Spirituality and stuff
Went and saw James Randi speak today. I'm very glad I did. He's been doing a tour of Norway in conjunction with the Norwegian Humanist Association's campaign against alternative medicine, homeopathy, healers and the like.
You do not feel particularly proud of your country when James Randi states his disbelief at today's headline in the Norwegian press, the regressional therapy and séance the husband of our Royal Princess has been indulging in. Yep, that's the princess who believes she can communicate with angels. "Have Norwegian reporters not heard of Libya?" he incredulously asked. "What about Japan?" (Though to be fair it's the tabloid-est of tabloids, VG, we're talking about). Uh, well.
Personally, I think I'm coming to terms with the fact that though I am and always have been deeply fascinated with superstitions, divination and the like (I'm very interested in traditions, and when you go sufficiently far back in history most things where tied to some kind of spirituality - just today I attended a lecture about the mysticism tied to metallurgy in the Middle Ages), I am in fact allowed to be fascinated without actually believing in them. I have a passionate love for cathedrals too, and so many beautiful things have been created in the name of religion (though a lot has been destroyed in the name of it too) but that doesn't mean I have to subscribe to that particular belief system. I think it's taken me quite a few years to come to terms with that.
So yeah, I think I'll still break out my tarot cards now and again. They are so very pretty, and laying them out has always been more of a challenge of memory and creativity rather than "tapping into the cosmic forces" or whatever.
You do not feel particularly proud of your country when James Randi states his disbelief at today's headline in the Norwegian press, the regressional therapy and séance the husband of our Royal Princess has been indulging in. Yep, that's the princess who believes she can communicate with angels. "Have Norwegian reporters not heard of Libya?" he incredulously asked. "What about Japan?" (Though to be fair it's the tabloid-est of tabloids, VG, we're talking about). Uh, well.
Personally, I think I'm coming to terms with the fact that though I am and always have been deeply fascinated with superstitions, divination and the like (I'm very interested in traditions, and when you go sufficiently far back in history most things where tied to some kind of spirituality - just today I attended a lecture about the mysticism tied to metallurgy in the Middle Ages), I am in fact allowed to be fascinated without actually believing in them. I have a passionate love for cathedrals too, and so many beautiful things have been created in the name of religion (though a lot has been destroyed in the name of it too) but that doesn't mean I have to subscribe to that particular belief system. I think it's taken me quite a few years to come to terms with that.
So yeah, I think I'll still break out my tarot cards now and again. They are so very pretty, and laying them out has always been more of a challenge of memory and creativity rather than "tapping into the cosmic forces" or whatever.