What is augmented reality …

Ask most what their understanding of what augmented reality is and you wouldn’t be shocked to discover that many really don’t know. However its likely that some of those may have already encountered it.

Augmented reality is a technology that superimposes a computer-generated image on a users view of the real world, in turn providing a composite view. This clever technology can mix up the real and the unreal together in one view.

Now don’t get too excited thinking this is some magic software only recently created, not in the slightest. Augmented reality has been knocking about since the early 90’s, when it was developed by some clever people in the US Air Force. Interesting right?

Augmented reality in modern games…

Fast forward to today and the software turns up in the gaming industry where our kids and big kids (yes I’m one) out there use it. Still struggling to place it then think about more recent games like; Pokomon-Go, Harry Potter : Wizards Unite and very recently Jurassic World Alive.

In fact augmented reality games are fast becoming the front-runner or ‘next big thing’ of the mobile gaming industry. Players can hold their mobiles up as they walk around the real world environment and the software can superimpose aliens, monster and more for them. However there is also Geolocation Augmented Reality games which use real world environments and maps as the gaming world, augmented with the game plot and characters. Adding a new and strange dynamic to the game.

Relating augmented reality to the paranormal…

So what does this all have to do with the paranormal I hear you ask? Well, perhaps this could help to explain how we see apparitions or paranormal anomalies sometimes!

Time for a little psi theory I think!

I see augmented reality as information which is then added to localised reality. Although not in our actual reality and running on a device such as a mobile phone using software, it’s still effectively information. Now if you take that device out of the equation you should only be left with normal reality. However what if our own minds are already in receipt of various information from external sources. Perhaps via telepathy from both local and non-local sources. Then perhaps our minds become similar to the devices delivering the augmented reality. With this possibility lets consider various paranormal activity that we pick up with our senses; like sight, hearing, smell, etc. So, once mixed up in our minds, its possible that the information possibly received telepathically is mixed with that information from our standard senses. This information could be relating to something we usually relate to ghosts, so lets say a man in a hat walking right to left in front of us. It’s probably important to add the information does not tell us if the man in a hat is alive or dead, real or unreal, just what I have said already. Now if our minds, like augmented reality, superimposes that information over the information from the environment, then we see a ghost!

I know what you’re probably thinking, it sounds a little like I’m dismissing that ghosts are related t those that have passed. Perhaps you’re right to an extent there, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet!

Looking for a tertium quid…

However lets first state some facts; there is no evidence to prove ghosts are related to the dead. We actually don’t know their cause or probable cause should I say. I’m not ruling out that ghosts could be the dead reminding us of their existence though, but I’m looking for what William James called; the ‘tertium quid’! Something which may come up in a future post no doubt!

What if that additional information is received telepathically from local or even non-local sources and we then integrate it with localised information? This could then provide us with our vision of say apparitions and indeed an explanation we could work with.

As you read this you may begin to come to a similar conclusion as me, which is perhaps the experience itself isn’t the most important aspect here. Granted its needed to understand something interesting has happened, but surely finding the probable source and how that information was transmitted is more valuable.

Sometimes like a clever illusion life can trick us or perhaps wow us in front of our very eyes, whilst using slight of hand to conceal the truth. Where it may be simpler to propose the answer support survival and what we see are images of those that have passed; personally I believe it could be considerably more complex than simply seeing within our reality.

Could the apparitions be hallucinations…

However one consideration that has often been presented is that apparitions are hallucinations, perhaps that are related to dreaming. Often such experiences have been rationalised to being part of a dream should I say. Now as someone who has most definitely witnessed apparitions in his time, I can categorically state I wasn’t asleep at the time or even for a moment. So, that possibility is unlikely in my mind. What if our comprehension of our access to the dream world is incomplete? As an individual that has epilepsy I remember being accused of frequent day dreaming in class as a boy prior to being diagnosed. This would be a state where someone would be neither awake or asleep, but a third way; which possibly placed them between the two.

With this in mind we could consider the possibility that such dream states could occur during waking moments too. If this is possible then perhaps information from dreams could pass into our reality. A probable source for our information.

Telepathy from the collective consciousness…

A more probable source could be that of the minds of others that are alive, but either local or non-local to the recipient. Thinking about that for a moment it may seem slightly far-fetched, but given the supportive research for telepathy, is it? If there is indeed a collective consciousness then perhaps this is a real possibility? As our bodies enter new physical environments, our minds may look to the collective consciousness for more information in order to preserve our safety. That information may then be presented in a form that then superimposes on our own reality. In that form we could then experience multiple realities at once, just like augmented reality technology allows us to.

Modern technology inspired psychical ability perhaps…

As our modern technology continues to evolve I am often placed in a position of thought, wondering if our more psychical abilities are now becoming the inspiration for modern-day technology. This may perhaps be an unknown inspiration, but one that almost seems evident once you look for it.

The point I’m trying to make here I guess is, that the source of that extra information is what we should seek. How we obtain it from the source is equally important too. And yes it could equally be that the source is from someone who has passed, but if so great! That would help prove survival wouldn’t it?

Looking into augmented reality has presented a few similarities to how we may describe apparitions for me. Rather than following the normal approach and belief that this out-of-place phantom is of someone who has died, perhaps we could explore the possibility that it could be someone alive too. After all if our technology can augment our reality, then its possible our minds could do the same.

Sometimes its worth taking a look at things from a slightly different angle in order to gain a different perspective.

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