Asked the student: "Wise man, please explain why we say Grace before eating?"

Said the teacher: "To express our appreciation for nature and all the people involved in making that meal."

Claimed the student: "But don't we have to kill in order to eat? We aren't thankful for the ability to kill, are we? Doesn't that contradict an appreciation for nature?"

Asked the teacher: "How is it you think we aren't thankful for the ability to kill?"

Incredulously the student asked: "Yet you taught us to respect nature... to respect life before anything else. How is it that you can sit here and say you are thankful for killing?"

Explained the teacher: "Aren't our bodies fuelled by organic matter? Doesn't that organic matter come from animals and plants? Do they not need to die in order to serve as food?"

Answered the student: "Of course. That's caused by our place in the food chain. How can that be something to be thankful for?"

Said the teacher: "In your next incarnation, you might be that plant. You might be living your life, experiencing what it means to be a plant, and at some point you are sacrificed for some other being to live. Your life cut short, you won't achieve your goal, and you'll have to incarnate yet again to achieve it. I think you'd like it when the person ending your existence would show a bit of appreciation."

Confirmed the student: "That makes sense."

Continued the teacher: "However... having their life ended may be exactly the goal they seek. And because that in turn keeps us alive, we are thankful."

With that, they said Grace, and started their meal.

Asked the student: "Wise man, why do we pray?"

Said the teacher: "We pray for two reasons primarily: to remember those who preceded us, and to raise energy for the needy. Apart from that we observe the beauty and intricacy of Creation, of the natural environment that sustains us."

Asked the student: "But we don't worship our ancestors, do we?"

Answered the teacher: "No, we don't. It is important to remember their names and what they meant to us, to us personally, to those we love, and to our society. But worship would not do these people justice... they won't benefit from such action."

Pondered the student: "Yet some other religions makes their important people into saints, some pray for their good karma, some pray for their rise to heaven, and some consider their ancestors spirits that can be contacted by those in the know. Why wouldn't our ancestors benefit from such worship?"

Said the teacher: "We believe our ancestors have either moved on to their next life, or are still alive. Consider we pray for a reincarnated person's well-being, while they're busy living their new life... our combined energy would affect them and since we don't know what kind of life they're living, that effect could prove disastrous. The intent of cleaning someone's karma may seem to sound altruistic, but imagine wishing longevity to a one-day fly..."

The student thought about this for a moment and then continued: "Then what methods do we employ, wise man? And who is it that I should observe?"

Explained the teacher: "Every person has their own important people to remember. In my own education, my teacher was of great influence, so I will name him once a week. My parents and my spouse also shape my life: I am grateful for their influence and will name them too, once a week. And once a year, we will tell and listen to stories about important people in our history. I'm sure you too know such people."

Said the student: "Yes, I do know such people. Is there anything else I can do?"

Answered the teacher: "Yes there is. Apart from remembering, we also pray for the needy. We direct our thoughts at those who need a boost: a bit of health, prosperity, good fortune, calmth, strength, etcetera."

Asked the student: "Can you teach me how to do that?"

Explained the teacher: "One way is to create a list of people with their need. In a group, we assemble those lists and announce each person with their need. We then concentrate and direct our will, occasionally asking the universe for help, and wish for those needs to be alleviated. We do this once a week. As a matter of fact, today is a good day. Arise and join us in the temple."

Asked the student: "Wise man, why don't we worship our Creator the same way Christians, Jews and Muslims do?"

Retorted the teacher: "Why should we worship our Creator?"

Said the student: "For the same reason the Christians, Jews, and Muslims worship theirs?"

Asked the teacher: "Wouldn't you think our belief about our Creator differs greatly from that of other religions?"

Sumarized the student: "We all believe in a Creator, we all believe them to be present in our current universe."

Pointed out the teacher: "Don't they also believe their Creator is a living being, separate from the universe but a part of it at times, able to react to it, to influence it? And since they believe their Creator created the universe for their benefit, don't they also believe their Creator listens to them and answers their prayer? Apart from that, don't they believe worship will get them a better place in the hereafter?"

Said the student: "Possibly..."

Continued the teacher: "And we don't. To us, the Creator sacrificed their singularity, their own life so to speak, to spawn life in our universe. Divine energy became a part of everything. The universe already knows what we think, because we are part of it and it is part of us. That however doesn't mean we frown upon worship. It can be quite useful."

Asked the student: "How so, wise man? If our Creator doesn't pay attention, who is there to worship?"

Explained the teacher: "The local deities. Those who yield a larger influence than other beings."

Asked the student: "They do pay attention, and can be persuaded to be kind given the right worship?"

Said the teacher: "Personally I like to perform my own duties instead of asking a deity for help. Practice has shown however, that not all in our path feel the same, and some deities do offer a helping hand when asked nicely."

