The Philosophy of Exotischism Losing Your Faith 1 One night in the spring of 2008 a young man named Dan, who had lived in Chicago for several years, was

The Philosophy of Exotischism Losing Your Faith 1

One night in the spring of 2008 a young man named Dan, who had lived in Chicago for several years, was getting


ready to meet his friend Thomas. Dan had a little bit of free time before he was going to meet Thomas so he decided to go online with his computer and try to contact an online psychic in India


who Thomas had told him about. After a couple of minutes he saw an ad for the psychic in India who had given Thomas a free introductory online video chat session when Thomas was


in Los Angeles for his spring break a couple of weeks earlier. Dan entered his contact information and he entered some information about what he wanted to talk to the psychic about onto the


website page where he saw the ad. Soon there was a beeping sound from a call that was coming into the video chat program on Dan's computer from the psychic in India. When he answered the


call he could see a woman with long dark hair on the right side of his screen and he could see himself on the left. A very friendly voice said, "Hello, Dan, I am Kala." (Dan, Kala, and Thomas are people who are


real for the purposes of this story but who are not in real life).

"Dan", said Kala, "I can see from the information that you entered onto the website that you wanted to talk to me


about some things that you and your friend Thomas have been talking about recently. I enjoyed very much the online video chat session that I had with your friend Thomas a couple of weeks ago."


"Thomas enjoyed that session very much too", said Dan. "If it's ok Kala, I would like to start out by filling you in on what Thomas and I talked about last week when he got back from Los Angeles."


"That’s a great idea, Dan", said Kala. "Let's go ahead and get started."

"OK", said Dan. "Last week when I got together with Thomas, he started out by telling me that when he was


in Los Angeles on spring break he went out to dinner with his friend Jeffrey. As I'm sure you know from talking with Thomas, Jeffrey is a spiritually and psychologically vulnerable


person and he has become discouraged recently. Thomas wanted to try to give Jeffrey some insights that might help him to feel better. Thomas started out by telling Jeffrey that he believes that everyone is constantly


exchanging spiritual energy with other people and that our exchanges of spiritual energy with other people are an important part of our relationships with other people. Thomas explained to Jeffrey how sometimes


people talk about how their current lover was able to tie up their emotional loose ends and was able to help to bring their life into perspective. He explained to Jeffrey how it almost seemed to those


people that the spiritual energy that they had been exchanging with their previous lovers (who were no longer physically present) was transferred to their new lover (who was physically present). Thomas explained


to Jeffrey that he believes that people such as Jeffrey who are spiritually and psychologically vulnerable also have a tendency to transfer their exchanges of spiritual energy from people


who they knew in the past to people who they know in the present."

"The conversation that Thomas had with Jeffrey took place at a restaurant in Los Angeles that Thomas


likes very much where one of the waitresses is a girl who Thomas knows named Amber. Amber had told Thomas about how last summer she got involved with a guy who was


spiritually and psychologically vulnerable like Jeffrey so Thomas asked her come over to their table and tell Jeffrey about that relationship. Amber explained that at first she was reluctant to get too close


to the guy. She was pretty sure that it would not develop into a serious relationship so she felt kind of guilty getting involved with him. But still she sensed that he was reaching out to her


and that he wanted to get to know her. After a while Amber realized that even though the exchanges of spiritual energy between her and the guy who was spiritually and psychologically vulnerable


were not strong enough for her to be able to get seriously involved with him, it seemed to him like his relationship with Amber was serious. Looking back on the experience Amber thinks that there was a logical basis


for her to have a relationship with the spiritually and psychologically vulnerable guy. He had been exchanging spiritual energy in the past with girls who were similar to Amber


(girls with normal spiritual structures), and she had been exchanging spiritual energy with spiritually and psychologically vulnerable guys in the past. The spiritually and psychologically vulnerable guy was


transferring to Amber the spiritual energy that he had exchanged with other girls who he knew in the past and she was transferring to him spiritual energy that she had exchanged in the past with


other guys she knew who were spiritually and psychologically vulnerable."

