Experience vs. Experiment
I often struggle with how to share in words the connection between this realm and the others without being immediately dismissed. I can be immediately dismissed by the naturalists who will tell me that there is no reason to believe in any “realm” except this one, this solid, dense world we live in, the plant Earth. I can also be quickly dismissed by the religious folks who have very dearly held beliefs about the way those other realms are structured. When I start talking about my experiences in those realms, they will compare my ideas with their carefully developed beliefs, and end up uncomfortable enough to easily condemn me, or more disturbingly, design to change my mind.
How to create a space for a discussion of this? I have made some feeble attempts in this blog, and I will continue to take stabs at it.
The scientist in me is very uncomfortable with the language of feelings and intuition, because there is no way to subject it to any kind of validation process. Anyone can claim anything by saying “it is a feeling I have.” And yet, these feelings, these intuitions have always played a very important role in the scientific process. Yet, it isn’t the feeling that the scientist asks us to accept; rather, we are asked to accept the data that came from the experiment that was inspired by the feeling.
I do think that there is a similar process that can take place in the “world of the spirit” but I do not think this process has been clarified yet. In many Christian traditions, there is a process called discernment that perhaps begins to approach this. If a religious leader proclaims that God has told him that a certain head of government needs to be assassinated, it is up to each person listening to that statement to discern whether such a proclamation comes form God or not. If I say, “I have traveled to the Near Earth Realms and have discovered that there are discarnate beings there who want to feed off of those who have recently died,” those who hear or read these words have a responsibility to discern whether such a statement has any meaning to them. However, it is also my responsibility to discern within myself whether such an experience was real or not. Even if I go through a discernment process and decide that my experience is real, is it reasonable for others to trust my discernment? I suspect not.
What may make sense is an invitation to others to go through a process whereby they too can have direct spiritual experiences.
I can learn to say, “I have had a certain experience which I have found to be real and meaningful to me. During this experience, I discovered this or that.”
Perhaps I will try that in my next post. [1618]
How to create a space for a discussion of this? I have made some feeble attempts in this blog, and I will continue to take stabs at it.
The scientist in me is very uncomfortable with the language of feelings and intuition, because there is no way to subject it to any kind of validation process. Anyone can claim anything by saying “it is a feeling I have.” And yet, these feelings, these intuitions have always played a very important role in the scientific process. Yet, it isn’t the feeling that the scientist asks us to accept; rather, we are asked to accept the data that came from the experiment that was inspired by the feeling.
I do think that there is a similar process that can take place in the “world of the spirit” but I do not think this process has been clarified yet. In many Christian traditions, there is a process called discernment that perhaps begins to approach this. If a religious leader proclaims that God has told him that a certain head of government needs to be assassinated, it is up to each person listening to that statement to discern whether such a proclamation comes form God or not. If I say, “I have traveled to the Near Earth Realms and have discovered that there are discarnate beings there who want to feed off of those who have recently died,” those who hear or read these words have a responsibility to discern whether such a statement has any meaning to them. However, it is also my responsibility to discern within myself whether such an experience was real or not. Even if I go through a discernment process and decide that my experience is real, is it reasonable for others to trust my discernment? I suspect not.
What may make sense is an invitation to others to go through a process whereby they too can have direct spiritual experiences.
I can learn to say, “I have had a certain experience which I have found to be real and meaningful to me. During this experience, I discovered this or that.”
Perhaps I will try that in my next post. [1618]
posted by Wally Nut @ 3:03 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home