Paranormal and Sociology of Knowledge, Religion and Culture - Literature review Example

Table of Contents Introduction………………………………………………………………..Page 2 Chapter Page 4 Chapter 2..………………………………………………………………….Page 13Chapter 3……………………………….…………………………………..Page 19 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………Page 22 References………………………………………………………………….Page 23 Topic: Should sociological interest in the paranormal/anomalous experiences be seen primarily as a branch of the sociology of knowledge, the sociology of religion or the sociology of culture? Introduction It is difficult for even the greatest sociologists to decide whether a particular situation or experience can be segregated to a branch of any one of the sub fields that examine different dimensions of society. In other words there is bound to be an overlap of sub fields related to a particular kind of experiences. Hence I want to point out that the sociological interest in the paranormal / anomalous experiences can be related to both the sociology of religion as well as the sociology of culture. It is only a matter of viewpoint through which we are observing such experiences. I find very little co relation between paranormal /anomalous experiences and the sociology of knowledge because it believes in rationalization of what is being experienced. It is very difficult to point out the theory behind all things related to the paranormal / anomalous. If we try to understand what is really meant by paranormal experiences, one thing that immediately comes to our mind is that it instills a feeling of global oneness. We just cannot say that only those who are educated have had paranormal or anomalous experiences. Neither can we conclude that people following a particular religion have experienced it. Such experiences are common across different cultural communities too. Paranormal or anomalous experiences are those that leave a lasting impression on people who have gone through it but there are not enough evidence or logical explanation to prove their authenticity. Some of the phenomenon that can be categorized paranormal or anomalous are experiences of ghosts, UFO, other supernatural powers, spirituality, folie a deux condition, déjà vu condition, parapsychology, occult, pseudoscience, protoscience, abduction phenomenon, extra sensory perception, spontaneous human combustion, out of body feelings, near to death experiences etc. Apart from all these there are other phenomenon like astrology, numerology, phrenology, psychometry, psychic surgery, physiognomy, chiropractic, homeopathy, precognition, remote viewing, faith healing, channeling etc. Very few of the above-mentioned phenomena can be explained in a scientific way. Yet they are more interesting and draw much more sociological interest than those phenomena, which can be proved scientifically. The reason for this is that humans tend to get bored with the tried and tested instances. Dolon rightly states in Coutts that “ I want people to know that there is more to life than what we call reality, more than what we can see – and it is not as far beyond our reach as we imagine. It is ordinary, everyday, here and now, in this minute. And it is magical, a gift.” (2003 p. 291) There is a constant urge in all of us to discover the thrill of coming across the unusual. This common interest binds people together and make them a part of the group. People from different dimensions become a part of the sociological structure. Their common interest is termed as sociological interest. . Chapter 1 Paranormal and the Sociology of Religion The sociology of religion has been an integral part of sociology since the very beginning. Davie in Taylor has very beautifully tried to bring out the link between religion and society. In his words “there are two ways of defining religion in terms of its relationship to society. The first is substantive: it is concerned with what religion is. Religion involves beliefs and practices, which assume the existence of supernatural beings. The second approach is functional: it is concerned with what religion does and how it affects the society of which it is part For example, religion offers answers to otherwise unanswerable questions (what happens when we die), or it binds people together in distinctive forms of collective action.” (1999 p.278) Religion has always saved humankind from all the social upheavals. No one can deny the strong influence of religion in all aspects of an individual’s social lives and the society at large. According to Thompson (1992 p.326) “Less radical social theorists feared that society would indeed disintegrate if there was not religion, or an equivalent belief system to bind it together.” Different religions are followed in the entire world. There are diverse religious beliefs and practices. The belief in the paranormal is one of them. Through word of mouth, generations after generations have passed on certain teachings that have been an integral part of our existence. According to Hope (2003 p.9) “profound truths accessible through imagination, religion and myth cannot be laid bare by the analytic power of the intellect.” Science cannot prove the mystery of ghosts, rebirth or reincarnation. But this is the key concept of different religions in the world. For example the Christian Eucharist believe in transubstantian or in other words, spirit becoming body. North