What Is The Supernatural?

I have found that the concept of the supernatural is something perhaps misunderstood by a greater number of people than those who rightly understand it.  First I must define the supernatural in order to elaborate more on the subject.  The supernatural is that beyond or above nature (the material world).  The cosmos encompasses all of nature--all atoms and their configurations, all actual universes in any hypothetical multiverse.  So the supernatural, to be beyond the cosmos, must in some way involve something immaterial.

Logic is immaterial [1] and thus is not a part of nature, though it universally governs the totality of the material world.  Consciousness, being immaterial [2], is not a part of nature, although my consciousness is intimately intertwined with my material body.  It is often overlooked how neither is a part of nature itself.  On the strictest possible meaning of the word supernatural, logic and human consciousness do qualify as supernatural things, as they are not a part of nature itself despite their close relationship to it.

However, logic and consciousness, although they are purely immaterial, are not what most people mean by the word "supernatural."  Similarly, although morality can only be a supernatural thing, since a moral obligation is not a tangible thing comprised of matter, many people do not seem to think of morality as a supernatural concept.  Often the word is reserved for some extra-natural energy or unembodied spirit, a consciousness without a body, as opposed to consciousness that is trapped within a body.  Most people do not seem to view their own minds as supernatural, but seem quite willing to use the word in reference to the concept of a ghost, a demon, or a purely immaterial deity.  In such cases it seems that people really view something that deviates from the familiarity of their regular experiences as supernatural, not just something that is metaphysically above or separate from nature.

There is another thing that is by definition supernatural on either the strictest or casual meaning of the word.  The uncaused cause [3], being responsible for creating nature, must by necessity be beyond it.  What preceded nature cannot not be supernatural.  It cannot be a part of the natural world.  The uncaused cause, like logic and my own consciousness, must exist necessarily in order for the physical world to come into existence at all; it is possible, however seemingly unlikely, though, that my consciousness is the uncaused cause.  I cannot disprove this possibility and can only bring up evidences that make it seem highly improbable.  But the fact remains true that there is a deity: there is an uncaused cause.

It is only out of stupidity that some might dismiss the very idea of the supernatural as something impossible.  There is nothing logically impossible about the existence of an unembodied consciousness, an afterlife, or mystical energy.  In fallacious stupor, some might be quick to mock the concept of the supernatural, but rational reflection shows that those with a bias against the supernatural are just as guilty of idiocy as those who believe in the supernatural (in the casual sense) without proof--aka on faith.


[1].  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-immateriality-of-logic.html

[2].  See here:
A.  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-immateriality-of-consciousness.html
B.  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-mind-body-problem.html

[3].  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-uncaused-cause.html