The concept of schizotypy

The interest of apparitional experiences to psychology has acquired an added dimension in recent years with the development of the concept of schizotypy or psychosis-proneness.

This is conceived of as a dimension of personality, continuously distributed throughout the normal population, and analogous to the dimensions of extraversion or neuroticism. As long as mental illness is regarded under the disease model, according to which a person either does or does not ‘have’ schizophrenia or manic depression, just as a person either does or does not have syphilis or tuberculosis, then to talk of the occurrence of an apparitional or hallucinatory experience in a normal person is either an oxymoron, or to be taken as an indication of latent or incipient psychosis.

If, on the contrary, a dimensional view of the matter is taken, it becomes easier to conceive of how normal people, more or less high on the putative schizotypy dimension, might be more or less prone to anomalous perceptual experiences, without their ever tipping over into psychosis.

Green and McCreery’s identification of a class of what they called ‘reassuring apparitions’ is of particular interest in this regard, as it suggests that the experiencing of hallucinations may even have an adaptive effect in certain subjects, making them better able to cope with adverse life events.

This would fit with the model of schizotypy as essentially a normal dimension of personality, and might help to explain why the proneness to anomalous perceptual experiences has apparently not been ‘weeded out’ by the process of natural selection.

You do not need to be susceptible to schizophrenia, it is natural as part of one’s personality and an adaptive effect in certain subjects. The constant reoccurrence of such is what constitutes a mental issue.

Given the right circumstances, I can not see why would it be impossible for two people to have a similar if not the same anomalous perception.

Believing it is a ghost (as in dead people in front of you) tho is a bit like believing that when you dream you jumped to a dimension where you are talking to dead people and they are carrying you around showing things or scarying the living daylight out of you.

Giving attribute to the event of ‘soul of dead people appearing in my room’ is like giving the attribute of

“I spoke to my dead grandmother’s soul last night while I was sleeping and she told me to jump from the 10th floor window, “it’s for the best, dear”, so don’t worry, I will appear sometimes in your lounge room to say hello. see you soon.”

Why have brains if we have a “soul” ? Why do we have brains at all ?

According to the concept of soul, it contain our memories, emotions, decisions, free will, everything that makes us what we are.

It is morally acceptable for Casper the ghost to walk around naked - he have no penis, vagina nor tits. As he (or she), similarly to a Catholic priest, can not physically reproduce his own genes, he does not need them.

But for some idiotic reason beyond having souls we have these large brains which are huge energy hogs and are easily damaged causing death.

If a “soul” existed we should not have brains at all, actually no body at all, we could simply do like Casper the ghost, interact with the planet and others just like ghosts do. Ghosts can move physical objects as well cant them ? I wonder why do they appear in clothes, they should not need reproductive organs anyway, so that would be morally acceptable for them to appear naked – they would have no penis, vagina nor tits.

It would solve most the social problems too, as souls don’t eat physical food. They use energy, like solar panels – so as long the sun is there, everybody is fed.

Or maybe it is because we need to be physical just to give birth to another souls using temporary large-brained bodies.

So them millions of brain cells that hold all of our memories, and if damaged turn you into a vegetable-like person needing to have your ass wiped by someone until you die, are like a flash disk – soon you die, it gets transferred somehow somewhere inside the soul, which you carry for some reason with yourself, maybe like a map, to appear in a place you remember from your last existence.

The whole of the concept of giving attribute of such to ghosts and souls is ridiculous and completely irrational.

The event of giving attribute of such to backwards time travel or an alien life form would be sarcastically speaking more plausible and mature.