Americans believe in this too. One of their rituals called “sweat lodge ceremony” is related to this idea. Hinduism relates rebirth to religion and believe in ‘samara’, which signifies endless rebirth. Closer to that is the Buddhist notion of Karma or moral conduct. According to Hope, (2003, p.32) “ Christian spiritual regeneration at Easter, for example, is linked with the egg, a potent symbol of rebirth, resurrection and fertility.” The words like soul and divine may not be related to the sociology of knowledge but in the words of Hope, (2003 p.44) “for many of us, the life of the soul is linked with our chosen religion. Also “all faiths share a common purpose: to open our eyes to the reality of the divine.” Hence the supernatural has its connections with the sociology of religion. (2003 p. 45) Modern healers believe that only scientific medicines can cure a suffering body. They term many of our ancient practices of curing the ill as pseudo science. Contrary to their belief there are many therapies followed by the different religious groups who believe that the body itself has many powers to fight with the sickness it is suffering from. According to them there are herbal remedies in abundance that can cure a person without putting a hole in his pocket. They further argue that many medicines that the sociology of knowledge advocate is based on the conventional herbal remedies. Though the sociology of knowledge does not believe in anything post death; many religions believe in the judgments of the soul after death. It is believed in Christianity that the sins during the lifetime will be punished in the hell after death and it will continue till eternity. On the other hand those religions belonging to the eastern part of the world believe in the cycle of death and rebirth. According to these religions the soul that is guilty of misdeeds would be tortured till all his misdeeds are washed away. Though we do not have any evidence of this common belief, yet the fear of this is a major reason of many of the crimes that do not take place. Beliefs coming from different religions vary from one religion to another. Yet one cannot deny the commonness that is hidden beneath each belief; and that is goodness for all. There is no doubt about the fact that this aspect of the sociology of religion even though largely unscientific is for the betterment of the humankind. This thought of betterment do not fit into any scientific or rationale view of the world. Magic is another phenomena that is considered anomalous and can be related to occult and protoscience. Occult means anything that is mystical or magical. Whereas protoscience is something that has the potential to become science but is not science yet. The relationship between magic and sociology of religion has been rightly observed by Pearson (ed.) 2002 p.44 “ although the use of magic does not in itself has anything to do with religion, it is a constitutive element of Wicca which encompasses both magic and religion, blurring their distinctions. The magical heritage of Wicca is therefore important to the development of the religion and the identity of its practitioners.” Of late there has been tremendous sociological interest in the Celts- the people who were considered to be ones who were in touch with the good spirits, which helped the mankind to blossom. Bowman has rightly pointed out to Pearson (2002 p.60) in the following words. “I think the reason there is such a Celtic revival is because the human spirit has been restricted so long by a society in which science and materialism and profit motive predominate. It has been dammed up and is now urgent for expression. It seems to me the Celts have a natural ability to reopen the ‘magic casements’ and to help people reconnect with the lost dimensions of themselves.” Hence this can be connected to the paranormal phenomena of channeling. People have deep sense of awe for the religion they follow. Their sociological interests and understanding of life is deeply affected by the beliefs of their religion. They are deeply devoted to all the paranormal thoughts of their religion even when they hardly have any evidence of what they believe in or what they are practicing. One fine example of this is that in Tibetan religion it is believed that the period between death and rebirth is up to forty-nine days. This period is called ‘bardo’ in the Tibetan language. The following words are spoken into the ear of the person who is either dying or is dead to prepare him for the various experiences he will have during bardo. “Do not be afraid, do not be terrified, do not be bewildered, recognize this as the form of your own mind.” (Peacock, 2003 p. 132) It is believed that if the message reaches properly for whom it is meant then the person might attain a higher form of rebirth or he might even achieve nirvana i.e. freedom from the cycle of birth and death. If the message does not reach properly then the person will have to take birth once again and may be, as more unfortunate being than the human beings. Numerology is considered divine and magical in many of the religions. Pythagoras the founder of numbers had stressed, “the world is built upon the power of numbers.”(Cassiel, para.2). It plays a very significant part in our lives. Numerology helps in fortune telling, astrology, dream interpretation and magic. All these art forms are part of different religions. As stated by Cassiel, “number is a mediator between the divine and the earthly.”