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People leave impressions on the world after they are no longer there. When these impressions are so vivid that it feels like we are seeing the person, some say that it feels like they have seen a ghost.
But usually the impressions of those no longer with us are more vague and fleeting, like the places in the grass where leaves have been after they are raked or blown away. But even if it's not a conscious impression or clear image, we remember.
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I love Jim's entry here on impressions. I'd say, though, that even when we are alive and well, all we really are -- are impressions. To those around us, we are the sounds of our voices, the light reflecting off of our faces, maybe even the outline and feel of our bodies... All the things are "impressing" on those around us, and they process those sensory signals into an impression of us in their brain. As the philosopher Hilary Putnam implied in his famous "Brain in a Vat" conjecture, it's ALL really impressions; there's no "there" out there...
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