Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Risking Professional Suicide

Open-minded folk risk their careers to talk about the subjects that many of us consider to be odd, bizarre, loopy, freaky, from the Devil, or just plain “out there.”

They risk professional suicide and I admire them for it.

These open-minded, inquisitive types aren’t satisfied with the current conventions. The way it is just isn’t enough. They know we don’t know everything.
Findings and phenomenon aren’t dismissed because they’re different, unusual, or weird. Instead they’re explored, researched, and, at the risk of public ridicule, talked about.

If we didn’t question our beliefs and methods, then modern medicine might still be routinely removing sections of the large intestine as it was apparently once thought to not really do much. (This info came from The Modern Medical Counselor, Sign of the Times Publishing, Oshawa, Ont. Copyright 1944.)

The late John E. Mack was a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He wrote several books, two of which concerned clients who believed they’d been abducted by extraterrestrials.
After 15 months of intense scrutiny, his peers ruled that he could pursue any research he wanted.

Dr. Brian Weiss, another psychiatrist, has written several books about the past lives such as the groundbreaking Many Lives, Many Masters.

Dr. Michael Newton, a counseling psychologist and founder of the Society for Spiritual Regression, has written extensively about the between life state including Journey of Souls and Destiny of Souls.

Science holds itself up as wanting to learn and explain. Most of the time it wants to hide anything that doesn’t fit pre-conceived notions. Anyone who does is ridiculed, marginalized, or just plain ignored.
These three men have taken the derision and persevered. In doing so they’ve done exactly what science claims it does; they’ve explored, researched, and brought something new and exciting to table.
They’ve got my respect and admiration.
We need more like them.

3 comments:

Andrea Allison said...

I respect anyone who is open-minded. Not so much that they are gullible about what they see or have been told, but enough to want to explore it further and not judge. I think that the abnormal deserve some respect and I'm glad there are scientists trying to provide answers in order to get it.

Unknown said...

I agree! I just graduated from a small, private liberal arts college, and I've found my beliefs/values were challenged quite a bit while I was a student.

Overall, I think I'm a stronger person as a result. Some of my beliefs changed, but most of them were just reinforced.

The most important thing, though, is that now I'm not afraid to stand up for what I believe in anymore!

Peggy K said...

There are always a few scientists out there willing to pursue their ideas despite common wisdom - look at the guy willing to drink bacteria to show they really cause ulcers.