Blog Post Saturday: Fear Versus Wonder



It's amazing how if you go about research from a place of wonder versus fear, you make true gains in understanding without harming or being a threat to the subject of research.

GHOSTS



Terror or excitement?

Let's suppose you believe that ghosts can possess you, follow you home, harm you, or give you a curse. When you approach a place of study, it is with caution. You are looking for any sign of trouble, any possible sniper attack, any feelings of weirdness. And, in a dark quiet place awaiting spirit interaction, pretty much everything feels weird, from the stories you heard about the place beforehand, the smells and sounds, and unknown corners. Those kinds of stimuli mixed with a cautious nature against spiritual attack can make for a study void of objective evidence.

My personal approach is always as a witness and archivist. This allows me a detachment from what is occurring to be able to witness it. Remember on the show "Bewitched" when Samantha could hang around unseen as a witch and observe the scene to decide how to use her magic? 


Solution: I often get people with ongoing unexplained things happening in their homes. Some have accounts that are quite startling and active. They often times get worked up in fear about what's occurring. I offer them a new perspective by having them leave out a spiral notebook and pen. Whenever anyone has an encounter or witnesses something, they can write the time, day, who was there, what happened and if there was anything dramatic going on in the home such as an argument or a visitor. What happens when you have someone account for the occurrences is that they go from victim to witness in their accounting and eventually shift over into "narc" who is keeping a log of their doings. This empowers the person to want to tell on the ghosts. 

This same kind of archiving and accounting for details can shift an investigator over into an empowered witness. We want to know what is happening and why. This creates a thing of wonder. If you have no vested interest in it being evil or negative, then you can evaluate it much more clearly. 


BIGFOOT




Now, let's take a person into the woods in search of Bigfoot. Do they believe Bigfoot will attack and kill them? Do they see them as demons? Do they believe they are stupid animals? Do they worry that they might be an alien race? All of these concepts will create distorted emotions from fear to aggression. 

I'm reminded of the movie "Planet of the Apes" and how the apes felt about finding a talking human. 




When we look at the risk of being attacked by a Bigfoot in the woods versus being bitten by a shark if we are in the ocean, we can relax our tensions and go at this subject matter with curiosity and wonder. Even trying to find them, they manage  to elude us. 

Wonder: A feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable.

Do you wonder about these subjects? Then approach them with wonder!


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