Maintain a well balanced Group Membership

For any team of people working together the balance of the group is very important. CaSPIR is scientifically based with a strong sceptical bias, so you would expect such a group to have a membership made up of likeminded people. We need to have a bias towards members that are able to keep their feet firmly on the ground, but that can remain open minded and importantly respect the different views of others. This may sound easy, but finding a group of individuals who can work this way as a team is not easy, particularly if you have members who are very much believers and sensitive’s.

The average group comprises a mix of, Hard Line Sceptics (sometimes these are disbelievers), Open minded Sceptics, Uncommitted, Believers, Sensitive's and Psychics. You will also find the normal mix of human characteristics, personalities and eccentricities, some good some less so.

Imagine if you will a group made up of hard line sceptic disbelievers and passionate believers where you also have a number of people of an argumentative disposition on both sides. This is a recipe for a group that is not going to work well together and is unlikely to last very long. It is important that you take care when recruiting members to keep the group balanced as suits your intended group and also make sure that your team can work together and that any strong personalities are of a positive disposition.

Let’s look at our ‘potential’ member types a bit more closely

Critic

This is someone who frequently finds fault or makes harsh and unfair judgments, a trait often associated with Sceptics.  Surprisingly enough this is far from the true meaning of the word ‘sceptic’. The true definition being: anyone who expresses a reasoned judgement of something. This is the definition we would give to an open minded sceptic (see below).

All too often in the paranormal world we come across the critic. Critics do nothing to enhance our work in this field or indeed aid us in finding the truth behind alleged phenomena; instead, they tend to dismiss everything put in front of them sometimes without any reason or explanation and will often be found to be very argumentative. This in itself causes nothing but bad atmospheres and bitterness.  Critics are not welcome on CaSPIR investigations!

Open Minded Sceptic

One who practices the method of suspended judgment, who engages in rational and dispassionate reasoning as exemplified by the scientific method, who shows willingness to consider alternative explanations without prejudice based on prior beliefs, and who seeks out evidence and carefully scrutinizes its validity.

When I introduce myself as a sceptic I am often met with a very negative and slightly derisory response. It’s only at investigations where I am seen to work with a methodical approach and explain what I am doing and why that believers often say “I never thought of that before”. Sceptics must never blindly dismiss potential evidence without giving a good explanation for their reasons why. To me this is as greater sin as some believers’ blind acceptance of an event as being paranormal without adequate evidence. Both are equally unacceptable behaviours in paranormal investigations!

By all means hold different views, but respect other views that to their holders are equally acceptable and try to grasp where they are coming from. This does not mean going along with what others believe but it does mean tolerance and understanding.

Believer

A person who believes in the paranormal/afterlife/spirit, this is most usually as a result of a personally witnessed occurrence, which has left a strong lasting impression. Rarely but sometimes believers can be people who just want to blindly believe in the paranormal due of their fear of their own mortality.

It is unusual to find believers who can effectively question alleged phenomena which they witness. This can make their account of events biased towards a paranormal explanation when there may be a perfectly sensible non paranormal explanation available when a little time is taken to think the event through rationally. Believers who can challenge events are a valuable asset however, and they do exist!

Try to seek out for your group those believers who still rationally question what they have experienced and who are prepared to consider other explanations rather than just accept a paranormal explanation as a first port of call.

Psychics / Mediums / Sensitive's

These are people who are alleged to have a range of apparent senses that operate outside of what are considered normal sensory parameters, for example Clairvoyance, Clairaudience or  Clairsentience.

Psychics are expected to have all of these extra senses well tuned, mediums less so and sensitive’s to a still lesser extent. Psychics and Mediums will often use their abilities, their “gift” on investigations to ‘pick up’ on alleged spirits present.

Sensitive's abilities are more hit and miss compared to a trained Psychic that constantly uses their alleged abilities. On a good day a sensitive may be able to pick up quite a lot, although what they pick up may be more indicative feelings than facts. On a good day a sensitive can be very useful in so far as being able to indicate areas that ‘may possibly’ be of interest to an investigator.

One point worth considering is that to be able to make use of these kinds of members you really need to be able to trust them and what they tell you completely. Trust plays one of the biggest parts of an investigation and a paranormal team.

Uncommitted

These are people who either want to find out if there is anything in the paranormal. They have no specific leaning, may eventually swing to believer or sceptic over time.  Or they can of course remain without interest either way. 

These are at first sight a useful member, but you don’t want too many of this type or it can make your group weak.

One of the first things we did as a small group when starting out was to decide on the type of group we wanted to be, the direction we wanted to go, what we wanted to achieve and how we wanted to achieve it! This decision, once made, is what you should always carry with you throughout your investigative years and what you should always revert to if things start to go awry or you start to lose your way.

Good luck!