-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”
