This thread has had nothing to say about Native American cultural
relationships with the spirit. We've been talking about EuroAmerican ghosts
stories and whether they should be promoted in museums. There's no reason to
be saddened, nor any reason to disparage "enlightened" individuals.
Science is most certainly NOT a religion, nor does science have dogma.
"if it can't be tested in the lab then it does not exist" is a popular
misconception of the way science works. Science is a process, a means of
verifying our observations of the world in order to build a coherent picture
of the Universe. Science neither supports nor denies any phenomenon, it is
the way we build theories that explain natural processes, by building and
verifying a body of knowledge based on observation and verification.
Spiritual matters, including ghosts, spirits, things that go bump in the
night, have not held up to the process of observation and verification. If a
phenomenon is not repeatable, it is not verifiable, and it remains in the
realm of hearsay, religion and superstition. We may experience things that
are strange and unusual, but unless they can be independently verified,
there is no way we can know that they exist outside our heads.
It does the museum world no service to spread rumors, sustain
pseudoscience, promulgate ignorance and superstition. This does not mean
that we cannot respect Native American spiritual beliefs or intelligently
discuss spiritual matters as part of our education function, but using ghost
stories to promote visitorship is irresponsible and ultimately
self-defeating.
Michael
Michael
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