I was preparing for an appearance on a podcast recently. I knew the podcaster’s first question was going to be “What got you interested in the paranormal/spiritual world?” Except with me, he didn’t add the /spiritual part. That was just God looking out for me. I suspect that his listeners would have been turned off by my answer. So, of course, I’m going to answer both parts right here where I am the only one held accountable for my answer.
What got me interested in the paranormal/spiritual world? The bottom line is simple—life. You see people don’t really have an option about it. I’ll address the paranormal first. Now, Mr. Webster says that paranormal and supernatural are synonymous. I disagree, but they can be treated the same way here. Neither is scientifically explainable—his definition with which I do agree.
I have found that when speaking about human beings the terms “always” and “never” can pretty much be ruled out. There are always exceptions. People dead for a half hour come back while the doctor is making out the death certificate. Perfectly healthy people drop dead. I’ve had nurse aides come to the nurses’ station in shock after seeing a phantom little boy in one of the rooms. Then there are my own encounters with angels and demons for which science has no explanation.
One reason for this is that there are many questions the scientific method cannot answer. Science is simply not equipped to answer them. Because there are scientifically unanswerable questions, the paranormal/supernatural are not really a deviation from what we call the “normal” universe.
Every time I pick up a book, I suspend disbelief and as much opinion as possible and let the author show me the story. The best authors leave me some blanks to fill in with my imagination. I have had this affliction since childhood. I won’t say everybody has it to some degree because of that always/never principle.
Now for the spiritual part. If you read my blogs, some of this will be old hat. Spirituality is not a choice people make. Humans are made up of body, soul, and spirit. They may deny the existence of or choose to alter body parts they were born with, but the possession of a spirit is not an option.
So much for boasts of the “spiritual, but not religious” folks. Those they call hypocrites are just as spiritual as they are. The religious aspect I used to equally devalue, but I have discovered people who may not be religious. Of course, being religious in the true sense of the word has nothing to do with churches.
Religion is a focused disciple. A person can be religious about their diet. In fact some nutritional gurus I’ve heard sound like tent revival preachers. I have met Drill Sergeants who were very religious on a wide variety of subjects as well as being evangelical in their own way. I’m religious about my morning coffee.
I have found that there do exist people who have no focus, who blow with every wind of TV “news”, Facebook trend, or social influencer. I suppose I could say that they are religious about their social media, but I doubt they are that grounded. Ironically, these same folks swallow whole everything they hear while proclaiming that characteristic the sole purview of Christianity. I don’t mind that. You can say what you like about my faith. I just find it interesting.
We are spiritual, born into a world where miracles and the unexplained happen every day. Being interested in that world doesn’t make me strange (there are plenty of other things that do that). It simply makes me alive and having a good time doing it.
Maranatha
