Aviva Directory » Faith & Spirituality » Paranormal

The paranormal refers to a wide range of unexplained phenomena, that which is beyond the range of scientific or religious explanation.

Commonly, these include beliefs in ghosts, apparitions, and hauntings, as well as extraterrestrial life, alien abductions, and unidentified flying objects, sometimes known as unidentified aerial phenomena. Also included in this portion of our guide are such topics as time travel, clairvoyance, subliminal messages, spiritual totems, and the occult. The legend of Atlantis, and hollow earth theories may be found here. Enhanced children, who are believed to represent a leap in human evolution, would be appropriate in the section of the guide, as would cryptozoology and various cryptozoological creatures, such as bigfoot, chupacabra, Mothman, reptoids, ropens, shadow people, vampires, werewolves, and reported lake monsters, as well as others.

Related topics, such as ghost investigations, ghost hunting, electronic voice phenomenon (EVP), believed to be recorded ghost voices, would also be found within these categories, along with ufology, parapsychology, and other paranormal investigations, including skeptical scientific investigation of paranormal phenomenon.

In determining the subjects and subcategories to include in the Paranormal category, as opposed to those dealing with science or religion, a degree of subjectivity was necessary. For example, while many reasonable people, including scientists, presume that life exists elsewhere in the universe, the belief that the earth is regularly visited by extraterrestrials would fall within the category of the paranormal.

Conversely, while science has not yet been able to determine the nature of dark matter, the reality of dark matter is a scientific consensus, so topics related to dark matter would be categorized in one of our science categories.

By the same nature, a good argument could be made for placing topics related to demons and angels in the paranormal categories, but, since these supernatural entities are an accepted part of some organized religions, and we have a religion category, we have elected to place them there instead.

The paranormal is a broad subject, and much of what we know of the paranormal world is based in theory, speculation, and anecdotal accounts. Consensus on any one theory or concept relating to paranormal phenomenon is rare.

However, it does not necessarily follow that paranormal entities and actions are fictitious, although they tend to be unproven and unexplained. A 1996 Gallup poll found that more than seventy percent of Americans believed that the government was covering up information about UFOs, and a 2017 Chapman University poll determined that more than fifty percent of respondents believe that Atlantis once existed, and that places could be haunted by ghosts. Only twenty-five percent of respondents didn't hold at least one paranormal belief.

Topics in this category include purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, the reality of which is beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding.

Categories

Atlantis

Clairvoyance

Crop Circles

Cryptozoology

Enhanced Children

Ghosts & Hauntings

Hollow Earth

Illuminati

Occult

Paranormal Research

Subliminal Messages

Time Travel

Totems

UFOs

 

 

Feature Article


When Does Paranormal Become Normal?


paranormal

We use the word "paranormal" in reference to things that are outside the range of normal experience or scientific explanation. Its prefix (para) is derived from the Latin for "outside" or "against," so a paranormal experience is one that is outside the realm of scientific understanding.

Yet most, if not all, of what we now accept as scientific fact had its beginnings in a theory that was not fully understood or accepted by the scientific community.

Science has accomplished a great deal over the past five hundred years, and perhaps its most basic function is to investigate the natural world, and it might be argued that its area of service has recently expanded to include the universe.

Scientists have made some remarkable discoveries, and there are no doubt many more to be made, but there are probably also a lot things of that will never explained through science. It seems reasonable that there are truths about the natural world that cannot be discovered or proven through science. These areas, beyond the grasp of science, may well be the domain of the paranormal, and of religion.

The mention of religion introduces another uncomfortable question to the discussion. Generally, when we think about the paranormal, the things that come to mind include ghosts, UFOs, and people with psychic powers. Yet, regardless of the definition you use, couldn't religion be placed within the realm of the paranormal, as well? The nature of religion is that it is accepted on faith, after all.

The true atheist would probably have no trouble categorizing all of religion under the heading of the paranormal. Since most scientists are said to be atheists, this may well be the consensus of the scientific community. We are not likely to read such a declaration from the scientific community any time soon, however.

Scientists are funded, largely, by non-scientists and, at least in the United States, a large majority of the population believes in a deity, and they would not tolerate having their god lumped in with the likes of Bigfoot, little green men, or children who can bend spoons with their minds.

To the Christian, God is real, and the evidence of God can be seen all around us. This is true for adherents of other deistic religions, as well.

People generally equate the paranormal with beliefs that are held only by people who are either crazy or awfully naive. This may well be true of many paranormal experiences, but it is not necessarily true of all. It is possible that, with advances in scientific research, phenomena currently labeled as paranormal may become more understood, and accepted by the scientific community.

I am quite certain that the world was round, and that it revolved around the sun, long before the scientific community accepted these ideas, and I am equally certain that quarks existed before scientists were able to detect them.

It is also quite likely that species have existed before they were formally discovered by human beings, and that there are, indeed, species yet to be discovered or classified. Might one of these species be a vampire or a chupacabra?

Probably not, but it is almost certain that there will be discoveries equally remarkable.



Recommended Resources


Search for Paranormal on Google or Bing