Even as someone who’s had many unusual experiences, I’ve come to believe that there are some areas of the paranormal where definitive proof isn’t possible. Ghosts, and the issue of spirit communication, are two of those areas. Now, I don’t need to be convinced that ghosts exist, or that the dead can communicate with the living; I’ve experienced these things first-hand, so I already know. But I haven’t yet seen any kind of concrete evidence that proves these truths in an objective way.
Part of the problem, I think, is that “evidence” can be so easily faked. EVP recordings, spirit photography, mediums seeming to make contact with deceased members of peoples’ families—all very easy to fake. I tend to agree, too, with one of the interpretations of quantum physics, which suggests that the act of observing a phenomenon changes it. Maybe setting out to observe a paranormal event changes it, making it even more difficult to pin down. But the biggest reason why I believe that objective proof isn’t always possible: I don’t believe we can easily measure the intangible through concrete means. How do you capture proof of things that exist outside ordinary reality by using the tools of ordinary reality, like a computer or a camera or an audio recording device? Not so easily, it seems to me. The tool just isn’t appropriate to the task. And how could you even develop a suitable tool until you had begun to understand the nature of the thing you were trying to capture?
The only convincing evidence for anyone, I believe, is in their own experience. Once a paranormal event has happened to you—once you’ve distinctly felt an unseen presence in a room, heard rapping on the walls and seen objects moving on their own—you know. Or when you unexpectedly receive, in a dream or meditation, that vivid communication from someone who has passed away—you know. And your view of reality is never quite the same after that.
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