Post by JediKaren on Jan 17, 2008 14:44:55 GMT -5
Here is a rough draft of an article that I am working on. I would like you all to read it and tell me what you think.
Humans have a funny tendency to always look for what we call “truth”. We tend to define truth as an absolute fact, an idea that we view as reality and can be trusted to be true. The mind likes to know the truth about a certain matter and fully believe this truth with certainty and comfort. Yet, history has repeatedly taught us that many of the truths we hold on to are not in fact true. The reality we believe is often times a warped view of the universe that has many holes and faults in logic. The problem is we simply can not presume what we know is, without a doubt, true.
Psionics is one of the many ideas we really know little about. No one has yet able to come up with an answer to what is psi. We teach that it is energy, but we have no way to prove this as a fact. We teach that psi affects us, other living beings, and objects, but we base our teaching on our own experiences. Science has yet to pinpoint psi and be able to dissect it. Yet, there thousands and thousands of people fully believing psi as a true fact, that can not be proven incorrect. So, I ask each reader of this article to examine their beliefs about truth in the matter of psi by looking into three groups that revolve around psionics. We will refer to these groups as believes, pseudo skeptics, and true skeptics.
Believers, or what I think each one privately would calls themselves true believers, are people who fully believe in psi. They have accepted that psi is real, that the theory psi is an energy that can be manipulated by thought and can affect the world around them. Believers back up their logic with science that only shows or suggests psi to be real. True believers see themselves to be open minded and more intelligent because they have broke away from mainstream beliefs. Believers are often proud and stubborn about their beliefs and do not tolerate questioning very well. They will claim that they have gone through a questioning and research period and that they do not need to do more. Believers use their own experiences as part of their research and reasoning about psi being real. These people may sound very confident and easy in their lecturing, but this is not the truth. Believers are sadly blind to the other sides of the universe and are more closed minded than they think they are.
Pseudoskeptics is a fancy word that basically means fake or false skeptic. In other words, a pseudoskeptic is not a real skeptic, but a person who claims to view the world in a skeptical way. Pseudoskeptics are often people who will only view a theory, such a psi, and claim the theory is false and the logic is bad. These people look to prove things as wrong. They claim psi can not exist due to the fact science can not prove it. They will fully support science as the only true way to analyze the world and discard any personal experiences. Often times a pseudoskeptic relies only on what they view as truth, rather than looking at another point of view. These people are much like the true believers in that they will be challenged on their point of view all the time and refuse to argue, or simply not listen to other arguments. They cling only to one side of an argument, thus making them a false skeptic.
A true skeptic is a very interesting person. To be a true skeptic, one must have an open mind to all beliefs, theories, and experiments. A skeptic is one who questions an idea as being truthful or not. A skeptic approaches psi with the two views that psi could be real and could be false. Then a skeptic looks at different views that claim truth or not and does not pick any side. Should a skeptic get as far as to timidly accept that psi could be real, the person then begins to look at his or her personal experiences for more research. A skeptic keeps in mind personal experiences or the experience of another person does not make an idea true, but helps strengthen the idea. Then a skeptic should step back and try to deny what they have found so far to be false. The person must be willing to not cling to any truth, but look at the logic behind a truth. If a skeptic gets this far and believes psi is real, they can then move on and explore more truths about psi, but should always be questioning. A skeptic does not let their mind get too comfortable with the safe comfort of a complete truth, but does allow themselves to accept the idea of “could” “may” “might” rather than “does” or “can’t”.
One reason why the believer and the pseudoskeptic refuse to argue is because they are secretly fearful of the idea that they are wrong. Many new psions would be crushed to find that psi is not real and they are lying to themselves as well as been lied to. Pseudoskeptics are fearful of the idea that there is something powerful and strange in the world that science can not explain, but exists all the same. A true skeptic does not have this hidden fear because he or she has confronted it by looking at both sides and keeping in mind at all times that one side could be proven wrong later in the future.
So before a new psion decides that psi is real, one should question their thought process as to why psi is real. Are you simply taking the word of another person? If you are, then you are being a believer. Are you looking at the information with the preconceived idea that psi is false? If you are then you are being a pseudoskeptic. Or are you looking at different points of view to try to understand the idea more and see why people believe psi is real or not? If so, then you are being a true skeptic. There is no one to say that any one view is truly wrong, seeing how this is only an opinion, but perhaps you can come closer to what really is reality by trying the true skeptic.
