Thank you, everyone, for your replies and for the link.
Casper, since you ask, I will try to explain it, although it's still painful - something that I want to "wash" from my mind, but cannnot.
This happened in Taiwan. I was in a van, being dropped off outside of "E-dah" Hospital in Kaohsiung county, Taiwan. This hospital is a huge, newly-built hospital in Kaohsiung county, in the south of Taiwan. It is associated with "I-shou" University which is also in Kaohsiung county.
This happened about a year ago. Due to complications resulting from gastric bypass surgery [to lose weight] I became very ill. I had to quit my teaching position. I was so sick that I could not take care of myself. I was put in a nursing home.
One day, I had to see a doctor at "E-dah" hospital. Because I was so ill and living at the nursing home, the nursing home provided me with transportation to the hospital and back to the home.
I remember being a passenger in the van, and approaching the main receiving area. Outside there is a huge patio area, about 25 or more square meters. There is a driveway that cars can use to quickly drop off patients and passengers. Standing outside, in the plain sunlight [I think that was not a question of the "play" of sunlight and shadow], I saw two people - a woman and a man. The woman looked quite normal and pleasant. In fact, I remember she was smiling. She was obviously accompanying the man, who was in pale blue patient's garb - pyjama pants and a pyjama top. I remember that at this hospital, males were given light blue clothes, and women were given pink. I myself had been a patient at this hospital and was given the same clothing
In any case, what shocked me were not his clothes. It was the fact that he had no eyes. It appeared that he had lost both eyeballs. The "orbits" or sockets were empty. I remember thinking to myself: "Why isn't he wearing patches over his eyes? Why doesn't he cover them?" I mean isn't this usually the custom? Do people normally appear in public with empty eye sockets?
It was horrific to see him. The other thing that was horrific about him was his mouth, his huge gaping mouth. Has anyone seen the 1893 oil painting by Edvard Munch, entitled "Scream"? His mouth was similar. People usually think of the human face as providing a background for the mouth. With him, it was the opposite. His mouth was a huge, gaping, black hole. Really hideous. I compare his mouth to the one in the Munch painting because that's just what it was. However, if you consult the Munch painting, you will see that, for all its meaning, it is stylized. In Munch''s painting, the man's head is quite like a light bulb.
Not so with the "man" that I saw. His head was of normal proportion; and he was dressed just a patient at that hospital would be dressed. He was seated in a wheelchair. Of course, there is nothing odd about that fact. At "E-dah" hospital, patients are encouraged to get some sun; it's good for them. This man obviously had a companion - the smiling woman. What was bizarre and hideous about him was that he was lacking both eyes, and his mouth was a huge, gaping cavity.
I might say to myself - in fact, I want to say to myself - that it was a trick of light and shadow. The problem is there was no shadow. It was in the middle of the day, and quite sunny, as it is most of the time in southern Taiwan. Moreover, the woman, his companion, was standing right beside him. I saw the smile on her face, I saw both of their faces. Hers was a middle-aged face, and not at all unattractive. In fact, it was rather a pretty face. But his was monstrous.
The other odd thing is that neither one seemed to move. They were like statues. She with her smile, he in his wheelchair. They seemed to be frozen there.
So, what was it that I saw? Doesn't Occam's law state that you should complicate things by positing superfluous hypotheses when a single one will do?
Could this man simply have been suffering from some horrible disease that took away his eyes and left him unable to close his mouth? Is there such a disease? I just wonder why he did not cover his eyes with patches.
Perhaps I was hallucinating. But it's odd to think that on that day in question, there were many people standing outside in that "receiving area" of the hospital. If I was hallucinating, why was it only in respect to that couple? In other words, in my perception, or field of vision, everything else was normal. It was a normal scene that I had seen quite a few times before - a good number of people standing and milling about in front of the main entrance way to "E-dah" hospital in Kaohsiung county, Taiwan.
Perhaps you are wondering if I was using, or was under the influence of, hallucinogenic drugs. I was not.
You know, I really wish that I had not seen what I saw on that day. The whole concept of "ghosts" is comical - until you experience it. Then it is not so amusing any more. Of course, to say that what I saw on that were a couple of "ghosts" would be jumping to a too hasty conclusion. As I have said, I don't know what I saw on that day. It was something that greatly upset and shocked me. I highly value reason. I simply cannot "get my mind around" the fact that some aspect of human consciousness survives death. As Dr. Spock would say, "It isn't logical."
If consciousness does survive death, exactly on what is this consciousness based? There has to be a basis for everything. When people see "ghosts," exactly what is happening? Are they lying/hoaxing? Are they delusional? Or are they seeing something that cannot be explained? If it cannot be expalined, why not? We have penetrated what were one the "great mysteries" of the genetic code and the atom. Human science has made tremendous strides in every domain of science, at every level, from quantuum physics to cosmology. From plate tectonics to nanotechnology.
And yet the best we can do is speak of "ghosts" and "spirits." It's like how people once spoke of the "ether," which never existed, as we all know.
Make no mistake about it, I recognize all too clearly the irony of it all. All of the questions that I posed above can be asked about my experience. What did I see on that day about a year ago? Did it have any "objective" existence of its own? Did that couple have any existence outside of my mind? Or was what I saw simply an illusion/delusion within my own mind?
