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From: laura@utzoo.UUCP (Laura Creighton)
Newsgroups: net.religion,net.origins
Subject: Re: personality/consciousness, naturalism/materialism
Message-ID: <5263@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 16-Mar-85 17:03:27 EST
Article-I.D.: utzoo.5263
Posted: Sat Mar 16 17:03:27 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 16-Mar-85 17:03:27 EST
References: <1027@decwrl.UUCP>, <678@pyuxd.UUCP> <5225@utzoo.UUCP>, <703@pyuxd.UUCP>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 37

Words cut more than one way, though Rich. Suppose I got up one morning
and, just of the wall, said that I believed in ghosts, and angels, and
ESP, and UFOs and ETs on Alpha Centauri, and faith healing, and the
real presence of Kali in my life. I may decide that they are natural
but want to call them supernatural for some very pragmatic reasons.

For one thing, a lot of these things have been traditonally called
``the sueprnatural''. For another, I may want to contrast what most
people believe in with what I, in my wonderfully enlightened state,
believe in. And for another, since all the materialists out there
will immediately either call me a fraud or insane and deny that
these things exist, I am going to get the label ``supernatural''
anyway, whether I want it or not. ``Supernatural'' is also a
convenient word to use when you do not really understand a lot about
what is going on. Finally, I may have, through my enlightened state,
discovered that I have a very different understanding of the word
``real'' or ``natural'' than unenlightened folk have. Perhaps my
definition encompasses what they call ``real'' and has a lot more,
but perhaps there are unresolvable conflicts.

Now I could spend a lot of time arguing that I have an understanding
of what is real which is better than the current understanding and
should be adopted by the world at large -- but, assuming that I
am in the guru business, this is probably precisely what I want to teach
to people who are interested -- and I don't want to argue with the
wrongheaded, mistaken, unenlightened mass out there. Assuming that I
am a great spiritual leader, I will lead my students to understanding,
at which point they will also understand why I used the word ``supernatural''
which may have been misleading at first.

Are all of these reasons invalid?

Laura Creighton
utzoo!laura

ps -- no, I don't really believe in all of the above....and GOODNESS
      NO! NO! NO! I am *not* in the guru business!!!