Esotericism and the occult
To attract more readers, which means anyone apart from me and the editor, I decided to write about something that is trendy in this day and age: Esotericism, but in a skeptical way.
Over the past 30 years, some of the Media seem to be keen on perpetuating alternate realities which don’t have any scientific evidence to back them up; Astrology, esotericism, Oujia Board, angels… you name it.
Internet, magazines and television, ways of communication that were made to spread knowledge and rationality, have been sabotaged by a shady world of manipulators and charlatans, who want to make a living from ignorance. Handing us over to the obscurantism of the 21st century, quite ironically, when we consider that a century known for its space exploration, technological developments and globalization, has been undermined by a plethora of nonsense.
Harry Houdini, Penn & Teller and, specially, the amazing Randi, hunted down all the hoaxes and frauds that bumped into them, in the name of reason and for human’s welfare, but believers still want to be fooled. So, as James Randi and its panel of scientists made the research already, I decided to step fairly aside and write based on his book (An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds and Hoaxes) which deserves all the ink and fame that some areas of the media have unfairly given to the Gurus of the Supernatural.
Let’s crack on with the section.
Today’s Horoscopes:
Capricorn: The past, in terms of your friends or the groups you belong to, comes back with a lovely karmic spin soon. And you know that unique approach to property, home or family? It’s ready to evolve.
If your Zodiac sign is not Capricorn, just imagine the same prediction to whatever the Zodiac sign you are. The Forer effect explains that the vague and general ideas used in this astrological predictions, can apply easily to a wide range of people, remarking a tendency upon the latter to rate them as accurate and uniquely applicable to themselves.
Your Guardian Angel for today:
Many magazines and publications also tell readers of a Guardian Angel who will watch over them. Here is one example, and the books definition of angels. Do they seem like a good match?
Gabriel: God’s messenger will be in charge of your protection today. Angels are beings just below gods in rank. Whether angels have gender or any sensual interests or abilities has been a matter of some interest to philosophers and the intrusively curious. And, surprisingly enough, their wings seem to have been simply invented by medieval artists, and the attractive idea was picked up and used by everyone since. No questions asked¹.
Today’s recommended Game: the Ouija Board
One or more operators sit around the board, each lightly resting fingers upon the top of the planchette. It is said that spirits or other entities cause the planchette to move about the board, spelling out messages and answers to questions posed by the operators (This process is a form of “dactylomancy” or divination by means of finger motions).
Actually, the movement is due to the Ideomotor Effect. Wherein quite unconsciously, the participant is moving the hand enough to make the movement of the involved device occur, though he may attribute the motion to the divine or supernatural force in which he believes. In these event, nothing in the way of information is revealed to the operator except what he already knows².
My Opinion:
Man, on its desperate quest for answers and meaning for life, have found himself up to the neck with pseudo sciences that take place in settings full of gullibility, where any objectivity or actual reasoning goes out of the window. However, people that believe and embrace the this phenomena, are not necessarily stupid, they just confirm the existence of an inherent feature in human beings: Vulnerability.
We are lonely beings living in society, thus, we are vulnerable; to all dangers that come from the exterior world and to all the people in which we trust. As long as we ask the correct, and enough, questions, we won’t be as vulnerable as we used to be, and we would be able to stay away from the brink of gullibility to look forward the path of truth.
What is wanted is not the will to believe but the wish to find out, which is the exact opposite.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)
¹ and ²: An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds and Hoaxes of the occult and supernatural. James Randi (Angels, Ouija Board/Forer Effect)
Over the past 30 years, some of the Media seem to be keen on perpetuating alternate realities which don’t have any scientific evidence to back them up; Astrology, esotericism, Oujia Board, angels… you name it.
Internet, magazines and television, ways of communication that were made to spread knowledge and rationality, have been sabotaged by a shady world of manipulators and charlatans, who want to make a living from ignorance. Handing us over to the obscurantism of the 21st century, quite ironically, when we consider that a century known for its space exploration, technological developments and globalization, has been undermined by a plethora of nonsense.
Harry Houdini, Penn & Teller and, specially, the amazing Randi, hunted down all the hoaxes and frauds that bumped into them, in the name of reason and for human’s welfare, but believers still want to be fooled. So, as James Randi and its panel of scientists made the research already, I decided to step fairly aside and write based on his book (An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds and Hoaxes) which deserves all the ink and fame that some areas of the media have unfairly given to the Gurus of the Supernatural.
Let’s crack on with the section.
Today’s Horoscopes:
Capricorn: The past, in terms of your friends or the groups you belong to, comes back with a lovely karmic spin soon. And you know that unique approach to property, home or family? It’s ready to evolve.
If your Zodiac sign is not Capricorn, just imagine the same prediction to whatever the Zodiac sign you are. The Forer effect explains that the vague and general ideas used in this astrological predictions, can apply easily to a wide range of people, remarking a tendency upon the latter to rate them as accurate and uniquely applicable to themselves.
Your Guardian Angel for today:
Many magazines and publications also tell readers of a Guardian Angel who will watch over them. Here is one example, and the books definition of angels. Do they seem like a good match?
Gabriel: God’s messenger will be in charge of your protection today. Angels are beings just below gods in rank. Whether angels have gender or any sensual interests or abilities has been a matter of some interest to philosophers and the intrusively curious. And, surprisingly enough, their wings seem to have been simply invented by medieval artists, and the attractive idea was picked up and used by everyone since. No questions asked¹.
Today’s recommended Game: the Ouija Board
One or more operators sit around the board, each lightly resting fingers upon the top of the planchette. It is said that spirits or other entities cause the planchette to move about the board, spelling out messages and answers to questions posed by the operators (This process is a form of “dactylomancy” or divination by means of finger motions).
Actually, the movement is due to the Ideomotor Effect. Wherein quite unconsciously, the participant is moving the hand enough to make the movement of the involved device occur, though he may attribute the motion to the divine or supernatural force in which he believes. In these event, nothing in the way of information is revealed to the operator except what he already knows².
My Opinion:
Man, on its desperate quest for answers and meaning for life, have found himself up to the neck with pseudo sciences that take place in settings full of gullibility, where any objectivity or actual reasoning goes out of the window. However, people that believe and embrace the this phenomena, are not necessarily stupid, they just confirm the existence of an inherent feature in human beings: Vulnerability.
We are lonely beings living in society, thus, we are vulnerable; to all dangers that come from the exterior world and to all the people in which we trust. As long as we ask the correct, and enough, questions, we won’t be as vulnerable as we used to be, and we would be able to stay away from the brink of gullibility to look forward the path of truth.
What is wanted is not the will to believe but the wish to find out, which is the exact opposite.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)
¹ and ²: An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds and Hoaxes of the occult and supernatural. James Randi (Angels, Ouija Board/Forer Effect)