A journal I guess

Common sense and when to apply it

You've heard the word common sense before, I'm sure. When someone says "the sun is a star." You'll say, that's just common sense. But why is something considered common sense, and what exactly does it mean?

Common sense, in simple terms, is making a judgment based on facts or perceived facts that almost everyone considers true. If you know that the sun is a star, you'll also know that the sun is hot because it's a star. What's common sense now, wasn't common sense 100 years ago. And what's common sense now won't be in a 100 years. For example, it was common sense that women were supposed to only be domestic housewives. But this was proven to be false and discriminatory. Sometimes, common sense can be based on false ideas. That's why it's important to not jump at the mention of the paranormal and say, "it's common sense that they do/don't exist!"

Current common sense in the modern world is based on hard evidence, more than speculation. We know that the sun is a star, because we've used telescopes and sattelites to study it for many years. It may be a fact that most people know, but that doesn't mean that it isn't backed by science. People think using "common sense" is a final statement. Since it's common sense to you, then surely nobody can challenge your ideas. But for something as uncertain as the paranormal, common sense doesn't apply anymore. Paranormal itself contradicts everything sensible. It opposes the natural world and goes against science and the core of science. Most paranormal occurrences can't be caught or proven using our modern technology. Just because there isn't enough evidence of its existence, doesn't mean there's none AT ALL. Spirituality (non-religious) itself is a very personal experience, unique to the individual. Most of it is only witness accounts. As I said in the previous chapter, it's best to give people the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the paramormal, particularly Them, since we all have only seen glimpses of a bigger picture. We have no way of knowing how these creatures behave or what motivation they might have for doing what they do, unless we encounter them on a personal level. There's of course a lot of scientific data backing some of the more believable creatures, and the more believable occurrences. Although it's again debateable on what someone considers believeable. For example, the multiverse, or timeline theory is, while a theory, still a theory based on evidence.

So where exactly can we apply common sense? Only on things we have the full picture of, and not bits and pieces. It is common sense, for example, that the paranormal aren't all malevolent. Because there's evidence suggesting or proving the existence of neutral or benevolent creatures. But when it comes to Them, we have little to no data to go off of. It's particularly difficult to tell what information should be taken at face value and what shouldn't, and what is true and what isn't. That's why personal accounts are IMPORTANT. If several people report similar or the same creature, that can be used as a form of data. We can research all we want, but when there's nothing to compare it to, it becomes useless. For example, you might have found information about a creature that's not considered intelligent, but several people report it as intelligent. That's where contradictory information comes in, and where you know you should research the topic more.

What do we take away from this? Common sense can't apply unless we have data to go off of. And even then, data can be contradictory and should be looked into further before it can be considered common sense.