Why People Believe in Paranormal Phenomena
Many people believe in paranormal phenomena even when they are shown natural causes for the activity. These occurrences involve bending spoons through one’s mind, ghosts, mind reading, and premonitions. Sander van der Linden reported that 42% of people in the United States of America (USA) believe that ghosts exist. Moreover, the public hold beliefs in conspiracy theories or pseudo-scientific phenomena (Van der Linden). A belief in the paranormal phenomenon makes individuals perceive that magic is real and that it happens. However, Dr. Robert Park, a professor of physics at Maryland University, asserts that people want to believe in paranormal activities even if no evidence exists. In reality, it all starts during childhood when parents read ghost stories to their young ones. Some of these narratives were written a long time ago but continue to be passed from one generation to another. Individuals believe in paranormal phenomena since they grow reading or listening to stories involving ghosts and magical happenings.
Although science shows how some activities believed to be paranormal are happening, it does not explain the interaction between the mind and the physical world. In other words, it does not portray whether people can control things using their mind. That leaves a room for individuals to believe that paranormal phenomena are present. The majority of people believe in their intuition (Van der Linden). For example, when a person dreams about a ghost of someone who died many years ago haunting one at night, the individual believes that it is real. For this reason, nothing makes such a person not to think of other paranormal activities since he or she has encountered it. Only a few people use reflective thinking such that they try to find out whether something that appeared in one’s mind is true or false. Overall, many people do not search for answers for paranormal phenomena since they already believe in them.
The belief of paranormal phenomena pose dangers to people’s lives. First, this kind of thinking makes individuals believe that one’s mind can control things in the physical world. As such, people do not need an explanation of a specific phenomenon, which makes them see things that do not exist. They might get injured when fleeing for ghosts that are not there. Second, it might make individuals’ health to deteriorate when they believe that a particular condition emanates from paranormal activities. For instance, some people might think that they are being punished by the dead and that they cannot recover by seeking help from a hospital.
However, some advantages might arise from susceptible people’s belief in the paranormal phenomenon. Justin McDaniel, the director of Penn Ghost Project and professor of religious studies at Pennsylvania University, asserts that many people believe that ghosts help in healing sick individuals (Wen). For this reason, those who believe in paranormal phenomena can ask for assistance when the need arises. Due to their firm belief, such individuals recover from their health problems. Many Americans believe that ghosts have an attachment to humans and that is the reason they keep helping and haunting them. Another advantage of beliefs in paranormal activities is that they make individuals avoid bad things due to the fear of being punished or haunted for the rest of their lives.
To conclude, nothing can make some people not to believe in the paranormal phenomenon even if there exist natural causes for the activity. Specifically, intuition makes the majority of individuals have susceptible beliefs about paranormal. Furthermore, many childhood narratives talk about ghosts and how they haunt humans, which makes people start believing at a young age that paranormal phenomena are real.
Works Cited
Van der Linden, Sander. “How come some people believe in the paranormal?” Scientific American, 2015, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-come-some-people-believe-in-the-paranormal/. Accessed 8 Feb. 2019.
Wen, Tiffanie. “Why do people believe in ghosts?” The Atlantic, 2014, https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/09/why-do-people-believe-in-ghosts/379072/. Accessed 8 Feb. 2019.