Thats a cool idea and one that I sort of touched upon in my prior post, Bunee.  I was raised Catholic and to believe there is a purgatory.  I never bought into the whole religious aspect but if there is one, that would be mine, or even Hell if it was for all eternity.  Still one has to wonder whether time as we experience it  would be the same for a "spirit".  I mean if your spirit is eternal, thats pretty equivalent to infinity as far as time goes and then I have to wonder if thats the case, my spirit should be able to visit any time I want, like in Its A Wonderful Life or the ghost of Christmas Past or Future like in the Dicken's stories.  If its possible, after my time has come, I promise to leave a post mortem post to Tehachapi News telling everyone who was right and who was wrong, or however much I'm allowed to type.  After I leave a personal message to my wife of course. ;)  Somehow I think thats not possible though or someone would have done it.

Does no one else think that would be the worst and penultimate punishment of all?  I mean think about it.  If you could SEE everything that is going on past your death and have no ability to influence it whatsoever, what hell could be worse than that? The only way I could see that being a non-punishment would be to lose your ability to empathize with people post-death.  That would be the most un-human thing I could think of.

bunee, I know Lake Hughes well. I just saw some recent photos of the stone store- still looks the same. Also, one of my best friends in high school lived in the large stone house just east and up the hill. That driveway was something else to get up there! You might remember the Antonucci family. I have many enduring memories in that area.

I have never seen a ghost but I have had wonderful experiences that suggest ghosts or angels are real. While thinking along such imaginative lines, I begin tinkering around in the physics of it.

Today, physicists recognize there must be dimensions other than ours to explain test results that simply don't make sense.

One test is done by cutting slats into the sides of a box so that light can enter. As you multiply the slats a strange effect occurs. The light from some slats is "canceled out" when it enters the box. As you add more slats, the light entering inside the box is less than the number of slats. How does something like this happen?

They used to call it a canceling effect but no longer.

Canceling didn't explain anything, but interference by another dimension has far greater explanatory power.

Dimensions also, as a matter of scientific description, adds possibilities to how the ancient mythologies could have been so centered in the spectacular, the gods, angels, and demons in ancient writings, and a host of supernatural apparitions or intuitions that are so easily sensed, believed, and apprehended.

But, what is ancient is also modern to me.

Who doesn't have a story that is mysterious? I have mine and everyone else has theirs, but experiments in physics deepen the mystery instead of dispelling what might otherwise be called supernatural or just plain superstitious.

All of which brings me to a short story.

Many years ago I lived in a place called Anchor Bay on the north coast of California. To get an idea of how remote we were, we would go shopping once a month. Round trip to and from Santa Rosa was about 4 to 5 hours depending on weather.

In the early, quiet morning hours, I would write and play classical guitar but something was preparing for me in those early hours, something I never expected.

After about six months of doing the same thing every morning, I became aware of a change in my hearing. It was then, and there, that I discovered I was playing along with every movement of sound and melody that nature had to offer me.

A wind rustling through my meadow? I was an accompanist. Birds winging through the air? I was an accompanist. The geese ruffling their feathers or the creak of a branch in my forest? I was an accompanist.

I was part of a symphony of nature as fingers tapped along the frets and others plucked the strings. All the elements of sublime symphony were there for me to hear and participate with.

I was in awe as I listened to it for the first time that morning, and I continue in awe, even reverence, to this day.

I had become aware of and hence, entered another dimension that morning. Oh sure, I was still quite real but the moment I brought up that guitar to sit on my lap and set fingers to plucking and fretting, awareness and insight changed as to the world around me.

The geese would join me each morning. They would waddle the sixty or so yards from the lower pond and form a semi-circle around me. One goose usually offered extra notes to my music by using his beak to pluck strings while I strummed.

Hummingbirds would visit and butterflies landed on the tuning keys, sometimes they would land on my hands and stay there until I finished a piece.

Both my hearing and eyesight were permanently changed that morning, but it is my hearing that changed the greatest. Someday, I will share the story of the unbidden visitor, but that is for another day.

Since that time, I have always been able to say in all modesty, heaven is in our midst, but noisy distraction from the sublime seems ever the greater nuisance.
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Ok so the word "ghost" is so traditionally um...dumb.  I believe in spirits and I believe that there are many reasons they stick around and dont completely pass over.  Unfinished business.  I have had my own experiences with spirits.  Scared the crap out of me for a long time until i realized they were there for a reason and accept it.

Woe Kat, you are a very deep person!  I'm not quite sure what to say, but your story is intriguing to say the least.
When I was in Junior High I went to a camp out in the forest with my classmates.  We stayed in cabins and made things
by hand...and so on.  In my mind I remember the trip as a learning experience that helped us learn about nature..they
would take us on hikes and we would sit and learn about the trees and the leaves.  I found it kind of odd at the time.
Now, I would much rather be outside hiking, walking, and exploring. 

Scottso, I've learned from the Christian belief that we are "assigned" a place in Heaven or assigned to Hell and the only spirits that make contact with the living world are "demons".  However, we know there are many experiences where people are just dealing with friendly or playful spirits.  That's why I'm under the impression that some spirits get stuck in between dimensions or stay in a transitional period.
 They don't have a physical body to interact with us but still try to make contact.  I agree that as a spirit it would be very frustrating and hellish trying to communicate with family (on earth)while scaring the hell out of them in the process.  There seems to be some kind of barrier that only lets them filter through...so traditional communication is not possible.  Do I sound completely insane?
I don't think we are supposed to know and won't find out until we get there.