Halloween - celebration with the dead, ghosts, and spirits

  Halloween - celebration with the dead, ghosts, and spirits

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

"Good and evil for once their boundary open,

     so with that of heaven and hell we implore;

take the backseat apostasy, paganism alive!

     make haste, before Hades closes the door."  - avr

Part 1 - Dialogue with the Dead

Part 2 - Dead Tree Walking

Part 3 - We are Living in Parallel Worlds 

Part 4 - Halloween Moon: Anatomy of a Dream

Part 5 - Bangongot! Sleep Paralysis

Part 1 - Dialogue with the Dead  

Dialogue with the dead. 

   The evil spirit comes for a visit. Merging of the real and imaginary. 

Remember our dead beloved, the unsung, unknown;

     catch up with time for our failed expression,

prayers unsaid, love denied,  gesture unrequited -

     day of the souls to amend our infraction.    

Transported to the land of the dead. 

 

 Treat or threat.

   Whose party? Where have all the people gone?

 

 

            Masks or real faces?

   Faces, faces, young and old,

  fair and coy and bold;

masks, masks, masks we are told,

sans feeling, and cold. 

    

The dead takes center stage. 

Come let's visit Dante's Inferno, and Milton's world,*

     call on Frankenstein,** his monstrous creation;

travel to Transylvania, track the undead Dracula;   

     join the dead, their ghosts in celebration. 

Good and evil for once their boundary open,

     so with that of heaven and hell we implore;

take the backseat apostasy, paganism alive!

     make haste, before Hades closes the door.   

* Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, epic by John Milton
** Frankenstein, novel by Mary Shelley

                    Part 2 - Halloween: Dead Tree Walking

"I came from Paradise lost;

would you walk with me?"

Limb of a dead tree resembling a headless human figure

I am the ghost that walks from a forest before;

I am the conscience of man sleeping in its core.

I am the memory from the distant past; 

lost among the throng, living in the dust. 

I came from Paradise lost, orphaned by the first sin; 

the hands that cared for me can't now be seen. 

I long for a heaven, too, a gift of being good and true, 

but if heaven is only for man then I did serve him through. 

But I am a ghost now. Would man join me for a walk 

to tell the world the story of a once mighty oak? ~

               Part 3 -  We are Living in Parallel Worlds 

Can a person simultaneously exist in two - or more - separate places 

or occasions? 

"Sir, I saw you at the Cultural Center yesterday," Ellen greeted me that Monday. "You were in barong talking with guests during the cocktail."  

Honestly I wasn't.  I wasn't even aware of the occasion. Politely I replied, "It must have been another person."

"Kayo po, sir.  Sigurandong sigurado ako." (It was you, sir. I am very sure.)

Ellen has known me for  twelve years as a professor, she was secretary to the college president at SPQU. 

Well, the matter just died naturally.  Such friendly gesture strengthens camaraderie, and builds quaintness in the workplace.   

So you think you saw a friend walking. In the church a devotee has a familiar profile. You call the name of someone in the crowd. He doesn't respond.  You think he snubbed you. You say that's my former teacher in high school. My classmate in college.

There is something that tells you about a particular person.  He becomes an instant acquaintance. Or it may turn out to be the opposite.  Then you start trying to remember where both of you must have met before. You can't recall. Then in your respite you suddenly remember. But now, doubt shrouds your memory.  Strange. 

Or it could be unmistakably a true experience, yet leaves you  doubting at the end.

One time when I was in high school I saw my dad praying in our church.  It was an ordinary morning and it was a custom to pay a visit even only for a short prayer, instead of just passing by. Dad was in deep prayer. He was near the altar. I left him and walked home.

I was surprised to see him meet me at our gate. I was dumbfounded.  

"Were you in church, dad?" 

"No, I'm on my way, son." He looked back and added, "Don't forget to feed the chickens."

Is it possible that a person may exist in two - or more - separate places or occasions at the same time?

Who was the person Ellen saw was me?   Who was the person whom I believed was my dad in the church that morning?  ~

Part 4 -   Halloween Moon:  Anatomy of a Dream 

Through dreams the loaded unconscious finds relief. Information flows out in the form of dreams. Nature has given us a safety valve to maintain our rationality and to release us from the prison walls of memory. 

Midnight Moon, Himlayang Filipino 2009

In the dark I called Dad and Basang (Auntie) but I received no answer.

This is a true story.

