The Paranormal on a Global Scale

[PPI Tracy]

Do you think that the things that are occurring globally; either the weather/natural disasters/war/shift in consciousness have any bearing on the paranormal?  Does it cause it? Decrease it?  Having no cause or effect either way?

[ChrisB]

Nope.  Weather, disasters, war have all been going on since Adam.  (I guess the first "war" could have been between Cain and Abel?)  And, people have believed in ghosts, spirits, etc., for about as long.  Just my opinion.

[PPI Brian]

I agree with Chris: Primatologist Jane Goodall began observing chimpanzees at Gombe, Tanzania in the 1960's and shocked the scientific community with her reports of chimps using tools, hunting as a team, going to war against other chimpanzee groups and even documented a chimp serial killer. These primate traits predate humanity and are not our exclusive domain. We like to think of ourselves as something more than "primate", but we cannot deny our true nature. Goodall said: "It isn't only human beings who have personality, who are capable of rational thought and emotions like joy and sorrow." Over the course of her study, Goodall found evidence of mental traits in chimpanzees such as reasoned thought, abstraction, generalization, symbolic representation, and even the concept of self, all previously thought to be uniquely human abilities. It's interesting to note that Goodall had no formal scientific training prior to beginning her research. So much for the argument that non scientists are unable to perform scientific research.

As for weather and natural disasters, I believe things happen in cycles. We are just beginning to understand the true nature of these cycles, such as El Nino and La Nina, solar minimum and maximum and even the Great Glaciations. We live in the extended atmosphere of an active star, and the Earth is a violent, restless place in its own right. Tectonic plates shift, glacial cycles expand and recede, sea levels rise and fall, comets and asteroids fall from the skies. All this happened before there were people and all this will happen long after we're gone.

What, if anything, does any of this have to do with the paranormal? There is so much we don't understand about our chosen field of study. For example, it's not uncommon for people to report seeing their pets running around their house long after the pet passes away. Why aren't reports of dinosaur ghosts common place? They were the dominant form of life for hundreds of millions of years -- according to the fossil record, humans have only been around for about 5 million years. We domesticated the first dogs about 50,000 years ago. So why are there more reports of human and dog hauntings than dinosaurs? Is there some sort of paranormal "half life", similar to radioactive decay?

Okay, that was probably a stupid example, but you get my drift. 

[PPI Tracy]

Not stupid at all.  It's a good drift.  I like it.