On skepticism in spirituality, mysticism, and magic.

If you ever find yourself feeling guilt and shame over skeptical thoughts and feelings, you should sit down and think about why that is. Who put that guilt and shame into you? Skepticism is not bad. Skepticism is your instincts telling you that something isn't adding up. Your skepticism may be wrong sometimes, but that's okay, because what it's fundamentally telling you to do is slow down and investigate further before committing. Have you ever noticed that people who demonize skepticism don't want you to do that? They don't want you to take the time to critically examine things. They want you to buy their product or accept their worldview now. Can you see how that serves their wants and needs more than it serves yours? "You need to believe what I believe right now!" is always about the other person's ego, no matter how they frame it. Even if they claim that they just want to keep you safe and prevent you from making mistakes that could hurt you, it's all about their ego.

"Refusing to believe in X is pure arrogance!" is speculation on their part. If they've got themselves convinced that people who don't believe the same way they do are just arrogant, that's their problem. That's an insecurity they need to work through.

If you ever investigate cult leaders closely, you will often find that they are highly insecure people who try to cope with their insecurity by surrounding themselves with people who will accept whatever they tell them to believe. This is highly damaging to the people they surround themselves with, and it's not good for the cult leader because they're not working through their insecurities. Personally, I find a much greater peace of mind in knowing that the people I associate with believe differently from me and it won't tear up our relationships, than I find in knowing that the only reason things are working out is because we all currently believe the exact same things. You can't expect people to believe the same things forever - we learn and have new experiences that force us to change our beliefs. You also can't expect people to just believe things just because you say so - they need a compelling reason to see things that way. So, I acknowledge that I have my own reasons for believing the way I do, and I accept that they have their reasons for believing the way they do. And I don't expect them to change their minds if I can't demonstrate a solid reason they should. So again, skepticism isn't bad. In fact, skepticism can be extremely good if it motivates you to actually take a closer look at things and do more research. I personally know a lot about cults, history, religion, and magic because I was skeptical about a lot of the things people were telling me, and I chose to go and actually do some research on it. And that means I'm equipped to explain why some strains of belief are incredibly harmful. So if you ever feel skeptical, I suggest using it to motivate you into doing more research. Do deep dives. Collect and compare anecdotes. Whatever. And always, always know that you shouldn't have to feel shame or guilt over feeling skepticism.

I’d also like to add that if the word ‘skepticism’ raises red flags for you, you may be mixing up two different things. There’s skepticism the concept, and then there’s skepticism the movement, and you don’t want to go mixing these two up in your mind.

Skepticism the concept is just what described above. It’s what makes you hold off on believing things until you have a better grasp on them. As long as you listen to your inner skeptic, it makes you less likely to fall for cults and conspiracy theories and the like.

Skepticism the movement is a whole other beast. It used to be pretty much identical to skepticism the concept until this guy called James Randi came around. You can (and should) google that further, but tl;dr he created a cult. Skeptics these days are much like traditional christians in their views. They have already decided that nothing exists except what they approve of, therefore it’s acceptable to do whatever they feel like to people who advocate for different points of view or gods forbid, even live their lives in ways not approved by the skeptics. That’s the exact opposite of actual skepticism!

Nevertheless, skepticism the movement is very widespread these days among a certain crowd, so if your mind is throwing up a dozen red flags at the mere mention of the word? This is the likely reason. Be careful not to throw out the concept with the cult, but use any of your usual safety methods when around ‘skeptics’. They are most likely not referring to the concept.