He's 'Looking Down on You'

I don't believe my parents are looking down at me. They didn't take much interest when they were here! I am not supersitious but the day before I went into hospital to remove a growth near my heart/lungs I went for a short walk that I walk along every day. The ground was plastered with white feathers. My sensible head said some bird has come to a bad end but for some reason it perked me up. All went well but I've never seen a feather there since.

MissAdventure

What do the spirits of the dead people do when they're not looking down on us, though?

I'd need an explanation that would at least partly made sense.

That can't be all they do!

You can have your choice of various beliefs, not actually mentioned in the bible or other relgious texts: they praise God, enjoy eternal peace and light, rest in peace (which strikes me personally as a rather boring way of spending eternity) can chose or be drafted into another life on earth (not sure I want that either), and I have no doubt there are other possiblities too.

I hope whatever they do is more exciting that just looking down on us which sounds like a celestial equivalent to squinting through the net curtains or over the garden hedge to gossip about the neighbours.

In a similar vein, a friend of mine discovered that her mum had left lots of new hankies - the old fashioned kind - folded in a drawer when going through her stuff after she died.
My friend never threw them out but kept every one and would take one with her every time she and her DH went on holiday abroad, she said that her mum had always wanted to travel but never did due to expense and ill health, so when they left their hotel room or holiday rental they would leave a hankie in a drawer or cupboard. She said it felt like a part of her mum had been there with her.
Some might find that strange but I think when you really miss someone little rituals like this can be extremely comforting.

I have often wondered where this idea came from, and when it started.

As a historian of religion I have not been able to find any evidence in any religious tradition for the idea that the dead "looking down on us" exists in any religion practised today, or in the past.

I know that my maternal great-grandfather, a Lutheran pastor, had consoled his eldest daughter, my grandmother, who was five when her beloved mother died by saying she could look down on her dear daughters, but I honestly thought, and so, I believe as an adult did my grandmother, that he had made it up to console a grief-stricken child.

As a teenager, I heard a mother tell a small child that the family dog, which had recently died was now a star in the sky that they could look at after dark. At the time, I thought, how sweet, but that the child would be bitterly disappointed one day when someone said "What nonsense!" I hope no-one ever did.

I do hope my dear mother, who died in 2002 has not been able to see EVERYTHING DH and I did in and out of bed since the day she died!

I don't see it as our dead relatives watching over our every move. As others said it's more of a comforting presence, a feeling that someone cares.

That was strange about the music MissA but comforting,

Sorry his name was Eben Alexander

Neuroscientists wrote a book about proof of heaven which makes interesting reading whether you believe in the afterlife. I’m not sure the dead sit about and watch us but the book does raise some fresh questions

Jane43

No I don’t believe it. My father and I were very close, sadly he died when I was 22, but I remember him saying if there is a way of contacting you after I’ve gone I will, he never has. My father-in-law died when my husband was 25, he was very close to my sister-in-law who is five years older than my husband and she has gone to psychics over the years who have told her what I think is nonsense about him sending her messages through flowers but if it gives her some comfort that’s fine.

My parents were rock solid RC but I think Dad insisted on being buried RC because he was terrified of the unknown. Mum had a more simplistic view about religious ceremonies. She, literally, believed that the the entire human race would be "raised up on the last day but will happen to anybody who's been cremated?"

I tried to get through to her that I don't believe it works that way but I DID NOT tell her that I don't think there is an after-life.

No way!

Anyhow, I spent the first few weeks after they both died walking round the house wondering if there was an "after-life" but that soon wore off.

The journalist, the late Ludovic Kennedy, wrote at length about his opinions on a possible "after-life" and one sentence summed it all up for me.

"Make the most of this life. It's all there is".

Ilovedogs22

We too have a ghost but we just say hello, as we know who it is. In some ways its a comfort to us all. 😌

This one is apparently a comfort.

We too have a ghost but we just say hello, as we know who it is. In some ways its a comfort to us all. 😌

antiquatedanne

My very down to earth, no-nonsense friend has seen a ghost in her house as did the people who lived there previously.
Our friends didn't know when they bought it.

