I’ve thought about this over the years, and more so a couple years ago when I contacted a couple “ghost hunter” groups to look into working with them, one as an “analyst.” Being an analyst, suiting me extremely well, notwithstanding, I found that what these groups seemed to be doing was 1) trying to find ghosts, 2) explaining them. Perhaps I’m oversimplifying their missions, and if so, I apologize and do in no way mean to marginalize their lives and efforts, but that’s what I got out of my search. It’s all well and good, what they’re doing, and methinks even outright fun, barring malicious discoveries, but I found that that didn’t even really grab me.
1) I already believe in ghosts.
2) I already have my belief about them.
So, where did that leave me?
I decided to try my hand at writing about remote viewers and UFOs. The possible conspiracies surrounding both. Yes, I believe in both, and have my own beliefs regarding them, yet...I found these more of a “fit” to what I like “dealing with.”
And what would those “fit” and “dealing with” be?
Well, I seem to have late put a better finger on it, thought I’ve always known it: I love the exploration of consciousness. The “normal paranormal” of the mind. Consciousness. Like in my Sleepwalkers novel. Like in my past-life murder mystery and remote-viewer novels. Yes, even my UFO novel. I love exploring the evolution of consciousness. I love considering and imagining how our consciousness works and grows, how we can better use it--and use it for GOOD. How we might interact with it, and it with us. I’m not talking about just the surface consciousness we all have, of the “I” and “me” we think we know, but the deep, all pervading mega-consciousness behind all of our entire lives. That from which we spring.
Now many jump right to the conclusion of “The Godhead.” Fine, but in doing that we give no respect, responsibility, nor time of day to each of our unique individualities that are within any “Godhead,” however defined. Sometimes, it’s not so much “about God,” but about learning about ourselves, our growing as individuals...taking responsibility for our own lives and actions...and in turn, all these things will and do go back to God, but just as a forest is composed of trees, so is God composed of individuals. And as such, we have a right to learn more about, and better, ourselves and how we live and interact and grow with ourselves and everyone else, including God (or as I prefer, “All That Is”). And wouldn’t All That Is want it that way? That we all learn and grow, et cetera? Be the best we can be? Furthermore, I think it is a point that clearly outdistances the question--I think it is an inherent part of being consciousness. “It,” consciousness, can’t help not growing and learning, there simply is no choice in the matter, it is inherently part of what it IS.
Consciousness is never static, it is always in motion, and motion, in this case, is defined in terms of growth and love and anything else one can think about that defines “getting better,” because things never “get better” by sitting around doing nothing.
So...as I ponder just what it is about the so-called “paranormal” I really like, I think much of it definitely has to do with the exploration of consciousness. Not so much ghosts and aliens--they are merely the pawns with which I weave my tales, though, they are, quite admittedly, interesting topics in their own rights, given their “mystery” and conjecture...but also I need a story and structure around which to play. And in using paranormal topics, it makes it more interesting to me than just spouting ideals and writing nonfiction. In making my stories as realistic and gritty, I try to entertain and show how certain topics can be applied to everyday life as many know it.
I’ve read that some may be annoyed at all the specifics being thrown into fiction these days--it’s FICTION, for crying out loud, make stuff up!--but I don’t [totally] agree. I think there are different versions of fiction, and more true-to-life fiction needs the specifics to give it its verisimilitude, its grounded structure. Let the out-and-out fantasy stories not worry about such things, but some fiction requires it. And when I show death and destruction and other such things, I’m showing it from a different point of view (POV). I’m trying to show another POV for how and why such things might happen. And in so doing (besides the entertainment and imagination parts of why I write), I hope that it shows that there may very well be another reason for why something might happened as it does, because in order to “explain” life, I need to not only explain the “good,” but also the “bad.” And in doing so, I hope it generates a more open mind on the part of my readers--heck, and me.
So, I hope I’m not only able to entertain, but to show a more tangential behind-the-scenes possibility to life and how we live it--and in a POSITIVE manner--which can help better people’s lives.
