SCIENCE AND SUPERNATURALISM

(Now, the term "paranormal" is more generally

used to describe such extraordinary
phenomena.)

Dr.V.K.Maheshwari Pallavi Singh Dr. Suraksha Bansal

Ph.D M.Ed Ph.D
Principal Lecturer Sr.Lecturer
DIMS, Meerut DIMS, Meerut DIMS, Meerut
India India India

Two people may come to completely different conclusions based on identical

evidence. One may automatically "screen out" possible explanations simply
because they conflict with one's paradigm, or world view, and create
cognitive dissonance. There can also be many other motivations, conscious
or unconscious, for this selective awareness. For example, to make oneself
"look good" to others and thus avoid isolation, or perhaps the desire to
imitate personal heroes. Generally we criticize and question the picture of
reality held by others; it is rare to question one's own, rarer still to admit
our own is distorted

We must be stickler for being exact in our

communications because if we do not have the same
definitions then we can not Communicate accurately
and if we can not accurately communicate then we
can not avoid confusion.
. Basic concept of science
By defining Science accurately, it is easy to see
that scientific theory, fact, and law can be developed
and verified totally outside the walls of the academic
experimentalist and the scientific method..
In order to make the concept of science clear it
is essential that we must have a clear cognition of
the inherent components of science:-
Describe: to understand the nature of something in
the universe and define it in a manner that allows it
to be studied and communicated.
Fact: a theory that has been validated close to
certainty. But when something seems to be
confirmed by every reasonable method, then we can
call it a fact
Hypothesis: a tentative or working assumption
which scientific study has yet to validate.
Law: a characteristic of the universes that seems
fundamental to the workings of he universe.
Part: any component of the universe.
Science: the field of study which tries to describe
and understand the nature of the universe in whole
or part. The field of study or discipline that we call
Science is spelled with a capital "S" as it is a proper
noun in this use while science with a small "s" is the
application of this discipline.
Theory: a hypothesis or group of hypotheses which
have been validated but not to the point of near
certainty.
Universe: that which exists and in its entirety. This
includes all that exists whether it can be perceived or
not.
Whole: something that permeates the universe at
large. e.g. gravity.

But in order to realize whether this is a valid concept

or not, we need to understand what Science really is.
Here is a typical dictionary definition of Science: "The
observation, identification, description, experimental
investigation [scientific method], and theoretical
explanation of phenomena. Such activities restricted
to a class of natural phenomena. Such activities
applied to an object of inquiry or study."
Basic concept of supernatural
The term supernatural or supranatural (Latin: super,
supra "above" + natura "nature") pertains to being
above or beyond what is natural, unexplainable by
natural law or phenomena.[1] Religious miracles are
typically supernatural claims, as well as spells and
curses, divination, the afterlife, and innumerable
others. Supernatural beliefs have existed in many
cultures throughout human history.

Supernaturalism is a byproduct of religion. It can be defined as

something mysterious, not of this world.The New
Collins Dictionary gives the meaning of
religion as any formal or institutionalized
expression of the belief in a supernatural
power(s) considered to be divine or to
have control of human destiny.
An occurrence in violation of the known laws of
nature. This was a concept that developed as the
idea of a law-abiding nature was developed in the
Middle Ages. The supernatural realm included both
the heavenly world of God and the angels and the
world of Satan and demons.