(para. 11) Number 10 is like a tree that enlightens us about the path to God. Similarly no. 9 has great significance for those who greatly believe in religion. Christ is surrounded by eight saints and angels. Also there are eight cupolas in churches. Religion has developed a lot from the ice age to the information age. Certain beliefs and practices related to religion are intact since the very beginning. There is one particular practice called astrology that is related mostly to the eastern part of the world. Astrology means casting of horoscope and it plays a very crucial part in all the auspicious activities. The responsibility of casting of horoscope is given either to the astrologers who have studied it as a subject or the people who perform the religious rituals. The verdict of these people is taken very seriously when a child is born. All the decisions related to prospective bride or groom is taken after being fully satisfied from the astrological point of view. On all other important occasions too, the help of astrology is taken in order to ensure that everything works out fine. Through astrology people claim to know the position of the sun, the moon and the planets that can affect a person, so that any negativities can be warded off before anything goes wrong. Hence through astrology people feel that future can be made happier and safer. This again is a paranormal phenomena linked to the sociology of religion. Related to this concept is alchemy, which dates back to the early Renaissance period. At that time Thomas Charnock got very famous. According to Hughes, he was considered “a man whose knowledge of nature was so profound that he could summon and control the occult powers found within the motions of the planets and inside metals and plants and perform feats of transmutation with metals and in medicine. The significance of the alchemist was such that Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson all wrote plays – Dr Faustus (1604), The Tempest (1610) and The Alchemist (1610) – illustrating his art.” (History Today, p. 40) Not only this Charnock was also able to talk to the spirits and he boasted of his mastery of dark and misty terms. In fact he was considered the master of black arts and student of astrology. This can be related to the sociology of religion by observing the following story. It is believed that another alchemist named Roger Bacon was a close contender of Charnock and wanted to get one of Charnock’s main objects in order to be successful like him. But later he gave up.” Bacon then realized he would never achieve any of his goals through this art because he had not loved God.” (Hughes, History Today, p. 44) though both Charnock and Bacon were alchemist there was a difference between the two of them. If we look at the deeper meaning we find that alchemy for Charnock was like “the journey of the soul, the transmutation of the raw material of the psyche into the shining and incorruptible gold of spiritual fulfillment.” (Hope, 2003 p.10) Precognition is a gift of prophecy common in most of the religions. Precognition is paranormal in nature and hence can be connected to the sociology of religion. In the word of Roberts,“ In January 2005 a Muslim cleric spoke about the Asian Tsunami. …: these great tragedies and collective punishments that are wiping out villages, towns, cities and even entire countries, are Allah’s punishments of the people of these countries, even if they are Muslims. …All that ‘s left for us to do is to ask for forgiveness. We must atone for our sins.” (History Today, p. 41) Supernatural power can also be derived from the following statement: “It is scandalous to pretend the earthquake was just a natural occurrence for, if that be true, there is no need to repent and try to avert the wrath of God. It is necessary to devote all our strength and purpose to the task of repentance. God is watching us, scourge in hand. (Roberts, History Today, p. 41) The relationship between supernatural power and sociology of religion is further accentuated when we go through the thoughts of the great Christopher Columbus. “ The discoverer of Americas had a strong sense of divine intervention in his life. In his thirties when his ship was wrecked and he managed to grab a wooden oar and reach the shore in Portugal, Christopher Columbus believed that he had been personally saved by God, and there would be other occasions later when he saw the hand of God in his affairs. ((History Today, Volume 56 (5) May 2006 p. 60) All this can also be related to the other anomalous phenomena widely known as near death experiences. Out of body experiences too are one of the paranormal experiences. According to Alegretti “The Egyptian priests knew of the existence of the astral body. They called it the Kha and they left inscriptions and drawings on the rock walls of many temples and buildings, representing it as something subtle and light abandoning the physical body. During this time, the initiations were created, which were in fact trials of the individual and its capacity to leave the body and present him/herself partially or totally materialized in front of a group of persons.” (para 4) The similar inscriptions have been reported to be inscribed in the temples of Greece too. These