"When Amber left their table to help some of the other customers Jeffrey commented to Thomas that he could feel


some very positive energy being exchanged between Thomas and Amber. He asked Thomas why he had never gotten involved romantically with Amber. In answer to Jeffrey's


question about Thomas and Amber he explained to Jeffrey that most people as they are growing up develop two types of emotions. They develop deep emotions for the people who they are really close to emotionally,


and they also develop a "practical" set of emotions that they use when they are in situations where they are dealing with people in their school while they are growing up or where they are dealing


with people in business types of situations when they start their working lives. For example, a girl who is running for homecoming queen or for a class office while in high school might


develop "practical" relationships where she merges the practical part of her soul with her fellow students for the purpose of getting their votes in the school election. This sort of thing also happens quite


often in business situations where a salesperson, for example, might feel that it is important for them to form a temporary spiritual bond with their client so that they will be able to influence the client when they need the client to


do something that they want them to do (such as when they need the client to sign a contract). The salesperson knows how to use spiritual links to influence the client's thinking at that important point where the client might


be tempted to back out of the deal. Then Thomas explained to Jeffrey that what he thinks is happening between him and Amber is that he is merging the practical part of his soul with her and she is merging the practical part of


her soul with him. So even though the exchanges of spiritual energy between Thomas and Amber are positive, those exchanges of spiritual energy are not a good basis for developing a serious relationship."


Dan thought for a moment and then continued, "at this point in the conversation Jeffrey told Thomas that he knew that salespeople were often very influential in guiding the thinking of their customers when they were


trying to sell their customers something, but he said that he didn't really understand how salespeople work their magic. Thomas then explained to Jeffrey his theory about how salespeople are able to


guide the thinking of their customer in a manner that sometimes seems to be magical. Thomas told him he believes that salespeople will, for a short period of time, merge a part of their soul


with the soul of their customer. They merge the part of their soul that is practical with the part of the customer's soul that is practical. It might seem to the customer that the salesperson is reading their


mind when the customer purchases a product that they had not planned to buy when they started talking to the salesperson. When the salesperson opens up the practical part of their soul to the customer, they are not


only guiding the customer with what they are saying to the customer but they are also guiding the customer in a very deep sort of a manner that they don't really understand but that they know is effective.


Then Thomas gave Jeffrey an example situation to explain what happens when a salesperson allows their customer to use their soul when they are trying to help the customer to make a decision. He explained that if


two individuals go into a car dealership and test drive a new car, one of the individuals might take the car out in the country or out on the freeway to see how fast it will go. Another person might


use the car to pick up their kids after school. When they come back and the salesperson realizes that the test drive has helped the customer to overcome the doubts that they originally had, the salesperson will be


happy with the end result, but they will not know where the customer went on their test drive. The difference between a salesperson allowing a customer to test drive a car and a salesperson allowing


a customer to test drive their soul (by merging the practical part of their soul with the practical part of the customer's soul) is that when a salesperson lets a customer test drive a car they will have no idea where the customer


took the car. But when a salesperson lets a customer test drive their soul, the salesperson might know at a deep subconscious level what the customer had been thinking during the period of


time when the salesperson had merged their soul with the soul of the customer."

"Then Thomas brought up once again the example that he had given Jeffrey about a high school girl merging the


practical part of her soul with her fellow students for the purpose of getting votes in an election. He explained to Jeffrey that when she does this she will notice that one of three things might happen. First, the student


might not vote for her and she will have wasted her effort in merging the practical part of her soul with that student. Second, the student might vote for her and her effort will not have been wasted. Third, a spiritually


and psychologically vulnerable guy in her class who had previously been a casual friend might start to think that there was a basis for him to develop a serious relationship with her. Thomas explained to


Jeffrey that it is his belief that many spiritually and psychologically vulnerable people only develop a practical set of emotions and that is why they might think that there is a basis for


them to develop a serious relationship with someone who is only merging the practical part of their soul with them."


