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From: rlr@pyuxd.UUCP (Rich Rosen)
Newsgroups: net.religion.christian,net.religion
Subject: Re: On the Power of Arcane Symbols
Message-ID: <2023@pyuxd.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 4-Nov-85 00:48:53 EST
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Posted: Mon Nov  4 00:48:53 1985
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> My feeling, based on these experiences, is to treat every occultish thing as
> if it were real.  In the first place, I know no way to exclude the
> possibility that these things function as claimed on occaision (although I
> doubt most of them).  It is reasonably well-established (I can't cite
> references but they should be easily locatable) that these things have a lot
> of psychological power, even such poor tools as the newspaper horoscopes.
> At one time, a number of researchers substituted randomly selected
> horoscopes for the normal ones in a newspaper for a period of some weeks.
> Not suprisingly, the change went unnoticed; what was suprising was the
> number of 'hits' the random texts produced.  I myself believe that most
> oracles work in the same way.  So I treat these things with great respect;
> whether or not they do invoke the supernatural, they do have power. [WINGATE]

My God, Charles!!!  Are you actually close to admitting that the same things
you describe might apply to your own beliefs?

(Naah, for me to believe that would be wishful thinking... :-)
-- 
Popular consensus says that reality is based on popular consensus.
						Rich Rosen   pyuxd!rlr