Previously, we discussed what happens when you die (here and here). Are you actually dead, or are you about to exist completely alone in someone's pantry, moving the green beans around forever? Now I'd like to discuss what ghosts are made of? Everything in the universe is made of something, right? Even atoms consist of a nucleus which consists of protons and neutrons, which again consist of quarks. I don't know all the details, but you get my point. Even the air around us is made of molecules and particles. Although these things we can't see with our eyes, scientific research has established solid theories and laws which are now known as fact.
We know of four different kinds of matter: solid, liquid, gas, and plasma. Your kids should be learning this in science class at a fairly young age. One type can become another, but these are the general forms all matter comes in. Ice is a solid, melts to become a liquid, and evaporates with enough heat to become a gas... you get the picture. A child can understand this explanation better than most adults it seems. So, if the existence of ghosts are indeed a fact, they have to consist of matter... They have to be made of something.
Apparently, even with technology advancing so rapidly in this age, it's still impossible for science to be able to tell what these ghosts are made of. Why is that? In chemistry, compounds can be broken down in to their most basic elements. With these elements found on the periodic table, we can determine what things in the natural world are made of. Why would a ghosts be any different? Some would argue that ghosts are "supernatural", which would completely rule out anything natural... of course. Let's take a look at the definition for supernatural according to Merriam-Webster:
1
: of or relating to an order of existence beyond the visible observable universe; especially : of or relating to God or a god, demigod, spirit, or devil
2
a : departing from what is usual or normal especially so as to appear to transcend the laws of nature b : attributed to an invisible agent (as a ghost or spirit)
Was this definition created to appease those that just decided to believe something, or is there really something to this? By this definition, purple unicorns and pancake monsters are supernatural. Basically, I can make up anything I want that has no evidence to support its existence and call it supernatural. Does that mean by this logic ghosts don't exist? Not quite, but what science can tell us, is that the natural universe is comprised of laws and absolutes. If there are no laws or absolutes, nothing has to ever make sense according to how our minds work in this supernatural thing that no one has ever seen, heard, tasted, touched, or been to. Things could exist as an infinite amount of other things all at one time, take up all or none of space as we know it, be full and hungry and never have to eat simultaneously. Does this make sense to anyone? Here's the kicker... No matter how, why, when, or where it exists, it has to be made of something. Why? The best part about knowing that it has to be made of something, is because if a ghost used to be you and you were made of something (which medical science can tell you all about), something that comes from you, also has to be made of something that at least partially comes from you, correct? That something would be matter.
Matter is believed to be indestructible, meaning matter is never created or destroyed, only transformed. A tree burns down and the wood from it eventually becomes ash and smoke in simplest terms. everything that the wood was made of never stopped existing, just little molecules of it mixed with this, some mixed with that, some was broken down into this, etc... So, if there is anything in the human body that can become a ghost by simply dying, all of the components that were in the body before hand that produces a ghost would have to be present, no? Actually, there would be even less present at death because your body produces certain things while alive like chemicals in the brain, adrenaline, etc. that would no longer be produced after death, so anything a ghost is made of can't be made by anything the body can produce. That would mean life, in general, hinders its existence. Just like a chicken egg has to come from a chicken, a ghost would have to come from a dead person... if a ghost is in fact supposed to be the spirit of a dead person, or anything relative to that. In short, a ghost would be the "fruit" of death.
The reason I want to go into a little bit of detail is because people have claimed to see ghosts; completely visible by the naked eye. If you can see it (while the brain is working properly), it has to be made of something. Also if you can see it, it has to be made of a physical substance. That doesn't necessarily mean that a ghost would have to be tangible, but there have also been many, many claims by people that a ghost "touched them". If it can touch you, it would have to be tangible. Not only that, you should be able to touch it too. Are your ghosts upstairs? Are they in the attic? They would also have to be tangible to be able to "walk" up floors, ladders, whatever. It would also have to be subject to the laws of gravity, or you could just pick any point A and point B and that line could be traveled by said ghost without logic, restriction, or any kind of physical law you could apply. The ghost would then have to exert force with it's "feet" in order to be on any floor of any building, otherwise it would just keep falling through everything until they hit the center of the earth, that is if it's subject to gravity. If it's not made of a physical substance, you wouldn't be able to see it. Either it's physical or it's not. It can't be both. Passing through a wall would have to make it intangible and made of nothing physical. According to quantum tunneling, there would be a snowballs chance in hell of even one molecule of your ghostly self making it to the other side. It would be possible, but highly unlikely. What would be impossible is the whole enchilada making it to the other side. Either it's tangible or not, it can't be both.
The most complicated thing I've seen about what it would be made of, is a ghost's apparent ability to become visible and then invisible whenever the mood strikes, or... whenever it's done. This would mean that whatever it's made of is changing its molecular structure somehow. The only way it would be able to accomplish this is by changing it's own temperature, and even then it would have to have a mechanism to even need to be at a certain temperature in either extreme. That would be a natural mechanism; but here I thought ghosts were supernatural. It has to be one or the other, it can't be both.
Let's say a ghost is made of something. What would it be? I would think the most common answer would just be "energy". Some might say something like ectoplasm, but I'll get to that in a minute. There are basically three types of energy, kinetic, potential, and rest energy. I'm not going to go about explaining these, but you're reading this on the internet, which is a great tool to find out all about them. So if a ghost is made of energy... which type of energy is it? Apparently it's the one you can sometimes see and sometimes can't. Now ectoplasm on the other hand, has no proof of even existing in and of itself. I've seen a couple definitions, but it's supposed to be some kind of substance that secretes from a medium's (psychic that can talk to the dead) skin during a seance or whenever they're reaching out to touch someone. If this is true, this would be something that could be experimented on in a controlled environment by actual scientists. You would think, a physical substance (It's made of something!) that comes out of someone's skin could be analyzed. Somebody please scrape off a sample.
 | |||
| Medium Eva C. supposedly produced an ectoplasmic face from her ear during a séance. Many of her "faces" were later revealed to have been cut from a Paris newspaper. |
(caption and photo taken from http://www.prairieghosts.com/ectoplasm.htmlhttp://www.prairieghosts.com/ectoplasm.html)
There's one other point that was made on Penn & Teller's Bullsh*t (here) that I wanted to include in this discussion, that every photograph of supposed ghosts (that I've ever seen anyway) shows these ghosts wearing clothes. What?! So now we not only have to figure out what the ghosts are made of, we also have to find out how they got clothes that are obviously made of the same non-physical, yet physical, yet tangible, yet non-tangible, yet natural, yet supernatural material? It comes in all sizes for all size ghosts, yet are also free because I doubt ghosts go to a ghost store and pay with ghost money. Understand I'm not trying to make fun of all of this, but why would the disembodied spirit of a person need clothes, let alone need invisible clothes to cover up invisible nudity. Does any of this make sense? For that matter lots of people are nudists, yet so far there are no cases of nudist ghosts, transvestite ghosts, ghosts with name-brand accessories, or even a ghost with a discernible hobby. Just think if you saw one wearing a purse; you'd have to try and figure out what all the stuff inside is made of too. I'll ask again, does any of this make sense?
Anyway, stay tuned for part four where we try to discuss the purpose of ghosts.
No comments:
Post a Comment