by Ashley Lemus

Created on: July 27, 2011   Last Updated: July 30, 2011

Why do people fear the paranormal?  There are two old sayings about fearing things that come to my mind.  ‘We fear that which we do not understand.’  And, ‘We fear that which is different.’  There are examples throughout human history that show the truth of those two similar adages. 

What we do not understand we automatically fear because it does not make sense.  We, as humans, are creatures of logic.  We need answers.  It is our purogative to seek, question, and learn.  When we seek and question but do not learn it causes a sense of frustration, I think, and that can bloom into fear.  ‘If I cannot explain it, then it must be something dangerous.’  That seems to be the ultimate ‘logic’ that the brain comes up with.  It is instinct.  We fear what we do not understand because it is safe to fear it.  If we fear it, we leave it alone.  If we leave it alone, we cannot be harmed by it.

What is not like us we have trouble accepting easily.  Look at human history.  Different religions and races warred with one another because they were not the same, because they could not see eye to eye.  With time, such things do heal and change and acceptance comes.  But the paranormal is different in that it is not a constant presence in the human world.  It will always be a type of ‘different’ that is hard to reconcile.  Most chose to not believe in things such as ghosts, demons, and angels.  Or if they do, they believe they have never seen evidence of them.  I, personally, believe I have seen such evidence in small doses and believe in many paranormal things.

Being skeptical is another human trait.  We want to have faith in higher things but humans do not often want to be associated with them in close range.  Being skeptical is another way humans protect themselves against things that could be ‘harmful’.  The paranormal is something to be skeptical of because it is so mysterious.  There are no easy answers found among the topics of the paranormal.  Cataloging the strange is easy; explaining it is not.

If you ask me why people have a fear of the paranormal, it is because they have trouble accepting it.  They have trouble understanding it.  And they naturally believe it to be a hoax because that is the easier way to handle it.

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