I've been wondering all my life what to think about things like ghosts, aliens, and other creatures or entities that people claim to have seen or experienced, but I myself never have. I prefer to have a very skeptical outlook on things as a general rule, and if it's not something that can be proven to me empirically, I usually have a very hard time believing that it can be real.

However, as a person who prides herself on her love of science and physics, I also know that humans in general are so very poor in our understanding of the world around us. We've barely scratched the surface, as I see it. The discoveries we make about our world on a daily basis just keep coming, and there's no end in sight. It (our world) changes so much more quickly than we can keep up, and we've already had such a late start to begin with.

One example of the failing of human understanding is exactly what goes on throughout the life cycles of stars, planets, and other heavenly bodies. Our lives are pitifully short in comparison to the lives of planets and stars, so we can only make guesses at their processes based on patterns we find in a bunch of different cases we study.

But that's only one example where human understanding falls below the threshhold of the truth. I know that there has to be a great many more than that. So how can we be certain we have all the answers to the other great truths out there, like "are we alone?" or "what happens when we die?" I don't think that we can, at least not in this stage of our evolutionary development. We're a young species, after all. In fact, I have to wonder if we ever will come to such a level of understanding. It's not impossible, I suppose, but unless our lives approach the span of many more hundreds of years, or our capacity for learning increases by many more orders of magnitude, it seems just as unlikely (or even impossible) as the paranormal itself.

In the spirit of scientific discovery, I retain an air of skepticism at all times, but a part of me is always open to the impossible. So many things in human achievement were deemed impossible by the masses before they were realized. Why can't the same be true for such theologically and physically significant questions? Maybe there really is an advanced life form out there beyond our solar system. Maybe there is also a technology in that life form's possession that allows it to visit or view our reality. Likewise, maybe there do exist forms of energy or "spirits" that reside in the same space as us, and maybe they truly are the remnants of past lives, whether residual or cognizant. I don't know the answer to either of these questions, but I have to say, I'm interested in finding those answers out. My only wish for them is that, if the answers don't become plain in my lifetime, I hope they do afterwards, and that I'll somehow still be around to find them out.

So what do you believe when it comes to the paranormal? Why do you believe it? Are you the type of person who absolutely has to have undeniable proof to believe in the potential for something to exist? Else, are you the type of person who is willing to accept the reality that we don't have all the answers, and wonder if maybe some of the answers we're lacking could prove to be something you might normally think is impossible?

I realize that there is a good chance that this could become a theological or religious discussion, but I'd like to avoid that, if we can. Although the existence of a higher being is in its own right paranormal, such discussions often lead to fierce arguments and hurt feelings, and I certainly wouldn't want that. I'll refrain from stating my own opinion on the matter, but I will say that my openness to accept the impossible as a possible outcome does not rule out the existence of a supreme goodness or evil.