Theos-Talk Archives (June 1996 Message tl00256)

Hi everybody:

I want to comment on Daniel's posting:

< I thought
Alexis, Jerry S., JRC and others might be interested with the
"attitude" displayed by Dr. Mueckler towards "psychic experiences."
Far too many scientists have this attitude toward the psychic and
this was part of what I was trying to convey to Alexis in one
of my postings a month or two ago.>

I feel left out! <g>  I think some of you know that I scientifically study the
OBE/Astral projection/Lucid dream experience.  I'd like to add my 2 cents worth
and try to cool this unnecessary bickering back and forth between occultists and
scientists.

In a nutshell, Daniel has a bad attitude for ignoring the evidence that Dr.
Mueckle discusses.  The ideas  Dr. Mueckle states ARE well established facts and
it is only by being uninformed that one is not aware of them.

On the other hand  Dr. Mueckle also has a bad attitude.  His sarcastic attitude
and his constant reference to "trivial explanations" for OBEs as a form of
dreaming seem to me to indicate that he is quite unimaginative and does not
appear to appreciate some of the subtleties involved.  His sarcasm and cockiness
are also in bad taste and do little by way of inducing intelligent conversation.

Nonetheless, within the scope of present knowledge  Dr. Mueckle has the facts on
his side.  The slant I have since taken is that the scientific and occult views
can be reconciled only when scientists become deeper in their thinking and, for
example, realize that dreams are by no means trivial experiences but imply vast
subtlties about the nature of the brain.  And on the other hand, occultists must
learn to be better informed as to the status of current knowlege.  Many occult
ideas were formulated in the late 1800s and many have since been simply shown to
be false.  Our scientific understanding has mushroomed massivly since the days
of HPB or CW Leadbeater  and no amount of attachment ot outdated ideas can
change the growth in knowledge that has occured in the past 100 years.

So, if both sides could only make the effort to meet in the middle, perhaps we
could get beyond this pettiness.

Thanks for considering my thoughts.

Dr. DeGracia