by superstition instead of logic and reason?

he may just squander my million because the fortune teller told him it was a good idea!

I only work with logical and reasonable individuals, which are sadly quite thin on the ground in my experience here.

 

 

[ikke1959]

It is not what I learned about the paranormal world... Seems to be a freak or a crook or someone with a mental illness... I would not invest time or money in such persons

[ravip]

Sometimes, you cannot blame people for believing in the paranormal world. Level of education etc is immaterial where these are involved.

Ghosts, Fortune tellers, religions... they all fall in to this category. So... which is the better in attracting fortunes?

[Shop mak]

Thais get this with their breast milk, and the next 15 years, older family members will warn young children about what horrible things will happen to them, if they don't listen to their older family members ...

 

All about control.

 

[bob smith]

Just now, Shop mak said:

All about control.

indeed. 

 

cultural brainwashing. sadly it doesnt help them much in the adult world.

[LaosLover]

26 minutes ago, bob smith said:

he told me that he did indeed and not only that but he also went to fortune tellers on a regular basis.

 

one of my little tricks when deciding to invest in someone is I like to get them drunk and then ask silly little questions.

 

 

 

My wife used to ask guys if they believed in astrology.

 

She figured that if any guy was so humorless as to start lecturing her about it, she knew it was a bad fit and to exit the date immediately. Me? I dodged the bullet: "I have a lot of appreciation for the art of astrology".

 

Putting aside this wholly made up Issan version of Shark Tank, what are the ways you suss people out? 

[JayClay]

39 minutes ago, bob smith said:

was the question that I posed to a thai business acquaintance over dinner last night..

well that did open up a rather large can of worms....

 

he told me that he did indeed and not only that but he also went to fortune tellers on a regular basis. He also told me that he has changed his name 5 times now to ward off the evil spirits that he believes are out to get him.

 

I was stunned. 

How long have you been living here, Bob?

 

In all the time I've been living here I've only met 2 Thais who don't believe in ghosts. The second one I only met last week.

 

I'd have been more likely to be stunned if he hadn't believed in ghosts.

 

It's embedded into the culture. There isn't even, as far as I can tell, a commonly-understood simple function in the Thai language to say that you don't believe in ghosts. The question on the subject is "are you scared of ghosts?". If you try to say that you don't believe that they even exist you will just get confused faces. Much easier just to use the phrase "I'm not scared of ghosts".

[bob smith]

2 minutes ago, JayClay said:

It's embedded into the culture. There isn't even, as far as I can tell, a commonly-understood simple function in the Thai language to say that you don't believe in ghosts. The question on the subject is "are you scared of ghosts?". If you try to say that you don't believe that they even exist you will just get confused faces. Much easier just to use the phrase "I'm not scared of ghosts".

This is one of the many reasons that I am relocating next year.

 

There is no such thing as logic in this country.

[Myran]

Are you being paid to make up these stories or something? What's the point? 

[JayClay]

40 minutes ago, bob smith said:

This guy is apparently well educated. He holds a masters degree from a reputable university and has been working in a very demanding field for years, yet he lets his life and actions be dictated by fortune tellers and spirits

Thinking about this.... To be honest there's probably actually more justification for someone who's doing well in life to believe that spirits exist. Their constant praying and pandering to these spirits appears to have worked for them.

 

What I find difficult to understand is when you meet an unfortunate lady in her 50s who's been working the bar her whole life, has three children by three different absent fathers, has no money to her name and very littlw prospect of things ever improving.... And she still hasn't worked out that all these rituals don't seem to have helped her.

[Hamus Yaigh]

44 minutes ago, bob smith said:

a thai business acquaintance

This story would make a whole lot more sense if you explained what business?

 

44 minutes ago, bob smith said:

been working in a very demanding field for years

A rice field perhaps?

[bob smith]

1 minute ago, Myran said:

Are you being paid to make up these stories or something? What's the point? 

What I have posted is true!

It happened in Thailand.

It is Thailand related.

 

Whats wrong with you??

[JayClay]

5 minutes ago, bob smith said:

This is one of the many reasons that I am relocating next year.

 

There is no such thing as logic in this country.

I wouldn't personally run away from Thailand in the hope that you'll find logical and rational people where you end up.

 

All around the world people will look to "the unknown" in order to explain things they don't understand.

 

It's certainly more noticeable here in Asia... People just don't talk about it as much in the west.