two examples from History makes it quiet clear that since the days of yore out of body experiences have always been a part of religion and has been widely made known to the society at large. People have certain beliefs ingrained in their minds, which they use unconsciously to define themselves. No matter what their beliefs are they always coincide with either the sociology of religion or sociology of culture. Ward (2004, p.194) points out that “traditional belief s have often stressed the presence of evil and divine judgement and retribution. In doing so, they have been influenced by the belief that the world would soon come to an end and that infidels have knowingly rejected God. Greater knowledge of the vast extent of the universe, of the evolutionary development of humans and of the possibility of improving the environment and human health by technological change has modified all such beliefs.” These statements prove that sociology of knowledge whenever overlaps with either sociology of religion or sociology of culture try to bring about changes in anything that sounds anomalous or paranormal. Chapter 2 Paranormal and the Sociology of Culture Sociology of Culture is the most common branch of Sociology. It helps us in understanding how any product, or idea affects the social behaviour of different people belonging to a society. Paranormal or anomalous experiences have connections with sociology of culture too. We cannot deny the fact that though there have been a little change in religious beliefs due to the rise in science; but culture still follows tradition. There has been a history of continuous fascination and interest in the paranormal / anomalous in all the cultures throughout the world. No matter what we are experiencing we always connect it with impressions that is already engraved in our minds by the society that we are representing. All our social conduct and belief are based upon the social circumstances we are living in. Numerology, which has gained great sociological interest, is considered proto science. “ During the 19th century, when scientific discoveries concerning light, magnetism and electricity were being made, the theory that numbers corresponded to energy patterns of vibrations became popular.” (www.meta-religion.com) However certain popular beliefs that are prevalent in our society stress the fact that culture is completely drenched in the paranormal experiences and beliefs. Cassiel has pointed out that “in the American society most people considered the number 13 unlucky. Therefore things connected with 13 are to be avoided such as the 13th day of the month, especially if it is a Friday, the 13th floor, 13 dinner guests and so on. As a contrast in Belgium it is considered a good-luck charm for women to wear the number 13.” Numerology has great significance in the Asian culture too. No. 4 is considered to bring bad luck. Asians feel that no. 108 is very sacred and brings good luck. Today’s youngsters; no matter which culture they belong to show great interest in numerology and believe that knowledge of this subject will help them in understanding themselves and people close to them. They also try to find out what future holds for them through numerology. Each and every person has psychic ability that varies in terms of intensity and strength. The strength of these abilities depends on what one wants to accomplish during ones lifetime. If one is meant to be a healer then he should possess healing abilities. If one wants to prove life after death then he should be able to communicate with souls or spirits. The people belonging to ancient and tribal cultures have passed on the soul or spirit’s special teachings by word of mouth from one generation to another. Therefore the spiritual well-being is necessary for the harmony between a person and the entire universe of which he is an integral part. In today’s secular culture we are so much engrossed in the cutthroat competition that we do not have enough time towards all these thoughts. All this is anomalous but is a very strong part of many cultures across the world. Many rural and tribal cultures still believe in witch doctors. They are considered to heal a person from the illness of whose cause is not understood by science. It is believed in many cultures that supernatural forces cause mental and physical illness. When all medicines fail witch doctors are the only rays of hope. They cure a person through chants, dance, hallucinogenic drugs and prayers. If it is diagnosed that evil spirit has entered the patient’s body then psychic surgery is performed on the patient to ward off the evil spirit from the body. Psychic surgery is removal of the harmful object from body in a very painless way. This surgery is considered to have magical or paranormal abilities and is common in the cultures of Brazil and Philippines. According to the sociology of knowledge death ends everything for the person who is dead. There is no evidence of what happens to a person after his death but “many cultures believe that, at death the soul leaves the body in the shape of a bird or winged being. In medieval Christian iconography there are various symbols for the Holy Spirit, including a dove. (Hope, 2003 p. 116) In all the cultures there is a common sociological interest in the mystery beyond human rationalization. There is a prevalent threat in many cultures that