Grace Miranda
Florida International University
Paranormal Beliefs: Ghost
As told in the book, The Psychology of Mature Spirituality, “Intense enthusiasm for everything from a credit card to a new baby, a foreign vacation to a museum membership has replaced what, in another period of time, might have been a curiosity or even a sense of awe about existence itself and our purpose within it.” (Young-Eisendrath, 2000) Ghosts have traveled their way through human history and have paved their way straight into our American culture. Engulfed by a society where the spiritual connection to the rest of the world seems to be less and less needed, ghosts have still left us perplexed. It is a well-known fact that humans across the globe differ on their beliefs about the spiritual world. The soul, by definition is known in many spiritual, traditional, philosophical and psychological traditions as the incorporeal and immortal essence of a person, living thing, or object. Soul can function as a synonym for spirit, mind or self. One’s beliefs are centered on one’s perception and experiences. While researching the stimulating topic of ghosts, it is plain to see that ghosts have always been cross-cultural. Throughout the history of man, one thing has been sure, it’s that we have always been curious of the Afterlife, these ideas differ across cultures. One thing is undeniable and it is that ghosts serve the purpose of connecting human beings to the spirits on the other side of mortal life. Ghosts stand firm in history, stand tall in a technological world where they still cannot be explained.
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to realistic, life-like visions. The deliberate attempt
References: Ghost. (2012, June 07). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost ("Ghost," 2012) Maria del Blanco and Esther Peereen. (2010). Popular ghost; the haunted spaces of everyday culture. New York: The Continuum International publishing Group Inc. Weisberg, B. (2004). Talking to the dead: Kate and maggie fox and the rise of spiritualism. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publisher. Young-Eisendrath, P. (2000). The psychology of mature spirituality: integrity, wisdom, transcendence. New York: Routledge.