Life After Death: The Difference Between Spirits and Ghosts
by Brandi Fleck
Unpacking our fascination with the paranormal, how to know the difference between different types of energetic entities, and why we create and consume fictional monsters
“I am still here.”
What powerful words.
A message.
It can have many different meanings depending on your perspective, but the absolute first one that comes to mind, especially as we’re settling into a beautiful autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, is the energy of those who passed is still here.
Even if our loved ones and ancestors aren’t in the physical world in physical bodies, their energy is still here. It’s eternal.
Personally, as a human who’s struggled with abandonment earlier in life, and I’m sure even for people who haven’t, the thought of a passed on loved one still being here is comforting, warm, and gives hope.
My youngest son asked me the other day if I believe in ghosts. I’m not going to lie, because every conversation can be a teaching moment if it needs to be, so I said yes. I’m not afraid of his potential fear and questions. But he wasn’t afraid.
He then asked me, “are ghosts and spirits the same thing?”
No, they’re not really, even though they have similarities. I told him that.
He asked how they’re different.
Here’s the idea of what I said, and what I believe…
The Difference Between Spirits and Ghosts
We oftentimes use the words spirits and ghosts interchangeably. I’ve always leaned toward thinking a loving, kind motive is associated with spirits while any malevolent or haunting motives are associated with ghosts.
However, if we get technical about it, that’s not really the case.
Their Essence
Humans are manifestations of spiritual energy while ghosts are manifestations of human energy. Ghosts are impressions in space and time. They’re an image that is unlikely to interact with you while spirits are the souls of humans and other sentient beings, like animals, who have passed on. Spirits can interact with you and the physical environment if they choose to do so. Ghosts are oftentimes unaware they’re ghosts while spirits are aware and active. So, I’d argue that ghosts don’t have consciousness while spirits do. That’s the main difference.
Because of this, ghosts are stuck while spirits are free.
Their Appearance and Atmosphere
Spirits and ghosts can look similar in appearance, if you can even see them — as in they can appear as apparitions.
I don’t believe I’ve ever actually seen a real ghost or an apparition of energy replaying through time. However, I do believe that I’ve expended massive amounts of energy in moments of initial grief and heartache that absolutely left an imprint in space and time. I believe this can happen with anyone, alive or dead.
I do believe I’m in the presence of spirits regularly. When I am, the energy feels light, tingly, and loving, although I typically can’t see them. When I do, it looks like extremely faint misty light in am ambiguous shape that slightly resembles a person — only a transparent silhouette that is so faint, I think my eyes are playing tricks on me. This is rare though.
I have felt deep full body chills and a breeze under my covers while lying in bed that goes from my toes to the top of my head when a loved one stops in to say hi. I have felt tingling on my head, arms, and legs. And I have seen beautiful pink and gold orbs floating above head with sparks and light. I have seen one perfectly functioning light flicker at family gatherings and especially on the Christmas Eve after my grandma died. When my son was (not yet a year old) right after my grandma died, his rocking horse that had a speaker that would play trotting and neighing kept going off on it’s own, but stopped after I acknowledged who it was. And I have felt warmth and unconditional love, seen butterflies at weird times, found feathers in weird places, and get goose bumps when I need to follow a train of thought or direction.
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Their Sounds
I have personally heard spirits knock on walls, knock over dolls, say my name, and play through my head while falling asleep like I’m flipping through radio stations with some static in between. Most prominently, instead of hearing, I “just know” if I’ve received a message because it’s information I know or have an impression of knowing, but don’t know exactly how I know. And I don’t always believe it until it happens. Then I look back and always say, “I knew that was going to happen. How did I know that?”
The Possibilities
So far, the explanations of conscious vs. unconscious and free vs. stuck are all binary descriptions based on my own limited experience with each.
While these binary descriptions are generally helpful guidelines, we must acknowledge that as with all things in life, there are indefinite shades of gray. We can’t rule out the possibility that at some point, the line between them may blur.
Because I can’t possibly know all the possibilities, here is another explanation I found on the web that resonates with me. You might like to read it too:
Explaining the difference between ghosts and spirits, an other paranormal jargon by Rick Hinton in The Southside Times, a news source in Indianapolis, IN.
Additionally, spirits tend to appear and be seen (for people who can see them) in a variety of ways. Here’s a fantastic description of how their energy can sometimes appear:
Types of Ghosts and Spirits by Ghosts and Gravestones, a tour company that runs haunted tours in haunted cities across the United States.
Can Spirits Be Good and Bad?
