There’s still a long debate when it comes to paranormal matters. While there’s a lot of media coverage about this phenomenon, there’s still doubt about whether seeing ghosts or communication with the otherworld is real or not.

In Daubenspeck’s debut book titled Pony Ride to an Awakening, he mentions that he believes in the notion that everyone has psychic abilities; that is, anyone has abilities that transcend the mundane ones, such as the ability to perceive using their sixth senses. When one opens the discussion about these abilities, most would typically associate it with the paranormal phenomena, understandably so, since these are what’s commonly shown to people via mainstream media.

But what does this mean to society? Does this frequent appearance translate that these paranormal phenomena are deemed ordinary or relevant in today’s society? Does Daubenspeck’s encyclopedia of Spirituality imply that the existence of paranormal phenomena is real? 

What Does One Mean by Paranormal Phenomena?

Paranormal phenomena, formally known as Parapsychology, is the study or the observance of unusual behavior and experiences. This leads to the attempt to create a scientific discipline and provide solid proof that these supernatural events, events transcending boundaries of time, and space, may exist within reality. Parapsychology is naturally divided into two main branches: extra-sensory perception, which is the study of occurrences without sensory experience, and psychokinesis, which is the study of physical events that occur without the involvement of motor organs.

Today’s discussion will focus more on the paranormal experiences, which many are naturally drawn to since they cause excitement with the existing doubts concerning their certainty and authenticity. While there’s already a formal sector dedicated to studying paranormal events, this doesn’t mean it’s exempted from doubts and critics.

Many argue that parapsychology lacks credibility since it lacks the presence of solid evidence, exacerbated by the fact that when paranormal experts open discussions about these experiences, they usually don’t or can’t rule out natural explanations. Sure, personal experience is one thing, and it can be considered evidence of the paranormal, but to have scientific evidence supporting one’s claim is another. After all, many can speak of ghostly apparitions, but not many of these experiences can survive once natural explanations are involved. The media has presented a lot of paranormal content, from videos to personal accounts. Yet, none of these are extreme proofs that are solid enough that the usual edits or fictional reasons can’t debunk them. In fact, many of these paranormal experts use many tools and execute various rites to summon spirits, from séances, Ouija boards, EVP recorders, and EMF detectors, yet these still aren’t enough evidence.

How are These Paranormal Tools and Events Easily Debunked?

These tools can’t completely explain or solidify spirits or ghosts’ existence. In fact, some of these tools have never actually detected spirits.

EVP recorders, for instance, can be easily debunked since they heavily rely on interpreting mush and static from devices and personally making them out as supposedly words that spirits want to communicate. However, these recorders are said to work by relying on radio waves that pick up these random words from other nearby radios for an individual to interpret. These EVP recordings can also be disproven by how people process sounds. People’s brains are wired in a way that they connect things to experience a whole. This entails that when people are told that some devices can communicate with spirits, they may listen to static and make out words despite their being none since they have already been conditioned to expect such to happen.

Therefore, if these apparitions are real, there should be scientifically recorded solid evidence of their existence. However, there aren’t. So, how much of these events should one believe? While there are a lot of videos or recordings seemingly capturing these phenomena raw, they can still be easily debunked by scientific and technological explanations. Hence, it’s not surprising how, despite a lot of proofs, many are still skeptical about them.