These three terms in my life are sort of interchangeable. They aren’t, of course, but to me, they are all words that define parts of my abilities, skills, training, and experience. The one thing all of these words elicit is the big F. Fear. A friend of mine organizes panels with practitioners to cover different topics. The panel discussing these three topics has been rescheduled twice so far. I suspect it’s due to fear.

In metaphysics, we like to focus on the light side of things. Happy thoughts, better days, silver lining, and all that, as we should. The power to create miracles comes from focusing on light and love. Unfortunately, there is also a pervasive belief that one must categorically ignore the darkness and hate to truly focus on light and love. It’s a lovely concept, but that’s not real life. Catch a news report to see an example of how darkness managed to weave its way into someone’s life.

Ignoring things doesn’t make them go away. That, my friend, is called denial. Our world consists of light and dark. We live in a world where we thrive best when all things are balanced. Yes, there is power in the light. There is also tremendous power in the dark. People wouldn’t be so intent on using it if there wasn’t. From my perspective, there is only power and energy. It’s neutral. It’s the intent of the practitioner that tilts it one way or another.

There is a significant difference between acknowledging something and embracing it. Our old buddy fear, and our reptilian brain doesn’t catch subtleties. It’s very much “dark bad, light good” and doesn’t progress much past that distinction. It’s the higher brain functions that allow us to detect the subtleties of situations that deepen our experiences and give us a richer environment to grow and thrive on our journey.

If we couldn’t engage our secondary brain, we wouldn’t be able to meditate or understand higher concepts, such as the thought that we are part of the universe and the universe is a part of us. Our primary brain tosses concepts such as these out the window if they are perceived as dangerous. This is what happens when we start talking about the supernatural, the paranormal, and the occult.

There are dictionary definitions for these terms. You’re welcome to look them up to enhance your knowledge of them. As I said earlier, these are part of my life every day. I grew up seeing ghosts, demons, angels, and things I still don’t have names for. I’ve been cursed and lifted curses. I’ve removed demons from people, places, and things. I’ve helped people heal physical, mental, and emotional issues. I have done all that by putting a paperweight on my fear to get the job done.

Everyone has fear. In my opinion, people who don’t have any kind of fear are either oblivious or reckless. Most people work from the adage, “Feel the fear and do it anyway.” I’m not an advocate for giving in to fear, but I do believe that fear is healthy and, dare I say it, normal. It’s part of the mechanism that’s kept us alive as a species. It’s when fear takes over our rationality and makes us do things that make no sense even to ourselves that it’s a problem. This is what happens when people start discussing supernatural, paranormal, and occult topics. Fear kicks in. When that happens, rationality takes a backseat, and it becomes a mini survival situation where the information provided becomes the dinosaur running at us, and we have to take evasive action and avoid or attack.

Knowledge is power. Understanding something reduces the fear of it. Take sharks, for instance. There are many species of shark that are completely harmless. You can put them in your fish tank. Then there are the ones who look fearsome but are basically harmless except in certain circumstances, and then there are the ones capable of having a human for lunch. As long as you understand which kind of shark you’re dealing with, your chances of survival go up. A lack of knowledge can be deadly. The same is true for dealing with energy.

Instances of the supernatural, paranormal, and the occult are reflections of energy. Some of it is positive, some negative, some neutral. The energy could be active or stagnant. Without examination, there is no way to know. Examinations are best carried out from an intellectual perspective, as far removed from emotion as possible. Make no mistake, it’s hard to do. Our reptilian brain never shuts off, and it’s always ready to take over. Before we evolved into having a secondary brain, our primary brain was in charge and still is. However, there is no reason to let your lizard brain take control unless you’re standing in a potentially haunted building.

“Forewarned is forearmed.” The good thing about obtaining knowledge is that you can take what is relevant for the moment and store the rest. You might learn things that don’t make sense to you at the moment but may become important later. The same is true regarding knowledge that scares you. The more you know about it, the less scary it can become. It can give you a greater understanding and respect for power and all the forms it can take.

There is a belief that exposing oneself to knowledge opens the door to evil. It’s true. It can also open the door to the highest good. What makes the difference is you. Some people don’t have the strength to look at the dark. That may seem condescending, but it isn’t. They can’t handle it. That’s okay. Everyone has a line they can’t or won’t cross. You get to draw the line. Where is it going to be?

I like to understand things. It doesn’t mean I’m going to do anything with that information, but having that information in my head makes things familiar. It’s that thing where you see something happening, and it rings a bell for you, and then you go looking in your storehouse of knowledge to try to figure out what the hell it was that you just saw. Having that knowledge makes you pay attention. Everything has signs. If you can recognize the signs of things early, it lessens the amount of damage, disruption, and destruction that can happen. It gives you more time to act instead of react. My philosophy is that it’s better to be prepared than get blindsided.

By all means, define the words supernatural, paranormal, and occult any way you choose and acquire whatever knowledge you think will be helpful to you on your journey. My suggestion is that you do yourself a favor and leave out as much fear as possible during this process. Don’t let fear make your decisions for you.