 

1 minute ago, Myran said:

Are you being paid to make up these stories or something? What's the point? 

I don't know if this particular story was made up or not. The pointless gloat about having money ready to invest aside, the actual topic in hand is one we all have to deal with on a daily basis and warrents discussion. 

[2baht]

12 minutes ago, Myran said:

Are you being paid to make up these stories or something? What's the point? 

Ah, entertainment?

[bob smith]

7 minutes ago, 2baht said:

Ah, entertainment?

nothing but the truth from bob!

 

sadly many people think im making it up.

 

trust me, if i were making it up i would have turned it into a cartoon by now!! ???? 

[Felton Jarvis]

Belief in ghosts is no more bizarre than some of the beliefs of evangelicals. Just ghosts of a different type.

[toofarnorth]

Behind our house are the rice fields.  A couple of years ago at harvesting time the chap on a harvester blew a loud blast on his siren , I asked the wife why and she said it wakes the ghosts up.

[bob smith]

2 minutes ago, toofarnorth said:

Behind our house are the rice fields.  A couple of years ago at harvesting time the chap on a harvester blew a loud blast on his siren , I asked the wife why and she said it wakes the ghosts up.

Ghosts dont exit though.

 

Have you ever seen one? Has a Thai actually seen one?

unless they have paranormal detection eyes I kinda doubt it!

[dingdongrb]

47 minutes ago, Shop mak said:

All about control.

If you ask me, 'control' is something that many western country adults don't have over their adolescent children. In fact many of those adults have no idea where their children are going or what they are doing.

 

Some control would be a good thing, IMO.

[dingdongrb]

Just because a person may believe in ghosts and routinely has their future be told doesn't mean they are not business savvy. As far as anyone knows they don't allow those things to interfere with their business dealings, whether that's a 7-11 clerk, university professor, or a senior manager at a high tech firm. 

[BarraMarra]

I thought this thread was about Ghost? Many years ago I was a night porter at a well known Hotel on lake Widermere called " The Old England " In Bowness - on - Windermere. One of my duties was to look at the reports on the day about Guests ie are they awkward demanding etc. One day 2 guests checked out around 4 pm because they claim they saw a Ghost in there room. I did a security sweep walkaround every 3 hours. When i got to there room itwas very unnerving and i was not going into the now vacant room. On another occasion the Hotel was closed for Refurb and no guest were in the hotel but staff were in there accomadation so I Still had to do my rounds. One night i was climbing a flight of stairs and i felt someone pass me on the stairs it even blew in my face and was enough to move my hair that was it for me no more night portering and i went on days. If anyone books a stay in this hotel th resturant is named the Sir Henry Seagrave lounge. This  is a Water speed record holder on water but he was killed attemping the water speed record attempt on Windermere in the early 20's. I believe it is him Walking the hotel corridors.

[dingdongrb]

6 minutes ago, BarraMarra said:

I thought this thread was about Ghost? Many years ago I was a night porter at a well known Hotel on lake Widermere called " The Old England " In Bowness - on - Windermere. One of my duties was to look at the reports on the day about Guests ie are they awkward demanding etc. One day 2 guests checked out around 4 pm because they claim they saw a Ghost in there room. I did a security sweep walkaround every 3 hours. When i got to there room itwas very unnerving and i was not going into the now vacant room. On another occasion the Hotel was closed for Refurb and no guest were in the hotel but staff were in there accomadation so I Still had to do my rounds. One night i was climbing a flight of stairs and i felt someone pass me on the stairs it even blew in my face and was enough to move my hair that was it for me no more night portering and i went on days. If anyone books a stay in this hotel th resturant is named the Sir Henry Seagrave lounge. This  is a Water speed record holder on water but he was killed attemping the water speed record attempt on Windermere in the early 20's. I believe it is him Walking the hotel corridors.

so........I've been inside The Stanley Hotel (Estes Park, CO) without seeing anything odd occur but yet Jack Nicolson lost his sanity there.  REDRUM

[Joe Farang]

28 minutes ago, toofarnorth said:

Behind our house are the rice fields.  A couple of years ago at harvesting time the chap on a harvester blew a loud blast on his siren , I asked the wife why and she said it wakes the ghosts up.

