I have had a number of detractors, and those who opposed my views. That is to be expected, and they are even welcome
When I first started writing for a mass circulation newspaper before I joined Inquirer, I did not really expect everybody to agree with me. I was prepared to get contrary opinions. But these didn’t bother me, because it was not my intention to convince people of my highly controversial topics. I merely wanted to present an alternative view or another way of looking at things, based not merely on my own research and experience, but also on considered opinions of experts and other knowledgeable people.
I first started writing for the Inquirer in November 1987 upon the invitation of its founder and first chair, Ms Eugenia Apostol. I have been writing this column every week almost without fail since then, even when I was traveling abroad.
I told myself that as long as there are readers out there who read and appreciate what I have to say, and as long as I think I am contributing something positive to the expansion of human knowledge and consciousness, then I will continue writing. I have been under a number of different editors of the Lifestyle Section, but not one of them asked me to stop writing. So I continued to write.
Oh, it is true that I have had a number of detractors, and those who opposed my views. That is to be expected, and they are even welcome, because they test the limits of my knowledge and keep me alert. I am grateful to them for these.
I recall there was a time in the early ’90s when I would receive, every time my column came out, a two-page handwritten letter from a critic with a foreign-sounding name who would renounce my writings as “anti-Christian,” which they were not meant to be, and that I was a “disciple of the devil” out to destroy the faith of the people.
He kept up his tirade against me weekly for almost a year, always quoting the Christian Bible in an attempt to show my opinion to be wrong. I never knew who he was, nor what religious sect he belonged to. I never bothered to answer any of his dogmatic assertions.
Changing his tune
After many months of going against my writings by pointing out endless passages from the Bible, he suddenly changed his tune. I received an unexpected letter from him praising my work and how I was making a great contribution bringing people into their fold. It was only a one-page handwritten letter on his usual yellow pad paper. When I looked at the signature, it said “SATAN.”
That’s when I answered him and I said: “Thank you very much for, at last, identifying who you really are. I’ve been wondering who was writing to me tirelessly every week for so many months. Now I know.” After receiving that reply, Satan never wrote back.
I am glad that letters like that one are in the extreme minority, otherwise if they became more frequent and more numerous than those who appreciated what I was trying to say, I would have stopped writing long ago.
But a lot of people, most of whom I’ve never met, told me to continue writing, and so I did. As of today, I have written 17 books, some of which have been translated into German, Japanese and Polish. A number of my articles have appeared in German, Swiss, Polish, American and Brazilian magazines and books. I was even featured in a documentary film on Discovery Channel and Star World television programs.
I have lectured in some of the prestigious research institutes abroad, like the Max Planck Institute in Munich, Germany, as well as before prestigious international business associations such as the Young Presidents Organization (YPO).
Why am I telling you all about this? Because I want to correct certain wrong impressions about me, such as that I am trying to convert people to my way of thinking. On the contrary, I started out as a complete skeptic about psychic and paranormal phenomena and about the so-called super-human powers of the human mind. I started investigating these fields to convince myself that they are not true.
Only after I was convinced of their reality and after I experienced and found proof for them, did I start writing and teaching about them. I am never bothered if I receive letters expressing opinions contrary to mine. I was in their shoes many years before. Remember that even Jesus Christ was not accepted by the majority of people during his time, and even today.
As I have often pointed out in this column, there are always three sides to any controversy: “Your side, my side, and the correct side!”
Next week, I shall discuss the little-known science of parapsychology, which studies things beyond orthodox science and religion, the very stuff of which this column is made.
Attend the next Inner Mind Development seminar on Dec. 3-4, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., at Rm. 308 Prince Plaza I, Legazpi St., Legazpi Village, Makati City. For schedule of seminars, reservation, and appointment for personal consultancy, please call tel. 8107245/8159890, or mobile 0920-9818962. Listen to my radio program over DZMM every Sunday, 8-9 p.m. E-mail [email protected]. Visit my website www.jimmylicauco.com.
