Are you drawn to the paranormal and supernatural but also fear it? Do you have mixed feelings loving and fearing the unknown? What’s it all about? When we Understand how this works helps us to manage this complex relationship of feelings and instincts.
Mixed Feelings About the Supernatural
Our fear comes from two sources, our instincts or the culture. Many family cultures teach the fear of fire and snakes. When religion takes control of the cultural narrative, it can program bias and prejudice.
Religions teach people to hate and fear people who do not share their beliefs and backgrounds. They also promote the fear of any paranormal or supernatural experiences that don’t fit their worldview. Why? Because they can’t control them. It’s all about control.
What is Loving and Fearing the Unknown?
The thing is, we are creatures born to explore. It’s a part of our nature. We want answers. So we explore everything, and inner and outer worlds. Can you relate?
To be attracted to and afraid of the same thing seems crazy, but there is an interesting connection between these emotional triggers. Both love and fear have a strong emotional tie to our primitive instincts, and originate from the same area in brain. Loving and fearing the unknown seems like a contradiction, but perhaps not.
Both love and fear trigger the same chemical reaction. It is the reason people like scary movies and amusement park rides. They love fear. These experiences trigger powerful chemical reactions in the brain.
Ideas that don’t fit within the boundaries of the culture are a challenge to its authority. Those in control of the culture teach us to reject anything that threatens their beliefs. Thye demonize and persecute those with ideas that challenge their control.
To understand our fear, we must locate the source and change the programming. We know it is either an instinctual fear or something learned and this knowledge gives us to power to overcome them.
Mixed feelings about the supernatural is not that uncommon. Fear triggers the fight, flight, or freeze reaction. It’s the way your mind prepares your body for danger. It gives you a chemical high. But we also have our love of exploring things unknown. So, we get the seeming conflict of being attracted to the very things we are afraid of.
Our instinct for survival has programming to deal with threats. The fear of heights or falling from high places, fear of the dark, deep water, and confined spaces are instinctual fears. Do you have any of these? Are you afraid of snakes and insects, and especially spiders? All of these trigger our fight, flight or freeze instinct for survival. Can you relate to these fears?
The dominant culture programs a list of things it wants us to fear or hate, which depends on their shifting priorities. Sometimes they combine fear and hate into one package. They program the fear of people with other beliefs, races and ethnic backgrounds. Then they add social and even political issues to the agenda. Learn to avoid their propaganda.
Our fears about the supernatural can come from our instincts the culture, or both. It’s why some people like roller-coasters and scary movies, while others do not. The purpose of understanding fear is to give us the ability to move beyond them. You can do this!
Why are We Afraid of the Supernatural?
We know fear is a programmed response, and we can identify the sources responsible for programming harmful beliefs and values. What are they? History points to three religions are at the root of promoting harmful beliefs. They spawn the most violent conflicts, genocides and holy crusades. These three religions (1) are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Fear about the supernatural and paranormal is just a part of fear woven into the fabric of these systems.
“Why is the paranormal a thing of fear? For many people, the paranormal is a thing of fear. People fear what they cannot understand, and those who understand the strange happenings of our world are regularly ridiculed.
It is a strong-willed person who takes to the paranormal and investigates it. It takes great courage to dip your feet into the unknown — and that’s what you are — a courageous person. You are delving into it.” — B. Perry E. Scarze
It is difficult to overcome the messages of fear that bombard daily. You must learn to avoid the programming from bigoted religious and political sources. They strive to keep us off-balance with their propaganda so they can trigger our emotions and program the ideas and opinions they want us to believe.
The social mass of organized religion makes it hard to escape its influence. Fear is at the core of its teachings. Fear is a major topic because it is a good motivator. Anger is just a fear response.
Intelligence is not a defense against brainwashing techniques. It doesn’t matter how smart you are. The more you expose yourself to negative programming, the more susceptible you become to its influence. That’s why learning to understand fear is something they do not want you to do. The fear of the unknown keeps us inside the boundaries of their control. It keeps you a paying customer.
These brainwashing used by Western religion date to the ancient mystery religions from Assyria, Egypt, Persia, and Babylon. These systems use self-hypnosis and group hypnosis to override common sense and logic. They can program almost any outlandish and illogical concepts. That’s where we get our beliefs about demons and devils.
Concept of the Devil
A devils and demons are evil spirits. When we demonize someone or something, we associate it with evil. It all starts when the Assyrians were at war (2) with India in 810 BCE. In the Hindu religion, the deities are the bright lights of the stars and planets in the Heavens. The Hindus call these lights in the sky Devas. The Assyrians sought to dehumanize their foe, so the Hindu Devas became the Devils, evil Gods of the Assyrians. It’s the start of fearing the unknown enemy.
