"Supernatural" a word used very casually for anything beyond our understanding. What actually we mean when qualifying an event as supernatural is something which cannot happen in nature, something which defies the laws of nature. But is there really anything which can overcome the laws of nature? Can there by anything which can go beyond nature. There is no doubt that nature is the governing body of this cosmos. Then how can any phenomenon be termed as operating outside the laws of nature? Anything and everything that occurs in this universe has to abide by these laws and that directs to only one conclusion...everything is natural. There is nothing called "supernatural" which can bypass these laws. In this context "supernatural" word is logically meaningless.
But if viewed from another perspective, which is very similar to the above one, it holds its implication. This perspective has more to do with the capability of human mind to understand things. We humans have developed our own laws and theories regarding how and why things happen the way they do. These laws may really not the way things are actually carried out in the "real nature". Its only our perception that the processes and events are following these laws. Following this perception we have developed our own understanding of the "real nature". I am not saying our understanding is completely wrong but it is obviously not complete. Its only a proper subset of the "real nature" that lies out there. That implies there exists a gap between the "real nature" and our understanding of it. Shall we call it "delta nature"? Lets go with it.
Now any event that falls within the scope of our understanding of the "real nature" is termed as "natural" and normal. Anything which goes beyond it and falls in the realms of "delta nature" is called as "supernatural". Well, now this word makes sense to me. Anything which discards the laws that we presume are governing the nature can be termed as supernatural. It has nothing to do with the "real nature" which is still beyond the understanding of human mind. In this context the classification of events as supernatural is actually governed by the capability of the human mind to understand things.
Very recently there occurred an incident in India which attracted quite a bit of limelight in the media and it also showcases the fact that events termed as supernatural are really natural and what makes them supernatural is the confined knowledge and understanding possessed by human beings about the "real nature".
The news article can be read here.
It is about a priest at some place in India who claimed to dip an year-old baby in boiling water for a split second. And, to please those who believe in God, by the grace of God, the baby didn't suffer any injuries. The locals may term it as supernatural event. For them its supernatural because it defies their understanding of the process that boiling oil causes burns if someone comes into its contact.
But at the same time, this event loses the adjective "supernatural" when someone explains them that this is just another case of the bubbling effect. People who are aware of this bubbling effect phenomenon, I am pretty sure, will never term this as a supernatural event.
Significance of a the word "supernatural" entirely depends on the understanding of the person analyzing the concerned event. If it goes beyond his knowledge, he may very well term it as supernatural. But it does not mean the event has defied the laws of "real nature". It is still confined by the boundaries demarcated by the "real nature" and as such every "supernatural" event is still very much natural.
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