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How does natural become supernatural? Critically discuss

different types of supernatural with suitable cross-cultural
examples.

The world consists of both the natural and supernatural, the material and the
spiritual. There are many natural and supernatural phenomena that cannot be
adequately explained by man-made doctrines. Leading scientific doctrines
address what can be perceive with our five natural senses, but omits or
attempts to disprove supernatural phenomenon. There is more to the world
than what we can perceive with our five senses. A supernatural God,
according to the believers of God, formed the natural world. Through faith we
perceive spiritual things that are outside our five senses.

Anthropologists and sociologists do not explain these two things from the
perspectives of the theologists. They tried to explore the origin and
development of these concepts. Specifically sociologists regarded supernatural
beings as the creation of society and human being. To understand the process
of how a natural phenomenon becomes supernatural we need to have, first of
all, clear idea about both the terms.

What is natural?

Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical

world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical
world, and also to life in general. It ranges in scale from the subatomic to the
cosmic. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural)

If anything is natural than it must function or occur in a normal way; lacks

abnormalities or deficiencies. Concepts that are natural need to be with causal
explanation (external cause).

So, natural things are worthy and capable of explanations. We can explain
why this or that happens or exists. These things, in concise form, can be said
as ordinary or normal things. Our five senses can be enough to understand and
feel natural phenomena.
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What is supernatural?

The supernatural or supranatural (Latin: super, supra "above" + natura

"nature") is anything above or beyond what one holds to be natural. In the case
of one who has strong scientific and atheistic beliefs, the supernatural is
anything unexplainable by natural law. While one who holds mystical or
theistic beliefs may have no conception of supernatural phenomena, they
might perceive the scientist's natural laws, on their own, as being subnatural.
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/supernatural)

One complicating factor is that there is no universal agreement about what the
definition of “natural” is, and what the limits of naturalism might be. Concepts
in the supernatural domain are closely related to concepts in religious
spirituality and occultism or spiritualism. Additionally, by definition anything
that exists naturally is not supernatural.

The term "supernatural" is often used interchangeably with paranormal or

preternatural — the latter typically limited to an adjective for describing
abilities which appear to exceed the bounds of possibility. Likewise, legendary
characters such as vampires and leprechauns are not considered supernatural.

Many supporters believe that past, present, and future complexities and
mysteries of the universe cannot be explained solely by naturalistic means and
argue that it is reasonable to assume that a non-natural entity or entities
resolve the unexplained. By its own definition, science is incapable of
examining or testing for the existence of things that have no physical effects,
because its methods rely on the observation of physical effects. Proponents of
supernaturalism claim that their belief system is more flexible, which allows
more diversity in terms of intuition and epistemology. Some opponents argue
that many supernatural claims involve physical phenomena which can be
tested, but believe that scientific tests to date have failed to uphold the validity
of those claims.

Views on the "supernatural" include that it is:

• Indistinct from nature: From this perspective, some events occur

according to physical laws, and others occur according to a separate set
of principles external to known physics. For example, those who believe
in angels and spirits generally think that they are naturally present in the
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cosmos. Some religious people also believe that all things that humans
see as natural act in a systematic fashion only because God wills it so,
and that natural laws are an extension of divine will.

• Incorrectly attributed to nature: Others believe that all events have

natural and only natural causes. They believe that human beings ascribe
supernatural attributes to purely natural events, such as lightning,
rainbows, floods, and the origin of life. Opponents of the idea of the
supernatural point out that our knowledge of the world is continuously
increasing. Some occurrences, once assumed supernatural, can today be
explained by scientific theories. Studies suggest supernatural
phenomena are not detectable in scientifically controlled conditions.
There have been, for example, various studies on astrology, most of
them with negative results.

• Part of a larger nature: This is a view largely held by monists and

process theorists. According to this view, the "supernatural" is just a
term for parts of nature that modern science and philosophy do not yet
properly understand, similar to how sound and lightning used to be
mysterious forces to science. Materialist monists believe that the
"supernatural" consists of things in the physical universe not yet
understood by modern science, while idealist monists reject the concept
of "supernatural" on the grounds that they believe "nature" is the non-
material. Neutral monists maintain that "nature" and "supernature" are
artificial categories as they believe that the material and non-material
are both either equally real and simultaneously existent, or illusions that
stem from the human mind's interpretation of reality.

What do we consider to be real or natural or normal? And what do we

consider to be unreal, supernatural or paranormal? If we had our "Theory Of
Everything" as Stephen Hawking suggests, in truth, nothing would be
supernatural. It's just that there are some things we don't yet understand well
enough.

