Used with permission of the author, at the author's request, personal identifying information has been deleted.
I saw some interesting ideas worth passing along, here they are.
A.Lizard
Some personal suggestions
First there is no need to reject your old beliefs at this point, let them
work for you Use your knowledge of mathematical probabilities when dealing
with what is called "coincidence". For example, I have what my friends call
"parking karma". I usually pull up just as another car pulls out.
Coincidence, sure that is one way to look at it. But when it happens
CONSISTENTLY and you figure out the odds, the coincidence view starts
looking mighty weak.
Run your own experiments, for example, take two plants and put them next to
each other, same light, same care, same water. For one plant, spend a part
of each day with your hands over it, sending it "loving energy", tell it how
beautiful it is, etc. Totally ignore the other plant (which seems cruel to
me but that is because I have done this experiment). After a month or so,
compare the plants. If you have been sincere in this experiment, you should
notice a major difference. Now try to explain it in scientific terms.
I once did a similar experiment in college. We exposed a plant to light and
darkness and measured the oxygen and carbon dioxide emmissions. Plants give
off oxygen in the dark and carbon dioxide in the light. My plant was kind
of borderline. I joking started talking to it about being a rebel and being
different than other plants. Pretty soon, the experiment started working in
reverse for me, my plant gave off oxygen in the light and carbon dioxide in
the dark. When I left the lab hours later, the lab administrators had
called the professor to come and explain this to them. Never did find out
the outcome, I just accepted it and thought it was funny.
As for responding to people's ridicule, don't tell anyone yet. The
nature-based spirtitual path is a very internal one. You can experiment and
learn without having to broadcast your burgeoning beliefs to the world.
Let your skeptical (meant in a nice way) background work for you. It can
protect you from getting swept up in all the hoopla. Take some time to come
up with "experiments" to provide to yourself some proof that it all really
does work (which it does so proof will be available). I think what you may
find is that your spiritual path becomes deeper and more solidly grounded
BECAUSE you questioned everything before you believed.
A friend of mine once asked me if I believed in aliens, I told her yes.
She
was surprised because despite my Pagan beliefs or maybe because of them, I
tend to be a skeptic myself. I told her that one day, I said down and tried
to figure out what the probability would be that out of all the planets in
the galaxy, all the stars, all the galaxies we haven't discovered yet, all
of the universe, we were the ONLY planet that had life on it. Some of the
fundies I know, told me that God had created it all just for us to explore.
I have problems with that explanation. First of all, it seems like a
gigantic waste of space (pun intended) and a rather self-centered view.
Second of all, my observations of nature have told me that nature isn't
wasteful.
If you need further "proof" (and aren't bored reading my reply yet