"At this point Jeffrey asked Thomas to explain in a little more detail the dynamics of what happens when a spiritually and psychologically vulnerable person starts to believe that they are developing a serious


relationship with a person who is only merging the practical part of their soul with them. In answer to Jeffrey's question Thomas gave him another example. He asked Jeffrey


to imagine that he got to know a girl named Vanessa who merged the practical part of her soul with him for a short time. While that took place Jeffrey was exchanging his spiritual energy with Vanessa and she was


exchanging her spiritual energy with Jeffrey. Thomas explained to Jeffrey that compared to the amount of spiritual energy that most people exchange with other people he might not have been exchanging a lot of


spiritual energy with Vanessa, but he thought that there was a magical exchange of spiritual energy taking place between him and Vanessa because he could sense that her subconscious mind was communicating with his


subconscious mind. Then Thomas asked Jeffrey to further imagine that another girl came along who also merged the practical part of her soul with him. It was similar to his exchange of spiritual energy with Vanessa,


but it was different because now his subconscious mind was communicating with this new girl's subconscious mind. Thomas explained to Jeffrey that it was his belief that during the time that he


knew these girls, he would have been exchanging his spiritual energy with them through the Collective Subconscious when he was with them, and he would have been exchanging


his spiritual energy with them through the Collective Subconscious when he was not actually with them."


Group Member #3

Collective Subconscious of the Group

Group Member #2Group Member #1


"After Thomas had explained his ideas about spiritual energy Jeffrey told Thomas that he thought his ideas about people communicating subconsciously through the Collective Subconscious made sense. Jeffrey said he


thought that gaining insight into how the subconscious mind works might help him to learn how to communicate better with other people and might help him to get along better with other people. For example, Jeffrey told Thomas


he thought it might be useful for him to try to program his subconscious mind to communicate to the subconscious minds of the girls who he meets in the future that he has been misinterpreting the situation


in the past and that he is sorry if his subconscious mind is sending out signals to their subconscious minds that are stronger than what is appropriate. Jeffrey then said that he is not the type of person who would want to


barge in on someone uninvited when they are at home at night after a long day of work. But by Jeffrey trying to form a strong relationship with a girl who is only merging the practical part of


her soul with him (the part of her soul that she usually only uses for work situations), he realizes that he might be getting her to think about him more than she would like to think about him during her free time when she is not


supposed to have to think about things that are related to work. He realized that even though he does not verbally say things to girls that might make them feel uncomfortable, his subconscious mind might be


making suggestions to their subconscious minds that they consider to be inappropriate due to the fact that the girl is only merging the practical part of her soul with him."


"Kala", continued Dan, "after Thomas had finished telling me about the conversation that he had with Jeffrey the previous week, I reminded Thomas that Jeffrey is not his only friend who is spiritually and psychologically


vulnerable. I reminded Thomas that I have fought many of the same battles that Jeffrey has fought. I told Thomas that I liked Jeffrey's idea about the importance of him realizing that his subconscious mind is


communicating with the subconscious minds of the girls who he meets and that this below the surface communication between Jeffrey and the girls who he meets might be making them


feel uncomfortable. But having tried personally to do variations of what Jeffrey is suggesting where his subconscious mind tries to subconsciously apologize to the subconscious minds of the girls who he meets for


coming on too strongly, I had to tell Thomas that I didn't think that was going to totally solve the problem. I told Thomas that I think that Jeffrey has to go further and not only change the way that his subconscious mind


communicates with the subconscious minds of the girls who he knows, but that Jeffrey also has to change the way that his subconscious mind communicates with the


subconscious minds of the guys who he knows."

"Thomas and I have discussed several times before how many spiritually and psychologically vulnerable people have been


made into spiritual slaves by people who have taken some of their spiritual energy away from them. One of the ways that people steal spiritual energy from another person is by saying something unfair about them or doing


something unfair to them and then denying that they have done anything wrong. Whenever a group makes a person into their spiritual slave by treating them unfairly, the one who is the spiritual slave starts


contributing spiritual energy to the other members of the group. The ones who dominate the spiritual slave through the years care about that person very deeply because of what the spiritual slave does to strengthen the


group, not because they want the spiritual slave to become stronger. They might even at times ask the spiritual slave what they need to help make them stronger. But then the ones who asked the spiritual slave what they needed to


become stronger will make sure that the spiritual slave never receives whatever it is that will make them stronger. At this point I reminded Thomas how he had told Jeffrey that Thomas and Amber were only merging the


practical parts of their souls with each other and how Thomas knew that this was not a good basis for developing a serious relationship. I then told Thomas I believe that the guys who try to dominate


spiritual slaves such as Jeffrey and myself know for certain, just like Thomas knows for certain, that they cannot develop a serious relationship with a girl if they are only merging the practical part of their soul with her.


