Why does the paranormal imitate the normal?

[MRT]

Most people accept that some, if not most, orbs are photographic artefacts. However, many people maintain that there are some orb photos that cannot be normal, such as ones where the orb appears to behind an object in the photo (in fact, this is easily explained).

The question I have is this: how can some orbs be natural and others paranormal? Why would 'paranormal' orbs imitate 'natural' orbs in this way? Why shouldn't the 'paranormal' orbs be cubes or cone-shaped? It's certainly confuses paranormal investigators by making it difficult to tell which is which.

[bobdezon]

The paranormal doesnt apparantly imitate the normal, people just attribute normal phenomena to a paranormal nature. Incorrectly of course.

[MRT]

Well, yes, but many people don't follow that logic.

Now suppose the paranormal really DID imitate the normal, how could we tell the difference? Reproducing an effect normally wouldn't prove anything....

[Matt]

So if I walked to the kitchen that'd be normal right? but if the paranormal imitated that then what would actually be the difference?

Woah! I just had a vision of pouring a cup of coffee. It's strange it was like a dream but I was awake the whole time. It seemd so real.

So imagine my suprise when a cup of coffee has just kinda appearred in front of me. As soon as I snapped out of this vision there it was just where I'd imagined it.

I've checked and the level in the coffee pot has actually gone down. What could be the explanation for that?

If an orb appears on a photo then that's typically normal. What's different when one supposedly appears paranormally?

[MRT]

I want to test the logic to destruction! In my experience, if you explain 99% instances of a 'paranormal' phenomenon as normal, some people will still jump on that 1%.

[Zaira]

I don’t believe in the paranormal. I believe everything is just as it should be. Each of us created this world. If there is something bugging us about it, we need to have a word with our neighbour and ask them, "What ever were you thinking of when you created that?"

Oops! That‘s what we are doing here right now. My bad. Carry on. :smiley:

[Admin]

I think it's always a good idea to look at things from the opposite perspective and then see how they look. We tend to look at ideas and claims that are 'framed' in a certain way.

Things like psychics. People often say things like "well just because magicians can replicate what psychics do doesn't mean that psychics aren't real", but when you look at it the other way around and ask "why is it that psychics powers always seem to be the same as what magicians can do?" (predicting news headlines, replicating sealed drawings, etc.) then it frames the perspective the other way and it doesn't look the same at all.

It's the same with orbs: "99% of orbs are dust etc. but that doesn't mean the other 1% aren't paranormal" can be rephrased as, "if 1% of orbs are claimed to be paranormal then why do they mimic the other 99% in every way?".

It often pays to look at an issue not only in the way it is 'framed' for you but to look at it from other perspectives too. O0

A good example is the way that people just accept that 'spirit communication' is a one-way process. They just seem to accept that mediums can only receive messages but not transmit questions etc. - 'Framing' the issue? I think so.

[SKIRRID5]

The paranormal imitates the normal because the people who make up the paranormal stories have no damned imagination.