Sunday, September 14, 2014

James Randi and anti-spiritualism


I applaud James Randi’s efforts to expose fraud where he finds it, but his crusade to destroy any credence given to spiritual or psychic phenomenon I find deeply misguided.

Randi is a lightning rod for the anti-spiritual movement which seeks to destroy belief in anything that is outside the domain of the materialist world view.  This level of fanaticism and bloody-mindedness is something to behold.  Not everyone’s experience of life fits neatly into the materialist paradigm and I think it’s fair for such people to construct a broader philosophy, the kind of one that seems to irk the anti-spiritualists so much.

The desire to destroy that which we don't agree with is a common human trait built from some kind of insecurity, but this desire is one we need to overcome.  The beliefs of our neighbor really are none of our business.  Our own concern is the domain of our own mind.  It is there we must exercise our intelligence and self-control.  We discover the truths that agree with our own experiences and then we express these while allowing others to express truth as they see it.

Conflict between alternative views of truth really is a sign of great emotional immaturity!  We are each born with free will to construct a world view that we find appropriate.  To say another person's world view is the wrong one is to misunderstand the gift of free will we have each been given!

Sharka Todd

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