What makes you a paranormal expert? [Fortean Tea]

(update) "Expert" is defined as a person who has authoritative knowledge. Who would you say is an authority in the paranormal community?Just to be clear, I do believe someone can be an anthropologist or a folklorist and be considered an expert. I did not mean to imply that every paranormal field cannot have any experts. I suppose I meant something more along the lines of, you cannot be an expert on ghost behavior, the spirit world, hauntings, cryptozoology, UFOs, or aliens. Because we have yet to pin down such phenomena. I mean, we don’t even know for sure that these things actually exist, so how can you be an expert on them?You can be an expert on the data that has to do with those things, like how many reports have come out of what areas, etc. but I mean to say that no one is an expert on the more abstract subjects within the paranormal realm. I don’t know though, I don’t want to discredit Shamans or anything like that though. However I don’t really think a shaman would describe themselves as an expert either. And even so, every shaman, every spiritual person, will tell you something different about the metaphysical world. Everyone has their own perception, their own methods, experiences, so how can one person be right, a.k.a. an expert?

One more thing i want to be more specific about. Words like journalist - scholar - investigator - researcher - learner - imply a process, a journey. Words like expert - master - imply a destination that has been reached. Imply a closed ending. So of course someone can be a reiki master or something, I'm not saying that's not allowed, but I would argue you can't be a UFO master, a ghost master... In my opinion. Partly because there's no accreditation system, and partly because we don't even understand what these things are, or if they're even real as we know them. (end update)

Forgot to introduce this as another segment of Fortean Tea! This is another 10 minute challenge, AKA stripdown challenge, AKA completely raw unedited video meaning I do pause, fumble, display general awkwardness. Today’s subject is inspired by a figure in the paranormal community (probably among many others) whose bio I stumbled upon, to find they have identified themselves as a “paranormal expert”. After spending the rest of the day wondering how one possibly reaches that qualification, pondering on such a strong and absolute word as “expert”, I almost synchronistically heard this quote as if it was directly addressing the question in my mind: “There are no [bigfoot] experts, only learners.” (Cliff from Finding Bigfoot). I believe that if I read dozens of books, heard dozens of stories, met dozens of people, traveled dozens of miles to visit locations in the field, I’d never be comfortable calling myself an expert. Learner, yes; philosopher, maybe; theorist, maybe; interpreter, -- ehh, maybe; explorer, yes; 2-cents-giver, sure. Expert? Never – because that would indicate we have reached the point where there are PROVEN FACTS. And right now, we don’t have that. Despite the clumsiness of this video, I THINK I made the points I wanted to make. The thing that gets me about investigators and voices in the paranormal community is they always state things as fact, as absolutes, as if they KNOW. And like... dude... you don't.

paranormal,ghost hunting,paranormal research,fortean,forteana,paranormal investigation,