The paradox of the paranormal, and the new normal

Anyone who has dabbled in the field of the paranormal for any time runs head-on into what I call the "paranormal paradox": that paranormal phenomena are undoubtedly real, but proof will always be elusive. Or, any proof that you try to gather to establish the objective reality of paranormal phenomena that you witness will ultimately fail the objective tests of others.

In essence, the paranormal is real, but you will never be allowed to prove it (or allowed to undeniably prove it).

I believe that there's a simple reason for this. Robert Monroe, one of my prime inspirations and a giant in the paranormal field who sought to apply objective, rational analysis to the experience of OOBEs, posited in Far Journeys that:

the conditions of entering physical life as a human are relatively strict. It is as if a detailed agreement is entered into. First, the energy form must agree that time-space truly does exist. Without this agreement, it is impossible to have primary human consciousness. The energy form must agree that there is a time, such as the 1980s or any other time frame by earth reckoning. It must be agreed also that there truly is a planet earth designed and created in the form that it is. It must further agree that consciousness expressed as a human has certain characteristics and limitations.

This "contract of human experience" is alluded to in many other esoteric writings, and I believe that it is valid. We are born under contract to believe unquestioningly in the inviolability of physical existence and physical laws; it is unconscious but also absolute. The aversion toward any phenomena that seeks to undermine this perceived physicality is so profound that most of us "tune out" paranormal phenomena; when our filters fail and the paranormal manifests, we have several responses: we debunk it; we explain it away; or we ignore it. To embrace the paranormal seems to violate some unconscious taboo that threatens the nature of our physical existence.

I believe, however, that such laws are not immutable. Some writers (Michael Newton, Jane Roberts, and others) believe that the coming century will see a loosening of the strict physical contract. Humans born in this century will be born under a looser contract, and what now is viewed as paranormal may become the new normal. There's a lot of anecdotal evidence that this is already happening. Rather than entering into any sort of hokey "new age," I think simply that we are entering a new normal. And I welcome it.