I told Thomas I think that the guys who try to dominate spiritual slaves such as Jeffrey and myself will try to make us believe (both while communicating with us verbally and while


communicating with us subconsciously) that we will eventually be able to develop a serious relationship with a girl who is only merging the practical part of her soul with us. This tricks us into thinking that we are better off


to continue going down the same path that we are presently on rather than trying to make a change. The ones who are dominating us want us to stay where we are. That is why I believe that it is important for Jeffrey and


myself to communicate to the subconscious minds of the guys who we know that we are suspicious when they tell us, both in verbal communication and in subconscious communication, that we will


eventually be able to develop a serious relationship with a girl who is only merging the practical part of her soul with us."


"At this point I told Thomas I knew that he might be thinking that while in theory it makes sense for Jeffrey and myself to try to stop other people from overpowering us spiritually, it will be hard for


us to actually make this happen. It will be hard for us to make this happen because the people who dominate spiritual slaves such as Jeffrey and myself usually have more spiritual energy than we do. I told Thomas


I think that in order for people such as Jeffrey and myself to avoid being overpowered spiritually through the Collective Subconscious by the people who are dominating us, it is important for us to come up with a


framework for understanding (and for believing in) spiritual energy exchanges. I told him I thought that Jeffrey and I should maybe come up with a variation of Pascal's Wager."


"Thomas liked that idea. He pointed out that when my subconscious mind and Jeffrey's subconscious mind try to confront the subconscious minds of the guys who are trying to dominate us and mislead us


with false information, their subconscious minds are likely to let us know that there is no way that we will be able to overpower them spiritually at a subconscious level through the Collective Subconscious. Their


subconscious minds will tell our subconscious minds that we are basing our argument (that they are destroying us on a subconscious level by giving us false information) on the idea that people exchange spiritual energy


with other people through the Collective Subconscious. They will argue that we do not really truly believe that people exchange spiritual energy with each other through the Collective Subconscious because we do not have


absolute scientific proof. They will argue that for this reason we will not have enough faith to stop them from overpowering us spiritually on a subconscious level. Thomas then said that what Jeffrey and I can do is to


subconsciously communicate to the people who are trying to spiritually overpower us that while we might not have absolute scientific proof that people exchange spiritual energy with other people through the


Collective Subconscious, we do believe deep down in our hearts that there is a logical reason for us to believe that exchanges of spiritual energy between people through the Collective Subconscious actually do take place.


We have a logical reason to bet (or wager) that people exchange spiritual energy with other people through the Collective Subconscious because if it is true that people do exchange spiritual


energy through the Collective Subconscious, and if we do not have a strategy for dealing with that, then we will continue to allow other people to hurt us by stealing our spiritual energy.


The potential negative consequences for us are too great and too damaging if it is true that this exchange of spiritual energy does take place and if we have no defense against the people


who are misleading us with false information and who are stealing our spiritual energy."


Pascal’s Wager Vs. Dan’s Wager

(17th Century Philosopher Pascal is credited with giving us the idea that it would be safer for a betting man to wager that there is a God

than to wager that there is no God. Dan [from this story] created his own version of Pascal’s Wager, which he calls Dan’s Wager)

Dan’s Wager

If you choose to believe that people exchange spiritual energy through the Collective Subconscious, and

find that it is not true, then you have lost nothing. But if you choose to

believe that people do not exchange spiritual energy through the

Collective Subconscious, and find that it is true, then you might lose

everything.

Pascal’s Wager

If you choose to believe that there is a Hell, and there is

no Hell, then you have lost nothing. But if you choose not to believe there

is a Hell, and there really is a Hell, then you will have lost

everything.

Dan’s Wager

If you choose to believe that people exchange spiritual energy through the Collective Subconscious, and

you find that it is not true, then you have lost nothing. But if you choose

to believe that people do not exchange spiritual energy through the Collective Subconscious, and you find that it is true, then you

might lose everything.


