[Buddha-l] sam harris at the aspen institute

[Joy Vriens]

Curt wrote: 

>Was the exhibit based on local accounts of witchcraft and healing? 

Yes it was. It was set up by an organisation called SEREST, connected with UNESCO, in order to make an inventory of and to safeguard the immaterial inheritance.  
http://www.serest.org/pages/expo_sor_01pag.html 

I bought one of their books called Formes et structures des thérapeutiques traditionnelles written by Hugues Berton. Half of it are transcripts with sorcerers and healers. I discovered a fascinating world and a "witch" called Marcelle, who could have been a Buddhist. Here is the summary of her teaching in her own words and imperfect syntaxis. 

"Toute la vie est uniquement 
dans la pensée qui construit 
toute la vie, mais que les bonnes 
les mauvaises sont renvoyées sur 
soi-même et peut tuer les 
plus méchant 
être bon avec son prochain 
et les animaux 
c'est avoir la divinité 
en soie. Et recevoir 
tout le bonheur que 
l'on désire 
ne pas croire a la 
maladie, même étant 
rétablir la vérité 
en envoyant que des 
bonnes pensées 
même a ses ennemies 
là se trouve le bonheur" 

"The whole of life is only in the thoughts building the whole of life. But the good and bad [thoughts] are redirected to oneself and can even kill the meanest being. To be good with one's fellow humans and animals is to have the divinity in oneself and to receive all happiness that one desires. To not believe in illness and reestablish truth by sending good thoughts even to one's ennemies. That is how one can find happiness" 
She heals others by thinking them without the illness. Illness is a thought. Thoughts are the devil. Devils are merely thoughts. She "reestablishes the truth" by thinking the person without the illness. She explains that even when she sees the illness, she doesn't see it. She has a special way to enter in contact with the spirits of the elements. To enter in contact with the spirit of the water, she sits next to a stream, with her feet in the stream and her back against a tree. She waits without thoughts until the fairy enters in contact with her through thought. The contacts can't be forced, it's the spirits that contact us. She approaches everyone with what she calls a neutral heart, no maliciousness, no affection. 
I thought all that is pretty good.  When the writer asks her about the spirit of the fire, who purifies everything and who purifies the negativity in people by neutralizing it, she says his name is Lucifer and that he is a good spirit... And her explanation makes a lot of sense.    

>I've heard of similar theories to the one you refer to - but mostly I've  
>heard of people who speculate that is was more the "high" (as in  
>"learned") magical traditions (as opposed to the "low" magic of village  
>healers and "witches") associated with Hermeticists, Alchemists, etc  
>that was "taken over" by the scientists. Frances Yates wrote a  
>fascinating book about this: "Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic  
>Tradition", which is a great read even if you don't buy her theories.  

One of the people organising the exhibit explained how a hospital doctor sometimes calling in the help of healers for desperate causes was thrown out by the order. When they organised a similar exhibit in the Puy en Velay, the priest had posters for the exhibit torn off the walls.  

Joy