Can a Psychic Medium Improve Your Life? Wrestling With the Balance Between Open-Mindedness and Skepticism
Dan Harris explores the delicate balance between openness and skepticism, particularly concerning psychic mediums, in a special collaboration with PJ Vogt and Shruthi Pinamaneni of Search Engine. He recounts his personal experience with psychic medium Laura Lynn Jackson and discusses why his respected meditation teachers consult her, challenging his own rigid beliefs.
Deep Dive Analysis
12 Topic Outline
Balancing Openness and Skepticism
Dan's Cognitive Dissonance Regarding Teachers and Psychics
Introduction to Laura Lynn Jackson: A Psychic Medium
Distinguishing Between a Psychic and a Medium
Dan's Personal Psychic Reading Experience
Mark Epstein's 'I Believe in Everything' Philosophy
Mark Epstein's First Encounter with Laura Lynn Jackson
The Comfort and Appeal of Believing in the Supernatural
Cultivating Open-Mindedness vs. Rigid Skepticism
The Dangers of Certainty and the Value of Uncertainty
Finding a Balance: 'Be Simple, But Not a Simpleton'
Dan's Evolving View on His Teachers' Beliefs
7 Key Concepts
Openness and Skepticism Balance
The dilemma of being open to new ideas without uncritically accepting 'trash,' requiring discernment to separate valuable insights from questionable claims. It's described as an art, not a science, to check one's impulse towards certainty without becoming paralytically open.
Cognitive Dissonance
The mental discomfort experienced when holding two or more conflicting beliefs, values, or attitudes. Dan felt this when his respected meditation teachers, who had helped him immensely, regularly consulted a psychic medium, which he found questionable.
Psychic
An individual who can tune into a person's 'aura' or energy field, which emanates a few feet from the body. This allows them to read information about a person's past, present, future, current connections, and physical health.
Medium
An individual who takes psychic abilities a step further by communicating with those who have 'crossed over' to the other side. The saying is 'every medium is psychic, but not every psychic is a medium.'
Core Aura
A concept described by Laura Lynn Jackson as the blueprint for a person's soul mission in this lifetime. It appears to her as a circle, globe, or 3D shape, with various colors indicating different aspects of the individual.
Team of Light
A concept involving three parts that guide each person: God energy (a force of love), spirit guides (conscious beings, sometimes referred to as guardian angels), and loved ones (including pets) who have crossed over to the other side.
Addiction to Certainty
A human tendency to be allergic to uncertainty, leading to rigid views and an unwillingness to understand other perspectives. This addiction is considered an 'existential threat' to the species, especially in an era of political, religious, and geopolitical divides.
7 Questions Answered
It's an art rather than a science, requiring the habit of mind to check one's own impulse towards certainty without being paralytically open. The goal is to be fluid rather than rigid, resisting certainty while also having boundaries.
A psychic tunes into a person's energy field (aura) to read their past, present, and future, and connections in the here and now. A medium takes this a step further by communicating with people who have passed away; every medium is psychic, but not every psychic is a medium.
For some, like Dr. Mark Epstein, it stems from a radical open-mindedness cultivated over decades, where they are open to various occult practices and have found something useful in most of them, even if they are also skeptical.
Dan Harris found his psychic reading to be a useful pep talk, motivating him without any apparent harm, even if he wasn't convinced of its literal truth. The experience was positive and reassuring during a difficult time.
Dr. Mark Epstein believes it's important to push against the insistence on scientific evidence for everything because 'open is better than closed' and 'fluid is better than rigid.' He argues that science doesn't know everything, and a rigid adherence to only what's scientifically proven can be limiting.
The addiction to certainty is a human design flaw where we are allergic to the inherent uncertainty of the world. This rigidity leads to shouting and lack of empathy over differing views, posing an 'existential threat' in an era of advanced weaponry and AI.
Dan lands on not agreeing that the psychic phenomena are real, but remaining open to the possibility that his teachers might be right. This process teaches him to temper his own 'reflexive judgmentalism' and addiction to certainty, fostering a more supple approach to the world.
14 Actionable Insights
1. Resist Certainty, Embrace Openness
Actively resist the urge for certainty and cultivate a deep openness, recognizing that certainty can be an “existential threat to the species” in a world of constant change and division.
2. Balance Skepticism and Credulity
Cultivate a balance between skepticism (questioning) and credulity (a willingness to believe) as positive traits, rather than relying solely on skepticism, to navigate the world more flexibly.
3. Cultivate Supple Open Mind
Develop a mind that is both open enough to engage with diverse perspectives and supple enough to know when to adapt your views and when to hold firm.
4. Make Mind Reconsideration Machine
Actively cultivate your mind as a “relentless reconsideration machine,” constantly analyzing and re-evaluating your views, which requires sustained awareness and avoiding attachment to views.
5. Discern Useful vs. Damaging Beliefs
Develop the ability to discern when a belief is useful and beneficial (even if unproven) versus when it might be damaging, and adjust your acceptance or rejection of it accordingly.
6. Cultivate Empathy in Disagreement
Approach disagreements (politics, vaccines, religion, geopolitics) with empathy and a willingness to understand, or at least attempt to understand, others’ perspectives, rather than shouting or being closed-minded.
7. Prioritize Openness Over Rigidity
Cultivate openness and fluidity in your mindset, as being too rigid or certain can be alienating and hinder personal growth, and allow for the possibility of phenomena science hasn’t explained.
8. Learn from Others’ Beliefs
Even if you don’t agree with others’ beliefs, practice openness to the possibility that they might be right, using it as a lesson to reduce your own closed-mindedness, rigidity, addiction to certainty, and reflexive judgmentalism.
9. Be Simple, Not Simpleton
Strive for simplicity in your approach to life, but avoid being naive or foolish; maintain boundaries and discernment even while being open.
10. Assess Beliefs for Harm/Benefit
Consider the potential harm or benefit of a belief; if a belief is not harmful and provides positive motivation or comfort, it might be embraced even if its veracity is uncertain.
11. Compartmentalize Questionable Beliefs
When encountering beliefs that seem questionable or “woo-woo,” you can “put them in a box off to the side” and continue with practices you find beneficial, rather than letting them derail your path.
12. Practice Secular Buddhism
Explore Buddhist philosophy and practice (like meditation and ethical practices) as a secular person, without needing to surrender to faith, and check teachings for yourself rather than taking them on face value.
13. Continuously Seek Answers
Continuously search for answers and understanding, even when discussing topics that might be considered “woo-woo,” by researching and diving into theories.
14. Relax Mind During Transitions
When facing death or significant transitions, try to relax your mind into the transparent, unchanging feeling of your core self, as a way to navigate the process.
9 Key Quotes
Open your mind, in pours the trash.
The Meat Puppets (quoted by Dan Harris)
Don't take anything I say on face value. Come check it out for yourself.
The Buddha (quoted by Dan Harris)
I believe in everything.
Dr. Mark Epstein
Every medium is psychic, but not every psychic is a medium.
Laura Lynn Jackson
Open is better than closed, right? Fluid is better than rigid.
Dr. Mark Epstein
I'm both gullible and skeptical.
Dr. Mark Epstein
If there's one thing I'm sure about, it's that science doesn't know everything.
Dr. Mark Epstein
Be simple, but not a simpleton.
Joseph Goldstein's first meditation teacher (quoted by Dan Harris)
I'm not a dogmatist, I'm an analyst.
The Buddha (quoted by Dan Harris)