I NNER L IGHT M INISTRIES NEWSLETTER VOLUME 10 NUMBER 1
MARCH, 1999
H EALTHY SKEPTICISM by Jim Gordon, President of ILM
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n 1981 I attended a weekend conference in Michigan. I was surprised when the conference leader invited me to meet with him after dinner—to discuss something which he felt I would find interesting. This got my curiosity up, so I agreed. That evening we met in the dining room and sat down to talk. He began by explaining that he was putting together a trip to Egypt for about 100 people. They would be traveling through Egypt for two weeks, seeing all the major sights of ancient Egypt. He wanted to know if I would like to go along, all expenses paid, and be a part of the facilitation team. He felt that I would have a lot to offer the tour in the way of information about Ancient Egypt. In talking further with him I realized that he thought I had been to Egypt before and would have a lot of information to share about pyramid power, curses on tombs, past life information about myself and others in the group concerning Egypt, etc. I was surprised by this and said, “Thank you, but I have to be honest here and let you know that I have never been to Egypt, and therefore I do not think I would have much to offer the group.” He seemed ready for this response and said that was fine, that they would just like me to come and share whatever experiences I might have while on the trip with them—whatever I had to share would be just fine. I told him I would like to have time to consider the offer before giving my answer. After the conference I traveled home, and while on the plane I began to give the matter some serious thought. I decided to use a “tool” in my life that I have found works for me in getting to “the bottom line”—to a decision. This tool is to write out the pros and cons of a situation, and then, with an attitude of “openness combined with healthy skepticism,” to write out my thoughts and feelings about the matter. In this way I can move the energy, ideas, and beliefs I have about something into a more
complete picture upon which to make a decision. The story line that unfolded for me as I worked this technique/tool was that I was very skeptical about a lot of what had been said about ancient Egypt, pyramid power, curses, etc., and that therefore I would probably not be the best one to have along sharing on the trip. “Bottom line:” my skeptical attitude would probably not be what they would want on the trip; I would let him know that for this reason I was turning him down. When I called the conference leader and let him know that I was not going and why, he said very quickly that he felt my skepticism was a “plus”— and he urged me to reconsider. I heard him out, then went back and added to my list of pros and cons, and I did reconsider. Well, I thought, I was being offered a free trip to go and see for MYSELF whether there was truth to the things that were being said about Egypt. And thus, my conclusion to turn down his invitation changed—I decided to go and check out Egypt for myself. I have found that an attitude of “healthy skepticism” is a valuable tool in my life. A “healthyskeptical” approach to something is very beneficial for me, because it can create an environment for investigation—to find out the truth of something for myself. This attitude includes being open and willing to look at all the different sides of something, and allows for something which may be true for someone else to not be true or workable for myself. At the same time, this attitude allows me to be receptive to new information as it comes in , thereby staying open to new possibilities in my life. I also have created within me a “bookshelf high in my mind” such that, when I am given something that I cannot understand or that sounds unbelievable, I will not discard the idea; rather, I will place it on my “shelf high up in my mind” so if I ever want to take another look at it or refer to the idea in the future, I can. I have found that, many times, things that I look at seem at first not to fit into my belief structure, but given some time and some growth I Healthy Skepticism continues on page 6