At the beginning of this month I posted the article The Devil Made Me Do It, concerning a man on trial for murdering his wife, which he claims he did while being possessed.
A reader asked if I was actually suggesting that there might be merit in the man's claims. My answer was essentially that my opinion had no relevance on the issue.
Religion is problematic to write about precisely because much of what religious people believe cannot be proven, although they themselves may have very good reason for believing. We call those reasons "unverifiable personal gnosis." It's personal knowledge that cannot be proved to others. I believe in my gods, for example, because I have experienced their presence. I can't prove that to anyone, and MY experiences are, quite frankly, a poor reason for someone else to believe in them.
There are things I specifically believe in. There are things I specifically do not believe in. There's a also a whole lot of things that I say I believe in the possibility of. For example, I believe it is possible that there is alien life in the universe. I've seen no proof of their existence, but their potential existence is at least logical to me.
I deal with people espousing a VERY wide range of beliefs: monotheism, polytheism, atheism, many gods manifesting as aspects of a single god, spirits, angels, demons, magic, power crystals, aliens, ghosts, alchemy, prophecy, possession, divination, creation, evolution, intelligent design, e-meters, thetans, souls, engrams, miracles, hypnotism, past life regression, etc.
I have a wide variety of opinions on a wide variety of things. But those opinions are frequently just that: opinions. One of the reasons I left monotheism was the suggestion that one group was correct about the divine, and every other culture in all of history was wrong. That seemed, to me, improbable.
But that, too, is an opinion.
I certainly hope my opinions bear some resemblance to reality. But they are certainly not perfect. So when I write about Jan David Clark murdering his wife while being possessed by the devil, my personal opinion about demonic possession really has no relevance. The world is full of possibilities.
“The devil made me do it” What a pile of steaming turd. His own ego made him do it. Here is a person who won’t take responsibility for his actions. If you kill someone, YOU made you do it, not an entity that medieval christians made up.
Hang the murdering craven coward.
No Rahotep. The sad thing is, many of these people ~really do~ believe what they say. They really are that unbalanced.
Of course, insane people shouldn’t be allowed to run about in society any more than people who do bad things while being sane.
This is one reason I often say that atheism is morally superior. If a religious person hears voices, they are more likely to assume they are real voices from real beings. If an atheist hears voices, they are more likely to say “I am hearing voices, I better go get myself medicated.” and not actually do what the voices say.
“UPG” (Unverifiable Personal Gnosis) has been a topic among Pagans for a long time.
Some folks thrive on UPG and do not discern the difference between what they know via UPG and books, internet, etc. and mix it freely. My lovely and kind friend Edain McCoy is one that comes to mind.
But this drives the Reconstructionists bonkers, because they want to do things the way it was “really” (ie, historically) done. They want nothing to do with UPG and consider it worthless.
However, I would like to point out that somebody at sometime, even millenia ago, either made it up or it was their own person UPG.
Like Catherine, there are things I believe and things I don’t and other things I have not decided on and have left the possibilities open for now. Which means, for me, I respect the UPG of others, but this doesn’t mean I believe in it– but I am open to the possibility that it might be true.
So, I view UPG as individual truth for the individuals who have experienced it, but to do that does not mean I accept it as universal truth for everyone.
UGP can cover anything from voices to actual magical workings. I was at a recent Pagan Pride affair and could honestly share some of my experiences. However, for most of the people in my acquaintance, this isn’t so. I follow the mystic path which stands by itself taking in the visions and intuitions that guide my feet. “Other” beings and astral travelling cannot be verified. And one other aspect is what side of the fence are you on: mainstream is deemed acceptable and the alternate suspicious.