Greetings Peter,

I must admit to wondering where all of this was going, and was beggining to be a little concerned that I was engaging in a monologue that was being very adroitly prompted along by your good self. hence the question, or rarther request that you 'prove me wrong'. this was more than a little poorly expressed, what I was after was a little input regarding your views on the matter, as I too am interested, deeply interested, in the views and experiences of others, and you seem to be a very thoughtful person with much to offer. My reference to cynicism was also, in retrospect, a poor choice of words. Sorrow would be better. It makes me sad to see that people are often bound up in looking for happiness in places that will more than likely just make them even more unhappy in the long run.

For what it is worth I agree with you regarding the (current) limitations of science. As a world view science is superb at gathering information about predictable, reoccuring events. It is not so good at picking up on relationships, and almost blind to events that happen infrequently or only once. I too have experienced things that I find inexplicable using scientific references, and look forward to many more such happenings.

What I was initially, and fairly clumsily, advocating, was a need for some form of integration of world views. One that was prepared to experience the world directly (which I have refered to as mystical, but which you may have a more apt term for), and that also is capable of applying the vast body of knowledge, scientific and otherwise, that people have collected over the millenia. I suspect that we are in agreement on this point.

As to the seeker/non-seeker discussion. Perhaps what we need to jointly refine is exactly what it is that is being sought after. If we are speaking of happiness, then I would wholeheartedly agree, I think everyone is looking for happiness. If we are talking about love, once again, I think people all want love. If we are talking about wisdom, well,here I am not so sure. I think that perhaps many people are so busy looking for happiness and love that they have precious little time left for anything else.

Your thoughts on this issue would be appreciated. Thanks for persisting with this conversation for so long, I am enjoying it very much, and it helping to clarify my thinking greatly.

Love and respect

Paul