Parapsychology: Studying the Paranormal
Parapsychology: Studying the Paranormal
Are you interested in ghosts, spirit entities, the power of the mind, and the world beyond the grave? Then you may want to study paranormal phenomena by going into the field of parapsychology.
Paranormal phenomena constitute events and abilities that can't be explained by the laws of nature, and parapsychology studies them. These phenomena are divided into three basic groups:
1. Mental Phenomena ?this refers to unique mental abilities or states, such as the ability of two minds to communicate with each other; the ability of certain people to hear, smell, or see spirits; and precognition, or the ability to see the future.
2. Physical Phenomena ?this refers to unique occurrences that may be controlled by an entity, such as psychokinesis, or the ability to move things or make events happen by using the power of one's mind; and poltergeists, which are unseen, malevolent entities able to move objects and even cause damage.
3. Death-related Phenomena ?this refers to experiences by individuals being out of their body, or being near death.
Paranormal phenomena may also be divided according to influence:
1. Mind-to-Mind ?this includes extra-sensory perception and telepathy, where minds communicate to each other
2. Mind-to-Environment ?this includes psychokinesis
3. Environment-to-Mind ?this includes hauntings
Phenomena can also be divided into two broad groups according to senses:
1. Extra-sensory perception or ESP ?can include the ability of the mind to sense the unseen, whether through hearing (clairaudience), feeling (clairsentience), or tasting (clairgustance). Also included are the abilities to see the past (postcognition) and the future (precognition).
2. Anomalous operation ?can include the ability to utilize one's mind to perform feats such as pyrokinesis (fire) and psychogenesis (illness). Also included are astral projection and out of body experiences.
If you are interested in parapsychology, take heed: its validity has often been disputed, and it is regarded as a pseudo-science. It is criticized as relying on anecdotal evidence, and evidence from poorly designed experiments whose results can't be replicated. Some critics even claim that parapsychologists spend their time demonstrating paranormal phenomena, but don't explain their existence.
The more rabid skeptics regard the study of paranormal as taboo and a danger to society; and even go so far as to say that studying it is a waste of resources, when such phenomena are in violation of the laws of nature and physics.
Whether or not you are a skeptic, keep an open mind. After all, science can't explain everything - and some phenomena can actually have a logical explanation.