The short answer is yes, a spirit can be good and/or bad.
If a ghost is merely a replay of energy, it is neither good nor bad. If a ghost is neither good nor bad, what are the entities that cause hauntings and bad feelings?
Spirits.
If a spirit is a soul of a human, it stands to reason that the soul can carry characteristics of a human's life or lives and personality. Conversely, humans also carry characteristics of their spirit. We all have the chance to make better choices though.
Therefore, just as we can choose here in our physical world, a soul can choose love or it can choose fear. A soul or spirit can choose manipulation, low density emotions and actions, and can embrace or reject God or fall on a spectrum somewhere in between rejecting or embracing God, the Universe.
How to know if a spirit is good or bad
I don’t interact with bad spirits. They know they are rejected here for the safety and well-being of my family and myself.
Before I knew the difference or even knew much of spirit, I did live in a house with my mom and sisters that we believe was haunted by mean, mad, or malevolent spirits. We would all get uneasy feelings while sitting on the couch in the living room just watching TV together. We would all get an uneasy feeling when walking down the hallway. That’s the best way I can describe being in the presence of a negative spirit — a general feeling of unease that has nothing to do with ego or fear or diagnosed anxiety even. It’s different than generalized anxiety, but hard to explain.
There is no unease at all when in the presence of a good spirit. There is nothing but warmth and unconditional love.
Accepting both sides of spirit
Let’s get philosophical for a minute to reason our way through good and bad because each state of existence has a purpose.
I want us to do that because, as humans, we have the ability to co-exist with both good and bad spirits while not being unduly influenced by them. We can see them simply as part of the natural order of existence. We can understand what a good spirit is and what a bad spirit is in a way that detaches our emotion from it. At that point, we can better deal with the emotion that comes if we are to come in contact with a spirit of any type. We can be empowered and in control of our own body, mind, and spirit.
When you look at the bigger picture of existence, taking in and considering the vastness of all (or as much as you can) of creation, you start to notice that there is no such thing as good and bad.
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When we’re focused very much on our human lives and existence, we label things and situations and people as good or bad based on how they affect ourselves as individuals, our loved ones, society, the environment, and more. If a thing or situation has an impact or outcome that goes against what we want or need, or it makes us feel what we perceive as a negative emotion, we tend to label it as bad.
On the other hand, when a thing or situation has an impact or outcome that promotes what we want or need or makes us feel what we perceive as a positive emotion, we tend to label it as good.
If you believe in God, you must acknowledge that he created all — He created both what we perceive as bad and what we perceive as good. If this is the case and we trust God, why do we spend our time trying to avoid the “bad” and get more of the “good”?
Should we not seek balance instead?
Balance is a state our bodies continually seek. Nature also continually seeks balance. Equilibrium. Homeostasis. It’s a natural and involuntary tendency in our bodies, by design, to seek balance.
Balance would not exist without “good” and “bad.”
Balance requires that you learn from the “bad” and heal, which also promotes growth. Growth is good and can bring joy. We appreciate the joy, but if we’re not reminded of what it’s like to be without it, our appreciation can wane. So, you see, there’s a purpose for good and bad.
Creating Boundaries
However, seeking balance and being aware of the duality of nature, even appreciating it’s purpose and the bigger picture, doesn’t mean you have to welcome all that’s “bad” into your life. To the contrary, you can set boundaries so you don’t have to constantly engage with stressors, such as dangerous entities or “bad” spirits.
If you’re ever uncomfortable around a certain energy, such as a “bad” spirit — one that intends to do you harm or becomes manipulative and dangerous, you can simply create a boundary. Some people do this with intentions in their mind while others use crystals and salts.
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You can say “go away.” And you can say, “stop,” and you literally have the power to not allow that energy near you or in your life.
If you feel too weak to enforce your boundary, you can find and enlist the help of credible paranormal professionals who know what to do.
Many of us have unknowingly create boundaries for the “good” spirits too. We ignore and deny our gifts, abilities, and connection to spirit because we're afraid.
How Ghosts and Spirits are Connected to Our Own Humanity
We don’t have to be afraid. We all come from the same energy. We’re all connected through being energy, having energy, the nature of energy, and energy combined with consciousness.
Let’s break it down.
Energy
We, as humans, are spirits in physical form, living out an existence to learn lessons and further our growth as beings, entities, souls. We have energy, we expend and receive energy. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed — merely transferred to different objects. Energy can also change form.
So, based on these facts, it’s safe to think that when we leave the human body, our energy disperses. It can be in many places at once or in one place all at once. It’s no longer physical.
