“Ghost” and related words are words with many meanings – although typically, they all form the similar feeling of something that once was, an intangible remnant of something or someone. Arguably the most common usage is the one you likely thought of upon seeing it: the spirit of a dead person, living in an ethereal realm to haunt the world because of their unfinished business in the afterlife. Many people believe in this form of ghosts, as well as similar supernatural events, whereas many people don’t. Phantoms, ghosts, ghouls, the supernatural, the afterlife – it’s divisive, it’s truth depends on who you ask. Everybody has their own answer to the existence of spirits from the afterlife. But this is not the only true definition of a “ghost.” Much like their existence, the definition can be personalized.
So then what if a ghost was not a physical apparition from the afterlife, but a metaphorical concept? Rather than being a supernatural phenomenon, it could be more abstract concepts regarding a person – dead OR alive. This is likely something you, the reader, have experienced – whether you consciously thought of it or not. For each person in your life, you have a mental version of them. This mental version is affected by how they act around you, the things they do, how you interact with them, and many other things. But when someone passes, or leaves your life, your mental version of them likely stops changing – but it doesn’t simply go away. You are still emotionally affected by the removal, your life now with a new hole in it that must be patched up.
And then, the ghosts begin to show up. You’ll notice their favourite colour and think about them. You’ll catch a whiff of a scent in the air that reminds you of them. A certain word will appear in a news broadcast or book. Someone will use a phrase that they would always use. If you deeply cared, one way or another, these ghosts will haunt you. This doesn’t stop at those who have passed, it applies to those who have otherwise left your life as well. An ex, an old friend, a coworker from a job you left. It can even apply, on a lesser scale, to people you don’t know too well. Someone who took the same bus route as you before you changed schedules, a cashier at the grocery store who doesn’t work there anymore, an online creator who has stopped making videos. These ghosts all live within your head, and they’re all a part of you.
Likewise, this means you are a ghost as well. In someone else’s mind, you are living as a memory – and this is happening for many of the people you have known. To some, you are a good person, to some, you aren’t. Maybe “ghosts” aren’t real; maybe the supernatural doesn’t exist – that part is up to the individual to decide. But the existence of these memory fragments is very real, and it makes up a major part of people and how they interact with each other. The boons of social interaction comes with the emotionally ambivalent side effect of the things that happen when these interactions stop. These ghosts will always live along with you, whether this is a good or bad thing.
On the bright side, when you die, your memory will continue in the minds of others. So don’t be too worried about your passing – you will ALWAYS live on.