Blog on Problems in finding a Spiritual Pathway

OK this guy does not really have any interest in Spiritualism and is walking a path based upon Shamanism but he has some interesting things to say on to quote a little

"Extraordinary Claims

“Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” Carl Sagan"

"The obsession that Spiritual People have with phenomena is a “spiritual materialism” which ruins true Spirituality. Concentrate on the Noumena, or the closeness to God and inner serenity, and your Path of Service to others and forget the phenomena, and you will both GET phenomena and also be MUCH better off, as you are concentrating on the proper end of Spirituality.

But, that having been said, you are going to get claims of phenomena. How do we determine whether these claims are actually true or Spiritual shinola? Here are some ways."

and later on
"5). Is the person otherwise credible? If I make a claim of having seen or experienced something, I’m going to be pretty believable. Why? I co-own, with others, a successful career counseling/business consulting practice that has been in business for many years, and has a sterling reputation. I’m not running around in burlap robes, calling myself funny names, and wearing Birkenstocks. Many in the Spiritual “community” seem to believe that weirdness and spirituality go together. So “Spiritual People” will give more credence to someone who does run around in burlap robes, calling themselves “His Holiness the Maharaja Muppet” or something. This, unfortunately, is a really big part of the problem with the Spiritual Community and why we’re a joke to the rest of the world.

If we really want to do a service we’ll cut out this cosmic woo-woo stuff and get down to real Spirituality. Some people claim that cosmic woo-woo doesn’t do any harm, but I disagree. Just like the Bible thumpers and holy rollers do great harm to the cause of Christianity, so cosmic woo-woo does great harm to the cause of Spirituality. If you want to believe cosmic woo-woo, fine, believe in it. But please, for the sake of those of us who are actually on a serious Spiritual Path, keep the cosmic woo-woo to yourself."

"6). Are the claims themselves at all credible? I’m sorry, but I just don’t buy people who say they’re channeling Jesus or aliens or whatever. I will read “channeled books” because they might contain wisdom, but I don’t buy that some alien or Jesus took over someone’s brain and wrote a book for them. This may well be accurate, but it doesn’t add up."

Yes I may be travelling a different journey to this individual but its nice to see that others, on a pathway which is probably even more impacted by some of the extremes, have a similar view on the more odd claims out there. Obviously I have no idea of his validity, credibility or motivation but at least there are some strong elements of sense in his thinking.

http://spiritualmastery.blogspot.com/2008/12/extraordinary-claims.html