Humans have a funny tendency to always look for what we call “truth”. We tend to define truth as an absolute fact, an idea that we view as reality and can be trusted to be true. The mind likes to know the truth about a certain matter and fully believe this truth with certainty and comfort. Yet, history has repeatedly taught us that many of the truths we hold on to are not in fact true. The reality we believe is often times a warped view of the universe that has many holes and faults in logic. The problem is we simply can not presume what we know is, without a doubt, true.
Psionics is one of the many ideas we really know little about. No one has yet able to come up with an answer to what is psi. We teach that it is energy, but we have no way to prove this as a fact. We teach that psi affects us, other living beings, and objects, but we base our teaching on our own experiences. Science has yet to pinpoint psi and be able to dissect it. Yet, there thousands and thousands of people fully believing psi as a true fact, that can not be proven incorrect. So, I ask each reader of this article to examine their beliefs about truth in the matter of psi by looking into three groups that revolve around psionics. We will refer to these groups as believes, pseudo skeptics, and true skeptics.
Believers, or what I think each one privately would calls themselves true believers, are people who fully believe in psi. They have accepted that psi is real, that the theory psi is an energy that can be manipulated by thought and can affect the world around them. Believers back up their logic with science that only shows or suggests psi to be real. True believers see themselves to be open minded and more intelligent because they have broke away from mainstream beliefs. Believers are often proud and stubborn about their beliefs and do not tolerate questioning very well. They will claim that they have gone through a questioning and research period and that they do not need to do more. Believers use their own experiences as part of their research and reasoning about psi being real. These people may sound very confident and easy in their lecturing, but this is not the truth. Believers are sadly blind to the other sides of the universe and are more closed minded than they think they are.
Pseudoskeptics is a fancy word that basically means fake or false skeptic. In other words, a pseudoskeptic is not a real skeptic, but a person who claims to view the world in a skeptical way. Pseudoskeptics are often people who will only view a theory, such a psi, and claim the theory is false and the logic is bad. These people look to prove things as wrong. They claim psi can not exist due to the fact science can not prove it. They will fully support science as the only true way to analyze the world and discard any personal experiences. Often times a pseudoskeptic relies only on what they view as truth, rather than looking at another point of view. These people are much like the true believers in that they will be challenged on their point of view all the time and refuse to argue, or simply not listen to other arguments. They cling only to one side of an argument, thus making them a false skeptic.
A true skeptic is a very interesting person. To be a true skeptic, one must have an open mind to all beliefs, theories, and experiments. A skeptic is one who questions an idea as being truthful or not. A skeptic approaches psi with the two views that psi could be real and could be false. Then a skeptic looks at different views that claim truth or not and does not pick any side. Should a skeptic get as far as to timidly accept that psi could be real, the person then begins to look at his or her personal experiences for more research. A skeptic keeps in mind personal experiences or the experience of another person does not make an idea true, but helps strengthen the idea. Then a skeptic should step back and try to deny what they have found so far to be false. The person must be willing to not cling to any truth, but look at the logic behind a truth. If a skeptic gets this far and believes psi is real, they can then move on and explore more truths about psi, but should always be questioning. A skeptic does not let their mind get too comfortable with the safe comfort of a complete truth, but does allow themselves to accept the idea of “could” “may” “might” rather than “does” or “can’t”.
One reason why the believer and the pseudoskeptic refuse to argue is because they are secretly fearful of the idea that they are wrong. Many new psions would be crushed to find that psi is not real and they are lying to themselves as well as been lied to. Pseudoskeptics are fearful of the idea that there is something powerful and strange in the world that science can not explain, but exists all the same. A true skeptic does not have this hidden fear because he or she has confronted it by looking at both sides and keeping in mind at all times that one side could be proven wrong later in the future.
So before a new psion decides that psi is real, one should question their thought process as to why psi is real. Are you simply taking the word of another person? If you are, then you are being a believer. Are you looking at the information with the preconceived idea that psi is false? If you are then you are being a pseudoskeptic. Or are you looking at different points of view to try to understand the idea more and see why people believe psi is real or not? If so, then you are being a true skeptic. There is no one to say that any one view is truly wrong, seeing how this is only an opinion, but perhaps you can come closer to what really is reality by trying the true skeptic.
