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Spirits and the other world fascinate people and arouse both curiosity and scepticism. The religious psychology teacher Sara Duppils has immersed herself in other people's experiences of the feeling of "something" and events when, for example, you experience sound, a caress to your hair, or the sense that someone is present in the same room.
Sara Duppils. Photo: Britt Mattsson
Childhood experiences aroused Sara Duppil's curiosity about the spiritual. Ever since, throughout her life this interest has driven her to find out more about a world that can feel so close, yet so far away. The other world.
– I’ve researched contemporary spiritualism, notions of spirits and so-called supernatural experiences. This is an area that has long been stigmatised in Sweden and also in other countries – but especially in Sweden. But I want to stress this: that the feeling of someone else's presence is something natural and part of being human, says Sara Duppils.
She describes the most classic experiences of spirits that usually occur:
– Many people feel that something or someone is close to them. You might hear sounds of which you can't find a source, smell something, feel someone caress your hair or touch you in some other way. It can also involve seeing figures.
Sara Duppils. Photo: Britt Mattsson
This is an area that’s a little mysterious; some people believe in it and others do not, and there is some scepticism. What do you think about that?
– There is a long tradition of it, and people can feel and think what they want. It is rather bizarre to argue that from a scientific perspective you shouldn’t conduct research on something because you don’t think it fits into your understanding of the world. In the humanities, we are constantly looking at how people experience the world and how it affects us. When I started researching, I was quite alone in the field, but in recent years I have noticed that more people have started researching similar experiences at other universities, so that's neat, says Sara Duppils.
Text: Anna Sällberg
