Re (1): New Age, Visulization, etc

Hello,

One thing that I should clarify from the onset that is not made clear in my testimony is that I was never able to read another person's thoughts. That seemed to be the logical conclusion at the time, for we process all new experiences through the lens of previous knowledge and experience. I tried to reconstruct my experience as it happened which required me to recount my various explanations as they occurred.

As to your question about my temptation to open such doors again, there is none. I find that world rather confusing and disconcerting and could live a long and prosperous life without ever having another auditory/visionary experience. There are times in which I do seem to border close to the edge, and these times are generally when I am run ragged and stressed out over the constant deadline of the college life. However, I think we are ultimately headed in two different directions here. The thing that changed my life was not of the same element that changed your friend's life; what changed my life was that my experiences brought me into a relationship with God. What I longed for was not some existential benefit afforded me by an esoteric wisdom, but something solid and tangible with which to connect.

What your friend has likely discovered is not truly spiritual per se at all. I believe that many of these principles are simply an as-of-yet-unexplained aspect of the physical universe. Think, for example, how mysterious electricity would have seemed before it became the consumer good it is today. The Greeks were aware of static electricity (though they did not thoroughly understand it) and here and there we read of other people who noted unusual things happened under certain predictable, though unexplained, circumstances. We can very easily imagine someone confronted with electricity and believing it magical.

In a similar manner, I believe that most Eastern and occult theory is little more than the observation of physical phenomenon. For example, acupressure and acupuncture are based on a theory that posits energy meridians throughout the body and that when these channels become blocked, ill health results. There is little doubt that we have a bio-chemical (and therefore electrical) constitution to our bodies. We further know that the spinal cord threads from the base of our skull down our backbone and is connected via nerve ends to virtually every part of our body. It is not hard to conceive that if I stick a pin in my toe it will have an effect on some other part of my body via this central highway of nerve fibers transmitting bio-chemical impulses (or, in other words, that it would affect "energy flow").

Now then, it is not that there is no overlap between these realms, for we are beings, as it were, who have one foot in the physical realm the other in the spiritual. I would refer you to the (online) chapter entitled Mysticism and Magic from Evelyn Underhill's classic book Mysticism if you would like an involved explanation of the difference, in this case, between magic and mysticism and how these realms operate. Do you see how a study of these lesser known aspects of the physical universe in and of itself answers little more than that of any empirical study? By itself, the existence of electricity (to continue with our example) tells us nothing more or less about the question of God: it is but another created thing. As I write in this week's newsletter The Wind Bloweth Where it Listeth, faith has often been regarded as being subjective and therefore untrustworthy, but it is the only key that will open the door to God. Further, this bias operates under the assumption that the tool we call empiricism is the greatest and most reliable of all knowledge producing tools and that any other tool we might employ to discern objective reality is necessarily questionable at best. But, whether we like it or not, the tool of faith is what is required when we examine the question of God and it is only by the answer to that question that we will find any lasting meaning.

The lesser known aspects of the physical universe bear the fingerprints of an infinite and all-powerful God, but if we try to find lasting meaning in the fingerprints themselves, our answer will necessarily be lacking and inherently unsatisfying. Meaning will only be found by a pursuit of the Fingerprint Originator. And when a person finds God, these things then take on new meaning as well—we have a renewed capacity to enjoy them—whereas taking them in and of themselves soon proves a hollow and substanceless enterprise.

I have written of all of these things and more; one can find them all over the site if he but cares to look—particularly in the newsletters. For now, I will just excerpt the end of the April 23, 2003, newsletter Eternal Portraits in Everlasting Fellowship, for you see, what changed my life was not uncovering lesser known principles of the universe. It was Christ that made the difference; the voices were simply the avenue through which He called His prodigal son home and that is about as much regard as I give them these days. So then, as per Eternal Portraits in Everlasting Fellowship, here is my basic hope and theology in a thousand words or less:


I hope this has given you some further food for thought.

God bless,
Eric

• Re(2): New Age, Visulization, etc - By Air Raid November 18, 2004 at 05:11:02 PM
  • Re(3): New Age, Visulization, etc - By Eric November 18, 2004 at 09:41:00 PM