Instead of thinking about labeling ghosts, spirits, and humans, we can try thinking of it all as simply energy.
What makes that energy loving or malevolent is it’s consciousness and what it decides to do based on that consciousness.
Consciousness
When we break existence down as simply energy, it’s honestly really weird to think about energy having consciousness.
But if energy does have consciousness, that means consciousness doesn’t come from being in the body. The body receives consciousness from being animated by spirit. This is undoubtedly why animals have consciousness too.
Three definitions of consciousness come up when I Google the definition for the word:
The state of being awake and aware of one’s surroundings.
The awareness or perception of something by a person.
The fact of awareness by the mind of itself and the world.
All three of these definitions have the word “awareness” in common.
It seems, the more aware we are, the freer we are.
Consciousness is what gives the ability to choose.
How Zombies, Ghouls, Mummies, Vampires, and Other Creepy Fictional Characters Fit into Real Life
For the thrill, escapism, or social commentary, as a culture, we seem to have a preoccupation with zombies, ghouls, mummies, vampires, and monsters of all sorts.
We oscillate as a society between which fictional ghoul we’re obsessed with for a time — for a while vampires were mainstream, and then zombies took over the zeitgeist. If we didn’t binge True Blood or The Walking Dead at their heights during a time when we need escapism as a collective to cope with the grind of life, we’re now devouring all the true crime podcasts and reality TV we can get our hands on to learn about real-life monsters.
(I think the True Crime craze is fueled by our need to understand something so it’s not as scary. Our need to understand something may lead to the ability to conquer it, fix it, or control it in some way. These are just speculations, as I don’t consume much True Crime.
If you love true crimes though, tell us in the comments below why you love it so so we can confirm is my suspicions are right. Am I spot on or way off base?)
But what fuels this obsession? Why do we create fictional versions of monsters? What role do they play in our lives?
We can get a thrill from creating and consuming caricatures of our darkest parts, romanticizing them even, and then being entertained by them. Even though horror movies, haunted houses, and reality TV with ghost hunters and demon possession can be scary, it’s a safe kind of scary. It’s a way to boost our adrenaline without having to really go into fight, flight, or freeze.
These pop-culture monsters make our own dark parts more palatable as we become desensitized. We see a part of ourselves in them. We want to like them for all of who they are. And maybe there’s a portion of us who also want to hate them. We want to hate them for who they are, and in the same way, pop-culture monsters are a more palatable way to do that too.
They’re safe. They’re safe emotional playgrounds. Whether they’re manifestations of what’s inside of us or reflect back what we need in the moment from escapism to embracing ourselves, they let us play.
And being able to play makes being scared of death more palatable too. It gives us some insight into it and some control, maybe not over it, but around it.
Honestly, this can be true of any fictional character in any story.
Related: Episode 024: Fiction as Playground - Why We Tell and Read Stories with Holly Root, Literary Agent
Fictional monsters also make us think. If done masterfully, horror shows can present metaphors for deep and difficult commentary about society, religion, relationships, and more. Perhaps if the commentary was stated more directly, we wouldn’t listen to it.
My husband and I have been watching Midnight Mass on Netflix over Fall break when the kids have gone to bed. It employs masterful storytelling.
(No plot spoilers, but don’t read the rest of this section if you don’t want to know any details about Midnight Mass)
Midnight Mass is a fantastic example of using metaphor to depict a human construct that we should examine — what parts of religion have been erroneously humanized. With themes such as creating false gods, misinterpreting signs and life lessons (as humans can be prone to do), the damage that can be caused by following a human spiritual leader who is imperfect even if “good,” you walk away from this show questioning and trying to see both sides of the duality presented.
It’s a lesson in perspective. It’s a lesson in falling away from God in an attempt to follow God.
Midnight Mass — we highly recommend it as one of your Halloween month watches.
Taking Care of Your Spirit
Consuming art, even in the form of movies and television, is one example of taking care of your spirit, if done in a way that isn’t all about numbing your emotions or replacing real-life connection. If you do this to help foster positive emotions you enjoy feeling, you’re on the right track.
Ultimately, taking care of your spirit simply involves doing the things that fulfill you. Putting your well-being first, and then nurturing important relationships and activities outside of yourself that enable you to embrace living, being alive, and being human.
In other words, play.
Don’t be afraid to play as an adult.
Pick up that paint brush and try creating that portrait or landscape scene you’ve always wanted to try. Go for a hike. Break your addiction to processed foods. Find a job you love.
