also called "intelligent haunt" or "ghost"
Death refers to our physical body -
our 'spirit' self or 'soul' exists on higher
planes even while we are alive. The
issue is people "forget" they are more than
their body...
There are many reasons that a spirit
becomes earthbound but I suppose the biggest is that they have forgotten
their true nature-that we are not our bodies. We are a spirit that comes
from the higher spiritual planes-born into a body, to return home one
day. Without this knowledge and for many other reasons a spirit
may fail to pass back into the light. ("the light" means the higher
spiritual planes)