In the meantime, we're left describing things in our limited space/time terms.
We have things like the Law Of Attraction that we can't explain, but it works.
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There is a number of supernatural prevailing in this earth. They are holding

numerous attributes. Some of the well-known supernatural things are as
follows with their attributes:

• Gods: personified, named, individually known supernatural of

nonhuman origin.
• Spirits: collectivized, usually not individually named supernaturals of
nonhuman origin.
• Souls of the death: supernatural of human origin.
• Ghosts: souls of the dead that, in spite of precautions, return to the
living, usually to disturb them.
• Ancestor gods: supernatural beings of human origin.
• Ancestor souls: supernatural beings of human origin.
• Culture heroes: supernatural being of semi-divine origin who gave
important culture traits to the group.
• Tricksters: supernatural being of semi-divine origin who may
accidentally give important culture traits to the group, but are not
basically concerned with human welfare.

The Chinese folklore, for example, has many supernatural being in their cult.
Some of those are Bardo, Bā Jiāo Guǐ, Diào Sǐ Guǐ, È Guǐ, Guǐ Shù, Jiāng
Shī, Nǚ Guǐ, Rì Běn Guǐ Bīng, Shuǐ Guǐ, Yóu Hún Yě Guǐ and many others.

How does natural become supernatural?

To understand the process of how every supernatural entity takes the

designation of “supernatural” we must visit the social history of human being.
Primitive people, back in BC, lived their live through hunting, gathering,
agriculture etc. They had little or no knowledge about most of the social
events. They did not know what is thunder, sun, storm, and they even did not
know that elephent is just an animal. As a result of their ignorance of about
these things they regarded all as a supernatural entity. Later when they found
causal explanations of those things they no more regarded those as
supernatural or some may still deem those as supernatural because of their
believe system. But all the above things are natural in nature. Through this
process, these things became supernatural.
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“Mana” is an important example of this process. It is just a stone. But it is not

just a stone to the Melanesian. This natural thing has become supernatural
because it is believed that it has something extra power in it. When people of
that region found that this stone is working in their works and bringing good
luck to them they started to consider it as supernatural. Toward the end of the
nineteenth century, R.H. Codrington, as missionary in Melanesia from 1883 to
1887, had a lot of chance to know about “mana”. According to Codrington,

A man comes by chance upon a stone which takes his fancy; its shape is
singular, it is like something, it is certainly not a common stone, there must
be mana in it … he lays it at the root of a tree to the fruit of which it has
certain resemblance … an abundant crop on the tree shows that he is right,
the stone is mana … if a man is successful in fighting, it has not been his
natural strength of arm… he has certainly got the mana of a spirit or of some
deceased warrior to empower him.(1891: 118-20)

Similarly, the concepts of ghost and soul have come into being from a
natural phenomenon. In their dreams (natural phenomenon) the
primitive man had seen their deceased ancestor and they become
surprised by this. They started to believe that their ancestor is still living
around them; they (ancestor) had returned or failed to go to the after
life. From their the concept of soul and ghost arrived. By means of such
many other ways natural being becomes supernatural, ordinary becomes
extra ordinary.

To know the origin of the supernatural, we have three dimensions.

Supernatural beings of nonhuman origin, supernatural being of human
origin, and quasi-human supernatural being.

Among those explanations about origin of supernatural being, the first

one does not speak about natural things becoming supernatural. Rather
it focuses on many supernatural powers that are known as god. Gods are
believed to be self-created. Gods are individually known, named, and
personalized; they are recognizable by their given attributes. Their
numbers within any given religious system may be large or small;
occasionally there is only one.

The second perspective includes the sphere of my discussions. It shows

that supernatural being can have human (natural thing) origin. The dead
may become like gods or spirits, but often they retain their old
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individuality and personality, forming a separate category of the

supernatural. Sometimes they are quite powerful in their right, or have
great influence upon gods and spirits.

Semi divine or quasi-divine supernatural being also shows semi natural

origin of supernatural. But it does not contain the exact explanations we
need regarding our area of interest in this assignment.

To know more about the nature and criteria as well as processes of

becoming supernatural beings from natural beings, description about the
types of supernatural being can be helpful. Major types of supernatural
beings are introduced bellow.

Impersonal supernatural power:

The impersonal pole implies a conception of the supernatural centered

on impersonal power which transcends the phenomena of ordinary life
(Norbeck, 1961:36). Power of this kind is not the permanent ownership
or intrinsic attribute of gods or other spiritual entities but exists
everywhere in man’s universe. The impersonal supernatural may be
handled like a material object; it may be gained by means impersonal
and mechanical. In some religious beliefs it is given by one mortal to
another, may be purchased or sold. It may also be lost, gained, and
shared with other human beings, and supernatural being might also lose
or gain it. It may work only for good in one society, and in another it
may be harmful.

R.H. Codrington, as missionary in Melanesia from 1883 to 1887,

attracted a great deal of scholarly attention by his published
observations about a Melanesian belief in an impersonal supernatural
power called mana . Mana was neither spirit nor deity, but an all
pervasive neutral force outside the common processes of nature,
working automatically. Ghosts and spirit also possessed this power.
Mana was not, then, an inherent property, but a quality that could come
and go.

Since the time of Codrington, mana has come to be used generically to

mean impersonal supernatural power, and it is sometimes used to mean
simply supernatural power whether personified or impersonal. The term
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itself also exists in the language of the nearby Polynesians, and a similar
but not identical concept was important in the culture of aboriginal
Polynesia. Polynesian mana , like its Melanesian relative, was highly
communicable but it was much more dangerous.