That's her polite way of saying "How the phuck would I know why he blew the siren you stupid Farang Buffalo"

[johnnybangkok]

14 minutes ago, BarraMarra said:

I thought this thread was about Ghost? Many years ago I was a night porter at a well known Hotel on lake Widermere called " The Old England " In Bowness - on - Windermere. One of my duties was to look at the reports on the day about Guests ie are they awkward demanding etc. One day 2 guests checked out around 4 pm because they claim they saw a Ghost in there room. I did a security sweep walkaround every 3 hours. When i got to there room itwas very unnerving and i was not going into the now vacant room. On another occasion the Hotel was closed for Refurb and no guest were in the hotel but staff were in there accomadation so I Still had to do my rounds. One night i was climbing a flight of stairs and i felt someone pass me on the stairs it even blew in my face and was enough to move my hair that was it for me no more night portering and i went on days. If anyone books a stay in this hotel th resturant is named the Sir Henry Seagrave lounge. This  is a Water speed record holder on water but he was killed attemping the water speed record attempt on Windermere in the early 20's. I believe it is him Walking the hotel corridors.

'The One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge was an offer by the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) to pay out one million U.S. dollars to anyone who could demonstrate a supernatural or paranormal ability under agreed-upon scientific testing criteria. A version of the challenge was first issued in 1964. Over a thousand people applied to take it, but none were successful. The challenge was terminated in 2015.'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Million_Dollar_Paranormal_Challenge

 

I think having over 50 years to 'prove' ghosts and there not being one single, verifiable instance of ghosts or indeed ANY proven paranormal activity pretty much proves that ghosts don't exist.

[Walker88]

1 hour ago, bob smith said:

This is one of the many reasons that I am relocating next year.

 

There is no such thing as logic in this country.

If you go to the US, you will find that somewhere between 20 to 25% of Americans believe Tom Hanks and Hillary Clinton run an international cabal where they kidnap, rape, roast and eat babies. QAnon. Logical it is not.

 

Half the people in the world believe in fantasies where some deity or group of deities created a Universe of 200 billion galaxies, each with an average of a trillion stars, and in one average galaxy, around one nondescript star, put sentient beings to praise said deity or deities, and added a few rules like not eating pork or dressing females like giant eggplants or knocking up an Earthgirl, playing deadbeat dad, then letting the kid get nailed....all so some of the sentient beings could go to some celestial country club. Really odd initiation ceremony. Also seems a terribly inefficient way to get a little "You're so great" praise and thanks (which are very human needs and wants, hardly the needs of anything omnipotent and eternal).

 

Plenty of people---even those who have watched someone disappear via dementia or Alzheimers---think that the instant the now-vegetative person dies, all of their memories, personality, etc. come back as they drift into some afterlife thing.

 

There are even still people who think that stars and planets---which are never in the same position more than once in all of eternity---somehow dictate a person's life and fate, ostensibly due to 'forces', despite the lightbulb over the bed where they were whelped hits them with more electromagnetic energy than all the stars and galaxies in the Universe, and the gravitational attraction of the doctor or midwife delivering exceeds the gravitational forces of every other star or galaxy. Rather than anyone saying they're a Scorpio, it makes more sense to say you were born under a GE 100 watt and a Dr. Jones.

 

All of these silly beliefs are driven by ignorance or hope. Ghosts are hardly any less logical. ALl were made up when ignorance reigned supreme, yet many are still carried today, despite zero evidence of their existence.

 

All that being said, no way I would invest a satang with anyone who believed in fortune tellers or ghosts, and I even have a bit of trouble investing with anyone who believes in gods. I prefer folks who accept personal responsibility and make decisions based on an analysis of all the facts that can be known.

[stoner]

tell him to have his fortune teller send over next weeks numbers. invest in that make out like a bandit and bob's your uncle. 

[bob smith]

2 minutes ago, stoner said:

tell him to have his fortune teller send over next weeks numbers. invest in that make out like a bandit and bob's your uncle. 

its fred whos my uncle actually.

 

at the ripe old age of 93 he can still kick a brick! 

[Lemsta69]

57 minutes ago, BarraMarra said:

I thought this thread was about Ghost?

No, it's about Bogsy's fragile eggshell mind.

[KhunLA]

to the title...

... as soon as I see on, maybe

[bob smith]

2 minutes ago, Lemsta69 said:

No, it's about Bogsy's fragile eggshell mind.

how so?

 

i thought it was about my subjective experience...

 

never mind.