Taking a Look at the Supernatural

For this unit’s learning journal, I picked an article from the BBC called “Psychology: The Truth About the Paranormal” by David Robson. In his article, Robson tries to analyze why so many people believe in the paranormal from a psychological point of view. According to the article, “believers may have weaker cognitive ‘inhibition’, compared to skeptics” (Robson, 2004, par. 11). Robson also explores the possibility that belief in the supernatural may be a self-defense mechanism created by the brain, “belief in the paranormal can be a kind of shield from the even harsher truths of the world.” (Robson, 2004, par. 7)

Supernatural is a cutting edge show with a intricately plot intensive. The story line revolves around two brothers Sam and Dean Winchester who follow in their father’s footsteps. Their urge to hunt the evils of world from demons to angels was ignited when their mother was murdered by a supernatural creature. Their mother dies when a sudden air current sucks her body up to the ceiling of the families house, leaving nothing but a diminished corpse. Later on we see this same exact thing happen to Sam’s girlfriend. Being taken up with hunting after his wife’s death the family patriarch was also later killed off. It because apparent that something big was heading their way, an apocalypse.

A normal person would look at some rock salt, a trench coat, or an old black muscle car as everyday objects, but a Supernatural fan sees so much more. “I think ‘cult’ is probably a fair term to apply to the Supernatural fandom,” Misha Collins, who plays the angel Castiel in the show, said in an interview with Larry King (Collins). These particular fans are some of the most dedicated and loyal fans that exist. The Supernatural fandom is unique in a lot of ways, such as the pentagrams and sigils that adorn their clothing that earns them confused and even frightened looks from passersby, but that does not deter from the fan’s outward pride in the show.

The journey through struggling to achieve a goal, these three protagonists journeys their way to encounter supernatural aid that helps them continue through their quest. Aid supports hero to lift them and motivate them to reach their goals. Grete cares about her brother. She leaves food outside for him. She also moves out furniture to provide Gregor enough room to scurry around due to his insect transformation. She shows great concern for him but his effect slowly resents her from wanting to be close to him. Grete portrays as a helper for Gregor. Being able to receive care from a family member activates“The Mental Capacity Act requires that where a person lacks capacity to make a decision her wishes and feelings be taken into account when deciding

Supernaturalism in “The Vampire Academy” by Richelle mead Chapter 1 Introduction Supernaturalism is something, a belief in an otherworldly or reality that, in one way or another, is commonly associated with all forms of religion Evidence of neither the idea of nature nor the experienced of a purely natural realm is found among primitive people, who inhabit a wonder world charged with the scared people (or mana), spirits, a demon, devils and deities. Primitive man associates whatever is experienced as uncanny or powerful with the presence of a scared or numinous power, yet he constantly lives in a profane realm that is made comprehensible by a paradigmatic, mythical scared realm. As said in the higher religions a gulf usually is created between the scared and the profane, or the here and the beyond, and it’s only with the appearance of this gulf that a distinction becomes drawn between the natural and the supernatural, a

As time has progressed, religious scrutiny has expanded. Systems of faith are often written off as fruitless, but religion holds strong purposes. Cultures have religion to explain surroundings, unite individuals, and provide hope.

Religion which has been around since the earliest of settlements served not only as a sense of hope and reason during gruesome events throughout history, but as a way of adding meaning and significance to the lives of people and civilizations, thus shaping them not only as individuals but as a society. Although, a great desire to generate wealth was a main aspect in the development of civilizations (considering that they were told that "financial support for their efforts would end"), without religion there would've been nothing to fall back on when all hope was lost, proving that religious devotion had the strongest impact in shaping most of the early settlements.

Dr. Stuart Vyse, Professor of Psychology at Connecticut College, and author of ‘The 7 Laws of Magical Thinking: How Irrational Beliefs keep Us Happy, Healthy, and Sane’, shares his thoughts on superstitions. In ‘Embrace the Supernatural’ written by Thorin Klosowski, Dr.Vyse shows both good and bad feelings towards the existence of superstitions.

The supernatural model states that people believed and explained abnormal behaviours in terms of supernatural forces. In other words, abnormal behaviours are caused by demonic and evil

The belief in Gods has always existed throughout human’s recored history. Whether it be the Greek Gods: Apollo, and Zeus, or the Judeo-Christian God, believed by Christians in modern day society. The belief of God has always existed among humans, however, assuming God does not exist, what explains the cultural evolution of such a false belief, namely religion? I shall argue that the reason this false belief is successful is because it manipulates human nature better than any other belief by these three points: an avoidance of death (the soul), a sense of worth (knowledge), and a sense, or need of belief (faith).

In many countries, the religion has become the representative of the supernatural power. It is because the religion itself provides a set of contents that best explains how the supernatural operates us and the way the world works when the science cannot. For instance, such religious values are applied in the terms like the Heaven, the Hell, and the Armageddon. Although these values do not directly influence people’s experiential knowledge, they do instead have an impact on people’s behaviors. One of the extreme cases would be the religious zealots. The values of religion become the ultimate power, thus forming a falsehood in their minds that religion is always right. The falsehood then gives ground for the heresy to germinate, such as the Falun Dafa in China. Falun Dafa propagandized a set theology opposing science and culture. It had harmed many people’s mental health and even taken away their lives. It sounds like the supernatural has manipulated the religion, and made it anti-scientific. In fact, the supernatural is just an explanation that is seemingly entirely plausible to some phenomenon which breaks through the limit of scientific power. It is not the authority to misdirect people down to a path of evilness. Regardless of the exceptions, the supernatural is just a term which provides fairly convincing reasons to

People believe in the supernatural and witchcraft because such things explain the unexplainable and they have grown up with such beliefs engraved into them; belief in specific human beings is a more complicated issue. People either believe Katherine Branch because of her startling symptoms, contemporary events and because they fed their own beliefs and narratives or disbelieved her because of her inconsistency and how easily she snapped out of the supposed trances of bewitchment.

Horror stories focus on creating a feeling of fear and shock using many sources. There are many sources of horror besides monsters and there are more factors involved in making stories part of the horror genre, including supernatural elements, hubris, and setting. Stories including the “Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, “The Outsider” by H.P. Lovecraft, and “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs include these elements.

the paranormal with as much respect and analysis as physics or the chaos theory."13 The

The purpose of the supernatural in Literary Works The purpose of the supernatural in literature can vary in function from story to story. The supernatural can be used to create a certain mood in writing or to enhance the dramatic effect of a story. The supernatural can also be used as the reasoning behind a story and act as the theme it centers on, creating a paranormal effect and a mystical experience for the reader.