I went to bed very tired. For the whole day before my birthday I put on extra effort to finalize the manuscript of my forthcoming book which I was going to submit the following Monday. The title is Light from the Old Arch, a compilation of essays I wrote through the years.

It was almost midnight when Cecille, my wife, stirred. “I’ll check what we will have for breakfast.” she said as I stretched my aching back and tired brain and apparently fell asleep.

Soon I found myself in complete darkness. I could not trace my way to switch on the lights and after several attempts, an inexplicable fear crept in, a fear I have never experienced. I was in a strange domain yet it had the features of my home. There was total darkness, total silence.

I called for help. I called Dad. I called Basang. 

My father died in 1981 of old age. He was buried at Himlayang Pilipino. Two years after, my oldest son, Pao who was then three died, and was buried beside dad's grave.

Dad was deeply affected by my Mama’s death during the Second World War. My sister Veny was four then, and my brother Eugene was three. Dad suffered much during the four years of Japanese occupation. We continued to live in San Vicente which is adjacent to Vigan, the capital of Ilocos Sur. The three of us children knew little of the joys of childhood. Our only uncle left to raise his own family in Pangasinan. He seldom came to our old house where he, my dad, and four siblings were born. Uncle Leo was the eldest and dad was the youngest. The rest of the siblings died at a very early age of smallpox which killed many people at that time.

Basang my auntie and nanny took care of me from the time my mother died. I was barely two. She never left our home even when I went to Manila for my studies. She died three years after dad. Manang Veny called me to come home when Basang died. We buried her in the town cemetery close to our departed relatives. Just before she died she gave me an antique narra aparador which I now use in keeping my personal things. In our dialect, she said, “This is the only thing I can give you.”

“You have given me everything,” I said.

Going back to the incident, I called dad three times, then called Basang once. It was a call apparently in fear. I felt helpless and lost. I froze. I could not move. I could not shout. And when I knew no help would come, I struggled. I succeeded in moving my fingers, my toes, until I was free.

Cecille had returned to our bedroom. “Why, you are pale and perspiring? What happened?" she asked, perplexed. She fetched me a glass of water.

“Was I shouting?” I asked automatically. “No,” she said calmly.

“I was dreaming,” I said and told her the whole story.

Dreams are visions of the unconscious part of our brain. That is why they occur in our sleep, when we are not aware of things the way we perceive them with our senses. Dreams are not fashioned by rational thoughts and actions, and therefore we have no power to decide and to act according to that decision. We are entirely under the control of our unconscious mind.

“Even when we are deeply asleep the psyche is still actively producing dreams,” says Carl Jung. “We may not always be aware of these activities, any more than we are aware of our physiological activities, but this does not mean they are not taking place.”

According to Jung we remember only a few of our dreams, yet recent evidences suggest that we dream continuously throughout the night. There in our unconscious mind our psyche is very much alive, performing psychological work such as perceiving, remembering, thinking, feeling, wishing, willing, attending and striving – just as breathing, digesting and perspiring are physiological activities.

But can we choose psychic values? According to Jung, when a high value is placed upon an idea or feeling it means that this idea or feeling exerts considerable force in influencing and directing one’s behavior. A person may place a high value on beauty. Another on power. Or knowledge. On the other hand, there are those who place a high value on wealth, even on sex and vices. These create the themes of our dreams.

This is the realm of our unconscious mind. This is where Carl Jung parted way from his friend Sigmund Freud as he blazed the trail of the psychology of the unconscious, which led to applied psychology - psychiatry. We are governed not only by our conscious mind. We are actually governed in a much deeper and wider sense than we ever think. As we feed the unconscious with conscious thoughts and experiences, so the unconscious feeds the conscious mind. And this cycle goes on throughout everyone’s life, starting in the womb.

Even when we were children, the mind did not lose the information it received. They were deposited. First in the conscious, then deposited in the unconscious part of our brain, which are saved like in the computer. Now, the information is ready at hand to be retrieved. Touch the key and the info comes out on the screen – the screen of our consciousness.

How will this affect our present mind now that we are older? Jung said that the previous information serves as archetype. To better understand how this archetype works in relation to what we think at present, here is an example.

Suppose here is a person who happened to be a witness of a murder with his own eyes when he was still a small child. When he sees a suspicious person, the image of the murderer he saw many years ago flashes. It is the archetype coming alive.

