New Ager Becomes Skeptic
Nov. 1st, 2004 01:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nemorathwaldKarla McClaren was formerly a New Age author for more than thirty years, during which time she authored several books and appeared at the Omega Institute, Naropa University, and the Whole Life Expo. She is currently dismantling her successful career as a metaphysical guru, and writes in the May 2004 issue of Skeptical Inquirer of her transition to skepticism, about her surprise on discovering that James Randi and other skeptics are actually motivated by concern rather than spite, and of how skeptics might more effectively reach people who are in an anti-intellectual culture. I was fascinated by her anthropological description of the two mutually-unintelligible mindsets and languages in which skeptics and the new age are trained.
Among the interesting points she makes are that more readers might get to the skeptical information that they need, if they did not have to come crawling to it on their knees in shame. Excellent sources of debunking information that could help us weed out the useless from the useful, are given regrettable titles such as Quackwatch. The people that actually need to be reached with clear-headed information are well aware of their own good intentions and therefore dismiss anything that impugns their motives.
Another interesting quote on a different subject: "One of the biggest falsehoods I've encountered," McClaren writes, "is that skeptics can't tolerate mystery, while New Age people can. This is completely wrong, because it is actually the people in my culture who can't handle mystery - not even a tiny bit of it. Everything in my New Age culture comes complete with an answer, a reason, and a source. Every action, emotion, health symptom, dream, accident, birth, death, or idea here has a direct link to the influence of the stars, chi, past lives, ancestors, energy fields, interdimensional beings, enneagrams, devas, fairies, spirit guides, angels, aliens, karma, God, or the Goddess. We love to say that we embrace mystery in the New Age culture, but that's a cultural conceit and it's utterly wrong. In actual fact, we have no tolerance whatsoever for mystery. Everything from the smallest individual action to the largest movements in the evolution of the planet has a specific metaphysical or mystical cause. In my opinion, this incapacity to tolerate mystery is a direct result of my culture's disavowal of the intellect. One of the most frightening things about attaining the capacity to think skeptically and critically is that so many things don't have clear answers. Critical thinkers and skeptics don't create answers just to manage their anxiety."
Among the interesting points she makes are that more readers might get to the skeptical information that they need, if they did not have to come crawling to it on their knees in shame. Excellent sources of debunking information that could help us weed out the useless from the useful, are given regrettable titles such as Quackwatch. The people that actually need to be reached with clear-headed information are well aware of their own good intentions and therefore dismiss anything that impugns their motives.
Another interesting quote on a different subject: "One of the biggest falsehoods I've encountered," McClaren writes, "is that skeptics can't tolerate mystery, while New Age people can. This is completely wrong, because it is actually the people in my culture who can't handle mystery - not even a tiny bit of it. Everything in my New Age culture comes complete with an answer, a reason, and a source. Every action, emotion, health symptom, dream, accident, birth, death, or idea here has a direct link to the influence of the stars, chi, past lives, ancestors, energy fields, interdimensional beings, enneagrams, devas, fairies, spirit guides, angels, aliens, karma, God, or the Goddess. We love to say that we embrace mystery in the New Age culture, but that's a cultural conceit and it's utterly wrong. In actual fact, we have no tolerance whatsoever for mystery. Everything from the smallest individual action to the largest movements in the evolution of the planet has a specific metaphysical or mystical cause. In my opinion, this incapacity to tolerate mystery is a direct result of my culture's disavowal of the intellect. One of the most frightening things about attaining the capacity to think skeptically and critically is that so many things don't have clear answers. Critical thinkers and skeptics don't create answers just to manage their anxiety."
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Interesting
Date: 2004-11-01 02:12 pm (UTC)