My argument is that sleep paralysis is a biological phenomenon that can also be influenced by psychological and social factors. Thus, our own personal beliefs, the culture we grew up with, and even our repressed desires have an impact on our hallucinations. However, I believe that we should not focus too much on the biological side of sleep paralysis and we should also focus on the subjective side with includes our social and psychological factors. My counter-argument is David Hufford's experiential theory. This theory claims that sleep paralysis may actually be a spiritual experience that is independent of being based on past or spiritual beliefs. Honestly, there may be a possibility, but our current understanding of the supernatural limits us from finding any evidence that this theory is factual. Thus, this theory only brings us to a dead-end, which is why I believe it is more beneficial to focus on the brain's potential, which has a lot of evidence that supports that it can create hallucinations and produce the different sensations found in sleep paralysis.
Hufford, David J. “Sleep Paralysis as Spiritual Experience: Sleep Paralysis.” Transcultural Psychiatry, vol. 42, no. 1, Sage, 2005, pp. 11–45.
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