Pursued the student: "Then why is it that you don't like to ask a deity for help?"

Retorted the teacher: "If you were a deity, asked to help someone, wouldn't you want something in return?"

Asked the student: "Wise man, I hear other people talk about seeing ghosts and elves, and about objects and animals being taken over by demons, and I read about angels and dragons. I haven't seen any working in our path directing its energy towards any of them, nor using any of them as an aid. Does our path acknowledge those beings?"

Answered the teacher: "We call them 'ethereal': having energy for substance, necessarily emanating primarily in the mind's eye. We do have some workings pertaining to deflecting demons and other evil influences, but generally see no cause for worship."

Continued the student: "Energy for substance? Then how can we see them? Our senses aren't equipped to detecting energy. What do you mean by 'emanating in the mind's eye'?"

Asked the teacher: "How is it you think we cannot detect energy? Though some animals are better at it, for instance sharks find us in the water by detecting our energy emissions, don't we too sense basic shapes of energy, like electricity, light, sound, and matter?"

Said the student: "Still you made an exception for ethereal beings."

Explained the teacher: "Yes I did. We believe their substance so fleeting, that we have a hard time detecting them with any other sense than our mind. The physical senses will help minutiously, though none of them by themselves will paint the full picture. For that, we need our mind. It's a skill for which most of us will also need training and practice, though some do it naturally."

Asked the student: "So where do those beings come from? Do they procreate like animals and people?"

Answered the teacher: "We don't know. Some might, some might not procreate. We believe that all beings follow a pattern of reincarnation, alternating between soul and bodily existence, and these ethereal beings are merely another form of incarnation."

Continued the student: "And as such they are no more and no less then us, meaning worship isn't necessary. Still we believe they can hurt us and help us, if they choose so or are persuaded."

Said the teacher: "That is correct. Unlike animals and humans, which can be deflected by physical means, if ethereal beings have to be deflected the best means will probably prove non-physical."

Pursued the student: "And by non-physical means, you indicate energy shields and spells and such?"

Retorted the teacher: "You could try ignoring them...", and left the student to ponder.

Asked the student: "Wise man, do ethereal beings really exist? Or are they merely a function of our higher self?"

Retorted the teacher: "What beings do you mean?"

Answered the student: "Angels, fairies, the little people, demons, pixies, dragons and all that. When people see them, what do they see? A real emanation or a figment of imagination?"

Wondered the teacher: "Does it matter? Aren't both equally practical for spiritual workings?"

Continued the student: "I guess so... but I'd like to be certain that when someone claims to have seen an angel, the angel really was there, instead of them imagining it. Is there a way to be certain?"

Said the teacher: "Normally we'd study people's statements. If their descriptions match, we assume their experience matched as well."

Pursued the student: "But descriptions don't sound objective enough. Anectdotal evidence doesn't seem to have a predictive, scientific quality.'

Said the teacher: "Well, we currently know of the magnetic resonance of the brain. An MRI scanner can pick this up. Thus we can see a person's brain pattern. This way, we can study the brain's reaction to certain experiences. We could scan a person while they're sensing an ethereal being, and compare their brain pattern with that of other people sensing the same. If the patterns look alike, the experiences themselves should look alike as well."

Asked the student: "And that means the ethereal being really exists?"

Answered the teacher: "No... but it does mean we can identify the experience objectively, and get an insight into the immediate effects of experience. We may even find that the same brain pattern indicates the same ethereal being. That would add the predictive quality you asked for, which the study needs to count as scientific."

Continued the student: "And could the same indicate whether the experience's cause lies inside or outside ourselves?"

Said the teacher: "Can we ever really tell? After all, our senses are a function of bodies. Everything we perceive, we perceive through those same senses."

Retorted the student: "However, if we were to find similar brain patterns amongst different people when they claim sensing an ethereal being, that would increase the chances of the experience's cause lying outside ourselves."

Sighed the teacher: "Unfortunately, exposure to the strong magnetism employed by the MRI scanner itself might decrease that same chance, because it might obstruct any influence an outside ethereal being supposedly has on us."

Pondered the student: "So we couldn't tell either way... But since we believe those beings exist out of energy just like every other real thing, a scanner sensitive enough should pick them up."

Answered the teacher: "Correct. However I don't know of any scanners sensitive enough. I can imagine it difficult to build, too, since we don't really know what to look for."

Continued the student: "Then do tell, wise man, if we cannot tell whether ethereal beings really exist, then why do we continue to believe they do?"

Retorted the teacher: "Why throw out an explanation that works?"

Exclaimed the student: "But there is no proof they exist!"

Answered the teacher: "Neither did we prove yet, that they don't," and left the student to ponder.