ghosts, demons and evil spirits are in search of capturing living souls and therefore many rituals in those cultures focus on keeping the evil at bay. This notion of threat can be associated with the anomalous abduction phenomena. According to this non-human creatures kidnap humans. In connection to this the threat from UFOs is also identifiable. The cause of concern regarding these unidentified flying objects is that nothing is known about them. The combined threat from UFO’s and abduction phenomena has gained so much sociological interest that the cinemas based on these subjects have become hugely popular crossing all the cultural borders. In these modern times people of all cultures first try to resort to scientific methods that is related to the sociology of knowledge in order to ward off unwanted situations. But when any positive result is not visible then they resort to religious rituals and other prevalent cultural means such as magic, psyochometry (like reflexology, which is a practice of stimulating points of the hands and feet to bring benefit on some other parts of he body. This is practiced in the Chinese culture most and considered pseudo science by the believers of the sociology of knowledge) etc. There is a complex interaction between religion, knowledge and culture. This interaction is the basis of many beliefs. However the cultural belief structure is the reason of adoption of anomalous or paranormal as good or bad. In the Tibetan culture the paranormal situation is like going through a vast and complex terrain. Tibetans feel that illness is caused by some imbalance in one’s physical and psychological energy. They use curative means and techniques like herbal remedies, psychological healing methods and astrology in these situations. A remedial material known as substitute or scapegoat is “offered to evil spirits as a ransom for a person whose well - being is threatened, and it is especially used as a way of attempting to ward off death. Generally, the substitute is made out of dough mixed with some hair, excrement, mucus, fingernails, saliva, tears and clothing of the person whose life is to be protected. This mixture is formed as an image of the person and decorated with coloured wool, silk and feathers obtained from birds of ill omen. Following a ritual to empower the image it is thrown into a river, thus averting death.” (Peacock, 2003 p.108) We cannot deny the fact that there is something called spirit or soul present amongst us and there is a great deal of sociological interest regarding this subject. In her book ‘The Ghost Whisperer’, Coutts has mentioned how her clients have innumerable times come across ghosts or spirits. She has given account of many real life stories when a house, room etc was haunted. Most interestingly she has given an example of an incident when the family members of a boy who died in an accident while he was driving his motorcycle came across many experiences that pointed out that the boy’s motorcycle was haunted by him. We can relate these incidents to the sociology of culture, as culture is a study of day-to-day events that affect social behavior of people. How many of us muster courage to get inside a house, which we know is haunted. Therefore our behaviors towards the haunted places and objects get automatically affected. These are one of the most common paranormal experiences that have interested us since childhood. The growing rate of crime is threatening for our society. To detect the people who have committed crime is becoming difficult day by day. One of the effective means to do so is phrenology. Crime detectors greatly depend on this technique in which personality test is done to see whether the criminal is lying or not. Though considered pseudo science it is an integral part of the measures taken for the safety of our society. Homeopathy is an alternative form of curing the people who are suffering from various illnesses. Different cultures view it differently. This alternative medicine is very popular in Europe and India. Whereas some of the cultures just don’t believe in it and consider it a pseudo science. According to Wikipedia – the free encyclopedia, homeopathy propagates the theory that “it is the man that is sick and to be restored to health, not his body, not the tissues.”(para.3) The growing rate of homeopathy practitioners prove how much popular this form of medicine has become over the years. But critics feel that “the theory of homeopathy is inconsistent with known laws of chemistry and physics, since it states that extreme dilution makes drugs more powerful by enhancing their ‘spirit-like medicinal powers.’” (para 4) Chapter 3 Paranormal and the Sociology of Knowledge Even those sociologists who support only sociology of knowledge and think that paranormal / anomalous experiences are unreasonable; believe in the supernatural, especially in the supreme of all - God. But they argue that it is stupidity to relate everything that is happening to the supernatural powers. Barbour in Mcgrath has beautifully argued the limitations of God. In his words, “ God intends good for the creation, and acts in its best interests. However the option of coercing everything to do, with the divine will, cannot be exercised. As a result God is unable to prevent certain things happening. Wars, famines, and holocausts are not things, which God desires; they