The Great Beyond

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I think that the notion of the sixth sense, something beyond human understanding, has been one of the most compelling and interesting topics we have covered inside of this course. I feel like the most lively discussion we had on campus had to do with the paranormal, and that is saying something as this course has crafted interesting exchanges but this went beyond. The Great Beyond is something that captures the attention of many people and always appears to create a dichotomy between the various number of things. Abrams points to the separation of the natural world as a rigid and understood entity with the “supernatural” or the unexplainable that moves above it as a major snag that Western thinkers have gotten stuck on. I think this is a very interesting place to think on how we might move forward in understanding the categories we call paranormal and supernatural because they are clearly so important to us.


                                                              Jan Tik
False dichotomies and forced categorization appears to be one of the largest opponents to understanding the many miraculous happenings in our world. I wonder if I stop myself from experiencing these kinds of things by already holding the belief that these are separate and unreasonable things from my own reality. Clearly some of the most exciting things we can discuss are these various happenings that escape our own understanding, talk of demons, ghosts, voices from the gods, among so many other things. Readers of my post, have you had any experiences or do you feel like you have inhibited yourself from potentially engaging with this unifying sense?
How do you make sense of this? How would a religious person make sense of this?

Comments

  1. Jonathan Brumberg-KrausMay 11, 2020 at 1:40 PM

    For someone whose position as an anthropologist seems to me sometimes like "religion is what other people do, but not me," you surprise and intrigue me with your interest in the paranormal. I agree with you that false dichotomies often seem to be the root of people's non-receptivity to paranormal events and experiences.

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