Kala thought for a moment and then said, "Dan, I like very much the variation on Pascal's Wager (Dan's Wager) that you and Thomas have developed. Dan, did Thomas mention anything to you about a conversation that he


had on the airplane when he was going back to Los Angeles on spring break with a pastor from the Chicago area ?"

"No, I don't think he did", said Dan.


"Well Dan", said Kala, "the pastor who Thomas talked to on the airplane was headed to Los Angeles for the yearly annual meeting of his church. When he met Thomas on the airplane he told Thomas that he could call


him Pastor Ron. If it's ok with you I’d like to talk about some of the things that Thomas discussed with Pastor Ron while he was on his way back to Los Angeles for his spring break. I think that it has


some relevance to the things that we have been talking about.”

Kala continued, "Dan, I am sure that you are aware that Thomas is a bit of a skeptic when it comes to things of a


spiritual nature. When Thomas met Pastor Ron on the airplane he asked Pastor Ron how it could be possible for a person in a church meeting to speak in tongues (to speak in a language that they have never learned).


Thomas had heard that sort of thing had happened before and he wondered if there was a logical way to explain what was happening when people spoke in tongues. Pastor Ron told Thomas that he thinks that we ourselves might be


the mechanism for apparently supernatural phenomenon such as when people speak in tongues or when a sick person is delirious and they seem to be speaking to someone who is not in the room. He believes that


every person on earth communicates subconsciously with each other by exchanging spiritual energy through the Collective Subconscious."


"Pastor Ron told Thomas that he thinks it is possible that when this type of spiritual event occurs someone at a meeting in their office in Chicago might be communicating


subconsciously (through the Collective Subconscious) with a person who is speaking in tongues in a church meeting in another city. The person in Chicago might be providing feelings of comfort to that person who is


speaking in tongues. Another person who is in Eastern Europe might also be communicating subconsciously with the same person in the church meeting who is speaking in tongues. This other person


might be providing the foreign language component that is being used in this spiritual event. Pastor Ron feels that there might be several people from different parts of the world participating in the spiritual


event with none of them being consciously aware of their involvement in what is taking place. And he also thinks that something similar might be happening in the Collective Subconscious when a person is sick or


delirious and where they appear to be speaking to someone who is not in the room. They may actually be talking to someone who is trying to comfort them through the Collective Subconscious."


The illustration below shows how an individual in need of spiritual assistance (in this case speaking in tongues) might be able to receive spiritual comfort from several different people who each contribute a

part of the spiritual comfort being provided but where none of the people is conscious of the spiritual assistance that they are providing.

Individual In Need of Spiritual Assistance

Group Member #4(Provides the

Foreign Language)

Group Member #1(Provides

Knowledge)

Group Member #2(Provides Comfort)

Group Member #3(Provides theInterpretation)


"Then Thomas told Pastor Ron he knew that some people believe that when we die our souls remain in the Collective Subconscious and perform tasks such as helping people who are still living when they take part in


spiritual events such as the ones that they had been discussing. Thomas told Pastor Ron that he thought that this would be a very cold and a very limited sort of an afterlife. In answer to his comment, Pastor Ron


explained to Thomas that spiritual energy travels between us and other people so quickly that we are not consciously aware of it. For this reason, it seems to us that the spiritual world is limited and non-fulfilling


because we can only sense, or can only see, the spiritual world in a very limited sort of a way. Pastor Ron believes that the spiritual things below the surface that we cannot see are probably very rich and very fulfilling."


"Dan", continued Kala, "after Thomas told me about his conversation with Pastor Ron, I told him that I very much liked Pastor Ron's ideas about the afterlife. But I also told him that I think that there are a lot of pastors and other


church people in your country who would challenge the idea that there might be an afterlife where there is no Hell. You mentioned earlier how it is very difficult for people who are spiritual slaves to break


free of their spiritual bondage. It is very difficult because the people who have made them into their spiritual slaves do not want to lose the extra spiritual energy that they receive when a spiritual slave is forced to give some


of their spiritual energy to the other members of the group. Dan, if you asked twenty people if they believe that spiritual slavery is old fashioned and that no one should be forced to give their


spiritual energy to other people, you would probably get many different opinions. One person might say, “yes, it is time for mankind to move onward in its evolution and stop the old fashioned spiritual practice of