Religion is generally associated with a

belief in something unseen, miraculous or
irrational. For many, religion is something
removed from day to day life, and it is
outside of our known world and also
something supernatural. The fruits of the
religious practice are often promised to be
gained after death and sometimes based
on some kind of fear for the unknown and
unseen, and associated with the
helplessness of human being. Occasionally
believers are exploited by the religious
heads or those forces, which use religion
for social or political gains.
Characteristic for phenomena claimed as
supernatural are anomaly, uniqueness and
uncontrollability, thus lacking reproducibility required
for scientific examination. Supernatural themes are
often associated with paranormal and occult ideas,
suggesting for possibility of interaction with the
supernatural by means of summoning or trance for
instance
1. Of or relating to existence outside the natural
world.
2. Attributed to a power that seems to violate or go
beyond natural forces.
3. Of or relating to a deity.
4. Of or relating to the immediate exercise of divine
power; miraculous.
5. Of or relating to the miraculous.
1. Of, coming from, or relating to forces or beings
that exist outside the natural world: extramundane,
extrasensory, metaphysical, miraculous,
preternatural, superhuman, superphysical,
supersensible, transcendental, unearthly..
2. Greatly exceeding or departing from the normal
course of nature: preternatural, unnatural
Many leaders of the Enlightenment of the eighteenth
century were exponents of Deism, a view that drew a
sharp line between the natural and supernatural
realms and denied that the two interact. Spiritualism
reacted to such a view: it suggested that phenomena
that had previously been viewed as supernatural
actually happened, and it also suggested that they
occurred in accordance with natural laws, laws as yet
unknown or undefined by science.

. Science dispenses with the assumption of the Supernatural Forces

completely because it is based on the concept of secularism. Left to
itself, Scientific Secularism is normally non-religious and, so as
such, is equally indifferent to all religions. To be equally respectful
to all religions, as it is wrongly interpreted in India, is contrary to
its intrinsic character. At the most, it only tolerates all religions
without directly respecting any. It does so because it is also
democratic in addition to being non-religious. However, if it
becomes necessary to oppose Religion under certain
circumstances, it also becomes anti-religious and equally
disrespectful to all religions. This is so because, by implication, it
is indirectly antagonistic to them as it is their complete
revolutionary alternative in every sphere of the personal and social
lives of human individuals.

Science offers a wholly non-religious explanation of the structure

and functioning of the Cosmos and also of the status and role of
living beings as parts of the cosmos. As such, the not yet falsified
assumptions of Science are the reality of the independent and self-
propelled existence of the cosmos the verifiable components of
which possess a cause-effect relationship that is governed by the
laws of development which inherent dynamic parts of the cosmos
itself. Science objectively studies the monastically correlated
dynamic plural components of the cosmos by rationally analyzing
their representative samples with the help of the objective and
secular as well as harmonious and verifiable inductive-cum-
deductive method of the ‘scientists’. This method exhibits a sharp
contrast to the subjective religious methods of often contradictory
and unverifiable mysterious ‘revelation’ or ‘intuition’ or
metaphysical ‘speculation’ whose products are described and
interpreted by the secularly existing ‘holy’ authorities for the
consumption of and practice by given religious people both
individually and collectively.

This is why the differences among the scientists are amicably

resolved in due course and they peacefully co-exist until the
scientifically verifiable differences in their non-dogmatic findings
are so resolved; while the religious differences in the unverifiable
dogmatic religious findings are unresolvable and they lead in due
course of time to violent clashes not only among different
religionists and their respective followers but also between the
religionists and the secularists and their respective followers. This
is so because this spirit of Science and scientists is relativistic,
heretic, unorthodox, tolerant and patient; while the spirit of
religion and religionists is perfectionist, faith-based, orthodox,
intolerant and impatient due to fundamental differences in the very
characters of Science and Religion.
Many supporters believe that past, present and
future complexities and mysteries of the universe
cannot be explained solely by naturalistic means and
argue that it is reasonable to assume that a non-
natural entity or entities resolve the unexplained. By
its own definition, science is incapable of examining
or testing for the existence of things that have no
physical effects, because its methods rely on the
observation of physical effects. Proponents of
supernaturalism claim that their belief system is
more flexible, which allows more diversity in terms of
intuition and epistemology
Another vital difference between Religion and Science, which is
evident from the foregoing remarks about them, is that religious
beliefs are ‘emotion-dominated’ and so the religionists are ever
prone even to violently fight in their defence or for their
promotion; while scientific convictions are ‘reason-dominated’ and
so the scientists are prone only to argue about them. Stated
differently, while Reason is usually the servant of passion in the
case of Religion: passion is usually kept under regulated control by
Reason in the case of Science. This vital difference between
Religion and Science always leads to serious social consequences
and hiatus and tension between them. Even a basic knowledge of
the respective histories of Religion and science in respect of
interaction between them makes this hard fact evident beyond
doubt besides revealing may other facts about them. Let us have a
glimpse of some of the more vital aspects of this historical
interaction.

