Some people believe some rather outlandish stuff. I can listen with an open mind to just about anything. I accept that western science does not know everything. Thatis a fact. But if an idea cannot be subjected to the methods of proof of the scientific method, then I really can't go too far with it. Case in point is something from a conversation I had wih a westerner who's been studying Buddhism and eastern philosophy and all sorts of other related topics in Thailand for the past year and a half. He was telling me of a study that he read about or heard about or something like that using some device which "amplifies vibrations up to 50 million times." Ok. Great. Now he was telling me that this chap amplified the "vibrations" of plants and metals and other inanimate objects with this device and found that they behaved with human characteristics, such as a plant shying away in pain from being cut, or a pair of scissors "fatigueing" after long use, and then after a period of inertia recovering their "normal" vibration. When he really lost me was when he was saying that applying chloroform to a piece of tin caused its vibrations to go completely inert for a while, as if it was losing consciousness. I don't know exactly how it works, but I know it acts on the human central nervous system. Tin has no central nervous system. Why would it have any effect whatsoever? And on what sort of "vibrations" are we talking? It just struck me as a massive pile of hokum. When in those situations, I generally nod politely and say, "hmm, never heard that before" or something to that effect. Unless I'm in a boisterous mood and I try to take the person to task a little bit. Asking obnoxious questions like, "What kind of vibration? Can this be measured?"
Or even better is when new age folks start talking about "energy". Hoo don't get me started there. What kind of energy? What is this "universal energy" we're talking about? The second I hear the term "energy" in some contexts, I start to switch off. Maybe it's a difference of definitions. And truth does tend to be rather subjective.
I also can't argue that I've never felt something which I would call energy, such as the feeling of a place or a person. I usually attribute that kind of thing to an aggregation of nonverbal cues, all the information we gather without realizing it consciously. All the little things, like subtle body language and pheromones.
Another conversation with the same guy was about really advanced yogis who have mastered their awareness of the world to such an extent that they can pass their hand through solid matter. The idea being that since atoms are mostly composed of empty space, then it's theoretically possible for two solid objects to pass through each other without making contact. And the idea is that with advanced enough awareness of one's own body, one can basically control ever molecule with one's mind. Ok. I'm listening. I would love to see it demonstrated.
I don't know quite what to do with some of these ideas that a great number of people believe that seem quite fantastic to me. Such as the fakirs who walk on hot coals and the Rifa'i Sufis who pierce their faces with daggers while entranced and emerge completely unmarked. What does one do with these stories? Have these acts been demonstrated, observed by non-believers? How much is really possible, the stories of the people who go without food, living on air or energy or something, apparently through strength of ther spiritual convictions?
I remain a skeptic, but I know there's stuff I don't know.
