Survey Time

[Earl Wajenberg]

James Palmer wrote:

> What kind of experience of/opinions on 'the occult' in Real Life 
> do you all have?  I'm interested to see whether there's a higher 
> proportion of 'believers' here than elsewhere in RPG's.

I am a Christian, freelance Protestant, and believe in God, Christ, 
angels, demons, souls, etc.  However, I think actual encounters 
with the spirit world are VERY rare, except for the briefest 
touches.  And the odds of initiating one on our side with rituals & 
props are even rarer.  (And a bad idea.) It's like kids with Captain 
Midnight Decoder Rings trying to muscle in on (or even find) real 
undercover agents.

On the other hand, I think there is reasonably good evidence for 
ESP and similar phenomena, though the scientific establishment is 
in heavy denial about it.  I have had a few experiences of my 
own that seemed telepathic or precognitive.  I think, however, 
that such things are an unexplored side of nature, not supernatural.
Marking out the border between psychic and supernatural is, I grant, 
tricky.

Earl