The primitive man found himself helpless before the Forces of

Nature. The high majestic mountains, roaring seas, starry skies,
deep and impenetrable forests filled him with awe, the clockwise
regularity of Nature, the unfailing succession of day and night, as
of seasons, excited his wonder. The more violent manifestations of
Nature like lighting, storms, earthquakes and floods struck terror
into his heart. The phenomena of life and death made him feel
utterly small and helpless. The question as to what happened after
death excited his curiosity to probe into his future and the
mysteries of Nature. Religion was the product of human attempt to
solve riddles like these with the help of Reason, because man is a
rational animal.

Thus, modern psychology tells us, the emotions of awe, wonder,

admiration, reverence, fcar, helplessness, curiosity, etc., have
played a principal part in the origin of Religion. It is on their
foundation that the Reason of the primitive man erected the
superstructure of Religion in the absence of the knowledge given
by modern science.

No human individual is biologically born with an instinctive belief

in supernatural powers. Such beliefs are socially cultivated and
become habits over a period of time as one gradually grows in age
in one’s social context; and they may persist even in highly
educated people who become capable of abandoning them with
deliberate effort. Like little babies, even primitive people
completely lacked the conceptions of Supernatural Powers. Their
original Religions merely assumed various forms of Nature
Worship or Fetishism, Animatism, Animism, and Totemism which
account for the origin and form of Religion in its first stage. The
polytheistic and monotheistic conceptions of Supernatural Powers
had emerged later.

Some events occur according to natural laws, and

others occur according to a separate set of principles
external to nature. For example God (in most
definitions) is considered to be the ultimate creator
of the universe and the natural laws. Those who
believe in angels and spirits generally assert that
they are super-natural entities. Some religious
people also believe that all things which humans see
as natural only act the same way consistently
because God wills it so, and that natural laws are an
extension of divine will.

Others believe that all events have natural and only

natural causes. They believe that human beings
ascribe supernatural attributes to purely natural
events (e.g. lightning, rainbows, floods, the origin of
life
Metaphysical assumptions are indispensable in the absence of
scientific knowledge, because the natural causes of natural
phenomena can not be known in its absence. Hence in the second
stage, the gradual development to the faculty of imagination under
the impulse to know leads to the metaphysical approach to things,
resulting in the belief in a variety of hypothetical gods who control
the natural phenomena.

But human tendency is towards a unitary explanation. So the

question arose who made and control gods? The gods were thus
reduce to one God, and gradually what is known as religious
philosophy developed around the idea of God. This is the third
stage in the evolution of Religion.

In the fourth stage, man’s own ability to explain the natural causes
of natural phenomena is a simpler and more plausible way, with
the help or modern science, freed him from the necessity of
assuming gods Man was himself the creator of gods, and as he
crated them, so he also began to demolish them. This is the spirit
of Science today.

Many people have sought to use both magic and

science in hopes of empowering humanity for
improvement and to achieve a clearer picture of
humanity's place in the cosmos. In some of the
earliest Christian art (from the 3rd century) Jesus
Christ is portrayed as a bare-faced youth holding a
wand as a symbol of power There may be a
persistent link between supernaturalism, the
paranormal, and the desire for immortality.

Thus religious metaphusics has historically passed through the

stage of Fetishism, Animatism, Polythiesm and Monotheism which
has been finally superseded by the scientific philosophy of
atheistic materialism. All these stage had been reached and crossed
quit early in human history. Growth of Science from ancient to
modern times has continuously been adding refinement to atheistic
materialist philosophies and there by compelling the theistic
philosophies also to do the same in their case.