are, however, not things, which God can prevent, on account of the radical limitations placed upon the divine power. God is thus not responsible for evil; not can it be said, in any way, that God desires or tacitly accepts its existence. The metaphysical limits placed upon God are such as to prevent ant interference in the natural order of things. (1999 p.209) Emphasizing on the power of rationalization, Brooks has pointed out that “sometimes a whole lot of nothing can be very powerful. Except it’s not quiet nothing.” (p.30) In other words he tries to explain us that anything that looks anomalous can be given a scientific approach after proper research. The supporters of sociology of knowledge believe that people have a wrong notion that medicines fail. Due to this many cultures or religions adopt alternative ways of curing the ill and these alternative ways walk away with all the credit. The supporters of sociology of knowledge forget that medicines that were being used in a person must have had a little bit of positive effect on him. There are many cases in which though the right medicine is being given, the wrong dose, which is a severe human error, leads to the sociological thinking that it is the evil spirits that is playing the havoc. One fine example of this is an experiment, which was being carried out in a reputed university. In the painkiller; morphine, mistakenly naloxone got added. The result was that the pain relieving power of morphine disappeared. The point here is that for the mistakes created by humans, paranormal situations get blamed. There is great sociological interest in the field of Homeopathy. But the scientists simply don’t understand why there is such madness after something, which has no strong evidence till now. The homeopathic medicines are prepared by diluting some chemicals in water again and again. The followers of sociology of knowledge argue that if some chemicals are diluted in water again and again then it can’t have any healing effect because the prepared medicine will contain nothing but the molecules of water. As mentioned in Brooks, Ennis, a pharmacologist at Queen’s University, Belfast feels that if anything that is claimed by homeopathic practitioners is true then “ we may have to rewrite physics and Chemistry.” (p.33) Astrologers believe that 90% of our universe is filled by dark matter. However they fail to give any constructive opinion regarding what those dark matters exactly are. Some cultures especially tribal ones have many rituals, beliefs and even unusual experiences that they relate to these so-called dark matters. However the sociologists of knowledge are skeptical whether there really is any thing called dark matter in our universe. Conclusion No matter how much the sociologists of knowledge argue against the paranormal experiences. The cultural and religious approach to sociological interest in the paranormal just doesn’t seize to stop. In fact the sociologists of culture and religion shoot back by propagating that the basic objective of sociology is to revolve around the customs and beliefs and the way of leading life of a social group or society. History is the witness of how culture and religion provide the path to understand the world and make sense of all usual and unusual incidents taking place around us. Thanks to the media, the belief and sociological interest in the paranormal/anomalous has got further accentuated. Hence the conclusion is that sociological interest in the paranormal/anomalous experiences should be seen primarily a part of both the sociology of religion as well as the sociology of culture. Word count: 5045 ‘References’ a) BOCOCK, ROBERT. THOMPSON, KENNETH (ed.) 1995. Social And Cultural Forms Of Modernity. UK: Polity Press. b) COUTTS, KATIE. 2003. The Ghost Whisperer: A Real-Life Psychic’s Story. London: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. c) HOPE, JANE. 2003. The Language of The Spirit: A Visual Key To Enlightenment and Destiny. London: Duncan Baird Publishers d) McGRATH, E., ALISTER. 1999. Science And Religion: An Introduction. UK: Blackwell Publishers Ltd. e) PEACOCK, JOHN. 2003. The Tibetan Way Of Life Birth And Rebirth. London: Duncan Baird Publishers Ltd. f) PEARSON, JOANNE (ed.) 2002. Belief Beyond Boundaries: Wicca, Celtic Spirituality And The New Age. United Kingdom: Ashgate g) TAYLOR, STEVE, (ed.) 1999. Sociology Issues and Debates. London: MACMILLAN PRESS LTD. h) WARD, KEITH. 2004. The Case For Religion. Oxford: Oneworld Publications. i) BROOKS, MICHAEL, 2005. ‘Anomalies’, NewScientist, vol.185, no.2491, p.30 j) R0BERTS, JENNIFER, 2005. ‘The Lisbon Tsunami’, History Today, vol.55, no.3, p.41 k) CAVENDISH, RICHARD, 2006. ‘Death Of Christopher Columbus’, History Today, vol.56, no.5, p.60 l) HUGHES JONATHAN, 2005. ‘Base Matter In To Gold’, History Today, vol.55, no.8, pp.40, 42. m) Cassiel Sophia 2006, A Brief History of Numerology, Mexico, viewed 19 September 2006, < www.meta-religion.com/Esoterism/Numerology/a -brief-history-of-numerology.html>. n) Wagner Alegretti, 2006, A Brief History of Out–of-body experiences, Mexico, viewed 19 September 2006, < www.meta religion.com/Paranormale/OBE/history-of-obe_experiences.htm>. o) Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 2006, Homeopathy, viewed 21 September 2006, < http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Homeopathy>. Read More