I've been working on an essay, off and on, in which I attempt to sketch a sort of unified theory encompassing the areas variously referred to as the paranormal and/or the mystical--or by many as the the king hell crazy...
Initially, it seems there are two kinds of people--those who don't believe in that stuff and those who have experienced it.
I'm opting for a middle ground of sorts--I vaguely believe a great many of these odd experiences have a reality that goes beyond mere delusion--I'm not sure I ever want to experience any of them myself & exactly which of those experiences I am willing to credit as "real" in some non-trivial sense--well, that fluctuates on a weekly, if not daily, basis.
The phenomena though are elusive and don't seem to fit easily into a single explanatory system (but when I finish my essay--hah!) But long time social activist and author Barbara Ehrenreich has a new book, *Living With A Wild God* that seems to occupy just that middle ground (but to be honest, I haven't read it yet--just reviews) Not that she has found Jesus or even God, but it seems to me clearly that she gives her unusual experience its proper due.
Perhaps I will incorporate her conclusions, if any, in my essay.
BTW, Barbara Ehreneich's book, *Nickeled and Dimed* is the most insightful book I have ever read about the plight of the working poor in the U.S. Just as John Howard Griffin dyed his skin black and lived as black man (*Black Like Me*) for a whole year in order to find out exactly what it is like to be black in America, so Ehreneich undertook to live for a year on such wages as she could get working as a maid in a hotel and similar venues. One thing of note: she found that so-called menial and unskilled jobs actually required a lot of intelligence and skill if an employer was to be satisfied.
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