Science today has greatly narrowed down the limits of human

ignorance in several directions. No doubt, we still do not know
innumerable things and the area of our ignorance is still very large.
But no scientifically retinal man today hides his ignorance behind
the fictitious veil of Supernatural Powers. He only honestly make
scientific efforts to discover the unknown more and more instead
of falsely inventing dogmas to explain the unknown and thereby
becoming incapable of knowing it. This is how Science has wisely
been destroying the Supernatural Power or entities which Religion
has ignorantly kept crating. By way of illustration, I may briefly
explain here how modern Biology has exploded the dogma of soul
and how modern Psychology has exposed the illusory nature of the
idea of Intuition.

It is generally believed by the believers in Soul that there is the

element of life in the living beings, because one soul remains
embodied in every living being. Modern biology does not accept
this contention. Let us take examples. Every man contains
innumerable bacteria and germs of innumerable kinds within him.
And every germ or bacteria is a living entity, and so must possess a
soul. Obviously, then, every man possesses innumerable souls
within him-which is a contradiction from the doctrine of “One Man
on Soul”. The religionists are also unable to explain how the Soul
enters a Body. The Amoeba divides into two by fission. Then, does
its soul also multiply similarly? Again, the biological process of
reproduction in human beings and several species of animals
points out to us that the “vital fluid” in them contains innumerable
sperms each of which has life(Soul?). Now the formation of an
embryo is the result of the fusion of one male sperm and one
female ova in the womb of the mother. Do the two souls caged in
the two bodies (sperm and ova) also get fused into one? Or both
compete for entry into the new body, one succeeding and the other
failing? And where in the scope for the operation of the law of
“transmigration of soul” in this process? Does a third soul, leaving
the body of a dead person, also compete for entry into such new
bodies? Obviously, all such conceptions are only metaphysical and
arbitrary. Whatever it be, modern biology invalidates the
conception of “one man one soul” and the doctrine of
“transmigration of soul”. And if he dogma of soul in thus
exploded, the whole basis of the idea of intuition (which speaks of
the communion between Soul and God) also disappears,

Still, let us proceed further and dissect the testimony of the

“Seers” for finding out the reality behind the idea of Intuition.
Mystics are always persons who have been brought up in an
intensely religious atmosphere. And only the believers have had
mystical experiences. Hence Intuition is an effect, not a cause of
belief in God, because the idea of God is already present in the
consciousness before the experience occurs. It is, therefore,
nothing but the projection of the subjective feeling of the “Seer.” It
is simply auto-suggestion and self-hypnotism based on a particular
technique of psychology. The suspension of conscious mental
activities is the pre-condition for having a mystical experience;
then the contents of the sub-conscious mind are projected into the
mystical experience.

But man is a rational animal. Suppression of the conscious mind

which reasons out things, therefore, naturally leads to a sub-
human, not a super-human, psychological state.
Superconsciousness is a mere fiction which really stands for sub
consciousness. The control exercised by the higher centers of mind
is weakened and lower centers have a free play. Hence in the state
of the so-called “Spiritual communion” man sinks to a lower
spiritual level instead of rising high above the reach of
consciousness. In this sense, the mystical experiences is on a lower
plane than that of logical thought or moral effort, for it substitutes
images for concepts and is mere wish fulfiment rather than a
wrestling with facts. In this way, one can “see” whatever he wishes
to see, provided that he has the faith necessary for the purpose and
knows the technique of seeing things like this.

Many persons “see” ghosts in every bush because they believe in

all the ghost stories they have heard all their lives. Should we then
believe in ghost on their testimony? Similarly, belief in God on
authority of the mystics also means belief in the infallibility of the
seers in their interpretation of divine revelation. But why should
their experiences be interpreted as being due to the presence of
God? There are other and scientific reasons for it. It is not a
question of doubting their interpretation. As a matter of fact,
mystical experience simply pre-supposes God instead of proving
Him. Hence, unless the existence of God can be demonstrated on
other grounds, it seems inescapable that no evidence for God’s
existence can be found in mystical experience. And God has not
been proved on other grounds. Should we then believe in the Holy
Ghost and in the dagmas based on this belief in Him?

