Morganna’s Musings On Trust and Why Not To Do It.
“The most fearsome monsters of all may inhabit the dark corners of our mind waiting for us to release them through our beliefs and gullibility.”
We all need business cards like this: “Not an authority on any thing.” It would keep us humble.
Let’s talk about belief.
My favorite author who took on the phenomena, John Keel, wrote something that has stuck in my head since I first read it as a twelve year old child. He wrote a simple, four word statement. “Belief is the enemy.”
And he was right.
I was reading that statement because my mother knew I had been seeing strange things since I was a very young child, and that I would in all likelihood continue to see strange things for the rest of my life, so she handed me a copy of The Mothman Prophesies and said “You need to understand some things.”
And she was right.
Before I read that statement, I knew that what I was seeing was something real, and I wanted very badly to understand what I was seeing, to put a Name to the things I saw. I was a kid-I could cope with ghosts, or fairies, or spirits! I was not going to admit I was afraid! I even wanted to interact with them, to see them more often, to see them more clearly. I was curious about Ouija boards, and wanted to know if I was a witch or not, and if I could do something with this ability to see, and if it made me special.
I think that was why she did it really. Because even though I knew damn good and well to NOT go with the little lights in the woods, to NOT touch an Ouija board, to NOT mess with things I did not understand, I still wanted to. Why? Well, partly I was twelve and you’re an idiot when you’re twelve, and partly because I wanted to believe.
I wanted to believe in nice fairies, in magic that worked, in chatty ghosts like Casper. I wanted to believe that I was a special little girl, and that the things that went bump in the night would be my friends, and that I didn’t have to be afraid of them.
Let me tell y’all, nothing knocks the sugar dust and glitter off the paranormal like good ole John Keel. Because fairies are NOT nice. They are child stealing psychopaths. Ghosts don’t giggle, they throw things and start fires sometimes. And those little lights? They smell like rotten eggs and burn your skin and eyes. Don’t even get me started on Mothman and other hairy monsters.
My mother’s point was clear-here there be dragons, child, and best not draw attention to yourself.
Keel’s point, however, is a little more nuanced than that, and I keep that statement in mind to this day because of that nuance. His point is that the entities and lights, the hairy monsters and MIB all seem to be engaged in peddling belief in themselves. They either take a person who holds an existing belief and conform to their expectations, appearing as an angel to a Catholic for instance, OR appear as something that conforms to something that can be believed by society. As a space traveller stepping from a spacecraft, for example.
These entities then spend a considerable amount of time badgering perfectly innocent people, convincing them that they are not only real, but that they have a very important message for you! And that you must SPREAD THE WORD! And get others to believe in them too! They then make the poor person who does spread the word of the space people into a cult figure, surrounded by other believers, all waiting breathlessly for the next message from the entities, all while various and sundry weird things happen to them and their family. Sometimes quite frightening things. They then usually buzz off and leave them bereft and looking insane, their life possibly in shambles.
Another facet of “Belief is the enemy,” according to Keel, is the imitative nature of the phenomena: that is, not only will you see an angel if you believe in them, but if you are too certain of any theory about the phenomena it will begin producing evidence to fit your theory! Now, how the hell are you supposed to figure anything out when something like that happens?
The answer, I suspect, is YOU CAN’T. And I wonder if perhaps, that is the point?
So, where does that leave me?
I, personally, have no real idea what is going on. I never really have (except for a brief period when I was twelve, before, I was disabused of that notion by my mother and John Keel. ) And, I accept that I never really will. I certainly have suspicions, thoughts, and even a bit of a spiritual system. But I do not BELIEVE fully in anything regarding the phenomena. I always allow doubt to creep in-even on things I’ve seen. I allow for the possibility of a Rational Explanation.
I suspect that is the safest way to handle it. It’s also a good exercise in trying to avoid bias-I do not want to ever ignore evidence or testimony simply because it won’t fit into what I already think. That seems like poor research to me. So I keep an open mind, and I don’t let my wish to understand outweigh my caution when it come to belief.
Where does this leave you?
Well, wherever you would like it too-I won’t ask you to believe me.
