Should We Believe in Ghosts ? - An Argumentative Essay

Argumentative Essay 

Should We Believe in Ghost ?

By : Desak Anugrah Dwi Kusuma

The common illustration of ghost.
(https://www.ozy.com/228447)

            Have you ever seen ghost in real life, but wondered whether it is just an illusion and an illogical thing to be believed? You are not the only one. It has been a common human stereotype to put ghost just in an imagination and choose not to dive too deep for something which does not make sense. That is so natural because a supernatural entity like ghost often appears in fictional stories only. But, not a few people deny these stereotypes. A 2013 The Harris Poll found that 42% among 2.250 adults of Americans believe in ghost. In addition, a  2014 YouGov poll for The Sun also found that 34% of 1629 British adults believe in ghosts – and 9% have communicated with the dead. Eventhough there is no scientific proof and logic for the existence of ghost, as a human being, we should believe it because ghost takes a big role in underlying mankind cultural heritage, religions, and personal life.

Ancient Sumerian cylinder seal impression showing the god Dumuzid being tortured in the Underworld by galla demons.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost#/media/File:Dumuzi_aux_enfers.jpg)

              In particular perspective, cultural heritages seemingly serve as a glimpse of ghost existence. Ghosts appear firstly in the beginning of literacy era, precisely in ancient Sumerian relief as a reflection of soul and spirit after death. Although, it is considered as a product of mankind’s fear of death (Danelek, 2006), the belief of ghost becomes a part of cultures and affects the society toward the way Mesopotamian invented traditional healing practice ascribed a variety of illnesses to the action of ghosts (Black et al., 1992). Meanwhile, in Bali, Indonesia, ghosts considered as negativity that must be destroyed. It becomes a foundation of Ter-teran tradition (fire war) in Karangasem, Bali which function is to expel evil spirits before the Day of Silence. There are also spiritual problems in society which only can be solved by using spiritual cultural ancestorian solution e.g santet (voodoo in Indonesia) like preparing 7 forms of flower, frankincense, chicken blood, and so on. By believing in ghost existence, we maintain the cultural heritages and we also can solve an unexplained problem which related to supernatural world.

Ter-teran, a fire war ceremony on the Nyepi Eve in Karangasem, Bali.
(https://eatvacation.com/whats-happening/special-fire-war-attraction-on-the-nyepi-eve-at-viceroy-bali/)

            Eventhough many people don't seem to believe in the existence of ghost, some religion does by mentioning it through certain sentences in scriptures explicitly or implicitly. According to Judaism, ghosts can be real but we must avoid calling them. It is derived from the interpretation of The First Book of Samuel (1 Samuel 28:3-19), which contains a story of a disguised King Saul has the Witch of Endor conduct a séance to summon the dead prophet, Samuel. In Christianity, some ghosts are called to be demons in disguise, in accordance with The First Epistle of Paul to Timothy that they “come to deceive people and draw them away from God and into bondage.”. Then, according to Islam, the dead can appear to the living (Diem & Scholer, 2004), to be good saints which called Ruh and impure souls seeking for revenge called Afarit (Smith & Haddad, 2002). In Buddhism view, human can be reborn in the realm of hungry ghosts (Firth, 2005).  Meanwhile, in Hinduism, ghost is considered as Bhutta which is the lowest caste entity that has negatif energy. Those religions have a their own way to expel the ghost, like mecaru in Hinduism, exorcist in Judaism and Christian, and ruqyah in Islam. By believing in the existence of ghosts, we can easily distinguish which is one is good or bad in order to strengthen our faith and also be aware of the realm of life after the death.

Witch of Endor by Nikolai Ge, depicting King Saul encountering the ghost of Samuel (1857).
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost#/media/File:Witch_of_Endor_(Nikolay_Ge).jpg)

            The existence of ghost which is unseen has influenced ‘extraordinary’ people personal life. As we know that such a popular horror movie, Annabelle is based on the true story of American paranormal investigators, Edward and Lorraine Warren. It is one of their notable paranormal investigation besides the case of Perron family, Amityville, Enfield poltergeist, Demons, Snedeker house, Smurl family, Werewolf, and the case of Union cemetery. The spiritual world that they believe makes them be able to investigate something out of reason, something which cannot be explained with science, and something cannot be seen. But, surprisingly, it is real. It means, by believing ghosts is exist, we will be more appreciate ‘extraordinary’ people instead consider them crazy.

Annabelle doll (right) and the potrait of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (left).
(https://www.liputan6.com/showbiz/read/2534720/kisah-cinta-ed-dan-lorraine-warren-di-luar-the-conjuring-2)

Ghost appear to be something we must believe not so much on a rational, empirical level, but on an intuitive or even emotional level. It is something we feel to be true eventhough few of us have ever had a genuine paranormal experience. Their illusory truth effect brings the addition of universe mystery and reinforce our inherent beliefs that there is much more to the cosmos than what tiny bit we can see from our limited vision. Besides that, the believe of ghost existence also enriches mankind’ cultural heritage, the ways of thinking in overcoming spiritual problems, strengthening human faith, and building empathy toward ‘extraordinary’ people. That is why we should believe in ghost.

References :

Black, Jeremy A, et al. 1992 (1992). Gods, demons, and symbols of ancient Mesopotamia: an illustrated dictionary. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-70794-8.

            Dahlgreen, Will. 2014. 'Ghosts exist', say 1 in 3 Brits. United Kingdom : YouGov.

Danelek, J. Allan. 2006. The Case for Ghosts. The Case for Ghosts: An Objective Look at the Paranormal. United States of America : Llewellyn Publications. ISBN-13: 978-0-7387-0865-2

Diem, Warner & Schöller, Marco. 2004.  The Living and the Dead in Islam: Epitaphs as texts. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 9783447050838

Firth, Shirley. 2005.  End of Life: A Hindu View. The Lancet.

Missal, Larry S. 2013. Americans’ Belief in God, Miracles and Heaven Declines. The Harris Poll^® #97. United States of America : A Stagwell Company.

Smith & Haddad. 2002. The Islamic Understanding of Death and Resurrection. London :Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-195-15649-2.

Postscript : 

This essay was made by using outline technique. 

I will show you the outline below.