I was strong minded in my language, as I am as an individual, and I apologize for the harshness that was expressed.
I feel that, if we realize that these realities we create are based on a system of belief often unquestioned and instilled within us (usually fairly young), we do not have the ability to discern what is a real paranormal event from an external source, other than ourselves, and those events that we create for ourselves, internally.
I believe, regardless of what happens to you in your experience, all experiences are generated internally. This is a Jungian understanding of psychology.
Therefore, no God or spirit or ghost or boogie-man can get a hold of me because they come from within me. They might be as real as they can be, I have personally experienced a VAST array of INTENSE emotional and psychological hallucinations, but I realize they were all generated within my reality, my paradigm of thinking, and the context of my past.
Ultimately I believe we can never find God, even if we have insane experiences, because God cannot be detached from an internal reality I have. (Since I already have a notion of God).
Borges, the famous Argentinean writer, writes about seeing a unicorn. We all have this idea of what a unicorn is, but what happens if we see one in front of us? How can we tell what it is if we haven't seen it before? I can say its a lot like a horse and the bike my little sister got when she was six, but how can I classify it without first having an idea of what it is?
The same applies to God. How can we call a strange event an experience from God when we've never had that experience before? We can't.
And if we do call it something, isn't it derivative of my social context, which has taught me that 1) there is a God/gods and 2) God(s) have this characteristic.
There seems to be the biggest paradox within spirituality, in my opinion.
I think Kierkegaard answers these questions in the most rational way any theologian has before, but I still cannot suspend disbelief when I rationally know that 1) almost all cultures have religion and 2) they all believe in religion in the absolute. Even though I'm certain of my own beliefs (which are actually a belief in the phenomenological world, I'm a post-modern Aristotelian) I cannot know they are the truth because all cultures, throughout time, have believed with certainty that they had the right answer (my belief system actually does acknowledge these beliefs).
All our experiences are a product of our beliefs, and who controls your beliefs?
Don't begin to tell me your parents had nothing to do with them. If you rebel against your parents, what are you doing? You're reacting to their systems of beliefs. When you have an experience you’ve never had before, how do you describe it? You relate it to other systems of beliefs (unicorn example).
Regardless of who we think we are, we have not chosen the totality of our lives (we must recognize others – “Hell is other people” –Sartre). I cannot fly. I cannot make you all disappear. We are limited.
It’s our job to decide what to do in these limitations. Personally I find that ignoring these ideas is choosing a delusion because it’s safer. Avoiding the truth because it serves you. Steve talks about this and he says that once you overcome these misconceptions, you reach a certain clarity.
Realizing these beliefs when I was 13 has dramatically impacted my life.
I ask all of you to not brush these ideas off but really consider them and if they have any merit. Maybe you will learn something.
(I can describe my hallucination experience later, if anyone would like).  |