Sep 12, · Occult Literature An Essay on Demonology, Ghosts, and Apparitions. Watch; Next video playing soon. Click to cancel. Autoplay has been paused. Click to watch next video. First published at UTC on September 12th, Without the support of the community this platform will cease to exist Or do ghosts really exist in Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw? Sometimes we make hypotheses about details in a work. For instance, does the woman in white in Raphael’s The School of Athens represent Hypatia? Is the conch in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies a symbol for civilization and democracy? Nov 19, · Racism Essay Topics: History. Although racism is a painful problem of the modern age, it was built a long time ago. Why “built”? Racism is a creation of human beings, as it does not exist biologically. Learn more about the origins of racism and the first fight against it with our historical racism essay topics
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In folkloredo ghosts exist essay, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that can appear to the living. In ghostloredescriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to realistic, lifelike forms, do ghosts exist essay.
The deliberate attempt to contact the spirit of a deceased person is known as necromancyor in spiritism as a séance. Other terms associated with it are apparitionhauntphantompoltergeistdo ghosts exist essay, shadespecter do ghosts exist essay spectre do ghosts exist essay, spiritspookwraithdemonsand ghouls.
The belief in the existence of an afterlifeas well as manifestations of the spirits of the dead, is widespread, dating back to animism or ancestor worship in pre-literate cultures. Certain religious practices—funeral rites, exorcismsand some practices of spiritualism and do ghosts exist essay magic —are specifically designed to rest the spirits of the dead.
Ghosts are generally described as solitary, human-like essences, do ghosts exist essay, though stories of ghostly armies and the ghosts of animals rather do ghosts exist essay humans have also been recounted. The overwhelming consensus of science is that there is no proof that ghosts exist. In folklore studiesghosts fall within the motif index designation EE "Ghosts and other revenants", do ghosts exist essay.
It is common to West Germanicbut lacking in North Germanic and East Germanic the equivalent do ghosts exist essay in Gothic is ahmaOld Norse has andi m. The Germanic word is recorded as masculine only, but likely continues a neuter s -stem. The original meaning of the Germanic word would thus have been an animating principle of the mindin particular capable of excitation and fury compare óðr.
In Germanic paganism" Germanic Mercury ", and the later Odinwas at the same time the conductor of the dead and the "lord of fury" leading the Wild Hunt.
Besides denoting the human spirit or soul, both of the living and the deceased, the Old English word is used as a synonym of Latin spiritus also in the meaning of "breath" or "blast" from the earliest attestations 9th century. It could also denote any good or evil spirit, such as angels and demons; the Anglo-Saxon gospel refers to the demonic possession of Matthew as se unclæna gast.
Also from the Old English period, do ghosts exist essay, the word could denote the spirit of God, viz. the " Holy Ghost ". The now-prevailing sense of "the soul of a deceased person, spoken of as appearing in a visible form" only emerges in Middle English 14th century. The modern noun does, however, retain a wider field of application, extending on one hand to "soul", "spirit", " vital principle ", " mind ", or " psyche ", the seat of feeling, thought, and moral judgement; on the other hand used figuratively of any shadowy outline, or fuzzy or unsubstantial image; in optics, photographyand cinematography especially, a flare, secondary image, or spurious signal.
The synonym spook is a Dutch loanword, akin to Low German spôk of uncertain etymology ; it entered the English language via American English in the 19th century. specter ; from Latin spectrumthe Scottish wraith of obscure originphantom via French ultimately from Greek phantasmacompare fantasy and apparition.
The term shade in classical mythology translates Greek σκιά, [20] or Latin umbra[21] in reference to the notion of spirits in the Greek underworld.
Wraith is a Scots word for ghostspectreor apparition. It appeared in Scottish Romanticist literature, and acquired the more general or figurative sense of portent or omen. In 18th- to 19th-century Scottish literature, it also applied to aquatic spirits. The word has no commonly accepted etymology; the OED notes "of obscure origin" only.
A revenant is a deceased person returning from the dead to haunt the living, either as a disembodied ghost or alternatively as an animated " undead " corpse.
Also related is the concept of a fetchthe visible ghost or spirit of a person yet alive. A notion of the transcendentsupernaturalor numinoususually involving entities like ghosts, demonsdo ghosts exist essay, or deitiesis a cultural universal. Some people believe the ghost or spirit never leaves Earth until there is no-one left to remember the one who died. In many cultures, malignant, restless ghosts are distinguished from the more benign spirits involved in ancestor worship.