robbing Peter to pay Paul (taking one person's spiritual energy and giving it to other people).” But another person might say, “wait a minute. Let's be realistic. If it is true that we have been taking spiritual energy from the


people who we have made into spiritual slaves and that we have been giving that spiritual energy to the other members of society, and if we suddenly start to give those people an even break and start to treat them equally,


then we are going to have a problem on our hands. It is true that the people who are spiritual slaves would probably enjoy the feeling they would get if they started to take back some of the spiritual energy that they had


been forced to give to other people. But you cannot expect that the people who have benefitted from stealing spiritual energy from other people are going to feel good about having to give that spiritual energy back.”


In my opinion, Dan, there is a reason why many pastors and other church people continue holding on to the idea that there is a Hell. I think they know that the myth of a physical place called Hell is not real, but they know that


the spiritual slaves who have been forced to give up some of their spiritual energy for the benefit of the group are living in a type of living Hell where they do not have the amounts of spiritual energy that are necessary to


compete in this world. I am not saying that the people in the church are the only ones who use other people as spiritual slaves. That would be very unfair, and it would be unfair to claim that all church people believe that


it is ok to use other people as spiritual slaves. But I do think that there are a lot of people in the church today who feel that the only way to keep the myth of Hell alive is by continuing to force some individuals to endure


suffering in their roles as spiritual slaves where they must give up some of their spiritual energy for the benefit of the group. How can the skeptics continue to claim that there is no Hell when all


of us see people everyday in our own cities who are living in a type of spiritual Hell?"

"Dan", continued Kala, "in my opinion it is important for spiritually and psychologically vulnerable


people such as Jeffrey and yourself to somehow try to program your subconscious minds to do a few different things. Like you mentioned earlier, it might be a good idea for you to subconsciously apologize


to the subconscious minds of the girls who you meet for coming on too strongly to the practical parts of their souls. I also think that you should try to subconsciously communicate to the subconscious minds of the


guys who have been dominating you through the years that because you have chosen (with your variation of Pascal's Wager) to believe deep down in your heart that people exchange spiritual energy with each other


through the Collective Subconscious, it will not be as easy for them to overpower you spiritually in the future as it has been in the past."


"The final thing I would like you to remember, Dan, is that you might someday meet a church person who tries to make you feel guilty for your lack of faith in the religious myths. You might be confused about why this


makes you feel uneasy considering the fact that you do not really believe in the myths of Heaven and Hell. In these situations, I think you might be confused because while the church person is saying to your face


(saying to you consciously) that they believe in the myth of Heaven and Hell and that they do not believe that people exchange spiritual energy with each other through the Collective Subconscious, I believe that


their subconscious mind is communicating to your subconscious mind that they know that the myth of God is not real, but that they are convinced that people actually do exchange spiritual energy with other people


through the Collective Subconscious. This individual knows that you get confused when you talk to people like them. While you are talking to this person your conscious mind is trying to tell your subconscious mind


that this person believes in God but does not believe in spiritual energy transfers through the Collective Subconscious. At the same time your subconscious mind is trying to tell your conscious mind that the


subconscious vibrations that it is picking up from the church person indicate that the reverse is actually true. Hopefully with insight into the situation in the future when you meet a person who


says one thing to your face (or your conscious mind) and says something else to your subconscious mind, you will, with insight into the situation, not feel the conflict that we all feel when our conscious mind


and our subconscious mind are not in agreement (or not in alignment). And once again, try to communicate to these people subconsciously that you have developed a variation of Pascal's Wager (Dan's Wager) that allows you


to believe that exchanges of spiritual energy between yourself and other people actually do take place and that this will hopefully help you to better defend yourself against people such as them


in the future when they try to steal your spiritual energy. Dan, the new faith that you hopefully will be able to develop by using your variation of Pascal's Wager might not seem like a lot of faith to some people, but it


Copyright 2011 Don Bergquist

will probably be more faith than you had before, and I hope that it will get you started on a pathway to a deeper and a more satisfying type of spiritual fulfillment."

Documents

The Philosophy of Exotischism Losing Your Faith 1 One night in the spring of 2008 a young man named Dan, who had lived in Chicago for several years, was