“Wow - a three-part epic. You must have too much time on your hands, Morfe.”

Bah, was up all-night after a xmas-based argument at home. Started writing at 3am and wound up at 7 in the morning. Arguably not a good time to write. But not ‘too time’, ever, no! I do agree with your whole response Steven, noting in addition that the following statement

“but at least let's base our discussions on reason and rationality, not on unsubstantiated mumbo-jumbo.”

is a big can of worms, a wormery even ;-)

For instance I can’t ‘rationalise’ (in an ‘accepted scientific’ way) ‘feelings’ for certain places - so for the most part I simply close my mouth, considering it to be understandably arduous for the ears of others.

Another example:

It takes a leap of faith to accept that a shaman is communicating directly with the cosmos/earth/ancestors/or nature spirits, a leap of faith that current (Western?) science will not accept, so any discussion in support of it is going to be considered ‘unsubstantiated mumbo-jumbo’, surely? That is not a criticism of a scientific approach, but another illustration of your considered response, specifically the 'philosophy of reality' not being able to be solved here.

I don't think 'discussion of reality' is to be (or can be) 'solved' as such.