"Tim Rhodes" <proftim@speakeasy.org> inquires about:
> The problem for sciencists, such as yourself, seems to be
> to come up with valid explaination for /why/ things which
> can be explained in more plausible ways are forever interpreted
> in a mystical manner by human beings.
I read somewhere, a while back, about a pagan sort of experience. The
author claimed that one a regualar basis, he would have experiences that he
*describes* as being possessed by the Gods. A friend of his, a pych.
major, explained to him how his sub-conscious was behaving and causing him
to feel this. He responded, I think *brilliantly*, with something like the
following: (I think it's important to note that people around him can *see*
the change in him when possessed -- and it's always benefitial)
You have described my experience. Correctly, even. So while you
understand it, I'm betting that you can't DO IT. The reason that I
intrepret my experiences with the Gods my way, is that it HELPS ME to
control it.
(man, I can't say it nearly as well as he did!)
Anyway, the point is that while the language of science can explain or
describe, it can't be USED by the person involved. It simply lacks the
"evokative" power of a mythology.
ERiC