Or take another example. A kindly gentleman comes and asks for a favor. We size him up in relation to people who have the characteristics this man possesses. If our experiences are agreeable, it is likely that we are going to entertain this person.

The images of people, places and events are fashioned in many ways by archetypes. Unlike the computer, the mind spontaneously brings out the archetype that the brain appropriately needs at that moment. This is the basis of many of our decisions – and prejudices.

Through dreams the loaded unconscious finds relief. Information flows out in the form of dreams. Dreams may be happy or sad, fearful or pleasant. Or at intervals of moods and settings and characters, as if information keep on flowing out. Nature has given us a safety valve to maintain our rationality and to release us from the prison walls of memory. Thus the other safety valve is forgetfulness.

Psychiatry is based on this principle. Lying on a couch the patient unloads his burden, fears, and uncertainties. He releases the pressure. Through this process he reaches a state of catharsis. He is relieved. He can now sleep. He can now work again.

People who cannot attain catharsis may suffer of psychiatric problems and may resort to drugs. Do you often wonder why people resort to drugs? Why there are more and more people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol?

Why, many people try to “escape” reality?

By reading this story one is led to think that something supernatural controlled the event and situation. I told Cecille, “Dad and Basang came.”

“Let’s pray for them,” she answered and made the sign of the cross.

I know they did not come; I went to them. It was a special day, my special day.

I realized my fault which lies not so much in not remembering them often, but I have ceased to see them as the models that shaped my life. That was too long ago. I no longer see the lessons I learned from them that are still relevant to my present life. I do not call them anymore in the midst of my problems. I have grown up. I do not seek their intercession and guidance anymore.

It is remiss and folly of not showing true feelings to those we love, living or dead, all because “I am always busy”, and because there will be someday to make up for it. There are always reasons or alibis for failing to offer them prayers, to visit their graves, or just to make those who too, are close to them happy. Oh, there are many, many ways.

Time has changed, and change has polarized our worlds. So with values of old and of the present world. The generation gap syndrome is creeping fast, more so with my own children who too, will have a world of their own in the near future.

There in the dark I called Dad and Basang, their names clear and loud, but my voice just faded without answer, not even its own echo. It was eerie and mysterious. The unconscious was swelling and it found an exit in the dark, psychic energy released in dream. And there as I called them, I realized I was the one who is lost – and found myself again.

This is a true story. ~

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Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) 

with Ms Melly C Tenorio 738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 Evening Class, Monday to Friday

Part 5 -  Bangongot!

Sleep paralysis - wiggle your toes, move your fingers, 

don’t give up!

Dr Abe V Rotor

People who have experienced sleep paralysis mistake it as bangongot. It is because of its very nature as a near death experience and it is indeed very scary. I have experienced it myself in a number of times in at least two ways.

Scare to Nightmare. Halloween at National Food Authority QC 2009

The most common frightening experience is when you are dreaming, say of running but you can’t run, box someone but you can’t raise your arm. Imagine you are being chased by a wild animal and you are glued in your place!

There’s one thing you can do: panic and talk incoherently or shout. You wake up tired, panting, perspiring, trying to decipher whether the experience is true or just a dream. It is so vivid that when you are back to your senses you can relate perhaps the whole story.

The other kind of sleep paralysis is more frightening. It is one that may or may not be preceded by a dream. On waking up, you can’t move. You feel totally paralyzed with perhaps only your brain is functioning. Panic seizes you, as you attempt to move but cannot. Frantically you try to move any part of your body. In my experience the first to respond are the fingers and toes, then the limbs, and as blood begins to circulate perked by adrenaline, you find yourself finally “back to the living.”

Sleep paralysis is nature’s way of protecting us during our unconscious moments. Otherwise we become another Hercules who killed his wife and children in his sleep. This safeguard is not absolutely foul proof though. Take the case of sleepwalking and some cases of violence that occur during sleeping.

Remember the popular novel Heidi by Johanna Spyri? The little orphan girl was mistaken as ghost while walking in her sleep. She was so homesick for her grandfather living on the Alps, far away from the city where she was obliged to reside. Our unconscious behavior during sleep is an expression of repressed feelings, such as fears and frustrations. Often, it is the residue of childhood unpleasant experiences.

Well, whatever way there is to assuage you, sleep paralysis, nightmares - or any similar kind - really scares you to death. Just don’t give up!~

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* Halloween or Hallowe'en is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observance of Allhallowtide, the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints, martyrs, and all the faithful departed. Wikipedia