Having spent time around different paranormal groups, I have always found it very interesting that many of these intrepid paranormal investigators greatly fear that which they are looking for. For example, those paranormal investigators that are so popular now, those investigators that seek ghosts, tend to be deeply afraid of those ghost that they wish to find.

When you first meet them, they seem to be a tough bunch, many of these paranormal investigators. They tend to put on a very strong front and they seem to handle chasing the paranormal sort of like going to war. After a while it is easy to notice that this tough attitude is really a way to compensate for the fear that many of these individuals have. When paranormal investigators use this kind of tough attitude to deal with fear, they tend to act very aggressively; these are usually individuals that will try and confront some kind of ghost or other paranormal phenomena by screaming at it and trying to incite some kind of emotional response from that which they seek. Such actions presuppose that ghosts for example, operate on the same emotional bearing as we do and this is a mistake that usually causes whatever paranormal thing that they’re chasing to become mildly curious but often times these paranormal beings just ignore the investigator and completely leave the area.

There is also the other extreme when it comes to paranormal investigators that greatly fear that which they seek. This other extreme of  investigators usually tends to have a bland almost emotionless attitude towards their paranormal quests. These people tend to usually seem almost jaded; as if they are seeking something which they have seen a thousand times and is not that important. The reality though is that they are usually seeking something which they really do not wish to find and they subconsciously or otherwise instill within themselves this bland attitude. This unemotional and highly detached attitude is an often times subconscious way to cope with a highly fearful situation; they are essentially trying to make themselves deeply believe in the non-existence of the paranormal.

There are of course many very good investigators out there but even if one member  in their group tends to have one of these extreme emotional responses to the paranormal, this person can make the work for all other investigators in that team a lot more difficult. The reason for this is that such subconscious fear can create a backlash within the psyche of certain individuals. What happens is that essentially these investigators are trying to foil their own efforts; every time that they experience something that could be considered paranormal, they experience fear and this fear compels the individual to try and fight against the belief that any such paranormal phenomenon is real.
Essentially they are looking for something, when they find it and it seems to hit a little too close to home, they battle their own psyche in order to rationally explain away what they are or have just experienced.

We all suffer from this fear of the paranormal of course and our first reaction whenever we encounter it is to try and rationally explain the paranormal away. We either believe what we saw and therefore place ourselves in a very scary and perhaps dangerous situation or we explain it away and do our very best to ignore it. This is a natural response, something that we all learn as children, fighting away the monsters in our closet and under the bed. Eventually this technique, reinforced by the rationale that our parents try to teach us, allows us to no longer see those evil creatures lurking in every shadow.

But if we are to consider ourselves paranormal investigators or if we are truly curious about the paranormal and wish to prove to ourselves that it is indeed real, we must be able to control this natural urge to explain things away like we did as children.

Believe it or not this is an incredibly important aspect of the paranormal. Perhaps the most important aspect for those that are seeking answers. The reason for this is that we will never be able to find that which we seek unless we control this natural response whenever we experience fear. We cannot stop this fear because this fear is the natural response of seeing anything beyond our normal awareness. Since we cannot control this fear we must therefore control our reactions when we experience this fear.

Those who wish to pursue the ‘Weird’, the paranormal that exists all around us, need to explore their beliefs and emotions engendered by these beliefs. As I said it is impossible to stop this fear but we must stop rationally explaining things away in order to find relief from this fear. Next time that you are experiencing a paranormal event, fight the natural urge that you will have to explain it rationally. Try to experience it at face value and don’t work so hard to try and control the emotions that you feel.

The first obstacle for those that seek knowledge is fear

Interesting postscript: this natural fear that we all experience when we see the paranormal can actually be a good thing for the paranormal investigator. This fear is actually fuel for many of the paranormal entities that we search for, and unfortunately it is the very act of trying to control this fear that tends to end any kind of paranormal experience that you might be trying to record.