There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.
― Soren Kierkegaard
The subject of the paranormal seems to naturally attract people who identify themselves as skeptics but are really cynics. I’m not really sure why that is. If I honestly thought that the subject of let’s say, nutrition was inherently flawed and the people who were interested in it were: crazy, self-deluded, mistaken, scam-artists and/or gullible, I wouldn’t be on those websites. I wouldn’t be interested. I’d pursue things that did interest me and steer away from “those” people. This doesn’t seem to be true about the paranormal as a subject. The cynics are either secretly believers or they feel threatened by it in some way. Go figure.
I’m sure you will agree that there’s a difference between healthy skepticism and cynicism. One is the product of an active, intelligent and open mind and the other is the product of fear and narrowness. One adds positivity and openness to discussion the other simply shuts down the possibility of even discourse.
I have found that cynicism often masquerades as skepticism. I have listened to the arguments of people calling themselves skeptics pushing the possibility of the so-called rational answer so far across the line that the rational solution becomes more improbable than the paranormal one.
To the true skeptics: Welcome!
To the cynics: My experiences are my experiences. Just that. I don’t expect you to share them. You weren’t there. I don’t have answers to your “whys.” I’m looking for those answers myself. I can’t prove anything to you and I have no desire to do that. If that’s what you need, I can’t help you.
I write the following on behalf of all the people, voices filled with exasperation who are only trying to share their experience and are met with a series of “clearance” questions:
Question: Could you have been mistaken?
Answer: Of course I could have been mistaken. This is the other side of your coin. Anything is possible but that doesn’t mean it happened. It also doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. I can’t prove it did and you can’t prove it didn’t. End of discussion.
Could I be mistaken? Do you honestly think that that didn’t occur to me? This would be an original thought for me? Let me put it this way. Your cat just jumped into your lap and you’re petting her. Could you be mistaken? Yes. You could be mistaken but it would be a very big stretch for you to mistake a thing like that. Wouldn’t it?
Question: Were you hallucinating?
Answer: Again. Of course I could have been hallucinating but that would be a stretch. I have never been diagnosed with a hallucinatory condition nor do I take drugs. My understanding is that the individual generally knows they’re hallucinating. Again. Do you think I didn’t entertain that notion myself before dismissing it? I experience reality as reality just like you do.
Question: Are you lying?
Answer: No, but I can’t prove that to you.
Question: How much were you drinking?
Answer: I don’t drink. Anyway, a normal person who is inebriated (even very inebriated,) will not just “see” things. A person who is a long-term, severe alcoholic who is detoxing from alcohol is the one who may hallucinate. I don’t think you will find many of those wandering around a haunted house or in the woods seeing a cryptid. They would be in a hospital detox unit usually seeing insects crawling up the walls.
I truly believe that the so-called skeptics greatly overestimate the numbers of people who are willing to step out of the relative comfort zone of normal lives just for some brief attention – negative attention. Are those people out there? Of course they. I believe they represent a pretty small minority of reporters of paranormal phenomenon.
If I’m coming off as somewhat frustrated with the subjects of skeptics/cynics, it’s because I’m just tired of the “proof required,” thing. Even on some of the paranormal podcasts I listen to, I’m beginning to get fed up with the host always reaching for something to show his or her audience that the interviewee is somehow vetted and that all “rational” possibilities have been explored. One thing I can just about guarantee is that once you’ve had such an experience, you spend a lifetime exploring them. No one needs to point it out to you. These are paranormal shows. That is the subject. Let’s stop pandering to the cynics. There is no proof or there is very little proof in a very few circumstances. That’s the nature of this stuff. Can we just get past that and start a discussion from that point? These strange things happen. They really do.
“Extraordinary Claims require Impossible Evidence.” -Unknown
Our scientific world has gotten us in the habit of expecting things to be measured, analyzed, repeated and then accepted. Science is great. I love science but science measures and describes the material world. Most of these occurrences are not part of the material world. Science has no way of quantifying them. Science shouldn’t have an opinion and it mostly doesn’t. In time that will change, I’m sure as mainstream science begins to branch out into the Quantum understandings. We’re not there yet.
Skepticism is normal. Skepticism is healthy. If your lights are flickering, the first thing to do is check out your electrical system. Cynicism is a belief that your fellow humans are basically flawed and unworthy of your trust. It is a system of belief and in my estimation a very unhealthy one.