Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored
Aldous Huxley
My journey towards this book followed a path from a casual childhood interest in ghosts, to an eventual understanding of why science didn’t share this interest, then on to why science at one point even refused to acknowledge the existence of ‘Mind’ itself. Many other similar puzzles arose. I eventually realised what all these puzzles had in common, and what the underlying problem was.
Religion, meanwhile, had been a constant bewilderment to me. I’d spent 500 enforced hours in the school chapel and had come out none the wiser. How could clapped-out myths and legends possibly have any relevance to anything? But the more I read and the more I thought, the more I could tease out from deep beneath the surface of tired old ‘religion’.
Eventually, it became clear to me that science and religion have more in common than they realise (and not always in a good way).
After worrying at this for months, I saw that it would take the briefest of steps to rationally reconnect religion with science. It can be done.
Now comes the tricky bit, of writing it all down in a way that makes my train of thought clear to you so you can judge for yourself.
The final link in the chain, that of logically analysing all my points and suggestions, without dragging in any favourite old beliefs you’ve been taught to hang on to as Truth, is down to you. I wish you joy!
While checking my logic, please don’t make assumptions about what hidden agenda I have. I don’t have one, honestly. Logic is my only guide. And please don’t assume that if I say x, that I must therefore mean y and z as well. I don’t. I mean only x. If I do mean y or z as well, I will say so.
§ I’ve done my best to check my facts, but my claims can only be as correct as my sources. There will be sure to be some areas of debated ‘fact’; but none serious, I believe. I think the logic remains, whatever. You will decide.
I spent literally years deciding how to present this book. I was originally going to write it in traditional academic style, but rejected that route in favour of the ‘personal journey’. After all, it had been a dramatic journey of discovery for me, and I thought it might be more interesting as a journey for you too.
I am aware that I sometimes deal with issues too briefly. Part of me aches to fill out the details, but space is limited, and some sort of shape has to be maintained.
I’ve also tried to reassure the critical reader that I will be returning to an unfinished point later in the book, by adding a double asterisk (**) here and there.
I hope you enjoy reading Bad Dogma! You may find some of it challenging. I hope you will enjoy discussing these challenging parts with many friends, as I have.
Spooks or No Spooks? … that is the question.
There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labour of thinking
Sir Joshua Reynolds
Even the longest journey, the Chinese say, begins with the first step. So it would make sense to start this journey with my first glimmering of intellectual frustration…