Spirituality Explained?

[thirteen13]

I find myself in the difficult position of being a skeptical believer or a believing skeptic, I`m not sure which. Without going into detail suffice it to say that due to personal experience I believe that there is more to life than simple chemistry yet in more than thirty years of searching for answers{actually closer to forty} nothing ever sat well with me. Not religion , not any belief. Let me state that I like to see the big picture not just a piece of it. SO I`m thinking "how to explain all the multitudes of beliefs in the world?" and why. I`ve read a billion words{figure of speech for you skeptics,ha ha} watched tv shows on every subject under the sun,talked to everyone{another figure of speech for you nitpickers} from priests to wicca to skeptics etc. and mostly simply got a headache. I`ve concluded that seaching for the truth is like mining, it takes sifting thru a ton of dirt to find that speck of gold. Now one thing I`ve noticed about believers vs skeptics is that believers see the gold others have found but can`t tell the difference between dirt and gold while skeptics would love to find the gold others have found but dismiss it all as dirt. Again I asked myself why? I had a friend when I was younger who was a hardcore skeptic and I had to agree with him 99% of the time yet I could not account for that other 1%. During our conversations I realized the main point of difference between us was our personal experiences or namely his lack of any experiences. Nothing I said or did could convince him the paranormal was real just as nothing he said or did could convince me the paranormal wasn`t real.So back to why?Well the difference is I had a point of reference{my personal experiences or speck of gold if you will} to compare with the wider world of the paranormal while he had only the the wider world of the paranormal to compare to the wider world of the paranormal. Without a point of reference I certainly would dismiss all the gobblygook I`ve read over the years and come to the conclusion that it is all nonsense and that there simply is alot of wacked people in the world.While I do believe there is alot of wacked people in the world I also believe there is something going on that can`t be totally dismissed. Which brings me to my theory.

AS far as I can tell , in the history of mankind, there has always been people who see a different reality , I can imagine a tribe of people on the verge of starvation when one has a dream and says go two days walk in the direction of this or that and find food to take. So a few hunters say what the hell lets try,and lo and behold two days later they find food. The man or woman who dreamt now has a new position in the tribe,some fear them,some believe everything they say,some think it was a lucky guess. I suspect that the paranormal began as another survival tool we used, that it occurs in the same way as any other ability we possess such as musical ability or hunting ability{athletic}or whatever. I think it is passed down thru genes{I notice psychics almost always have at least one family member with similar abilities while skeptics almost always have none} I also suspect that it has varying degrees of talent,like say a scale of 1 to 100. Just like Einstein would be a 98 in physics while Joe Blow would be a 2 , say real holy people would be a 98 in the paranormal while Joe Blow psychic would be a 2. And just as Einstein was limited to the knowledge of the day in explaining his theories,the various holy people in history were limited to the beliefs of their cultures in explaining the reality they saw. How much harder to explain something we can`t even agree exists! So in conclusion I know I did a poor job in presenting this theory{one finger typing and trying for the nutshell thing}but I hope I made you think{believers and skeptics} that all is not as it seems. I would hope that you mull this over and see the world in a different light{concept in what context?}Even without my own experiences one can see common threads in stories of the paranormal just as one can recognize that various beliefs are really just flights of the imagination.

[Mister Meow]

If you want to understand spirituality, you need to meditate, or meditate more. You can find all the answers you need inside of you. That is, if you take the time to look.

[SkyDancer]

I rather enjoyed reading that Thank You, and basicly agree with what you are saying, my own wrap on it takes my own personal experience and interpretations of Don Juans teachings (Carlos castaneda) that there are many differant realities out there (differant forms and levels of consiousness) and the ways in which we interpret reality like between you and your athiest friend, you interpeting through your open mindeness that exceeds the rational as being definite or grounding and him believing in anything rational minded others tell him or what he finds comfortable or fimiliar with,

For those who dont know Don Juans basic premise was that our rational which makes things seem concrete is only a form of intepretation whcih we are programmed by society to adhere to, and that he believed we could step the bounds of this rational to experience the mystery that the universe trully is.