Ghosts and skepticism
I have always tended to BE a BELIEVER..
I respect science and i respect healthy skepticism.
Yet.. I can't ignore that there are thigns that I have felt.. experienced that have allowed me to see things in a different way.
Yet being around prominant Athiests doesn't help.
My stepfather is the National Legal Director for American Atheists. Both my mum and stepdad were mentioned in Richard Dawkins's GOD DELUSION (footnoted)... and I have been to a few secular atheist events and helped out with Camp Quest the first 2 years....
so yeah.. i have been around it. And i have questioned and questioned and questioned.. and fought with myself over belief....
It is complicated. I support what American Atheists do.. they have rights and I don't like Literal Creationists.
But arguments are NOT black and white.. and many dont understaand or take the time to understand the subtetlys of arguments and issues... They let their assumptions dictate how their choose to see the world.
Skeptics tend to be honestly.. a bit more negative. If they can't SEE it .. they dismiss it out of hand..
but then fundies.. tend to be just as literal as we all know.
Yet there is a HUGE world in between Atheism and Fundamentalist Literal Christian beliefs...
Michael Shermer is a huge skeptic and every time I hear him speak on such topics as Tarot or "fortune telling" his arguments and points are predictable and only see the stereotypical side of fakey Tarot readers.
Are there fake tarot readers? SURE.. that doesn't mean that tarot isn't valid... he just doesn' t understand what REAL tarot does or how it works and why it works. He only understands tarot from what he has seen in movies...but I doubt he has read ANY extensive work on tarot.. never read the wide variety of books on the tarot etc.. so he really needs to just shut up...
For YEARS I have tried to educate my stepfather about what real MAGICK is ...
Atheists like to dismiss Magic as "wishful thinking" .. or have some ridiculous idea that magic is merely Bewitched or I Dream of Genie.. that is immature and naive. Yet he refuses to read anything that really handles the subject in a mature way. And you have to understand that many skeptics are like this!!
They want to pigeon hole practioners as crackpot quacks.. and this isn't true... and you have to call them on their BS.
Sure.. there are a lot of fakes and BS'rs..
but there are many skeptics who are in the business for the money too.
Do we want folks to be harmed by dubius claims? no... and we can't always control bs'rs who run around making dubius claims and give bad advice...
My experience with MAGICK is more profound and involves my own personal transformation.. not making bunnies appear out of hats.
the world IS mysterious.. and science IS cool.. but there is a MYSTERY to science and whether scientists like it or or not.. they are discovering that science is a bit more "woo woo" than they would like and are trying to backpeddle (and I have noticed this over time) with some of the initial claims that have been revealed by Quantum physics.. They are trying to distance themselves by slamming "Magickal" practioners and saying they don't understand the science properly and are making claims that are not there... but I don't agree with that.. I think they just are scared that things are a bit more complicated and woo woo than they would like and don't know how to deal with that.. and so they bash folks on the other side...
I respect science and i respect healthy skepticism.
Yet.. I can't ignore that there are thigns that I have felt.. experienced that have allowed me to see things in a different way.
Yet being around prominant Athiests doesn't help.
My stepfather is the National Legal Director for American Atheists. Both my mum and stepdad were mentioned in Richard Dawkins's GOD DELUSION (footnoted)... and I have been to a few secular atheist events and helped out with Camp Quest the first 2 years....
so yeah.. i have been around it. And i have questioned and questioned and questioned.. and fought with myself over belief....
It is complicated. I support what American Atheists do.. they have rights and I don't like Literal Creationists.
But arguments are NOT black and white.. and many dont understaand or take the time to understand the subtetlys of arguments and issues... They let their assumptions dictate how their choose to see the world.
Skeptics tend to be honestly.. a bit more negative. If they can't SEE it .. they dismiss it out of hand..
but then fundies.. tend to be just as literal as we all know.
Yet there is a HUGE world in between Atheism and Fundamentalist Literal Christian beliefs...
Michael Shermer is a huge skeptic and every time I hear him speak on such topics as Tarot or "fortune telling" his arguments and points are predictable and only see the stereotypical side of fakey Tarot readers.
Are there fake tarot readers? SURE.. that doesn't mean that tarot isn't valid... he just doesn' t understand what REAL tarot does or how it works and why it works. He only understands tarot from what he has seen in movies...but I doubt he has read ANY extensive work on tarot.. never read the wide variety of books on the tarot etc.. so he really needs to just shut up...
For YEARS I have tried to educate my stepfather about what real MAGICK is ...
Atheists like to dismiss Magic as "wishful thinking" .. or have some ridiculous idea that magic is merely Bewitched or I Dream of Genie.. that is immature and naive. Yet he refuses to read anything that really handles the subject in a mature way. And you have to understand that many skeptics are like this!!
They want to pigeon hole practioners as crackpot quacks.. and this isn't true... and you have to call them on their BS.
Sure.. there are a lot of fakes and BS'rs..
but there are many skeptics who are in the business for the money too.
Do we want folks to be harmed by dubius claims? no... and we can't always control bs'rs who run around making dubius claims and give bad advice...
My experience with MAGICK is more profound and involves my own personal transformation.. not making bunnies appear out of hats.
the world IS mysterious.. and science IS cool.. but there is a MYSTERY to science and whether scientists like it or or not.. they are discovering that science is a bit more "woo woo" than they would like and are trying to backpeddle (and I have noticed this over time) with some of the initial claims that have been revealed by Quantum physics.. They are trying to distance themselves by slamming "Magickal" practioners and saying they don't understand the science properly and are making claims that are not there... but I don't agree with that.. I think they just are scared that things are a bit more complicated and woo woo than they would like and don't know how to deal with that.. and so they bash folks on the other side...