Annapurna is the Hindu goddess of food: The Mother Who Feeds

Annapurna is the Hindu goddess of food: The Mother Who Feeds.
"In this world, apart from our spiritual practice, there is no other place or power that we can rely on." Supreme Master Ching Hai

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Ghost stories, or just plain lunacy?

So I just enjoyed a wine tasting weekend with a couple of friends from work. We rented a VRBO in the dusty little wine-mecca of Walla Walla WA. There are almost 200 wineries in WW now, so to say that we didn't even scratch the surface of our wine-tasting potential would be more than accurate. Before we ever took our first sip, however, I was very pleased to encounter a friendly apparition looking curiously at me from the stairwell as we explored the rental house. The house appears to be a late 1800's craftsman, very typical for the area. Since I happen to see or hear "ghosts" from time to time, experiencing this was common place for me. For the two avid Christians I was spending the weekend with, however, this was not only frightening, but nightmare inducing, as evidenced by Kim's 3 am screaming fit.
Their take on this phenomenon is that all spirits are evil, because of a scripture that says something to the affect that if you're not in the presence of God then you're in the presence of evil. They were very disturbed by my causal mention of this "woman dressed as a pioneer," and they considered this person to be a demon.
I shared my feelings that all people, whether in spirit or in flesh are tied to one another by energy. I look at things as either good energy or bad energy. I am not interested in bad energy, and take daily measures to deflect negativity. It's when I allow my shields to come down, and absorb that negativity that I suffer mightily for it. When I accept the positive and welcome it, then I attract goodness.
For me it's cut and dry, but that's taking out any sort of religious component, and focusing on my own feelings. Just thought it was interesting to see the different aspects of those who believe solely in the bible and don't have an openness to any other sort of metaphysical teachings. There are so many interesting ways to think about things, and believing there's only "one way" is so limiting. To their credit, they expressed respect for my feelings, as I did for theirs, but I can't help but feel that shutting out all types of experiences really limits what we can accomplish in our short lives here on earth.
Oh well, the wine was good!

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