Is it Live or is it Memorex?

[air_n_darkness]

A friend has posed multiple questions to me of late that essentially amount to the same question, that being "How do I (we, you) know the gods and/or magic is real and I'm (we're, you're) not crazy? It is a hard question to answer, for such a question is distinctly personal and the answer is specific to each person. More accurately, how a person

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[wood_artist]

Not being schooled in the "Pagan" ways, I pretend to know nothing of what it espouses nor do I have any opinion regarding whatever "mystical" thoughts it entails. I was raised a Methodist, by parents who were very active in the church. My father came close to becoming a Minister, and was a CO during WWII, a difficult time to take that position. He served his alternative service fighting forest fires, and was even involved in extinguishing the one fire started by a Japanese incendiary balloon landing. After my parents married, he became a lay paster for the church, preaching from time to time as a "fill in" in various churches in the area. Later, after my father's death, my mother followed that tradition herself.

Oddly, although it may not have been odd at all, near the end my father began to question his beliefs. I think he felt betrayed by a series of strokes, heart attacks, and other medical afflictions that finally included Alzheimers. I really think he felt he'd done his best and God had abandoned him. I have no idea what conclusions, if any, he finally reached. I suspect he figured it just didn't much matter. My own beliefs are very simple, yet rather complex.

On the simple side, I am not a fan of "Faith"...blind or otherwise. When it comes to God, it's just about got to be blind in my book. I do believe in a sort-of God, but I think he's (it could just as easily be a she, or even a somehow neuter gender) inside each of us, and not necessarily a cosmic whole. I once read a book that postulated an intresting theory that makes a lot of sense to me. It is called The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. That's a long title, but in simple terms, the idea is this. When the human brain developed to have a "right side" and a "left side" (bicameralism) the two halves, needing to work together, began to "talk" to each other. Primitive man was somewhat aware of these goings on, and without any other understanding just assumed that when he asked a question (mentally) and seemed to "receive" an answer (mentally) it must be God talking to him, answering his question. When you think of it that way it makes perfect sense. Given verbal language probably lacked words to handle philosophical ideas, it makes even more sense. What sort of answer would you get if you asked a friend "Why am I here?" At least internally the person might receive some sort of thought response. See more below.

[air_n_darkness]

You say "see more below" and yet, I see no additional commentary. :(

[wood_artist]

LJ wouldn't let me post the rest of it, and although I thought I saved it somewhere, I guess I didn't, or at least I can't find it. I don't think it was anything particularly profound.