Why Smart People Believe in the Unseen: A Look at Logic and the Paranormal
There is a specific kind of silence that falls over a room when you mention the "paranormal" in professional circles. It’s the silence of lost credibility. In the modern world, we are taught that the battle of logic vs faith in spirituality has a clear winner. You can be rational, or you can be spiritual—but you certainly cannot be both.
For years, I treated my skepticism like a suit of armor. I grew up in an environment where anything related to the unseen was dismissed as "mumbo-jumbo." To survive, I adopted the language of logic. I became a Project Manager. I lived in spreadsheets, timelines, and tangible deliverables.
But here is the secret I kept hidden behind that armor: the experiences came first.
While I was managing projects by day, I was living a double life by night. I became a closet scholar, looking for a skeptic’s guide to spirituality. I poured over ancient texts and neuroscience of spiritual experiences in the quiet hours, trying to reconcile the impossible things I had experienced with the cold, hard world I was supposed to live in. I sought answers in silence because I was afraid that speaking out would cost me my standing as a "smart" person.
But as I dug deeper, I realized I wasn't alone. History is full of brilliant minds who refused to choose between analytical spirituality and the unknown.
The Materialist Trap
We are often told that belief in the paranormal is a relic of the past. We are pressured to adhere to a strict Materialist worldview: if you can’t measure it, weigh it, or poke it, it doesn’t exist. This leaves many of us struggling with the psychology of belief in ghosts versus the reality of our own lives.
But true intelligence isn’t about dismissing the unknown; it’s about exploring it.
When I was researching for my upcoming book, Quiet All Along, I found that the divide between science and spirituality is actually a very recent invention. For centuries, the smartest people in the room were often the ones holding the séance.
Geniuses Who Looked Beyond the Veil
If you feel like your logical brain is at war with your intuition, take comfort in the company you keep. Here are three giants of history who used their immense intellect to explore physics and the spiritual realm.
1. Pierre and Marie Curie
The Curies are the ultimate heavyweights of science. They discovered radium and polonium; Marie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize. They were the definition of rigorous, empirical scientists.
They were also avid investigators of the paranormal. They famously attended séances with the medium Eusapia Palladino, not to mock her, but to conduct a skeptical paranormal investigation. Pierre Curie once wrote, "There is here, in my opinion, a whole domain of entirely new facts... of which we have no conception." He didn't see "ghosts" as magic; he saw them as physics we hadn’t figured out yet.
2. Thomas Edison
The man who gave us the light bulb was a pragmatist to his core. Yet, towards the end of his life, Edison began looking for scientific evidence for the afterlife.
He theorized that life was indestructible and that our "life units" might retain memory. He was even rumored to be working on a "spirit phone" to test his consciousness after death theories. For Edison, the afterlife wasn't a religious hope; it was an engineering problem waiting to be solved.
3. Carl Jung
Jung is the father of analytical psychology. But he also gave us the concept of synchronicity and what it means—the idea that meaningful coincidences are not accidents, but a glimpse into the underlying order of the universe.
Jung’s entire career was a balancing act between the clinical and the mystical. He pioneered a form of analytical spirituality, suggesting that the human psyche is connected to something far vaster than just the brain.
The Science of "I Don't Know"
The most scientific phrase in the English language is not "That's impossible." It is "I don't know."
My journey from a skeptic in armor to the author of Quiet All Along wasn't about abandoning logic. It was about expanding it. It was about realizing that the Project Manager part of my brain could work with the part of me that sensed the veil between worlds.
We live in a universe composed largely of Dark Matter—things we cannot see yet which hold our galaxy together. If science admits that 95% of the universe is invisible to us, is it really so irrational to think there might be more to unexplained phenomena than we currently understand?
It’s Okay to Look
If you are a rational person who has had an irrational experience—signs from deceased loved ones, a dream that came true, or a feeling you couldn't shake—you don't have to dismiss it to protect your intelligence.
Mindfulness for skeptics is about observing these moments without judgment. Skepticism is healthy. It keeps us grounded. But it shouldn't be a cage.
My armor served me well for a long time, but taking it off allowed me to finally write the truth about what I’ve seen. It turns out, you can be smart, you can be successful, and you can still leave the door open for the magic to get in.
Join the Conversation Have you ever had an experience you kept secret for fear of looking "crazy"? I’d love to hear about it. Share your story in the comments below—this is a safe space for the rational believer.
My memoir, Quiet All Along: A Skeptic’s Journey into the Unexplained, is coming soon. Sign up for the newsletter to get exclusive updates on books about skepticism and faith.