Paranormal Vs. Supernatural

In recent years, the words paranormal and supernatural along with their meanings have been thought of as interchangeable and relatively the same. Many believe that they both mean something that’s outside the realm of normal and explainable. While this is generally the case, there’s much to it than people know.

Paranormal

When we use the term paranormal, we typically refer to a ghostly experience or entity, as well as werewolves, cryptids, and other unexplainable beings and phenomenon. These are things that we cannot currently explain and that we do not consider normal but it’s likely we’ll have an understanding in the future, no matter how far away that future may be. For example, rocks that fell from the sky were once considered to be a type of paranormal phenomenon simply because it wasn’t understood. Today, we know that these are called meteorites and where they come from. Anything paranormal is something that we don’t have a rational understanding of…yet. But whether it’s replicated by science or we figure out how paranormal phenomena works, we’ll understand it someday. When it comes to spirits and ghosts, I’m sure it’ll be better understood in the future.

Note: I’m not saying that all paranormal occurrences and beings will be debunked as I’m a firm believer of ghosts and spirits. I just think that they will become apart of our regular reality in the future.

Supernatural

The term ‘supernatural’ has been apart of our vocabulary since the 15th century, used to describe anything otherworldly, whereas ‘paranormal’ started being in the 1920s. While anything paranormal will likely be understood someday, anything that is supernatural will likely never be understood as it just doesn’t coincide with something that could be explained. A prime example of something supernatural is the idea of God, a higher being looking down upon us – this will never be able to be explained by science or anyone, much like other religions and concepts of the divine. The supernatural is something that we don’t have a logical grasp on and there isn’t a way that we could.

As I discussed in the beginning, I have heard myself and others interchange the definitions. But I hope this article helped you to better understand their individual meanings. But if you’re still a bit confused think of it this way:

Paranormal = things we don’t understand YET (ghosts, werewolves, Bigfoot, UFOs).
Supernatural = things we will NEVER understand (the divine, otherworldly).

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