PARANORMAL PERCEPTION

PARANORMAL PERCEPTION October 18, 2009

Nobody asked me, but…

I’ve spoken with numbers of people who have different beliefs about this world in which we live. Not religious beliefs. By “beliefs”, I’m talking about the people who believe in ghosts…life after death… reincarnation…UFOs: Paranormal beliefs.

My daughter, Debbie Fontaine, approached me the other day and stated her belief that we are simultaneously living in another dimension: that we have a similar (if not identical) existence in a dimension in a world that only offers us glimpses into it. At first glance, this might seem to be a bit “far-out”: By “far-out” I mean that her thoughts or beliefs will never be accepted or even looked at closely by the majority of people who are afraid to look at any possibilities other than those in their comfort-zone. Most people readily deny the existence of ghosts, UFOs, reincarnation, etc. because they are afraid of what they might find out. It’s so much easier to put-down investigative thinking and relax in the knowledge that “I Love Lucy” re-runs are shown on Saturdays.

I don’t know the merits or drawbacks of Debbie’s thinking but, even superficially, her theory (or feeling) would actually tend to answer some of our unanswered questions about things we tend to push-aside and call ‘paranormal’.

Most people in the world do not accept the paranormal as being real because they are afraid to face the truth even when the truth is supported by overwhelming evidence. People deny the existence of UFOs despite millions of sightings and hundreds of thousands of photos and videos because they are ‘afraid’ of the thought that some advanced civilization or beings with greater intelligence than ours will swoop down and conquer the Earth, killing or imprisoning its population.

Similarly, most people are afraid of ghosts because, ever since writing became popular, almost all writers have described ghosts as evil things that are impervious to any efforts to fight them. The Frankenstein monster, the living dead, zombies, etc. It is only recently that writers have begun to picture ghosts as being more human: “The Canterbury Ghost”, “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir”, the movie “Ghost”. We describe anyplace we believe a ghost resides as being “haunted”…a term designed to create fear. In actuality, so-called “haunted” places are simply places where dead people who have not recognized the fact that they are dead, still reside. Note that almost 100% of so-called “haunted” places are haunted by the people who used to live there or work there. In the real world, I’ve never heard of a ghost hurting a live human being. Yet people get frightened just walking in a cemetery at night.

Probably one of the reasons organized religion has so many followers is that they promulgate the fear of a Heaven or a Hell. The bad things you do, two by two, will be paid for one at a time in God’s domain. People are frightened of an allegedly omnipotent God whose wrath is written about in all Bibles…but there is safety in numbers. If a lot of people believe as you do…and none of them have led “perfect” lives…maybe God won’t think you’ve been such a bad person when you meet Him face-to-face. Organized religions all have a book of rules If you follow the rules you will be spared His wrath. People feel comfort and safety in this because there are so many others consigned to follow the same sets of rules. All organized religions are based on fear of the unknown and unexplained.

It’s when we put fear aside that we start to use the intelligence God gave us (and “yes”, I do believe in intelligent design) and that we learn to look at things objectively. As I said, unexplained things like ghosts and UFOs have never harmed anyone, so why not look at them closely with an open mind and try and find out if they really exist and what they really are? Debbie’s theory about dimensions should be examined and its strengths and weaknesses explored.

First let’s take a sensible look at what a dimension is: The dimension in which we live is controlled by our ability to sense what is around us. Something exits if we can see it, smell it, taste it, touch it or hear it. But what if there are sounds too high or low pitched for us to hear? Or things not bright enough…or too bright for us to see…or odors we can’t smell, etc.? We know these things exist because in recent years we’ve tested them in laboratories and have developed some instruments to perceive them. Yet, by definition, since they are out of the range of our normal perception, they are not in our dimension.

Now let’s use our imaginations: Is it so far-fetched to believe that there are some living creatures, somewhere in the vast universe, that can hear sounds and see things we can’t? Living creatures who perceive things in their everyday lives that we cannot perceive? Conversely, the sights, sounds, etc. of our world may be imperceptible to them. Thus we say, they (or we) exist in a different dimension where contact with each other is all but impossible.

The question then presents itself , “How do we know that they really do exist somewhere?”

We fall-back on something I’ve been preaching and writing about for years: Our minds! One of the first steps to higher learning is accepting the fact that your mind (or as I sometimes call it, your “aura”) is not in your brain. It may work in conjunction with your brain, but the brain and the mind are not one and the same.

Proof of this is evident every day. People with brains damaged by cerebral palsy, or injured playing football or in a military action, etc. still have minds that function perfectly. Our brain may tell us that a frying pan is hot but we decide to try and lift it anyhow. Your brain “calculates”…your mind “decides”. Our mind and our brain are two totally different things. What we hear in our heads is our own voice reflecting the operation of our mind…not our brain. Our brain told us the frying pan was hot, and we touched it anyhow…then our mind tells us, “Boy, that was a stupid thing to do!”

Our mind cannot be touched, tasted, smelled, seen or heard. Again…what we hear is our own voice, not the functioning of our mind. Therefore, by definition, our mind (or aura) exists in a different dimension. It is capable of temporary separation from your body (astral projection) and it can perceive people, places and things (dreams) that don’t exist when we are awake. If our mind/aura is a part of a different dimension that has learned to communicate with us, is it really so far-fetched to believe that in its dimension it can perceive other things that we, as humans, cannot?

The thought that Debbie expressed may be a little unusual, but it is definitely possible. Over the years I have learned that Debbie is many times more sensitive to things I cannot perceive. She will meet someone for the first time and know immediately that this is a “good” or a “bad” person. And she’s right more than 90% of the time. When she’s alone or sleeping, she can perceive visits from deceased family members far more easily than I.

To me, it is entirely possible that via her more sensitive mind/aura that she can get glimpses of sights, sounds, etc. from a dimension most of us cannot perceive.

Most people can discover a lot of things they never knew existed if only they will stop being afraid to look…afraid of the unknown. Once you rid yourself of the fears that pervade our everyday living, you will be surprised at how much more your mind/aura will reveal to you. “Fear” is now and has always been the greatest enemy of mankind here on Earth. I’m not suggesting you should abandon common-sense, but you should not be afraid to look for people, things and places that are different from those you normally see. It’s not easy to do…but if you make a determined effort I truly believe you will become aware of many things around us...things you may never have believed existed.

Please write me at stebrel@aol.com and let me know if you’ve had perceptions of other dimensions.

As I said…nobody asked me.