THE SUPERNATURAL
Aim: What is the Supernatural?
Learning objective: To use critical thinking in explaining the concept of the
supernatural
Many people talk about the supernatural world or supernatural events. We have prepared
a chart with some situations. Read each story and decide whether this event is natural or
supernatural, based on your experience. Use the right column of the chart to write the
reasons that support your opinion
Situation
Natural or
Why?
supernatural?
1. Your best friend was absent from
school yesterday. Today she came
back with a cast leg. She said she had Natural
a car accident, but she can't
remember anything.
Many people are
unconscious when in an
accident. This is completely
natural!
2. This little kid is followed by a
gang of classmates determined this
time to catch him and beat him up
well. The kid jumps some trash cans
in the school yard. The others corner
Supernatural
him. There's no escape. He jumps
again and all of a sudden he realizes
that he is on the rooftop. He later gets
reprimanded by the principal for
walking on the school roof.
There is no way someone
could’ve jumped from the
ground to the roof with
regular shoes on! Some
force beyond our
knowledge must have
realized that this kid was in
some real trouble and gave
him a break by helping him
escape a grim fate. Perhaps
this force had been
murdered and decided to
help people who could
possibly end up like him, so
they don’t!
3. In my dream grandmother told me
that 2,6, and 7 are my lucky numbers.
Supernatural
I played the lottery the next day and I
won 5,000 dollars!
That would be quite a
coincidence for those
winning numbers to come
up in a dream without some
kind of supernatural force!
Actually, it would be quite
impossible and unlikely! I
would love for that to
happen to me!
4. The leader saw the enemy
This would not be possible
Supernatural
approaching. His own people were
weary and discouraged. They
wouldn't last a minute the emperor's
disciplined and well-armed troops.
Just in front of him the sea was calm,
deep, and endless. It prevented any
escape from death and captivity. But
he knew what to do. He stroke the
land with his cane and all of a sudden
the waters departed. There was now a
path in the middle of the sea where
his people could walk away from
danger.
5. His great-great-grandfather at the
beginning of time was the prairie
buffalo, the one that gives his tribe
strength and courage to battle
enemies and storms. Every Indian
knows this fundamental fact and
respects the buffalo and all living
animals.
without a supernatural force
helping. Water cannot be
controlled by simply
striking the ground with a
cane without the help of
something beyond our
wildest dreams.
Natural
Many Indian stories evolve
into something that could
certainly never occur
because, of course, this
could never happen. This
story could be told to many
warriors to give them
strength in a time of war,
and it can seem real to
them, but to the rest of us,
it’s a legend.
Give examples of a natural event and another example of a supernatural event. What
about an event you are not sure of? Use your own life and experience. Write at least an
event and be prepared to motivate why you placed that event in one of these three
categories.
Natural event
Short description: My
mom placed a towel
above our curtains for
some reason today, but
when she got home from
work, the towel was gone.
She later found it by our
front door.
Supernatural event
You are not sure?
Short description: One
year, my cousin and I
were at the mall. She was
17 and I was 7. There was
this drawing for a new
mustang; if you guessed
the correct number of car
keys in the huge jar, you
won the car! Holly (my
cousin) closed her eyes to
think about it. Then, she
said that her deceased
Short description: About 2
years ago, my friend from
Oklahoma was run over by a
car when she was sledding
down a hill and ran into it.
She was driven to the
emergency room. While in
the ambulance, the people
said that in these cases,
victims usually break their
backs or both of their legs.
When Allie got to the
grandmother gave her the
correct number. It turns
out the number she
guessed was right on
point. There were 256
keys in the jar!
emergency room, the doctor
just said she had a fractured
elbow. At the time, I also had
a fractured elbow.
Rationale: I have no idea
how she would’ve
Rationale: There is a
guessed this number
completely rational
without some
explanation for this event. supernatural force helping
My dog could’ve torn it her. To me, I remember,
down, or I even could’ve there looked like there
knocked it down without were at least 500 in the
knowing and my dog
jar! Holly was also the
could’ve dragged it.
lowest guesser; everyone
else guessed 400 or up. I
really can’t explain this!
Rationale: I’m not really sure
about this one. People in
these accidents are usually
hurt much worse, so she
might have been just lucky,
or something else could’ve
helped her. I also thought it
was odd that I had just
fractured my elbow a couple
days before, but that is
probably just a coincidence.
Aim: How Do Some People Explain the Supernatural?
There are numerous ways of explaining the supernatural. Let us present one of them.
There are two different worlds that stay separated most of the time. Sometimes, not quite
often, these two worlds come into contact. This is when supernatural creatures visit the
natural world for a short time.
Natural World
Supernatural World
In the world of fairy tales and ancient myths, there is also the possibility that the most
powerful heroes find a way to the supernatural world: they slay dragons, they battle
monsters and witches, and they even visit the world of the dead. Gilgamesh, Hercules,
and Orpheus went there to prove their power or to search for answers.
Some of you saw Harry Potter, the movie, or you read the book. Remember Fluffy, the
three-headed dog that guards the Sorcerer's Stone? Fluffy is in fact Cerberus, the monster
whose only weakness is the sound of music. This is how Orpheus convinced him to let
him into the Underworld to look for his dead wife, Eurydice.
Written Assignment:
1. Do you know of any other way of explaining the supernatural? Suggestion: Use this
quote to draft another possible answer:
"The supernatural is the natural not yet understood"
Copied from Internet January 4, 2009: http://www.teachnetlab.org/fklane/dracula/dracula/I.%20The%20supernatural.htm
The Supernatural is supernatural because it isn’t understood quite yet. It is
beyond natural. It does things we don’t understand. A force of the supernatural
could’ve been murdered, but saved someone from the same fate. We, in the natural
world, wouldn’t understand this because of our worldly desires. We are too
wrapped up in ourselves to think of others before us. A force may seek redemption
and completes a good deed for that forgiveness. Some things in the Supernatural
world could be the undead; they haven’t gone to God or the devil. To be put in
either place, they can commit an awful crime or they can complete an excellent
exploit.