You may have noticed that when I encounter spiritual entities I tend to go in for a broad sweep, recognising the divinity of Jesus, Buddha, and Mohammad out loud—and perhaps chanting AUM for good measure. I’m unlikely to do that again in the future because the fact is, as established at Rollright, communication with these entities occurs in dreams or through “the magical will” (and that is unspoken; perhaps best actuated by ecstatic dancing in those circumstances). So there’s no point saying anything to the gods at all, that’s not how you talk to them—even when they’re before you. Admittedly, it was also partly whistling the dark—literally—because it’s unnerving to encounter stars that fall from the sky and roll down a hill deep in the Scottish highlands, in the middle of the night, miles from anyone else. But I don’t think these entities can hurt you unless you “invite them in”—so verbal self-soothing is unnecessary.
Anyway, my eclectic collection of holy men may somewhat recall an episode in the British comedy Peep Show where one character possibly has a terminal illness and is found leafing through all the world’s religious texts on the floor as a “celestial insurance policy”; but there is logic to my approach—definitely not syncretism nor a kind of “all these men were nice in some spiritual way” (pagans will doubtless say that I should have invoked Thor, given these are local gods—but to me Thor isn’t “active”; maybe I’m wrong).
No, I practice the doctrine of awakening—which is what is commonly called Buddhism—and within that system it’s acceptable to recognise Jesus as enlightened and Mohammad as spiritually adept and so on; so there was no contradiction in what I did—although for a Christian it would be wrong, as it would be for a Muslim; and I don’t advocate that they should deviate from those positions. Essentially, I went in broad because I wasn’t sure what I was dealing with.