Serious post and an honest question. I was raised atheist but experienced some really weird things in my life that shattered my rational worldview. However, I still believe in science and testing things out.

I have the most faith in what I have directly experienced and what comes to me from trustworthy sources. Everything else, I question first, just as the Buddha taught. "Don't believe everything you read on the Internet" - even though there are gems here and there.

I ask this because my journey sometimes brings me to strange places, like what I mentioned above. I have met people who claim to have channeled. My previous guru told me about my past life. I've trusted my inner voice (which has integrated more fully now) through stages of awakening and it has been extremely accurate before.

I think a healthy dose of skepticism is not bad, but after all my experiences, I cannot discount that things occur outside of the scientific paradigm. I've cast a spell before and predicted the future accurately after I felt some contact with...higher realms, basically. Some people I trust (Daniel Ingram, for one) speak candidly about such matters.

I'd like to hear about what experiences others have had, and how such things can be integrated into life and practice in a healthy way. I don't wish to go messing about with this stuff for personal gain or idle curiosity.

(Just for the record I think some people like Deepak Chopra and Aaron Doughty are kind of...out there. Haven't had good experiences. I generally go by the maxim that anyone worth any kind of spiritual salt will not try to monetize unnecessarily and always emphasis the divinity of the person listening - i.e, we are all Buddhas.)

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