I hope my father isn't looking down on me either!! He was a rotten bully, but outsiders thought the sun shone out of his bottom!! However, there are more things in heaven and earth that we know nothing about. 💫

Love my Robin cushion always believed in this

Can the sceptics please explain this to me.

Some years ago, after my father's death I was having to negotiate the sale of my father's share in the business. Unfortunately my father's business partner had died many years previously and I was dealing with the son who inherited his share. He was rather a slippery character and during a meeting at my house, on a beautifully clear, windfree summer's day, he was spinning me all sorts of lies about my father. Suddenly the electrics went and the upstairs window rattled very loudly. That window did rattle in a gale, but never in good weather. No-one could reach the window from outside and there was no-one else in the house. We were both very shaken, but he more than I and he asked me what I thought it was and I immediately replied without a second thought, that was my father warning me. Well, whether it was or not, I can tell you, from then on he stopped his lies and negotiations went ahead successfully.

After he'd gone I went upstairs and shook that window as much as I could and it didn't budge.

If anyone has any other explanation, I would be truly grateful to hear it because I could think of none other

I’m very sceptical but I often think where was I before I became me, where did my soul actually spring from, where is it when I m asleep, what happens to it when I die, is my body just a vessel that looks after a soul until it dies and moves on elsewhere, it’s all very profound and J guess we ll never know but I ll keep talking to the little Robin that follows me in the wood when I m out dog walking, just in case it’s my mum, don’t want her to think I m ignoring her lol 🤷‍♀️😂, as the saying goes when robins appear loved ones are near, who am I to argue? 🤷‍♀️

I believe our love ones are around us. Not all the time. Happily for me I believe there is an afterlife I could write a book of my experiences.

And right in cue, the tune that played at my girls funeral has just randomly shuffled and is playing on spotify.

I hope my parents are not watching over me or they would be screaming at the mess I have made with my life!!!

handbaghoarder

Do I believe my late son is “ looking down” on me? No. Do I feel his presence? Yes every day. The robins. The white feathers. Yep. But also in the starry evening sky, the blue cloudless sky, strange unexpected little events that happen, in fact everything. I was blessed to have him for 50 years but now he has gone back to wherever he came from in the Universe. He surrounds me every minute. “Energy cannot be created or destroyed “. I cant explain more clearly. He is just here.
I’m sorry this is obtuse and maybe creepy but the thought brings me such comfort.

The idea of the atoms being in the world, absorbed into the earth, swallowed by people, absorbed by everything - it is strange - but it's fact nonetheless.

It bought my daughter comfort when she struggled.

If you believe it and it's a comfort,that's fine.

crazyH

I saw a white feather on my drive - I didn’t pick it up or think much of it. But where did it come from? I haven’t seen many white birds about 😂

We have white feathers all the time. It isn’t our dead relatives visiting, it’s next doors cat’s skill at catching pigeons!

Do I believe my late son is “ looking down” on me? No. Do I feel his presence? Yes every day. The robins. The white feathers. Yep. But also in the starry evening sky, the blue cloudless sky, strange unexpected little events that happen, in fact everything. I was blessed to have him for 50 years but now he has gone back to wherever he came from in the Universe. He surrounds me every minute. “Energy cannot be created or destroyed “. I cant explain more clearly. He is just here.
I’m sorry this is obtuse and maybe creepy but the thought brings me such comfort.

I think its probably a saying that was coined as a comfort thing, as it infers their loved ones have been allowed into heaven, as opposed to down in hell, therefore 'looking down' on them, it was something said when my mum & grandma were alive mostly, as catholics i think we were supposed to really believe all that- if i say it or similar i say 'if' they are, because we dont really know do we? But would hope it brings some comfort, or a feeling that they have done something to be proud of, and be proud of themselves for it.

I lost my dad 2 years ago. I love him and miss him. I talk to him everyday from time to time. I feel contentment in my heart as I know he loves me. Realistically I don’t think there is an afterlife but he lives on in my heart and that’s my comfort. We played a video at his wake of him speaking to his granddaughter. He said “ Have faith in yourself and you won’t go far wrong.” That’s the advice I use when I have a problem now.