Sheep and goats

I have a hard time reconciling my own beliefs with a lot of eastern philosophy, mostly because I do believe in a higher power--a God, a consciousness, whatever you'd like to call it. I walk a weird road between catholicism, buddhism, mysticism....usually, I just put myself down as "spiritual" to avoid confusion, lengthy debates, and offending people. But that's all part of what this whole class is about, right? So I'm just going to rant this one out.

My initial reaction to this Blackmore woman was that she was just another loon. In the first couple paragraphs, all I gleaned was "I did a lot of drugs back in the day, called it "research," and now I'm a Buddhist so it's all good." Yes, I did come to see there was more to her, and I have a grudging respect for her work--because really, she did have some good points. But the respect is still grudging because when it comes down to it, she still seems a bit closed-minded to me.

I don't like thinking in absolutes. Being a spiritual person, and being a generally nonconfrontational person, I'm always willing to allow for the realm of possibility. Not to sound preachy, but I do believe that anything is possible because God is all-powerful. However, I also believe that most of the unexplained phenomina, like the various elements of psi discussed in this article, can be chalked up to humans being their dumb, impressionable, manipulative selves. The Virgin Mary is on my toast! My dream told me that my neighbor was the antichrist and that I should kill him! Smoke this, man, I swear, you'll see God. WOO! You can probably blame a lot of my skepticism on my background; I've basically lived on a hippie commune. I've been around enough drug-induced stupors, and seen enough ruined lives on the other end to tell me that the only "good trip" is probably one that hasn't come to full fruition and screwed people over yet. I get tired of watching the cycle of "I'll try it once; this is fun; oh no I should quit; shit my life is ruined." Before you call me a hypocrite, let me say that NO, I don't think this pattern is inevitable with substance use. There are always outliers. But this pattern tends to be predominant.

Anyway, absolutes. They're not good. I don't think people should ever rule out possibility. I don't believe in reincarnation, but I believe in the Dalai Lama and the holy mystery that he embodies. I think that 90% of the mystical, psi-phenominon reported are bullshit made up by crazy people, but there will always be a small percentage that can't be explained--and that's where my belief in God comes in. But hey, that's me. Feel free to believe whatever you want.