Kansas City Paranormal Studies

These days,

it’s hard to find good research endeavors. It seems as though the entire field of parapsychological studies has been thrown into a quagmire of quacks by the modern media age. There are reams of great and startling laboratory research, but they seem to taper off starting in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Prior to that, some amazing experiments had been performed as early as the mid 19th century – but who has heard of any of that?

The modern view of such matters is predicated upon the value of the ‘young, cool’ look and impressive gadgetry. Plato’s cave has been relegated to meaningless prattle and Einstein’s ‘spooky action at a distance’ has become a hum-drum ‘fact’ of everyday life. I guess even the ‘paranormal’ community has begun to subscribe to the old media adage : ‘if it bleeds, it leads’. When did we stop pursuing new and exciting knowledge for the sake of keeping up the status quo?

The modern ilk of paranormal ‘evidence’ (and I use the term loosely) is shoddy at best, and the methods likewise. Scientific methods and critical thinking have been abandoned for the sake of ratings – even science and discovery is ruled by the almighty dollar and fame.

So, why does it bother me so much? I have spoken on the subject many times, hoping that I can do my part to change the thinking of the masses because the current path is one of ruin. We are driving ourselves further from the answers we seek, and are led to believe that we are making progress! How do strange photos (on digital cameras, no less) and weird, unintelligible voices on a recording constitute evidence? And how can there be a legitimate ‘telephone to the dead’ when the greatest minds in science disavow the possibility of such a thing?

Those in the paranormal community complain about not being accepted by the scientific mainstream, but it is of their own doing. Rewind the clock 100 years, and there was much research being done by reputable people displaying the strange events we call paranormal. As the technological age advanced (and those who were left behind became hippies), there became two distinct camps – the logical and the weird.

Incidentally, the paranormal studies were moved to the weird section, because our technology made it appear as though we knew everything about the universe. No matter how much investigators claim to ‘scientific’, they aren’t. Acceptance will NOT happen until we get with the program and start critically thinking about the issues we face.

Spooky is not good… but thoughtful is.

-Cap’n

This week on the show I promised that I would provide my listeners with some useful research links, so here they are:

continue reading…

-Cap’n

We all have our ideas regarding the origins of paranormal phenomena. Most times, these involve the idea that someone has died and is now communicating or interacting with the world of the living in some fashion. We devise different methods for contacting these spirits in an attempt to ‘prove’ their existence, but could we be bounding down the wrong path?

Throughout the centuries, there have been a multitude of events and stories that would seem to validate the claim of non-physical entities interacting with the manifest physical world. Nearly every conceivable religion teaches what inhabitants of the ‘other side’ do, think, feel, experience, etc. However, when we attempt to place these ideas in a scientific context a conundrum appears.

In recent months, my research has shown how easily the human mind can be tricked and how often our intuitions about the inner-workings of the universe can be in error. Scientific thought has allowed us to make great strides in technology and the understanding of physical processes, both inside the body and otherwise, but it has shed little light on the strange events we call ‘paranormal’ (these events go by many names: supernatural, miracles, occult, etc.). Why is this?

Anyone who has attempted to bring traditional intuitive thought regarding the paranormal into the scientific arena has most likely met with fierce opposition. These matters are considered pseudo-science at best, and most respected scientific minds are reluctant to accept a disincarnate-spirit hypothesis. This should not be confused with pure skepticism, though. The problem arises when the claim is made that something non-physical and non-quantifiable is claimed to be the cause of events and effects in the manifest world. By adopting the spirit hypothesis, we voluntarily stop the causal chain, claiming that the true source is ultimately un-knowable.

What if we were aiming for the bullseye of the wrong target? Could it be that the answers lie within the marvel of the human mind itself? Some will be reluctant to consider this possibility, as it puts each one of us in a position of responsibility. By looking within ourselves for a causal link, we are no longer separated from these phenomena.

Many people  would probably balk at accepting such an idea. It would as first seem that this hypothesis takes the ‘magic’ out of these events, but perhaps it is just a different magic than we have previously thought. We would be remiss, I think, not to accept the possibility that the paranormal is more a part of us than we had ever imagined.

-More to come

“out there comes from in here”

Join us tonight at 9pm CST on Nightwatch Radio, heard at www.jackaloperadio.com for some seriously paranormal enlightenment… and also some crap. I’ll be joining Todd Sheets for the show tonight… so Listen up!

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New content, new guests, and new insights… KC paranormal, but bigger!!