The Paranormal

We often hear people talk about the “paranormal” phenomena.

And when we think of the paranormal, we think about stories with ghosts, cursed houses, aliens etc. But, what exactly is paranormal?

To be clear, the idea of paranormal in the ancient times was very different than it is today.

At that time, people still did not understand the nature around them.

Even storms and thunderstorms were considered paranormal.

They did not have enough knowledge to explain things that happened in nature.

That is why The Ancient Greeks for example, had God for each thing they could not explain by their own experience. Their lives were in the hands of the great Gods, beyond their poor human power.

Over the years, we have learned a lot of things about nature and almost every culture in the world has moved from polytheism to some great monotheistic religion.

We no longer need a God of fire, but we still need God!

We still know almost nothing about the world behind our materialistic, visible world! And death, as the last part of our lives, still exists like something we cannot understand and explain.

Also, many phenomena such as ESP, lucid dreams or OBE, are still not understood well enough and they are considered paranormal by many.

But what if one day we are able to explain these phenomena? Maybe they will become ‘’normal”!

Lets go back in time before the car was invented.

Imagine people riding their horses.

And even though horses can gallop quite fast, imagine how would a person feel seeing a car pass by at 70mph (110km/h).

Science of that time could not explain the car, as internal combustion engine was not invented yet.

They would probably consider it to be paranormal. No horse can run that fast!

Or imagine showing a mobile phone we have today, to that same person.

Things we can do with our phones would not be considered normal by one of our ancestors from 100 years ago.

Things we take for granted now, would be considered paranormal to others only 100 years ago!

Let’s talk about concrete examples of paranormal today.

You must have seen a 2007 American supernatural horror film “Paranormal Activity”.

The movie talks about a couple in the house with the ghost. Scary scenes of the ghost activity in the house while the couple sleeps are really creepy!

But paranormal is not only connected with ghosts and creatures beside us.

Even if you do not believe in ghosts, you must have experienced something ‘’paranormal’’ once in your life.

Have you ever thought of someone and after a few minutes that person calls you? Is this paranormal?

What about clairvoyance, OBE, lucid dreams, even stories of afterlife which are told by people who experienced clinical death?

All these things cannot be explained and that is why people feel uncomfortable when talking about these topics.

This is why these phenomena are considered paranormal.

Believe it or not, paranormal exists and a lot of people had similar experiences, especially when we talk about intuition, OBE or near-death experiences.

There are a lot of studies where scientists tried to find a scientific explanation to why some people have strange and paranormal experiences like seeing ghosts or feeling someone's presence even when they are alone in a laboratory.

People have been told that this will be an experiment and that maybe strange things will happen.

Scientists gave this hint, and some people really experienced things like scary sounds or feeling someone’s presence.

After this experiment, scientists were convinced that we will experience paranormal only if we think of it as something possible.

Imagine you are walking in the woods and it is night.

You hear some different sounds, rustling and crackling and it is also windy.

Scientists are clear on this. If you are a nonbeliever, you will be sure that those are normal sounds and shadows in the forest.

But if you believe in the paranormal, you will hear strange sounds and you will be scared because your brain will imagine more sounds and even ghosts may appear in the shadows!

Scientist believe that everything is in our heads and brains! That is a good point.

But what if, when we believe, we open to some greater world of unconscious and “supernatural”, which is in our head as well?

It seems that scientists really try hard to explain how some paranormal experiences occur.

There are many more experiments besides the one mentioned earlier!

The most popular is the one where the electronics are responsible for the ghostly vibes!

Electromagnetic fields generated by electronic devices can affect the human brain in the way it begins to project hallucinations and apparitions.

This could explain the ghosts!

Also, there is a theory that there is one part in our brain whose stimulation can cause OBE.

In fact, that would mean that there is a "button" to start and stop OBE.

These are great steps for understanding some inexplicable phenomena, but, of course, there are many more phenomena in front of which science stands powerless.

Thomas W. Campbell, a nuclear physicist and metaphysician who has done a lot of research in the field of unconsciousness, believes that there is no paranormal or supernatural, everything is normal and natural, we are just not at a high enough level to understand some phenomena.

And when we do not understand something, we tend to declare it “paranormal”.

Scientists insist that everything is in our head, even if it is triggered by something from the outside.

Maybe we really have all the power in our mind!

And what will happen when we get to that “high enough level”?

What if one day, just like storms and thunderstorms, the process of OBE, lucid dreams or even afterlife becomes clear and scientifically explained?

Will we still consider it paranormal?