This issue arose in response to an earlier post that, were residents of the spirit world to offer us guidance, we might accept (after a careful consideration of all the issues) with gratitude. My response is as follows.
What we refer to as a spirit is only the soul of a former resident of Earth, then in human form. That is, a spirit is a disembodied entity believed (in mainly Asian cultures) to participate in a repetitive process of rebirth on Earth. Where would spirits be located between Earthly lives? Who knows? Possibly in another dimension close by.
There can be no purpose in speculating about other planets offering life between Earthly lives (which?) or about other solar systems (unreal!) participating in this alleged process.
When dealing with a belief, there is no point in embellishing it. I instance the recent speculation by some cosmologists about possible multiple universes in existence, as well as a claim by some believers in spiritualism; both categories of these believers suggest that there are, or may be, a number of each of us out there in space! Think about all the copies of Hitler who must have been out there crating hell for other copies of Earth-bound humans.
My second point is that our spirits seem to remain as human as they were on Earth, except perhaps for advanced souls. These may qualify to be described as higher beings.
My next point is that most of us are not touched, or keep away from, fellow humans who are likely to behave maliciously. When confronted by a spirit who is malicious or just intrusive, a woman who described herself as a priestess in a spiritualist group demonstrated that one can just say ‘Go away’! Since spirits cannot unilaterally communicate with us, one should treat any unusual and disturbing activity suspected to involve a denizen of the spirit realm as we would respond to any trouble-maker in our vicinity. Why not indeed! They would just be misguided former humans irrationally displaying negative human attitudes but lacking an Earth body.
Mischievous (ie. fun-loving) spirits may be another matter. I once had an egg insisting on rolling across a level bench-top in my kitchen towards the floor. I just smiled, and put it where it could not possibly roll. And that was that.
RAJA ARASA RATNAM 