There is a certain breed of woman (normally a woman) in an indeterminate age bracket between adult and elderly. They are frequently seen around the fringes of art scenes. They are definitely seen in small niche street markets. The hippier the area the more of them can be found. These women have a riot of colour in their clothes, the more a cloth flows the more they like it. Their hair is riddled with grey or more often like a parrot's plumage with colours never seen in nature. Their faces are normally benign, relaxed, sometimes hinting at mysteries only they can see.
So this the alternative spirituality crew. They are the people battered by life and now seeking a better truth. They are the people who reach for the ineffable to help deal with reality. Very likely I am being unfair, but I have yet to find any of this so-called new cultural wisdom to be of any use in my life.
There's the power of the placebo of course, if we believe it works then often it works (or we experience it working). Crystals, essential oils, candles, it all reminds me of how the church would sell you a relic or promise you God's favour for a certain sum of cash. It doesn't seem credible that anything spiritually powerful would require real-world money.
I am torn here between pragmatism and evidence-based action. One motto I have long adhered to, "If it's stupid, but it works, then it's not stupid". Candles, oils, chanting, if it gets you through the day then all power to you. Better a person keeps a quality of life rather than satisfy some need to be rigid in rejecting anything alternative. Just be wary of the modern version of the moneychangers in the temple, are they facilitating your practice, or just fleecing you?
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