Ancestor worship typically involves rites intended to prevent revenantsvengeful spirits of the dead, imagined as starving and envious of the living. Strategies for preventing revenants may either include sacrificedo ghosts exist essay, i. Ritual feeding of the dead is performed in traditions like do ghosts exist essay Chinese Ghost Festival or the Western All Souls' Day.
Magical banishment of the dead is present in many of the world's burial customs. The bodies found in many tumuli kurgan had been ritually bound before burial, [33] and the custom of binding the dead persists, for example, in rural Anatolia.
Nineteenth-century anthropologist James Frazer stated in his classic work The Golden Bough that souls were seen as the creature within that animated the body.
Although the human soul was sometimes symbolically or literally depicted in ancient cultures as a bird or other animal, it appears to have been widely held that the soul was an exact reproduction of the body in every feature, even down to clothing the person wore.
This is depicted in artwork from various ancient cultures, do ghosts exist essay, including such works as the Egyptian Book of the Deadwhich shows deceased people in the afterlife appearing much as they did before death, including the style of dress.
While deceased ancestors are universally regarded as venerable, and often believed to have a continued presence in some form of afterlifethe spirit of a deceased person that persists in the material world a ghost is regarded as an unnatural or undesirable state of affairs and the idea of ghosts or revenants is associated with a reaction of fear.
This is universally the case in pre-modern folk cultures, but fear of ghosts also remains an integral aspect of the modern ghost storyGothic horrorand other horror fiction dealing with the supernatural. Another widespread belief concerning ghosts is that do ghosts exist essay are composed of a misty, airy, or subtle material, do ghosts exist essay.
Anthropologists link this idea to early beliefs that ghosts were the person within the person the person's spiritdo ghosts exist essay, most noticeable in ancient cultures as a person's breath, which upon exhaling in colder climates appears visibly as a white mist.
In the BibleGod is depicted as synthesising Adamas a living soul, from the dust of the Earth and the breath of God. In many traditional accounts, ghosts were often thought to be deceased people looking for vengeance vengeful ghostsor imprisoned on earth for bad things they did during life.
The appearance of a ghost has often been regarded as an omen or portent of death. Seeing one's own ghostly double or " fetch " is a related omen of death. White ladies were reported to appear in many rural areas, and supposed to have died tragically or suffered trauma in life.
White Lady legends are found around the world. Common to many of them is the theme of losing a child or husband and a sense of purity, as opposed to the Lady in Red ghost that is do ghosts exist essay attributed to a jilted lover or prostitute.
The White Lady ghost is often associated with an individual family line or regarded as a harbinger of death similar to a banshee. Legends of ghost ships have existed since the 18th century; most notable of these is the Flying Dutchman. This theme has been used in literature in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Coleridge. A place where ghosts are reported is described as hauntedand often seen as being inhabited by spirits of deceased who may have been former residents or were familiar with the property.
Supernatural activity inside homes is said to be mainly associated with violent or tragic events in the building's past such as murder, accidental death, do ghosts exist essay, or suicide—sometimes in the recent or ancient past. However, not all hauntings are at a place of a violent death, or even on violent grounds, do ghosts exist essay. Many cultures and religions believe the essence of a being, such as the ' soul ', continues to exist.
Some religious views argue that the 'spirits' of those who have died have not 'passed over' and are trapped inside the property where their memories and energy are strong. There are many references to ghosts in Mesopotamian religions — the religions of SumerBabylonAssyriaand other early states in Mesopotamia. Traces of these beliefs survive in the later Abrahamic religions that came to dominate the region.
They traveled to the netherworld, where do ghosts exist essay were assigned a position, and led an existence similar in some ways to that of the living.
Relatives of the dead were expected to make offerings of food and drink to the dead to ease their conditions. If they did not, the ghosts could inflict misfortune and illness on the living. Traditional healing practices ascribed a variety of illnesses to the action of ghosts, do ghosts exist essay, while others were caused by gods or demons.
There was widespread belief in ghosts in ancient Egyptian culture The Hebrew Bible contains few references to ghosts, do ghosts exist essay, associating spiritism with forbidden occult activities cf.
Deuteronomy The most notable reference is in the First Book of Samuel I Samuel —19 KJVdo ghosts exist essay, in which a disguised King Saul has the Witch of Endor summon the spirit or ghost of Samuel. The soul and spirit were believed to exist after death, with the ability to assist or do ghosts exist essay the living, and the possibility of a second death.
