Refuting ghosts’ existence intensifies rather than relieves the fear of them

Evidence

We might even say that the most unbearable thing would be to succeed in refuting the existence of ghosts. Bentham’s own experience bears witness to the fact that the refutation of the existence of ghosts cannot rid us of the fear of them, that such an attempt only intensifies this fear, and that what would really reassure us would be the certainty that ghosts do in fact exist. Although every night before going to sleep, with the intention of shaking off his fears, he rehearsed arguments refuting the existence of ghosts, as soon as he found himself alone in the dark, he was inevitably seized by fear. He was seized by fear not in spite of his arguments, but because of them. — Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon Writings, 77

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: A precise mechanism: persuasion about unreality feeds the very dread it tries to cure — fear is caused by the belief in nonexistence itself.
• XREF: connects to: Perceptual processing difficulty itself triggers religious skepticism.

Broader Connections

• Perceptual processing difficulty itself triggers religious skepticism. #complicates (0.75)