I'm someone who keenly tracks the new age / next age communities, but also has a solid background in the sciences (I went to Harvey Mudd College.)

I'm interested in fundamental questions about modern epistemology/ontology, and genuinely connecting the spiritual and the scientific, without bulldozing either.  (Traditionally, either one bulldozes the other.)

I often describe myself as "a materialist rationalist reductionist physicalist skeptic" to the New Ager's who I meet, to give a sense of my way of looking at the world.  And yet, I also talk about living imagination, the real in the imaginary, and the importance of culture and stories and society.  It is all very much an open inquiry to me.

I am contemplating how to build a mystery school that teaches both the hard sciences, AND "the imaginaries."  The hard sciences would include not just the basics of mechanics, electricity & magnetism, special relativity, optics, chemistry, cell biology, evolution, and real-life quantum, but further:  the history of science, psychology, the milgram experiment, the stanford prison experiment, mental & social distortion, and other key skeptical insights.  On the side of the imaginaries would be a traditional mystery school, angels, fairies, spirits, voices within, symbolic magic, Taoist & Confucian thought, Christian theology, and on and on, but also media, movie/comic/music/fashion analysis, and the contemporary Internet.  Figuring out how to connect these threads is the wide open question and a thing to experiment with.

There is not one iota of law within science that says "We cannot live creatively and imaginatively."  Science has never been a perscription for thinking, but rather:  a meditation into fundamental reality.  My argument to spiritualists is, "If you're excited about finding the true reality, the study of science should _at least_ be a big part of your spiritual practice."  The possibility of entering a new dark ages is a tangible possibility.  I will have no truck with the derision of science.

I believe I have a compelling new vision and exploration of how to connect science and society.

Is this interesting to you?  May we talk about these ideas some time?

Sincerely,
  Lion Kimbro