How spirits work: Part 2

A ghost is a form of spirit, and it goes by several other names, including: spectre, specter, phantom, apparition, spook, and haunt. Sometimes they're confused with angels, demons and devils.

The word 'ghost' comes from Old English 'gást' or from Germanic 'gaistaz'. This connotation is one of a male spirit who rages or has fury. What, no female ghosts?

What can ghosts do?

Well, for one thing they seem to be ethereal, which means lightness and tenuous. In other words, ghosts are made from dissolved ether, but it's not the chemical. Back a few centuries ago, people thought that space contained ether or an undefined substance that couldn't be seen but was able to conduct light. They didn't realize that light is electromagnetic radiation that can propagate in a vacuum. So, one could say that a ghost is misty or made of some gaseous or tenuous material. Ghosts are often depicted as being not quite there, often being semi-transparent to a degree, like looking through a fog.

A ghost is thought to be a deceased person in spirit form that's trying to get vengeance for a wrong, and this is often why they haunt. For the most part, ghosts hang around where they died or lived when they were alive. Often, a ghost haunts because it's trapped between life and death or between Earth and Heaven or Hell.

Back in the Middle Ages and medieval periods, ghosts were often considered to be demons; however, for the most part they were thought to be the souls of the dead. At one point ghosts could be more substantial and have more effect on physical things. This is when the idea of exorcism came into vogue. It was thought that demons could cohabitate a body and cause harm both spiritually and physically. This equated the devil or demon to a more sinister kind of ghost.

Eventually, occultism took hold and it was thought that ghosts of the dead could be communicated with. This brought out charlatans who fleeced people by proclaiming that they could arrange a séance with a deceased relative. Basically, this led to spiritualism, which considers communication with the spirits of the dead as not only possible but that it is the reason for many natural phenomena.

Science does not accept the idea of ghosts. However, since they also don't believe in the concept of the soul, it's not too surprising. Religions reluctantly accept ghosts because they do believe in the soul. Most cultures around the world believe in ghosts in one form or another. There have been many movies and TV series based on the idea of ghosts.

But, is it possible for a soul or spirit to appear in ghost form? The answer is yes. As I said in my essay on spirits, a spirit could interact with the natural world on the quantum energy field level if it is composed of some form of exotic quantum energy. Auras could be another means of appearing in ghost form. Everyone has an aura, a mysterious form of energy peculiar to each person. This aura could be a manifestation of the soul or the energy of the soul, and it could be the means to appear in a ghost form when deceased.

Another possibility is that the spirits of all living things were created at the time of the Big Bang. In other words, your soul was in existence long before you were in a physical form. However, the personality of your soul was incomplete and unable to realize it existed until it was united with your body. The body completed its development. The only problem with this idea is that it conflicts with free will. I'll have more to say about that issue.

Thanks for reading.