ASSEMBLING THE SUPERNATURAL
The study
of the supernatural begins with a sense of awe. Something spectral, outside the
norm or different. Often times, the supernatural defies the empirical and is
based solely on experiential happenings. And always it is attached to a sense
of wonder. However, anthropologists, folklorists, and students of religion
sometimes disagree as to whether the supernatural is in a system or if the system is made up of the supernatural. It is the classic macro/micro debate. For
example, a scholar of the supernatural needs an office, a place to investigate,
laboratory, tech equipment, an archive of narratives, cameras, witnesses, an
audience, and ‘evidence’ or variances of the phenomenon. This structure is
formed from local narratives that are collected, classified, changed, and
performed in a myriad of ways. the supernatural begins at the local level then moves globally as it shifts and traded
through dissemination.
What this
means is that a student of the supernatural has a choice of routes and can
focus on either the local or the global aspects of the supernatural. We can
either study the spirit of the
phenomenon as a whole or render an inquiry into a local paranormal investigative
team. Just as Capitalism has a ‘spirit’ but no plausible opposite since its
everywhere, a trading room on Wall Street has many competitors in Shanghai
This idea
of faraway entities interacting on the local arena also finds its place in
quantum physics. According to Capra, “In the framework of quantum theory,
distinct physical entities are therefore idealizations which are meaningful
only to the extent that the main part of the interaction has a long range”
(Capra, The Tao of Physics. 137). In
other words, each transaction involves effects extending over great distances.
This was the essence of the Einstein/Bohr debate of the 1920s. Einstein was
convinced that there are no nonlocal connections. He believed that there must
be some external reality consisting of independent spatially separated events.
Bohr opined that nonlocal connections do exist. In quantum theory, particles
transcend usual information transfer and two separated particles (even by space
and time) can influence one another. John Bell settled the matter once and for
all. He devised an experiment where two electrons are brought close to each
other. At the instant we perform a measurement on particle 1 and set its
rotational spin, the second particle automatically began to spin along its
opposite axis thus giving the pair of total spin of 0. But would this happening occur if the electrons were
separated by long distances? Einstein said ‘No’ because since no signal travels
faster than light, it is impossible that a measurement on 1 will ‘instantly’
determine spin on the other. There must be some lag time. Bohr posited that a
two-particle system is an indivisible whole. Even if their separated, the pair
of electrons will continue to act on one another. Bells’ theorem proved
consistent with Bohr’s theory and showed that electrons, and by extension the
universe, is interconnected.
The
paranormal also shows ideas of interconnection or unification. If we postulate the
probabilities of potentialities based upon measurement, we can surmise the
legitimacy of paranormal phenomenon. It’s not hard. Television is full of
ghosthunting investigators utilizing a potential ‘Haunted House’ as a
laboratory. Experiments are run in a myriad of ways to capture evidence of some
supernatural entity. Often times, the ghost or specter is used as an
ethnographic informant and structured interviewing is implemented to form a
dialogue with the unseen. If we postulate that consciousness of spirit has some
corresponding mechanism in our ordinary sphere of influence, the system can be
seen as a pair of interconnecting parts. For example, if we use a voice
recorder to measure the probability of spirit talking and we capture an
anomalous recording on the device, can we find a corresponding sound vibration
or band-width to use as a mechanism or catalyst for the happening?
Probabilities can be mustered by using quantum thinking in areas of the
paranormal. Sure, its difficult to verify. But is difficulty a justifiable reason
to not explore these potentialities?
Inherently,
the problem of the supernatural is one of Existence. The whole point of
studying anomalous entities is to come to grips with our wanting to believe in something outside normal circles of space and
time. We conjure narratives of myth and folklore. We apply reason and
rationality in an attempt to explain scientifically what the anomalous
re-presents to us. Probabilities and potentialities are the new symbols of the
paranormal entity. More than an estimation of an occurrence or true statement,
probability has become synonymous with the entity itself. Furthermore, the
entity sits betwixt and between Being and Nothingness. Like the appearance of
Schrodinger’s Cat, the supernatural creature cannot be said to ‘Be’ or ‘Not Be’
really there. As our perspective changes, so does the behavior of the entity.
As Capra remarked, “The introduction of probability waves, in a sense, resolves
the paradox of particles being waves by putting it in a totally new context;
but at the same time it leads to another pair of opposite concepts which is
even more fundamental that of Existence and Non-Existence. We can never say
that an atomic particle exists at a certain place, nor can we say that it does
not exist. Being a probability pattern, the particle has tendencies to exist in
various places and thus manifests a strange kind of physical reality between
Existence and Non-Existence” (Capra, Tao of Physics. 154). The particle recalls
the supernatural entity in that it enjoys a liminal existence. As it is
measured or as it is ethnographically studied, the particle sits without a
status and is inbetween shifts in agency. Is it a limbo or purgatory existence?
It is process of becoming and the state just before objective knowledge and subjective
experience is unified into a new assembly? It is all these things and more.
The quantum
is a sufficient metaphor for the supernatural. After all, many supernatural creatures
can only be said to be perceived indirectly. Such in the case of the voice
recorder or shadow on film. Particles exhibit similar behavior. Again Capra
remarks that there are “Other particles that belong to a category called
resonances. They live for a considerable shorter time, decaying after a few
‘particle seconds’, so they can never travel farther than a few times their own
size. This means they cannot be seen in the bubble chamber; their existence can
only be inferred indirectly” (Capra 228). Supernatural creatures also show the
tendency to be indirectly perceived. For example, ceremonial magicians perform
highly ritualized and formal invocations of the anomalous. Sometimes the rite
consists of a complex magical circle, liturgy, and intense visualization. As
the invocation progresses, sometimes a change of air pressure or strange sound
is all that announces the entrance of the desired Being. Like the particle, the
existence of the entity can sometimes only be inferred indirectly. A resonance
and a supernatural entity cannot be said to be objects or events. They are an
experience or happening…..
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