<p>How do we find the core of knowledge that sustains us?
What makes an intelligent person step into the waters that many of us would find irrational or even dangerous?</p>
<p>I have met many people who have a focus that defines their life- but while I wouldn’t choose to be a world class mountaineer even if I had the drive ( or at least I don’t think so)& the skill ( not to mention the money), I still am awed by their tenacity.</p>
<p>But to mention someone who believes wholeheartedly in systems that don’t make logical sense- I am awed at their ability of faith and confused by their inclination to follow that path.</p>
<p>I can justify the risk taken by someone who climbs but I can’t justify the risk taken by someone who believes in faith healing for example. ( for all ailments- especially when the allopathic treatment is simple, but not treating could be fatal)</p>
<p>I use naturopathic medicine myself along with allopathic & even if a particular remedy is found to be a placebo, that doesn’t bother me, if it works why should it- ( although it shouldn’t cost the same as a medicine that took 20 years of lab research to develop).</p>
<p>But using acupuncture for asthma or peppermint tea for a stomach ache doesn’t require that I chant for a broken arm, or burn incense for anemia.</p>
<p>Many " cults" seem to center on a charismatic leader, Jz. Knight,-the Love Israel family in a nearby neighborhood, Jonestown, and presumably intelligent people believe/ed in them.</p>
<p>I understand the power of ritual, even if I don’t have the attention span to sustain it. </p>
<p>But while I really don’t want to make fun of anyones religion, I will just say some beliefs and rituals seem very odd to me, especially those that are meant to keep those in the circle " in the circle" and everyone else out.</p>
<p>I know people who have beliefs I don’t understand- but they are still pretty much mainstream Christian beliefs - but I just learned that the adult daughter of a couple I use to work with , believed in a religion I had not even realized existed, and that the tenets of that religion seemed to have contributed to her death at 33, leaving a husband and young child, not to mention her parents and siblings.</p>
<p>How as people, as parents can we guide our friends and family, when they have free will? Should we? </p>
<p>I could " rationalize" the death of a young man on a mountain, because " he was doing what he loved", but to hear of the death of a young woman, because she turned away from medical care that could have saved her- it just seems senseless.</p>