Skeptics' Attitude

[Energy]

skeptics are not interested to know the truth or try to understand.

They just want to prove you wrong.

Evven if you literally blast off a car by just pointing at it with a finger, with great ease,
skeptics will still find thousand of silly excuse to say you are playing tricks.

Discuss

[rainwing]

I knew a gentleman by that nature back in college. He was very left wing, an atheist and very confrontational, and not afraid to show any of his thoughts. Because he was my roommate, he tried to start a lot of debates with me to show that he was right, and I was either in agreement with him, or wrong.

I asked him one day why he kept hounding me for answers on stuff he already believed, and he told me that he wanted to understand my position better. I asked him why he wanted to understand me better if he had no intention of believing me, if and when my beliefs were at odds with his. He told me that he had arrived in a comfortable stage in life where all his beliefs made sense, and he didn't need to budge on anything. He was aggravating, but I learned a lot from him.

Then again, I'm also a kind of skeptical guy, but in a more "wary, but open minded" kind of way. I suppose my skeptical roommate wanted to prove he was right, but skeptical me wants to know more.

I find arguing to be of little value to me, because it's two angry people talking. I also find debate to be of little value to me, because it's two stubborn people talking. I like discussing a lot more.

Chris

[wstein]

Those choices are a little cynical. Certainly some bearing the banner of 'skeptic' fit each of the poll choices. I would add another in the same vein: fed up with being told stuff that is not true.

Even if you literally blast off a car by just pointing at it with a finger, with great ease, skeptics will still find thousand of silly excuse to say you are playing tricks.

Can't blame them really. Watch the TV show 'Criss Angel'. He does stuff that on par with this. I know some of it is tricks (stage magic) and some of it is years of physical and mental conditioning. The 'problem' is that he weaves them together purposely so that you don't know where one ends and the other begins. On top of that, virtually every movie and many TV shows use special effects that are near impossible to spot. In addition to not being able to believe what you hear, can't really believe much of what you see either.

I am a believer AND a skeptic. I don't believe most of what I am told. I always check out a new idea before adopting it for my own. I know a lot of people just make stuff up. I not indicating any malice here, just naivety and ignorance. On top of that, my truth is not the same as for anyone else. Makes one question if anyone actually knows anything. Even though I am virtually certain that everything I know is wrong, its the best I got and it helps me get through the day here on Earth.

[oath]

I used to be a skeptic, and still am Dont confuse me with the stereotype though please


I honestly think that many "skeptics" are people who are afraid of the truth. And that they if they see anyone trying to propagate that truth, they feel they are being attacked and so retalliate.

[Energy]

yeah thanks for your nice reply guys

there are endless color in a band of spectrum and we can put all the colors in only 2 or 3 categories.

you guys open up more possibilities and sheds/variants of skeptics and thats nice.

however there are some skeptics who bash people without any base or just to mock others.

There are some skeptics who contribute to us.
They help to spot lies and potential con men so that people wont fall as victim to them.

anyways the world is not black and white and we can simply label all skeptics as one.

I am glad you can point that out.

thanks you and kudos.

[rainwing]

So what about you, Energy? Where do you see yourself on the skeptic/believer issue on most things? What things do you tend to look a bit wary at, while others you are more likely to believe, like politics, occult beliefs, religion and the like?

Chris

[sash]

Even though I am virtually certain that everything I know is wrong, its the best I got and it helps me get through the day here on Earth.

My idea is that like all things skepticism can be either healthy or non-healthy.

Unhealthy skepticism is closed to truth
The basic idea behind it is that a person is not ready to look at their own reality and so creates veils that are not true about reality but help support their own view which is false. There is a desire to continue to press down this false view upon others and look for people that will agree with it to further the self-delusion that it is the correct version of reality.

Healthy skepticism is open to truth
..But is validated against the practicality of knowledge available (as wstein pointed out). From knowledge that is not belief-based I think it is possible to act skeptically in a healthy way, for instance 'listen to this tape and you will astral project in 10 minutes' or 'cross the street in front of that car and it will not harm you'. Someone who is not a skeptic might follow the above directions to prove their open-mindedness.
However the person who is healthy in their approach will not because they are trying to prove neither their open-mindedness nor another agenda version of reality. They have an inner sense of reality, but they don't need to prove it to anyone, it might change, and that's fine, or it might not, they are not holding onto it as an agenda for it to be able to bother them. In that sense it is possible to keep the tools that are practical right now, but leave the beliefs behind, but never attach emotionally to the tools.

[Dialgo]

It is but human nature to think that their own point of view is right, and wish to prove all other beliefs or reasons wrong. We all want to be right...Some things in life cannot be proven; and there is a point where one must believe in faith. Do not look at (closeminded) skeptics with hatrid or anger, but with compassion and hope that one day they may change their way...for you could just as easily be in their position...and be unaware. The best way to influence people like that, may well be through the way you live...and their observations of you.

[Krystal]

I think the problem is that people like to have the answers. They like to label and classify things. If something does not fit their answers, then they get uncomfortable that they might be wrong and that they may have been wrong all along. People feel the need to "do things right", they feel guilt if they are not "doing things right" and they also fear the unknown of not knowing the "right answers" if they don't already have them.

For some people even the concept of "there is no such thing as right or wrong" can cause them to get very angry.

I had someone get very angry at me why I brought up the possibility that one reality does not fit everyone - people can create their own reality that can be drastically different from someone else's reality. They got extremely angry at this.

I see it as a problem concerning control. they want the anwers (control). they want everything to fit their answers (control). If you don't believe the way they do, then they must show you that they are the person that has the correct answers, therefore you must be wrong (control).

To me a debate is for each person to present the options/evidence to be left for the open-minded to decide what to do with the information presented. AND that both people don't care how the other person decides. If either or both people are close minded and simply want the other person to change their minds to how they themselves think - this isn't a debate, this is a bully session.

[Energy]

yeah ...

too bad this happens to religion as well.

in the ultimate case they kill those who doesnt share the same set of doctrine with them.
the result? - millenia of bloodshed in the name of religion.

Pride is the root of such things