From the beginning times of record keeping, it is now estimated that there are 15 dead persons for every living one. If that estimate is anywhere near accurate, then where are all the ghosts? Other than them waiting to audition for a popular TV ghost show, I'd like to entertain a hypothesis for anthropomorphic anomalies that doesn't actually involve ghosts... Retrocausality.
By simple definition, this means that backwards causation is a concept of cause and effect where the effect precedes its cause in time, so that a later event in time affects an earlier event. Wait... huh? What the heck does that mean?
I'll give you an example as it might relate to doing a paranormal investigation. Victor finds himself walking through the building, doing measurements, noting observations, etc. Finding himself in a particular room or area of a building, he notices a shadow person suddenly appear standing across the room from him. The shadow person surprises him in that it appears to be aware of his presence in the room. In the brief time he observes this semi-transparent anomaly, he can distinguish slight features, observing what appears to be hair but also notices the semblance of a a muscular frame. This shadow person quickly moves toward Victor, seemingly passing right through him as it exits the room through the doorway and instantly disappearing. Victor remains composed yet wonders, WTF just happened? If you were alone when this happened, you would naturally question whether what you just witnessed was real or imagined. Victor went home after the investigation and reviewed his data, but nothing shows up on video to substantiate his incredible experience. He does what most would do, given the opportunity... he plans a return to that location. He feels compelled to and more or less won't rest until he does.
Relating his experience to the other team members and convincing them to return with him, we now fast forward to the time they are in the same building again. In his excitement and anticipation, Victor hastens to the exact spot of his previous experience, spending significant time alone, but alas, nothing unusual occurs. Feeling disappointment, he leaves that room and continues investigating other areas of the building. It isn't long before you hear Joe, another team member shout in fright, as one would do if they spotted a large shark in the water with them. This draws the rest of the team to that spot. It's the same room that Victor had his experience in! What happened, they ask? Joe explains he was in the room when he saw a shadow person instantly appear before him, standing in the doorway. He was so frightened by it that he ran out of the room right past and seemingly through the shadow person in an effort to get out.
I ask you to stop right here and think about the above. By now you have probably surmised that this might be an experienced time slip associated with the hypothesis of retrocausality, and specifically ‘Temporal Nonlocality’ in Quantum Entanglement, or as Einstein called it, "Spooky Action at a distance," the keyword here being "distance." But what if the possibility exists for involvement across time? Instead of point "A" being entangled with a distant point "B," could it be entangled with a present and past time locally by location, with information passed from one to the other instantaneously and momentarily? Is this so different that popular claims that a ghost is a spectral form of its former bodily self? If this is indeed a case of retrocausality, the question then must be asked as to whether Joe glimpsed Victor's former presence in the room, or his own.
Until now, this idea stood without change, however with the coronavirus prevalent among us, it compels the question of how might an unexpected death affect that specific time line. Would this also be pre-determined or does the above time loop not happen if Dave, God forbid, were to suddenly pass, from the effects of the coronavirus for instance? Does the idea that time not being linear make the 'effect' change the 'causation' and thus Victor never has the above mentioned experience? Is this part of the quantum paradox taken into consideration? A reminder that there is nothing in the standard model of physics that says time has to run forwards. Of course, it's a tough hypothesis to entertain even by scientists, as it goes against the basic principles of science, principles based around conducting an experiment and monitoring the results, the very essence of cause and effect.
So where does this idea come from? It was given birth from studies and experiments in Quantum Mechanics. The observation of scientific testing at the macroscopic level concerning the ability to change the state of a photon reinforces the suggestion that our knowledge of the laws and possibility within the field of physics leaves much yet to be discovered and learned.
Now, there are some who ascribe to ours being an observer-created reality where our life's entire sequence of events is pre-planned or even influenced by intent. It then simply "plays out" like a computer program. Some neuroscientists hypothesize that this knowledge lies known and deeply imbedded within our consciousness. According to Jai Dudeja, Amity University | AU · Amity School of Engineering and Technology, PhD, "usually information is shared between the cerebral hemispheres of our brain, but at times there could be a delay in transferring these signals among both halves, sensing it has had these experience just moments before." Sounds like Déjà vu, doesn't it?
What would be examples of retrocausality that we ourselves might have experienced? Here are a few taken from news articles:
- One boy recalled how, when he grew up in Germany, he had a dream in which he found a revolver tucked away in a small cupboard. After moving to America, he realized that his new house looked exactly like the one in his dream. He located the exact same cupboard and, within it lay a rusted revolver! This might easily be attributed to the claim that the boy was a psychic, which would be as unproven a claim as retrocausality.
- While standing in line at Target, a man noticed a mother and her child in front of him. As the kid made eye contact with him, she called his name twice, despite not knowing who he is. It was also an uncommon name, making the incident even more bizarre! Was this man someone the child was destined to meet and know in his own future?
- sounding similar to the popularly termed "glitch in the matrix,"a man was driving home from work when he noticed a car in front of him that was identical to his. What's more, they seemed to take the same route. After following the car on a left-hand turn, however, the car in front of him seemed to have vanished.
Then there are countless stories of people having premonitions that resulted in prevention or avoidance of a serious or deadly accident or event. How can these glimpses into our future (or past) be enabled? Did the indigenous of North American learn to tap into that ability with what is called a "vision quest?"
Exactly what is the trigger for a retrocausality event is anyone's guess. With all of the other ideas floating around concerning ghosts, could it be the ghost you believe to have seen is actually yourself being offered a fortuitous glimpse into your very own life's timeline?
- MoonJoey