The kami of aboriginal Japan appears to have resembled polynasian

mana in some respects. The ordinary person in Japan did not gain and
lose kami ; it was the attribute of those men and objects which were
above and beyond ordinary man.

The religious beliefs of North American Indians are particularly rich in

concepts of supernatural power of varying degree of impersonality, and
for many tribal groups impersonal power has been described as a
prominent element.

In our country we also have believe in many impersonal supernatural

power. Many of us believe in ring with stones in it and have strong
feelings about that stone which can produce good for us. Similarly
different ethnic communities like Santal, Garo, Khasia, Chakma and
others have such impersonal supernatural powers too.

The wakan of the Siouan tribes embraced the entire supernatural world
and served as a generic term for it. The buha of the White Knife
Shoshoni of Nevada, neighbours of the Northern Paiute, was also
similar. One had to have buha in order merely to live.

These examples of concepts of impersonal power have of course

emphasized the impersonal criteria.

Personified supernatural power:

“Personified” means a conception of the supernatural in terms of the

attributes of human beings, a projection of the self or ego so that the
supernatural is viewed as being composed of and controlled by man-like
beings or forces which behave as men behave (Norbeck, 1961:36). Man
created the supernatural world in his own image. Natural phenomena
such as rain, storms, the wind, or the sun and even abstract philosophic
conceptions may be personified so that they have the emotions and
behavior of man. Like man, these supernatural beings judge, and like
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men they are good, bad, angry, pleased, frightful, benign, steadfast,
capricious, lovable, and unlovable.

Although the belief in impersonal supernatural powers is not universal,

the belief in personified supernatural power is. Everywhere man has
created gods in his own image, as was noted by the pre-Socratic
philosopher Xenophanes (c. 570 B.C.-c.470 B.C.):

Yea, and if oxen and horses and lions had hands, and could paint
with their hands, and provide works of art, as men do, horses would
paint the forms of gods like horses, and oxen like oxen, and make
their bodies in the image of their several kinds(Gragment 13)

And later he says : The Ethiopians make their gods black and mule-nosed; the
Thracians say theirs have blue eyes and red hair (Fragment 16).

The term anthropomorphism is applied when supernatural powers resemble

men in their physical appearances, while theriomorphism or zoomorphism
means that the supernatural powers resemble animals. Deities are not
everywhere depicted in human or animal shape, but they always possess some
human qualities. Goode has described gods as anthroposocial, meaning that
these personified supernatural powers are intellectually aware of the values of
the society, and generally endorse them (1951: 43-44). Moreover, supernatural
powers are also anthropopsychic i.e., they have been assigned many traits of
human mentality (1951: 50-51).

The last two traits have great social consequences. Anthroposociality implies
that supernatural powers are interested in social welfare of the group, and it
thus establishes a social relationship between gods and men. Because
supernatural entities are anthropopsychic, human activities can influence
them. Like human beings, deities can be moved by pity, flattered by praise or
gifts, or tricked by ploy. Like human beings they may be proud, vain, petulant,
moody, wise, loving, concerned, or generous.

Perhaps the best examples of strongly personified religion are Judaism,

Christianity, and Islam, wherein the important and omnipotent supernatural
entity is often conceived as having human form. Even in these religions,
however, ideas of impersonal power are included as minor elements. Among
Muslims, the idea of barakka, a supernatural power which resides in religious
practitioners, rulers, mountains, and children, and which may be transmitted
by contact.
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Supernatural beings are sometimes anthroposocial in a different sense; the

heavenly social organization often reflects that on earth. Many gods are
married, and have offspring, Zeus and Hera in the Greek tradition, and Oddin
and Trigga of Norse mythology, are two well known divine couples.

The Kotas of the Nilgiri Hills in southern India have an elder father god, a
younger father god, and a mother goddess. In Japan the household spirits of
the deceased retain the family status they held in life. Among the South
African Thonga, the status of the spirits depends, in part, upon that of their
relatives. Political hierarchy also may be projected into the supernatural world:
the hierarchical stratification of the Polynesian Tonga gods, for example,
closely resembles that of Tonga society.

Personification of the supernatural beings means that man conceptualizes them

in his own physical, social, and psychological image. In Barton’s study of the
Ifugaos, some five thousand different deities were identified for him by family
priests (1946). Even in our country, we have the concept of deities, demons,
angels etc.

Religion, whether it is a creation of society or god, helps people of a particular

community to conform to a one code of conduct and to establish order.
Supernatural being whether it is personified or impersonal can have either
natural origin or nonhuman origin. This cross-cultural analysis of supernatural
being strives to increase our knowledge about religion and the origin of
religion.

References

• Norbeck E. 1961, Religion in Primitive society.

• Malefijt A. M. 1968, Religion and culture: An Introduction to

Anthropology of Religion.

• Internet resources.