The Mystery of the Soul and the Decoding of Science - Final Episode: Ghost Hunters and the Science of Soul Search

The strange thing is that not only underdeveloped countries believe in mediums, but America and the West also have many ghost hunters.

While science is still researching, in real life many people believe in the spirit world - Photo: DAILY EXPRESS

And one of the first soul seekers in America who is most mentioned is Hans Holzer, born in 1920 in Austria, came to New York in 1938. He was formally educated, became a doctor of parapsychology and had a strange passion: hunting souls.

Soul Hunter

Passing away in 2009, Dr. Holzer published many books on spiritual research such as Ghost Hunter, Ghosts: True Encounters with the World Beyond... According to Hans Holzer, ghosts are the remaining emotions and memories of people who died tragically, unaware of and unwilling to accept their own death.

Dr. Holzer has conducted many thrilling soul hunts, but the most notable case was the investigation of murderer Ronald DeFeo Jr. who shot and killed his own parents and four siblings in 1974. The house where the tragic incident took place was rented but had to be moved out soon after they heard strange moans and screams.

Holzer cooperated with a psychic to investigate and was told by the spirit of a Shinnecock Native American chief that the house was built on a sacred cemetery, so an angry spirit possessed DeFeo to use his hand to kill his family with a gun.

In his old age, Dr. Holzer told the press that when he passed away, he did not need a tombstone or cemetery, because the most precious thing to a person is the soul, and the body is just an outer shell.

There are countless ghost hunters like Holzer. Even in the 21st century, they use modern electronic devices to track down ghosts. Among them, pipe fitters Grant Wilson and Jason Dawes became ghost hunters that even the SciFi Channel made a reality TV series.

With infrared cameras filming in the dark and electromagnetic and temperature measuring devices..., they discovered strange things like the presence of spirits. However, there were also "ghosts" that they investigated that were actually just artificial lights shining through the cracks of doors, strange noises because of broken hinges, cold rooms because of weak heating...

When science searches for the soul

In a 21st century world increasingly dominated by reason, white coats and dry numbers, the concept of the soul seems to be confined to religion and legend. But what if modern science is on the verge of revealing something truly metaphysical?

According to the Daily Mail, that is the fascinating statement that is sparking new debates as many leading scientists and scholars believe that consciousness and possibly the soul do not necessarily disappear when the human body ceases to exist.

The debate began to heat up earlier this year when Dr. Stuart Hameroff, an anesthesiologist at the University of Arizona, interpreted unusual brain activity in near-death patients as possible evidence of "the soul leaving the body."

This observation has rekindled a topic that many people would like to leave to theology, but is now being approached by some scientists using MRI machines, EEG (electroencephalogram) and even philosophical arguments.

The late Professor Charles Tart, one of the pioneers in the field of parapsychology, spent decades studying phenomena that many consider pseudoscience. But Tart wasn't interested in "spoon bending" as in the show, but in near-death experiences and the possibility that consciousness can exist independently of the body.

In one of the most famous experiments, a sleeping participant hooked up to an EEG machine reported experiencing an astral projection. She accurately described a five-digit number placed on a high shelf, which she was physically unable to see. This event has fueled speculation among researchers that the mind can travel independently of the body, a hypothesis that resonates strangely with many spiritual traditions.

Today, science has used modern machine learning to understand the soul like the brain states of near-death people - Photo: MICHIGAN MEDICINE

In his book, The Secret Science of the Soul, Tart calls for a more open mind among scientists: "Real science can contribute a lot to understanding near-death experiences." He emphasizes that dismissing these phenomena outright shows prejudice more than scientific skepticism.

While psychologist Charles Tart delves into parapsychological phenomena, New York University philosophy professor Thomas Nagel offers a profound insight into the nature of consciousness, according to The Economics Time.

He argued that no matter how advanced physics is, it is still not enough to fully explain the complexity of human cognition. If the universe is made up of only atoms and molecules, how can we explain the emergence of thoughts, emotions and subjective experiences?

Professor Nagel advocates the theory of “panpsychism,” a bold philosophical hypothesis that all elements in the universe, even seemingly inanimate ones, may possess some form of consciousness. If this hypothesis is correct, consciousness is not a product of the brain alone, but is an inherent part of the very foundational structure of reality.

Nagel once wrote: "Our life is part of a universe that is gradually awakening and becoming aware of itself." So could this self-awareness, or awakened state of consciousness, be the soul in another form?

In particular, Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz, a psychiatrist and neuroregeneration researcher, argues that the human brain and mind are not the same thing. His research shows that humans can restructure the brain's architecture through concentrated willpower, changing thought patterns in people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or recovering from strokes.

He argued that this suggested the existence of something beyond matter, perhaps a mind, or even a soul. In his bestselling book Brain Lock, Schwartz asserted that the brain can create obsessive thoughts, but the mind has the choice to reject them.

If matter is everything, how can this be? For Schwartz, the power of the will, the ability of the mind to transcend the brain, suggests a dual existence: a physical body, a spiritual body.

And there is no such thing as soul?

However, not all scientists are convinced. Professor David Kyle Johnson of King's College (Pennsylvania, USA) is more skeptical. In his book Do Souls Exist?, Johnson recalls the famous case of Phineas Gage, a 19th-century railway worker who miraculously survived after an iron rod was driven through his brain. He lived, but his personality changed completely.

Johnson argues that if personality can be altered by physical injury, it raises questions about the existence of an immaterial soul. He notes that neuroscience has gradually taken over functions once attributed to the soul, from memory, emotion, decision-making, to even consciousness.

“Everything that was once considered the province of the soul,” Johnson writes, “has now been shown to be the province of the brain.”

To date, the scientific community has yet to come up with a definitive answer, but curiosity increasingly outweighs skepticism. Through neurological studies of religious experiences and accounts of astral projection, one thing is clear: the soul is no longer just a religious concept. It is being brought into laboratories, examined under microscopes, and debated in university classrooms.

Ultimately, the most fascinating thing is perhaps not whether scientists have proven the soul, but that they dare to embark on that search. And in that unusual effort, from brain scans, philosophical works to mystical memories, perhaps humanity is getting closer to the answer to whether the soul exists or not?

THUY CHI

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bi-an-linh-hon-va-su-giai-ma-cua-khoa-hoc-ky-cuoi-tho-san-ma-va-khoa-hoc-tim-kiem-linh-hon-20250919231727388.htm