The hate of the Hindu Gods became part of Persian mythology. Persian mythology is a cornerstone Western theology. If it were not for the Assyrian’s hatred of the Hindus, devils, and demons might not be such a driving force in our culture. The roots of our fears about the supernatural originate here.
Fear blocks us from the spirit’s gifts and virtues, while understanding enables us to go beyond and conquer our fears. The “gifts of the spirit” are beyond the boundaries of doctrine and dogma.
Instead of offering tools for exploring consciousness, the substitute the afterlife. They program followers to fear hell. It’s an excellent customer retention strategy and cash flow generator. Are you a customer?
Paranormal and Supernatural Events as Clues
“What many people see paranormal experiences as an expansion of awareness. It is a glimpse into the realm of the Siddha or Shaman. When people ask about this experience, I tell them to read the works of Carlos Castaneda. His books depict the experience of altered states and non-ordinary reality.
Paranormal experiences are more prevalent at certain times. We encounter them more often on the full moon, Solstices, and Equinoxes. The veil between these realms is the thinnest at these times. The thinnest point is the Fall Equinox.” — Guru Tua
The paranormal and supernatural are a range of unexplained phenomena. These include everything from ghosts and apparitions to unidentified flying objects and alien contacts. Are these the same thing, but we interpret them differently? Some experiences defy categorization, like seeing shadow people in your peripheral vision. That’s a topic for another discussion.
These may be glimpses into other realms of reality. The frame of reference depends on the programming of your worldview. If you expect to see aliens, you see an alien if something unexplained appears. However, if you expect angels, the same phenomenon is an angel. You perceive what you expect.
Above all, it’s your cultural background and cultural programming level that will determine how you frame unknown phenomena. That’s why it’s essential to free yourself as much as possible from the cultural narrative. Doing this takes some effort because we live when social programming and propaganda have saturated almost every corner of the globe.
Tools to Understand our Fears
The ancient and indigenous cultures of the world were the pioneers of consciousness. Seers and shamans engaged in different practices to push awareness and consciousness boundaries. So loving and fearing the unknown was the balance that kept them within the safe boundaries of exploration.
The Shamanic Journey is one tool for exploring awareness, which we find worldwide. Many ancient cultures discovered the rainbow of consciousness techniques that remain viable.
These ancient techniques are proven ways of breaking down the cultural boundaries that are the basis of the fear programming of the Western paradigm. Two examples are the ancient practice of the Shamanic Journey.
Shamanic State of Consciousness
One way to fight fear is to deal with it directly. Michael Harner is an anthropologist, writer, and modern-day Shaman. He refers to the fifth state of non-ordinary consciousness as the Shamanic State of Consciousness (SSC).
This inner work can help you uncover and conquer our fears. SSC is a unique state of consciousness. You enter this partition of awareness using the rhythm of a drum and our imagination. You are both the director and participant in this partition of non-ordinary reality.
The Shamanic Journey is an ancient process which allows us to explore our beliefs and fears. SSC is a spiritual practice with roots on all the major continents. The imagery and symbolism of this landscape are likely the source of religion. You can learn this process using a CD with a drum track. There are several great authors (3) who have books with CDs. Try it yourself.
Using the Analytical Processes to Conquer Fear
The Enneagram process is an analytical approach for those not inclined to devel into the mystical side. It will show you the thought scripts of our personality and instincts. With this information, you can find out the programming you need to change.
Comparative Analysis is a tool which compares and traces the origins of belief systems. It is a non-threatening way to expose your sacred ground.
Another great way to cut through cultural programming and propaganda is the practice of logic. By studying logical reasoning, you will learn to spot the misuse of argument. Arguments are tools the unscrupulous can use to manipulate and sell us things. The educational systems in the West don’t teach people how to think. They teach how to memorize the things they want you to know.
Learn to be a freethinker! This mindset has always been an asset, and it is now more than ever. We need more freethinkers to solve global issues. Critical thinking skills are essential for becoming a freethinker. There are three toolkits that everyone can use, they include the study of analytical and rational thinking, spotting logical fallacy and the spiritual axioms. They will help you determine fact from fiction, theory from mythology.
In Conclusion
Now you understand that loving and fearing the unknown is a common condition. When we learn to identify and understand them, we can move beyond their control. You have the tools to do it.
References
(1) Abrahamic Religions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrahamic_religions
(2) Assyrian war with India: https://historum.com/threads/forgotten-battle-between-assyria-and-india-encounters-with-the-indian-war-elephants.
(3) Sandra Ingerman, Shamanic Journeying: A Beginner’s Guide to the Spirit World