Why the Paranormal Matters
The paranormal matters because stories about unexplained events are ultimately stories about us. I created this website and the Paranormal Matters podcast because I recognize the awe inspiring feeling that can arise from a compelling story.
Stories about ghosts, UFOs, or stories of hauntings, which happen to be my personal favourites, will inevitably place a mirror in front of us demanding that we take a good, hard look at just what might be going on in our lives. Or, the questions might shift to what is going on with the world around us, and this is also why the paranormal matters to me.
There is often a rhyming pattern to the ineffable, yet even among experiencers, there are events that don’t easily fit into any mold. However, in the stories of their encounters, new molds are cast for others to pick up when the ineffable happens to them. These events are shaped into an intangible yet powerful currency that can be wielded masterfully by great storytellers who know just how much to share and how much to withhold.
The UFO disclosure movement, which has been gaining plenty of interest lately, is shaped by such storytellers. The folks who reveal only enough information to keep our ears and hearts yearning for more offer tantalizing clues about inter-dimensional beings, Non-Human Intelligence (NHI), and aerial craft supposedly held in the possession of private and government agencies.
Yet, I would argue the disclosure movement could just as well be dealing with threads of information about fairy folk, whose stories at one time shared a rhyming pattern with contemporary UFOs. Lost time, diminutive humanoids, and instantaneous travel to far away places are just some of the commonalities.
While so many people are begging for material proof of crashed vessels, they might as well be seeking to witness the miraculous work of a saint’s relic. This too, shares the rhyming pattern with contemporary UFOs. The ability to bend reality, they defy commonly understood material sciences, and they transform those who come into contact with them.
The stories that are being told now about unexplainable phenomena are reflected in the stories our ancestors told of their own encounters with the ineffable. By putting them into words, there is a desire to ascribe meaning to the unknown. When the words are lacking we often seek the guidance of those who claim to have the answers, and this can be reassuring, but it can also be potentially dangerous.
Consider how many times a ghost story results in the inevitable question about belief. “Well, do you believe in ghosts?” A semantic trap is set the moment this question is asked. There is a pregnant pause every time this question is asked. If the answer is no, there is safety in the reaffirmation of a material reality. If the answer is yes, it might be accompanied by an audible and cathartic sigh.
Those who ‘belief’ have invested their faith in knowing the ineffable, but through their belief they give it the form of “ghosts.” A master storyteller knows how to work with those willing to share their belief. The storyteller knows how to lay the path for the believer, because they know the desire of wanting to understand mysteries that are greater than the reality that has been carefully cultivated by generations of critical thinkers following the Cartesian revolution.
The path of belief is neat and clearly labelled, whereas experiencing the ineffable is anything but that. This is where the danger lies: when our focus shifts from mystery to answers we will look with hunger to others who know full well how to feed that desire just enough, but never too much.
The paranormal matters, and not simply as answers to greater mysteries. The paranormal matters because the human experience is at the core of encounter. In this podcast I step away from crafting the narrative of belief and step back onto the path of wonder.
