Spiritual research into the existence of ghosts – Part 1

The amount of misinformation put forth by various Christian “experts” on the subject of Ghosts never ceases to amaze me, especially considering most of their widely varying doctrines prohibit them from gaining any practical experience on the subject.

To sum up those “teachings”, one can simply say that “any ghost is the minion of Satan”, and one will be doctrinally correct to 95% of existent Christian churches. Unfortunately for those seriously interested in the question, those “teachings” are very largely incorrect.

There are several different phenomena which are lumped into the classification of “ghost” or “haunting” in the popular vernacular. They can, at times, appear very similar, but there are some important differences.

In a technical sense, the “true ghost” is effectively the soul of a deceased person who has become “trapped” in some fashion between the worlds. This “trapping” is relatively rare, generally non-permanent in nature, and is most often instigated by the mindset of the person in question as they die. In my experience, the vast majority of “true ghosts” were persons who, for whatever reason, became terrified of “crossing into the light” and fled from the gateway that opens for the soul upon death. These individuals are often frightened and miserable, and will occasionally seek out those who can interact with them so as to obtain “help”.

The “true ghost” will often be unwilling to accept that they are, in fact, dead, or otherwise hold some irrational fear of “crossing over.” Their lot is a miserable one, to be honest, and it does a disservice to them to classify them as “evil spirits” or “demons.” That they can sometimes be unpleasant is beyond question. Any being who is heavily suffering, frightened, and desperate is likely to be unpleasant to interact with, be they living, dead, or of an entirely spiritual nature. Compassion and patience are required when dealing with these entities, and often the simple act of listening and acknowledging that they are cared about by someone is enough to heal their fear and allow them to cross to their appointed place in peace. Other times a larger effort is required, much akin to modern counseling. In some extreme cases, someone possessing the ability to do so may be required to literally “shove” them through the gateway, but this practice is significantly debated for ethical and moral reasons which I won’t get into here.

A variant of the “true ghost” is the “purposeful ghost”. These