Celebrating death beyond the ghost stories

It is that time of year when stories on ghosts, witchcraft, and frightening experiences abound. Evidently enough, November 1 is not just associated with honoring our loved ones who passed away, but also with celebrating the paranormal. With Filipinos considered one of the most spiritual people in the world, the existence of spirits and elementals has become an “accepted fact." Although there have been no records confirming the existence of the supernatural nor have there been any ghost held captive and studied inside laboratories, some people say there are incontrovertible proof of these lingering spirits’ existence. We have heard stories of ghosts making phone calls, appearing on bathroom mirrors, living in abandoned houses, singing in hallways, and being caught on photographs, among others. For instance, Alexie Renz Cruz, editor of bestselling True Philippine Ghost Stories, works during graveyard shifts in his office in Cubao. He recounts that an unidentified male ghost has been lurking in the old building. “He often plays with bathroom lights and computer units. He won't move chairs, but you'll know he's there, making paper sheets fly and pens fall. He also brings a certain ‘hot aura’ with him as he passes by," Alexie shares. The ghost stories editor, however, says that most ghosts and spirits he has encountered were harmless. Dark spirits And then there are elementals that tend to appear otherwise. Lia Hernandez, not her real name, was taking her college retreat at a century-old house in Baguio City. While taking her nap, she felt a warm breeze – an odd occurrence given the cold climate in the mountainous region. As she woke from her slumber, she saw a black apparition, with eyes staring directly at her. She closed her eyes and attempted to pray. The next thing she knew, the entity was mimicking St. Michael the Archangel’s well-known image of slaying the devil. The apparition also sat beside the crucifix on her table, still with eyes deeply set on her. When the spirit seemed to have left, she rushed to her friends who said she was only hallucinating. Lia, however, attests that the experience was real. Alexie shares the experience of a colleague who fell ill after a week into editing their publication. Inflammations started sprouting on her face. They called a faith healer who advised the victim to resign from the magazine after she is cured. The healer said that a spirit with evil intentions attempted to harm her. The existence of ghosts Citing observations from their resident “spirit and paranormal experts," Alexie suggests that ghosts appear on earth as they still have unfinished businesses and it is not yet time for them to move on to the higher plane. On entities associated with darkness, Alexie warns that that “we need to exercise caution" because there are evil spirits who want to spread pain and hurt people. But on those who seem harmless, Alexie quotes experts as saying that these elements remain restless on earth because they want to share a message that they failed to share when they were still alive. An example of this is what happened to Reiner Manalo, not his real name, when his father passed away a few decades back. Reiner is the eldest in their family. He has a younger sister, seven years his junior. Hours after his father’s funeral, Reiner went to his parents’ room to sort through his father’s things. While he was collecting items that needed to be kept, his father appeared to him, talked to him briefly, and instructed him how to take care of their family. Rainer’s father told him his frustration of having left too early, but said he entrusted his wife and his daughter onto Rainer’s hands. From then on, Rainer believed that his father, while he may have had an unfinished business, appeared to correct his previous mistakes. “Something inside their being drives them to share their suffering and problems, in hopes that we can actually help them find a solution," Alexie says. Life and death Let Halloween be a reminder for all of us that ghosts can exist and their existence is beyond the horror stories we enjoy to hear. As we pay our respects to our dearly departed, let us also celebrate the lives they lived when they were still with us. Recalling Rainer’s story, we see that death is part of a much greater and much deeper event, the fullness of which we cannot comprehend, but which we know is also a life-bringing event. Jesuit writer Henri Nouwen puts it best: “Eternity is born in time, and every time someone dies whom we have loved dearly, eternity can break into our moral existence a bit more." – GMANews.TV