Mistakes, Myths and Possible True Myths

Ok we have determined that the automatic dismissal of the ancient witness of supernatural events merely because they were stories of the supernatural is not true skepticism. It is an intellectually dishonest refusal to even investigate a claim because of some prior predetermined heretofore unsubstantiated dogma. A true skeptic retains an open mind that the proposition one is being skeptical about may in fact be true, and remains open to all evidence presented. With that said let’s quickly pick apart and narrow down these tales of the supernatural.

I think we can separate most stories of the supernatural into three different groups. The first category I would term the stories of mistake. What do I mean by this? Certain tales of the supernatural can be dismissed due to the fact that people were merely mistaken in their beliefs. We now know that lightening, volcanoes, and earthquakes are not a sign of the angry gods, that comets are not cosmic messengers of doom etc. In other words, these tales were supernatural explanations for what we now know as natural phenomena. We can dismiss these as they are not truly tales of the supernatural.

The second category I would term the stories of myth. These stories are set in some undetermined time in some undetermined place. An example of this is the Greek myths. People may have believed them as true at one time, but they have no ground in history with no one actually witnessing any of the events. We can dismiss these as there is no evidence that they actually happened any more than the tale of Jack and the bean stalk or Cinderella.

The third category I would term the stories of possible true myths. These are the stories of supernatural events that are set in an actual place and an actual time with actual eye witnesses. It is these stories that demand a closer look.