Should we not eternally continue trying to scientifically understand

and unravel the always ‘as yet’ undiscovered cosmic mysteries
with the help of he laws of Nature and Social Development and to
rationally mould our emotional lives accordingly? Must we really
continue sticking blindly to an unwarranted religious outlook on
life in our scientific age and there by keeping alive this harmful out
look as one of the most vital causes of the total crisis and the basic
troubles of our time?.

What, then, remains of the so-called real existence of other

Supernatural entitles (God, Satan, gods, goddesses heaven, hell,
Moksha, etc.) when Science has disproved the reality of the
mythical religious dagma of ‘Soul ‘ as the medium of God-
realization and also demolished the religious method of ‘Intuition’
as a mere illusory means of linking non-existent souls non-existent
God for the purpose of avoiding or discarding the no less illusory
Satan and Hell and of qualifying for and attaining the equally
illusory Heaven and Moksha? Again, when the supreme God is a
mere figment of human imagination, how can lesser gods and
goddesses be real entities? During their long course of
development, more and more developed ‘Science’ and more and
more developed ‘Reason’ have, with mutual co-operation, exposed
and demolished the clay feet cf all gods and goddesses one after
another and again and again. And if gods and goddesses and
unreal, why waste rituals on them?

Adherents of supernatural beliefs hold that such

occurrences exist just as surely as does the natural
world. Opponents argue that there are natural,
scientific explanations for what is often perceived as
the supernatural. Controversy has surrounded the
issue for as long as there have been those who
believe in the supernatural. One complicating factor
is that there is no universal agreement about what
the definition of “natural” is, and what the limits of
naturalism might be. Concepts in the supernatural
domain are closely related to concepts in religious
spirituality and occultism or spiritualism. Additionally,
by definition anything that exists naturally is not
supernatural. The term "supernatural" is often used
interchangeably with paranormal or preternatural —
the latter typically limited to an adjective for
describing abilities which appear to exceed the
bounds of possibility . Likewise, legendary
characters such as vampires, poltergeists and
leprechauns are not considered supernatural.

Suggested instances of supernatural events

Paranormal · Supernatural · Occult
Forteana · Miracle · Magic · Aura
Ghost · Ghost hunting · Ghost story
Fear of ghosts · Poltergeist · Cold spot
Haunted locations · Haunted house
Intelligent haunting · Residual haunting
Electronic voice phenomenon
Spirit photography · Ectoplasm
Shadow people · Will-o'-the-wisp
Spirit possession · Demonic possession
Demon · Demonology · Exorcism
Paranormal TV · Paranormal fiction
Afterlife · Reincarnation · Spirit world
Spiritualism · Ouija · Conjuration
Clairvoyance · Mediumship
Psychic · Remote viewing
Extra-sensory perception · Precognition
Near-death experience · Psychometry
Psychokinesis · Hypnosis · Telepathy
Parapsychology · Close encounter
Ufology · UFO · USO · UFO sightings
Paranormal and occult UFO hypotheses
Cryptozoology · Cryptid

References
1. Merriam-Webster.com Merriam-Webster
Dictionary
2. The Two Faces of Jesus by Robin M. Jensen, Bible
Review, 17.8, Oct 2002

3. The Psychology of Conviction: A Study of Beliefs

and Attitudes by Joseph Jastrow, Houghton Mifflin
Co., 1918

4. Search for the Soul by Milbourne Christopher,

Thomas Y. Crowell, Publishers, 1979 .

5. Shawn Carlson. "A double-blind test of

astrology". Nature, 318, 419 - 425 (05 December
1985).

6. Paul burton. Search for sacred india.

7. Bridgman PW, "On Scientific Method," Reflections

of a Physicist, 1955

8. "Ignorance reveals itself through arrogance." JP

Siepmann quote 1997

9. Excepted from The American Heritage Dictionary

of the English Language, Third Edition 1996.

10. Siepmann JP, "The Laws of Space and

Observation," Journal of Theoretics, April/May 1999,
Vol.1-No.1.

11. Bridgman PW, "On Scientific Method," Reflections

of a Physicist