Intermediaries are disturbing because they bring their own shadows (Jung) into the conversation. This has always bothered me about the Bible (and other religious documents). The guys who wrote the Bible (and the priest interpreting Sybil’s gibberish (adding gibberish to gibberish perhaps)) just make me blink. God as filtered through man (inherently prone to error) is disturbing.

That makes me appreciate religions like Zen Buddhism where every man is left to his own devices before an “expert” messes with his mind. I refer here to meditation sessions only.

When you entered, there was the priest, a sybil, and a poet. The sybil would ingest a hallucinogenic plant, start babbling. The priest would clarify what she’s babbling, and the poet would take that and make it poetic. Then the visitor would get his prophecy.

I think it’s the most awesome system I’ve ever heard of. It gets right to the core issue, whether we should be taking instruction from people who are high or not.