Expert: Joe McSorley - 3/1/2006

Question
Dear Joe:
I go to a meeting of Tien Tao, a Chinese religion that says you can cultivate the Tao by following one’s Buddha mind rather than one’s human mind.  They believe in heaven because of witnessing the miracles of child oracles and flaccid bodies after death rather than stiff bodies.  I have never witnessed either “miracle,â€? but what questions can be asked to help one look at such issues clearly.
Michael Roth


Answer
Dear Michael,
 There were some strange script problems with your letter so I am not sure I understand all of it.  It looks like it was trying to translate something that would not come up in English script.  However, I will answer what I think you are asking.  Over the years I have been around many groups, from Evangelical Christian to Eastern 'mystics', who claim miracles and other things.  Many of these stories are 'friend of a friend' with few or no real witnesses.  One group claimed in its literature that it could levitate and would show pictures of it but never demonstrate it in person.  Generally they claim they if you were to witness such 'strong spiritual' events you would get sick or some other malady would happen to you.  When ever I witnessed a socalled miracle I would follow it through with my own eyes.  Those who walked from a wheel chair in a healing would collapse into a wheel chair backstage.  I worked briefly with a very famous Christian televangelist on a show.  We came to realize that most of his 'cures' were done on shills.  A shill is a showbiz term for a plant or a fake.  The other 'miracles' were done via information received by wireless bugging of the congregation.  
  There are a million ways to fool someone into witnessing a miracle but it's smoke and mirrors.  If faith is required you are confined to faith rather than reality, it's a great way to hide the truth.  What I did not see I did not beleive and what I did see I investigated.
I've never found any substance to the stories.  There's a group called 'guru busters' in India that investigate the miracles there and have yet to verify anything.  One very famous guru had a promo film of himself conjuring jewelery from thin air till you slowed down the video you could see him retrieving the piece from under a platter.  After he was exposed he pulled the video from distribution.  I have seen oracles and they give very vague prophesies that can be interpreted as anything.  One fellow who claimed astral projection at will would not take a simple challenge.  This was to tell me what book was sitting in the next room on a table.  Simple but he couldn't/wouldn't do it.
  Anyone can claim anything so don't listen to their words look at them, inquire, think and investigate.  So what do these child oracles and flaccid bodies mean?  Why would these be proof of heaven?  What is the exact content of the oracles? Why is it 'spirits' cannot speak in plain English or in any plain language?  When we die, first we are flaccid, they rigor mortis sets in and then we become flaccid again, so what?  There are dozens of questions you can ask and you should ask them.  All of these things really detract from any real development of your awareness.  They cannot be proven and they don't really signify anything.  Good luck to you and continue to use your intellect. Question everything, question me.
  Take care,
          Joe