Making Occult Studies more Accessible

[LMNO]

Yes, but we don't know why it would do that.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Yes, but we don't know why it would do that.

That's where you apply the scientific process.  After all, if it has a benefit, it should be studied.

Calling it woo doesn't accomplish anything but marginalizing a potentially helpful practice.

[LMNO]

Yes, but we don't know why it would do that.

That's where you apply the scientific process.  After all, if it has a benefit, it should be studied.

Calling it woo doesn't accomplish anything but marginalizing a potentially helpful practice.

Agreed -- but it was originally discovered when the woo was everywhere.  We should not keep the woo, but we shouldn't reject it just because the woo was there when we found it.

Which means that sometimes, sometimes, we have to look at the woo a bit longer than may be comfortable, to see if there's anything there we can use once we clean the shit off of it.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Yes, but we don't know why it would do that.

That's where you apply the scientific process.  After all, if it has a benefit, it should be studied.

Calling it woo doesn't accomplish anything but marginalizing a potentially helpful practice.

Agreed -- but it was originally discovered when the woo was everywhere.  We should not keep the woo, but we shouldn't reject it just because the woo was there when we found it.

Which means that sometimes, sometimes, we have to look at the woo a bit longer than may be comfortable, to see if there's anything there we can use once we clean the shit off of it.

That's exactly my point.  If it works reliably, it isn't woo.  I am all about people using yoga, meditation, or Jack Daniels, if that's what helps them get through the night.  But there is no need to refer to it as woo, anymore, for the same reason that we don't refer to germs as demons, or the sun as some big fucker in a chariot. 

[LMNO]

Well, then wouldn't it depend on how one approaches it, then?

I mean, if I said that I "use psychological methods of pattern recognition and symbolic triggers to frame a meta cogntive process allowing me to self-analyze my decision making abilities," why would that be any different than "I use tarot to help me figure stuff out"?

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Well, then wouldn't it depend on how one approaches it, then?

I mean, if I said that I "use psychological methods of pattern recognition and symbolic triggers to frame a meta cogntive process allowing me to self-analyze my decision making abilities," why would that be any different than "I use tarot to help me figure stuff out"?

Actually, at that point, I think you're out in the woo.  Call me a jackass, but I see no value in Tarot cards that can't be more reliably achieved using standard old problem-solving/troubleshooting practices.

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

Well, then wouldn't it depend on how one approaches it, then?

I mean, if I said that I "use psychological methods of pattern recognition and symbolic triggers to frame a meta cogntive process allowing me to self-analyze my decision making abilities," why would that be any different than "I use tarot to help me figure stuff out"?

Actually, at that point, I think you're out in the woo.  Call me a jackass, but I see no value in Tarot cards that can't be more reliably achieved using standard old problem-solving/troubleshooting practices.

How deep in woo are you when you're fully absorbed in a fiction novel?

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Well, then wouldn't it depend on how one approaches it, then?

I mean, if I said that I "use psychological methods of pattern recognition and symbolic triggers to frame a meta cogntive process allowing me to self-analyze my decision making abilities," why would that be any different than "I use tarot to help me figure stuff out"?

Actually, at that point, I think you're out in the woo.  Call me a jackass, but I see no value in Tarot cards that can't be more reliably achieved using standard old problem-solving/troubleshooting practices.

How deep in woo are you when you're fully absorbed in a fiction novel?

Unless it's Mists of Avalon, not at all.   

Not even a bit.  I'm not using it to help me think, or anything else.  It's entertainment.  If I pretended it was something else, then I'd be wandering into the woo.

[East Coast Hustle]

The point I was trying to make was that a large part of the value of finding that slack lies in the journey (in whatever form someone chooses to manifest it in) and that using shortcuts to subvert that was a way to miss that inherent value. That's what I meant by "if you have to trick yourself into that state of mind, you may not be ready for that state of mind."

What do you suggest people with severe anxiety disorders do about their condition instead of meditation/hypnosis/occultism? Are they just not ready to feel okay enough to function?

Or how about people with severe pain from cancer complications? Drugs are clearly false slack and a shortcut. Occultism/hypnosis/meditation are already out. Are these people just unprepared for their normal state of mind to return?

you've missed the point by a wide margin, and as I've explained it enough already I'm just going to leave you to your mistaken impression.

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

The point I was trying to make was that a large part of the value of finding that slack lies in the journey (in whatever form someone chooses to manifest it in) and that using shortcuts to subvert that was a way to miss that inherent value. That's what I meant by "if you have to trick yourself into that state of mind, you may not be ready for that state of mind."

What do you suggest people with severe anxiety disorders do about their condition instead of meditation/hypnosis/occultism? Are they just not ready to feel okay enough to function?

Or how about people with severe pain from cancer complications? Drugs are clearly false slack and a shortcut. Occultism/hypnosis/meditation are already out. Are these people just unprepared for their normal state of mind to return?

you've missed the point by a wide margin, and as I've explained it enough already I'm just going to leave you to your mistaken impression.

Okay?

Well, then wouldn't it depend on how one approaches it, then?

I mean, if I said that I "use psychological methods of pattern recognition and symbolic triggers to frame a meta cogntive process allowing me to self-analyze my decision making abilities," why would that be any different than "I use tarot to help me figure stuff out"?

Actually, at that point, I think you're out in the woo.  Call me a jackass, but I see no value in Tarot cards that can't be more reliably achieved using standard old problem-solving/troubleshooting practices.

How deep in woo are you when you're fully absorbed in a fiction novel?

Unless it's Mists of Avalon, not at all.   

Not even a bit.  I'm not using it to help me think, or anything else.  It's entertainment.  If I pretended it was something else, then I'd be wandering into the woo.

"1984" and "Brave New World" are woo if I use them to help me think?

[LMNO]

Well, then wouldn't it depend on how one approaches it, then?

I mean, if I said that I "use psychological methods of pattern recognition and symbolic triggers to frame a meta cogntive process allowing me to self-analyze my decision making abilities," why would that be any different than "I use tarot to help me figure stuff out"?

Actually, at that point, I think you're out in the woo.  Call me a jackass, but I see no value in Tarot cards that can't be more reliably achieved using standard old problem-solving/troubleshooting practices.

Be that as it may, in my post I didn't make a single occult, religious, or mystical statement.  I described a model of cognition, and a method of how it can be examined.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Well, then wouldn't it depend on how one approaches it, then?

I mean, if I said that I "use psychological methods of pattern recognition and symbolic triggers to frame a meta cogntive process allowing me to self-analyze my decision making abilities," why would that be any different than "I use tarot to help me figure stuff out"?

Actually, at that point, I think you're out in the woo.  Call me a jackass, but I see no value in Tarot cards that can't be more reliably achieved using standard old problem-solving/troubleshooting practices.

Be that as it may, in my post I didn't make a single occult, religious, or mystical statement.  I described a model of cognition, and a method of how it can be examined.

WARNING:  YOU ARE THREATENING MY IDEOLOGICAL TERRITORY.  PLEASE PUT ON YOUR SCREECH-RESISTANT EARPHONES AND YOUR POOP APRON.

[LMNO]

Can you hear me, Doktor Woo?

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Can you hear me, Doktor Woo?

Son of a bitch.  Now I'm naked in my office, screeching at Jeff.

Look what YOU made ME do.

[LMNO]

ATTN PD.COM:

I HAVE MANAGED TO GAIN CONTROL OF ROGER'S MIND LAZORS. 

DEMANDS TO FOLLOW.