In the early 1980s, a gentleman came over from India and established a religious commune in Antelope, Oregon, a day's drive away from where I went to college, in McMinnville. Although popular, he was widely considered a charlatan and con-man and the commune ended some years later amid financial scandal (including 24 gold Rolls Royces) and abuse allegations. These days, however, I see this man's picture everywhere with all sorts of profound quotes and such - the evolution of myth has removed him completely from reality, and it's easy to place good words over a dead man's picture. This sort of development, combined with having worked in the sciences, has made me a rigorous reductionist, wielding Occam's Razor in a manner worthy of Sweeny Todd.

BUT - I am also a true believer in ... something that is neither charlatan nor ignorance nor forgotten history. I don't think shoelace fairies and dryads as such exist, but I have observed that it makes a difference if I conduct myself as if these things were true. I have no idea why.