How do I reconcile my science orientation with my interest in spirituality and distance healing?
Since childhood, I have been fascinated by and loved science and I still do every bit as much.
I also have a fascination and passion for awakening. And I do distance healing.
So how does it all fit together in my mind?
Let’s take spirituality first.
SCIENCE & SPIRITUALITY
I take a pragmatic view on spirituality.
For me, spirituality is mainly about awakening and the effect of spiritual practices.
Awakening is about what more fundamentally we are in our own first-person experience. It doesn’t require any theology or assumptions. It’s purely about what we find in our own direct noticing. And in my experience, What I find fits a wide range of worldviews, is independent of them all, and is what allows and holds and can find the validity in them all. It’s about what I find when I look with sincerity. It’s about what others report they find. (Which seems to be very similar or the same, throughout history and across cultures and traditions.) And it’s about what science finds when this is studied in a more rigorous and systematic way. (We are still in a very early phase here.)
Exploring the effects of spiritual practices is also pragmatic. This is similar. It’s about what I find and what works for me. It’s about what others find and what works for them. And it’s what we can discover through science and more rigorous research. (Here too, we are in a very early phase.)
When it comes to awakening and the effects of spiritual practices, I take a scientific approach as much as possible. I try to do it with sincerity, diligence, and intellectual honesty. As much as possible, I separate what I can know something about (how it appears to me), my stories about it (which are very limited guesses), and what’s actually happening (which I can only make guesses about, which my mind cannot really grasp, and which I cannot know anything for certain about).
SCIENCE AND DISTANCE HEALING & SENSING
What about distance healing and sensing? Isn’t that more woo woo?
Yes and no. It’s certainly a slightly different animal.
Here too, I try to take a scientific approach as much as possible. I look at the effects on animals that don’t know they are receiving healing. I look at patterns over time. I take into account different types of biases. I check my sensing with others. I compare my healing results with those of others. I differentiate what I can say something about, my stories about it, and reality (which I cannot know).
And I wish for a thorough scientific examination of distance healing and sensing, far beyond the little that’s already done.
SCIENTIFIC METHOD
The methods of science are, in its essence, our natural ways of exploring anything set into system. At least if our exploration is relatively sincere, grounded, rigorous, and intellectual honest.
Whenever we wish to explore how something works, we use approaches we also find in science.
We try something out and see what happens. And if it’s more important to us, we compare this with what others find. We explore other possible explanations. We take our own biases into account. We value intellectual honesty. We hold it all lightly, take it as provisional, and know it will inevitably look different to us with more exploration. And so on.
If something is important to us, we can learn from science and apply a more rigorous approach to our own explorations. This will support any exploration – including of awakening, the effects of spiritual practices, and distance healing and sensing.
DRAFT
HOW DO I RECONCILE A SCIENCE VIEW WITH SPIRITUALITY AND DISTANCE HEALING?
How do I reconcile a strong science view with spirituality and distance healing?
Since childhood, I have been fascinated by and loved science and I still do every bit as much.
I also have a fascination and passion for awakening. And I do distance healing.
So how does it all fit together in my mind?
Let’s take spirituality first.
I take a pragmatic view on spirituality.
For me, spirituality is mainly about awakening and the effect of spiritual practices.
Awakening is about what more fundamentally we are in our own first-person experience. It doesn’t require any theology or assumptions. It’s purely about what we find in our own direct noticing. And in my experience, What I find fits a wide range of worldviews, is independent of them all, and is what allows and holds and can find the valididty in them all. It’s about what I find when I look with sincerity. It’s about what others report they find. (Which seems to be very similar or the same, throughout history and across cultures and traditions.) And it’s about what science find when this is studied in a more rigorous and systematic way. (We are still in a very early phase here.)
Exploring the effects of spiritual practices is also pragmatic. This is similar. It’s about what I find and what works for me. It’s about what others find and what works for them. And it’s what we can discover through science and more rigorous research. (Here too, we are in a very early phase.)
When it comes to awakening and the effects of spiritual practices, I take a science approach as much as possible. I try to do it with sincerity, diligence, and intellectual honesty. As much as possible, I separate what I can know something about (how it appears to me), my stories about it (which are very limited guesses), and what’s actually happening (which I can only make guesses about, which my mind cannot really grasp, and which I cannot know anything for certain about).
What about distance healing and sensing? Isn’t that more woo woo?
Yes and no. It’s certainly a slightly different animal.
Here too, I try to take a scientific approach as much as possible. I look at the effects on animals that don’t know they are receiving healing. I look at patterns over time. I take into account different types of biases. I check my sensing with others. I compare my healing results with those of others. I differentiate what I can say something about, my stories about it, and reality (which I cannot know).
And I wish for a thorough scientific examination of distance healing and sensing, far beyond the little that’s already done.