SoSick, maybe what I am after is spiritual experiences. You've obviously had some important personal ones. I am sure that I would be willing to change/adjust my belief system if something profound happened to me. So far, nothing much has. When I am feeling better I am going to meditate, and also get more into things like tai chi, working with my energy. I haven't been able to do those things while I've been ill. Maybe that's why I was looking for ghosts too -- wanting that experience. I'm sure that's why I've always been so interested in what my psychic friend says too. She seems to have a connection to something that most of us aren't aware of.

Claythrow, yes it does seem my post was a bit defensive. I guess I just feel very strongly about the importance of having an open mind, whatever a person's beliefs are. There's always the possibility that there is something new to learn, or unlearn. I'm honestly not sure if I've ever met anyone who likes to learn truths from other spiritual paths, who was somehow copping out of . . . responsibility? For what? Maybe they feel, like I did, trapped by one particular belief system. My own experience was that Catholocism was increasingly becoming a smorgasboard of what I didn and didn't believe, and eventually it was clear to me that it didn't work for me anymore. I know quite a few people who are spiritual but are turned off by the idea of religion altogether. Here in the Old World I think a lot of lessons have been learned from the past, there is a bit of a different way of thinking.

It's a shame we don't live in tribes anymore. I could do with a shaman to talk to. The right teacher is supposed to appear when you need him/her/. I've been asking for years LOL.

Linda.