Yes I get that, but it isn't quite what I meant.
Sometimes I wonder if those of us who follow a spiritual path have something that people like you just don't. (Or, perhaps as you say, we are slightly mad)!
As I said before I do believe in science and seek scientific explanations where I can. But I always believed in a divinity of some kind, not the christian one or any other really, I just always have had the sense that something else is there. I don't pretend it is rationally explainable; it isn't. But it is as much a part of my experience of life as my own heartbeat. It is part of me.
In addition I have always had some supernatural abilities and I have learned how to practice magic that works. I can find scientific explanations for some of those things but not all.
I'm going to refuse the knee-jerk reaction of asking you to provide evidence that your sense of the supernatural is accurate.
This isn't that kind of conversation.
So let's approach this in a different way.
Perhaps it would help if I elaborate somewhat on my view of reality:
I am first and foremost an empiricist, meaning that I only include into my view of reality those things that we have objective scientific empirical evidence for. This also means that me being an atheist is more or less just a consequence rather than a primary cause for my lack of belief in a deity.
That doesn't mean that I don't think there is more to the universe than what we currently have evidence for. Just that I don't include those things until we obtain such evidence to make these things at least probable.
And as mentioned, I have learned to not trust my own senses or emotions completely in this as I am well aware that they at times fail us, and that they are in a very real way, biased.
Currently I am researching and studying neuropsychology, mainly because I'm looking to develop a better way to teach language and mathematical concepts to kids, but along the way I am learning more and more about how our minds interpret the information gathered by our senses, and how our senses are, to a large degree, programmed by our brain.
Our mind is very adaptable and capable of reinforcing our beliefs in many ways, most of which we have little or no conscious control over, and there are good evolutionary reasons why this is so.
In short, I find it fitting to be a little vary and skeptical of both what my senses tell me, and how my brain interprets that information.
That being said, I have no intention of denying anyone the right to believe in what they want. If it works for you, by all means go ahead.
It is only when people posit truth-claims and ask others to follow suit that I have a problem with it, and in that context I have absolutely no respect for anyone's beliefs.
Religion is an idea, and like all ideas it should be treated with the utmost harshness and critique. And if an idea fails to stand up to scrutiny, then down it goes.