Self care might be part of the process, but the process is not all about self care. It’s more about following your heart. Following what feels right.
But you can’t follow your heart if you don’t take a step in that direction. The most important thing is to start.
And I know there’s a lot of suffering in the world right now, and we empathize with that, and wish there could be more peace and harmony. The way to get there is to take care of your own spirit.
It’s okay to play and find joy even if there’s suffering in the world.
Does Believing in Ghosts Mean I’m a Bad Christian?
(Watch the video or continue on to read the answer instead.)
Absolutely not. Listen…
Christian or not:
Any belief system or religion based in fear and judgement rather than love and acceptance is not the truth. It’s not from or of God.
Related: Episode 055: Escaping the Control of Spiritual Abuse
And, if we as humans weren’t preoccupied with the afterlife and getting to a good afterlife, would religion even have a purpose?
It’s really it’s sole purpose — to help us lead a good, honorable life that leads to a good afterlife.
We can’t acknowledge the existence of an afterlife and build systems around having a good one while at the same time saying ghosts and spirits are bad to believe and interact with.
We shouldn’t put our own obstructed-view limits on what the afterlife is.
I’m not a theologian, pastor, spiritual leader. I appreciate and learn about many religions, believe many aspects of different religions, as I believe they all go back to the one universal source of love and truth — God — although I consider myself a Christian.
But, what feels right to me is one cannot fully be a Christian without believing in ghosts. Christianity teaches that our God is a holy trinity, which includes the father, the son, and the holy ghost.
Is this type of ghost the exact same as some of the ghosts we’ve talked about throughout this blog post? Arguably, the holy ghost is spirit.
And spirit resides within each of us, as well as outside of us. And, to acknowledge spirit, respect spirit, and interact with spirit, allows us to acknowledge a part of nature and ourselves that is connected to God, the Universe, your higher power.
Opening our eyes to see the unseen is okay, even if in the past it hasn’t always been for one reason or another, including that it can be scary.
Embracing the holy spirit in yourself means acknowledging that energetic connection between human and spirit.
Maybe you only want to worship one spirit, because Christianity says that’s what we are to do, and that’s wonderful if that’s what you choose. But believing in and interacting with other spirits doesn’t mean you worship them.
So I see no problem with it.
Acknowledging that there’s so much more to existence than we can see or fully explain with the the knowledge we have at this time sets us up for continued growth, continued expansion, and continued fulfillment. It’s okay to expand our awareness.
We do this by suspending judgement.
And at the end of the day, what’s out there is out there whether we acknowledge it or not.
Hi, I’m Brandi. I’m just an everyday person interested in the mystical parts of life, like you. I recently stopped working on Human Amplified and became a trauma-informed certified coach. If you’re interested in working with me, check out my new website HERE.
The many meanings of the phrase “I Am Still Here”
The phrase, “I am still here” can have so many meanings. The one we focus on in the blog is from the perspective of a spirit, a passed on loved one, telling their human loved one that they still exist. That’s the first meaning I thought of when I placed the black hand print on a brightly-colored background. The “I Am Still Here” mixed media piece of art was born.
The hand and finger prints show that pieces of our personality and human lives leave an impression on our spirit, which in turn leaves an impression in space and time.
The bright colors represent the vibrancy of our spirit, the fulfillment and unconditional love that must come when we rejoin the cosmos as ethereal energy — our free aura.
But then, that unconditional love and connection to the cosmos still translates into our physical world and can, represented by the blending of spirit colors into the fabric behind it. The fabric is our spirit in the physical, but also represents the comfort we can take from knowing our loved ones still exist. Our energy doesn’t go away after death.
That comfort is framed on two sides by black fabric with white polka dots, representing the duality of the nature of existence, the vastness of space and time, and the stars we’re made of. Yet, the rigid alignment of the polka dots, unlike the scattered stars in the sky, shows how humanity is order in the chaos.
But you can take the meaning and interpretation further.
You can say “I am still here,” when you’ve survived trauma.
You can say “I am still here,” when you’re comforting a scared child.
You can say, “I am still here,” when you’re still standing despite it all.
That’s empowering and inspiring.
You have a right to be here. And you can claim that.
About the Author
Brandi Fleck is a writer, artist, and a recognized communications and interviewing expert. She is also an avid researcher of human nature and founder of Human Amplified, where she helps people embrace being their true selves so they can expand more fully into their own humanity without fear of being seen and heard. Brandi hosted the top-rated Human Amplified podcast (formerly the On Being Human podcast). READ MORE
