Are Ghosts Real?

Many of us think that we have felt the presence of ghosts around us. But are they real? There is still no definitive answer to this question, but we should have the ability of reaching our own conclusions.
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We've all heard a number of ghost stories throughout our lives, and many of these have successfully managed to send shivers down our spine and scare us witless. The facts that support the real presence of ghosts are insubstantial and are based merely on eye witness accounts. In a way we are all waiting for some concrete undeniable evidence to emerge, that firmly proves to us once and for all that ghosts really do exist. 

The origins of ghosts are not known, as every culture that history has told us about, has held a belief in life after death. Worshiping spirits has been an integral part of all these heritages, and even the Egyptians had a strong faith in the life after death concept. When someone asks us whether ghosts are present in reality we immediately think about the last scary movie we saw, and the fact is that mainstream movies from Hollywood have somewhat distorted our faith in ghosts. We now view them as dangerous and haunting entities that are out to cause physical and mental harm to us and our loved ones. This was not always the case, but the idea of a 'friendly ghost' is one that has been discarded many years back. 

The Case For Like I said before, the only proof that points towards the existence of ghosts originates from the accounts of people who claim to have seen them, or felt their presence. There are many photographs that do the rounds on the Internet which show the presence of ghosts in them. The truth is, we do not know the genuineness of these photographs. The kind of software tools that we have at our disposal today has made it possible to fabricate thousands of such pictures and make them look as real as possible. To differentiate the real from the fake becomes much harder when you consider the amazing features of these advanced software programs. 

So what of the people who genuinely claim to have seen these entities? In my opinion, these people need to offer us more detailed proof of their 'encounters'. This is a gray area, to say the least, and simply to take someone's word in a matter as perplexing as this, is something that is beyond me. The amazing publicity that a person gets when they fabricate a story about ghosts gives plenty of people enough incentive to use their imagination and go crazy. Speaking of which, there are so many mental disorders as well that cause hallucinations, that it becomes even harder to genuinely believe them. 

Hollywood has taken the question to a whole new level. The concept of ghosts and spirits has become so stereotypical thanks to the endless scripts that these movie makers regularly churn out. Again, the advancement of technology has changed the actual visualization of these ghosts. Images that can be easily created in a cheap Hollywood basement have the ability to haunt people from all corners of the world. This is wrong, as these filmmakers are playing on a primal fear of the unknown that mankind has held for centuries, in order to sell more tickets. 

The Case AgainstThe content here may seem biased with a dose of skepticism about the existence of ghosts, but this is primarily due to the lack of concrete evidence. There are so many ghost stories and old wives tales that have been passed around, that to believe them all requires unwavering faith. Spirits were believed to be protectors of mankind in olden times, but the concept of duality tells us that where there are good spirits, there are bound to be bad spirits as well. This has prompted us to conveniently disregard the possibility of any good spirits, and has instigated a firm fear of the simple presence of a potential ghost. 

At the end of the day we all need to ask ourselves, whether ghosts real or fake, and see what the answer is. Some of us do believe in them, and it's true that this belief also stems from a belief in God. Others amongst us who are more agnostic in nature, like myself, hold the firm belief that till we actually see them in front of us, we will not believe in ghosts. It is all a matter of perception, and we should make our own choices based on what we have seen for ourselves, rather than basing it on the accounts and tales of others, and rather than getting influenced by the last scary movie that we saw.
Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/are-ghosts-real.html