Believer or Skeptic?
by admin on Oct.11, 2009, under Experiences
I’ve had quite a few people ask me why I’m into the paranormal and specifically ghost hunting. They ask me this, since I spend a large portion of my conversation debunking or logically theorizing possible physical reasons to how something occurred. Often I hear, “for someone that believes in ghost, you sure don’t sound like you believe in ghosts”.
I’ve been personally been struggling with this. I touched this topic slightly a few months ago in my “Losing Faith” post. Basically, I think that 99% of “paranormal” experiences are quite normal and physical. The 1% remaining, I believe is unexplainable and can truly fall in the paranormal range.
In the past, I’ve had paranormal experiences related to a death of a close friend of mine, which really convinced me that there is something out there. I don’t want to get into detail, but the experiences led me to have little doubt that true paranormal activity happens.
Participating in ghost hunts and group activities I’ve noticed the trend (and in myself) of wanting something to happen SO bad, that you become hyper-sensitive to a point of being easily influenced. I’ve tried to stay honest with myself, when someone says “Do you hear that?” or “Did you see that?” that I don’t automatically say yes. If I didn’t hear it, I say ‘no’. If I didn’t see it, I say ‘no’. Stepping outside of the moment and observing one’s own behavior, you may notice the ‘lemming effect’ in all of us to not want to be left out of the group. It’s amazing how this can happen at the subconscious level and in the end you may convince yourself that you did experience something that you truly did not.
That always leads to evidence. I’m a strong believer of evidence over personal experience. The evidence is something captured and representable. Something tangible in a sense. Something I can show a complete stranger and let them dissect it and come to their own conclusions. Personal experiences is weighed to how well you can tell a story and convince others or yourself a experience happened the way you remembered it. That ‘convincing’ can lead to alterations in the story and perception of the circumstances as well. That is why it’s hard to rely on it.
Unfortunately, my belief in the paranormal is tied to personal experiences as well. No evidence captured. No “proof”, and I think that is why I’m in this field today. I want to capture proof to convince myself. I think I’m a believer, but also a hardcore skeptic at the same time. Maybe a skeptic that wants to believe? I don’t know, but I’m working it out.
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January 26th, 2010 on 1:50 pm
Believer or skeptic, believe what you want,that’s one thing no one can take away from you.As long as ther are people there will be ghosts.Just because they don’t come up and look you in the eye and say “hey I”m here” doesn’t mean there not.I believe they are around us all the time,as a matter of fact I know they are.Since I was a small child I know they are with us always.They can only hurt you if you let them. We have more control than we think.Keep the faith. Linda
October 21st, 2010 on 11:52 am
Dear Montana, I’m rob from Portland. I’m a fellow ghost hunter and have a long history in the psychic investigation and applications research, as in I have been the lab rat for a great many years while researchers have tried to unravel the variety of things they tend to experience with my demonstrations of psychic skills. I would like to comment on your faith and concern with in a couple of ways.
1. It has been shown by a large amount of study and research that psychic functioning and the power of our consciousness and personality is natural and normal part of us. Thus, its all really not paranormal.
2. Study and after shows that the general nature of a person’s personality, is inherently observable in infants and new born, prior to any great exposure to environmental dynamics. It is only logical that you were you before you entered a body, you are you growing and learning while here and when your body can no longer function and you leave it….you are still you.
3. Our recent technological advances has allowed us the ability to scientifically use technology to help us understand the nature and and characteristics of consciousness after the physical body ceases to function. The power of the internet and improved communications, we are now able to rapid dispose of the variables that will eventually leave us with what’s left, the answers.
This activity, people like us exploring and documenting, is already carving out characteristic parameters, a common language and understanding and successful technologies that are helping us gather pieces of information that together is beginning to paint the picture.
You have discovered already that although an investigation success is about 2% of what is reported, that when you added your EM Pump, (which I wish to build myself) that you were able to improve your EVP results. Perhaps this suggests that there is even more there than we have yet to discover with our existing technology and as that improves, so will what we will learn. It has been found that sound based motion detectors have been modified to track on a computer screen, apparition movement within the sound grid, suggesting that although displacement of densities seem to be the key, that those density displacements are enough to reflect the waves of the sound based motion grid enough to track the movement.
This shows that technology, understanding and definitions are growing at exponential rates in the past few years. As this happens we find that there is more there than we ever thought. Just because a spook doesn’t want to talk to you or go to the trouble to gather enough energy for a greater level of photograph-able displacement – doesn’t mean that they are not there. ha ha ha
I would suggest to improve your EVPs even more, that you explore the DAS RT-EVP recorder. It is unique as it was designed for this purpose and records down to 15 hz (infrasound). For the matter Gary’s Mel Meter REM and his E-Pods, will also serve you well and open an even better level of success for you. Besides you are a very talented in being able to think things through technically as well. I think you will like the concepts.
Just a few comments to support that you really are on the right track.
November 1st, 2010 on 4:33 pm
Wow! Well, I read both of your threads and I have to say that you echo my thoughts, precisely.
I tend to consider myself a pretty strong skeptic, but I’m by no means closed-minded. While I sometimes feel desperate to prove what I want to believe is true, I often find myself shredding any evidence I personally encounter if there’s even the slightest hint of ambiguity.
Of course, we’re only human and sometimes the moment captivates us and we easily succumb to what you identified as ‘the lemming effect’. I, personally, think that it’s these times – when the evidence comes to light as being somewhat less-than-truthful – that are the most detrimental to our ‘faith’.
As skeptical as I tend to be, I don’t think it’s the least bit absurd or even improbable to entertain the idea that there is indeed something else on the other side of the ‘curtain’ – that our reality is not merely two dimensional.
When you think hard enough about all of the aspects of our own physical existence, and how mindblowingly improbable WE are to even exist, it suddenly lends strength to our natural intuitions regarding the ‘paranormal’.
We just have to avoid dogma, and approach it with a sort of neutrality. In doing so, we can bypass the emotionalism and drama of it all (not the wonderment, mind you) and get on with being pioneers in a rapidly expanding realm of thought.
For those who scoff and would immediately dismiss such ideas and possibilities, and who think that humanity knows pretty much all it can know of existence (The WYSIWYG kind), there is nothing to be gained…
Discovery is made, not by the knowing, but by the daring.
- Rob