Over a period of more than 2, years, do ghosts exist essay, Egyptian beliefs about the nature of the afterlife evolved constantly. Many of these beliefs were recorded in hieroglyph inscriptions, papyrus scrolls and tomb paintings. The Egyptian Book of the Dead compiles some of the beliefs from different periods of ancient Egyptian history.
Ghosts appeared in Homer 's Odyssey and Iliadin which they were described as vanishing "as a vapor, gibbering and whining into the earth". Homer's ghosts had little interaction with the world of the living. Periodically they were called upon to provide advice or prophecy, but they do not appear to be particularly feared. Ghosts in the classical world often appeared in the form of vapor or smoke, but at other times they were described as being substantial, appearing as they had been at the time of death, complete with the wounds that killed them.
By the 5th century BC, classical Greek ghosts had become haunting, frightening creatures who could work to either good or evil purposes. The spirit of the dead was believed to hover near the resting place of the corpse, and cemeteries were places the living avoided. The dead were to do ghosts exist essay ritually mourned through public ceremony, sacrifice, and libations, or else they might return to haunt their families.
The ancient Greeks held annual feasts to honor and placate the spirits of the dead, to which the family ghosts were invited, and after which they were "firmly invited to leave until the same time next year. The 5th-century BC play Oresteia includes an appearance of the ghost of Clytemnestraone of the first ghosts to appear in a work of fiction. The ancient Romans believed a ghost could be used to exact revenge on an enemy by scratching a curse on a piece of lead or pottery and placing it into a grave.
Plutarchin the 1st century AD, described the haunting of the baths at Chaeronea by the ghost of a murdered man. The ghost's loud and frightful groans caused the people of the town to seal up the doors do ghosts exist essay the building. Knowing that the house was supposedly haunted, Athenodorus intentionally set up his writing desk in the room where the apparition was said to appear and sat there writing until late at night when he was disturbed by a ghost bound in chains.
He followed the ghost outside where it indicated a spot on do ghosts exist essay ground. When Athenodorus later excavated the area, a shackled skeleton was unearthed. The haunting ceased when the skeleton was given a proper reburial. In the New Testamentaccording to Luke —39, [51] following his resurrectionJesus was forced to persuade the Disciples that he was not a ghost do ghosts exist essay versions of the Bible, such as the KJV and NKJV, use the term "spirit".
Similarly, Jesus' followers at first believed he was a ghost spirit when they saw him walking on water. One of the first persons to express disbelief in ghosts was Lucian do ghosts exist essay Samosata in the 2nd century AD. In his satirical novel The Lover of Lies circa ADhe relates how Democritus "the learned man from Abdera in Thrace " lived in a tomb outside the city gates to prove that cemeteries were not haunted by the spirits of the departed.
Lucian relates how he persisted in his disbelief despite practical jokes perpetrated by "some young men of Abdera" who dressed up in black robes with skull masks to frighten him. In the 5th century AD, the Christian priest Constantius of Lyon recorded an instance of the recurring theme do ghosts exist essay the improperly buried dead who come back to haunt the living, and who can only cease their haunting when their bones have been discovered and properly reburied.
Ghosts reported in medieval Europe tended to fall into two categories: the souls of the dead, or demons. The souls of the dead returned for a specific purpose. Demonic ghosts existed only to torment or tempt the living. The living could tell them apart by demanding their purpose in the name of Jesus Christ.
The soul of a dead person would divulge its mission, while a demonic do ghosts exist essay would be banished at the sound of the Holy Name. Most ghosts were souls assigned to Purgatorycondemned for a specific period to atone for their transgressions in life.
DO GHOSTS REALLY EXIST?
, time: 3:47Art and Interpretation | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Sep 09, · If there is no libertarian free will, it has little to do with the non-existence of the soul. Even if souls did exist, unless the above problems were solved, we couldn't rationally conclude that we possess libertarian free will. And if we could solve these problems, it doesn't seem the non-existence of the soul would really pose any serious threat We value excellent academic writing and strive to provide outstanding essay writing service each and every time you place an order. We write essays, research papers, term papers, course works, reviews, theses and more, so our primary mission is to help you succeed academically In addition, democracy allows people of various religions and cultures to exist peacefully. It makes them live in harmony with one another. People of democracy are more tolerant and accepting of each other’s differences. This is very important for any country to be happy and prosper. Get the huge list of more than Essay Topics and Ideas
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