What is Paranormal
The subtle art of knowing things outside the five senses
In my book, Eight Pieces of Eight, I had fun writing a spirit guru into the mystery treasure hunt along with a fictitious group of psychic readers who pool their insight and power to help Bev defeat the energy surrounding a magic map. Bev is a young college grad with little world experience and a sort of "blank page" for learning about the world and herself...a touch of coming-of-age.
Like many people, she starts to recognize her "sixth sense" as when thoughts of her mother pop into her head and then the phone rings and guess who is on the other end? Right, her mother.
Paranormal is a catchall word for anything unexplained. It is defined by what it isn’t. What I mean by that is that it’s not something that can be measured by the scientific method. Not perceived by the five senses. Sight, sound, taste, touch, smell. Thus, the "sixth sense."
This sixth sense has many nuances that are not so subtle. When your mother pops into your head before the call, it might be called telepathy. How many of you have thought of something like going for a walk and your friend says, Let’s go for a walk? This is possibly clairvoyance. During the 1950s and 1960s the Russians made big headlines with people purporting to bend a fork without touching it, and this one is called telekinesis.
If anything like this has happened to you or someone you know, you might...just might... have an inkling that extrasensory experience is natural. BUT it’s not using the five senses.
The interesting quote that starts off the story of Eight Pieces of Eight, is attributed to Saint Augustine.
Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature.
This story is not about paranormal, however. It's a story about people like you and me in places that you and I go to. Okay, so not everybody comes across a magic map. But, this is fiction, so let's have some fun with it.