what's the deal?

You touched on one of the greatest sources of my own cognitive dissonance.

I like to be scientific and rational and look for explanations to things. I love anatomy, psychology, sociology, any and every science that explains how things work in general and how people work in particular. I like to think of myself as pretty rational.

That being said, I also want to believe there's more out there. I want to believe in psychic vibes and angels and the healing power of the color purple. I am a Reiki master (though I hesitate to use the word "master" as I don't really practice or teach ... let's just say I got all three degrees several years back). The stories of the conventional religions don't make sense to me (sorry, but I apply the same degree of "how could you believe that?" to the stories in the Bible as I do to Scientology) but I wish there were SOMETHING I could believe in. I settle for a vague mishmash of somewhat spiritual feelings. Ism.

So basically, my rational analytic mind tells me pulls me toward Richard Dawkins and James Randi, but then there's the part of me who still does my Reiki and believes I am actually making myself or others better with mystical energy. I cannot reconcile these. What's a girl to do?

I wish I knew. They make me nervous. So many of them are so ungrounded I wonder if they could find the dirt under their feet.

And there seems to be a disproportionate amount of woo in the belly dance world, too! Honestly, it drives me up the wall. I'm a naturalist/humanist and I believe that everything has the potential to be explained and explored through scientific methods.

Have you read Carl Sagan's book The Demon Haunted World: Science As A Candle in the Dark? It's an absolutely fantastic treatise on skepticism in an increasingly woo-woo world. I highly recommend it!

I agree. My experience is that the principles of Reiki are great, but I have yet to work with a Reiki Master who really has it together. (Just my experience! I'm sure there are some great ones out there.) I've been attuned up to level II, and that's when I gave up on that and decided to just keep working on it on my own. (Really. The first attunement I did with three other people, and they weren't feeling any energy at all, they couldn't get anything, so the master just ignored it and moved on to the next thing. The second one was so filled with other woo-woo that I gave up.)

Additionally, there are some other approaches to healing that are based on other methods - like Donna Eden's Energy Medicine, in which she works on tracing meridians and tapping acupressure points, or Barbara Brennan, who requires her students to do full courses in physiology and anatomy in tandem with her studies. There's plenty of woo-woo to be found in those who follow and practice in those camps as well, but the basic info is good.

Those of us who want to keep the woo to a minimum are still faced by those who would like to chalk up any kind of alternative healing modalities as woo-woo, thanks to the over-infusion of the crazies, and that's too bad.

"Die Religion ... ist das Opium des Volkes" - Karl Marx

Often interpreted as "Religion is the opiate of the masses," or, "Religion is the opium of the people." No matter the people and no matter the religion, the saying holds true. Richard Dawkins and others have done numerous studies on the fear effect of death. Rather than deal with this perfectly natural and rational fear, many humans cling fervently to a belief structure that allows them the conceit that, through their actions, they will somehow be able to cheat death and live forever. No amount of rationality will desuade the true believer. They are impervious to logic.

However, I'm not advocating a 100% pure scientific utopia where the people believe in nothing. I personally have a religion, though I would call it a practice rather than a belief. I also understand that, at this point, I have no rational or scientific reason to hold my beliefs nor do I have any objective evidence that my practice works. What I do have is anecdotal evidence, which holds true on a personal level no matter how impermissible it is in a scientific construct.

Most exorcists require a prospective daemoniac to go through a full medical workup to find any possible physical or scientific cause of their symptoms before they'll agree to performing an exorcism. The reason is that the Catholic Church accepts science as being an aspect of reality, and one that they choose not to claim expertise in. Likewise, whenever I experience an event that can only be described as "Fortean", I choose to investigate all rational and scientific explanations before moving on to the irrational and mystical. Most people don't do this and will just accept their "gut feelings" as true. Some of these people venture into what I consider to be full blown psychosis, engaging in a purposeful complete break from reality. In the end, though, I kind of feel like that's what religion is: A purposeful psychosis.

Wow... the response to this thread makes me so happy. Non-woo bellydancers! :D

Can we add to that people who say things like: "Science is sooo far behind alternative medicine." I'm sure alternative medicine and herbal supplements may have their benefits, but the total disdain for anything scientific kills me.

Could someone give me a wee primer on Reiki? It's easier to ask people who know it inside out then shift through Wikipedia.

And maybe a little info on Dawkins? I've tried to read through his article on Wikipedia before but any article that even mentions Stephen Jay Gould (even if they're con) makes me furious beyond all comprehension... I HATE GOULD and my brain refuses to be exposed to him!

I used to date a fellow who's family is into into space invaders and government conspiracys. They were right no matter what (of COURSE Hitler was BFF with aliens, and of COURSE we're descended from reptiles, duh, this guy who actually TALKS to aliens said it, and since the government denies it it must be true). They all kept telling themselves that they were all geniuses therefore they knew better than everyone no matter the subject (uh, please don't try to tell me about the history of bellydance. Um, finger cymbals aren't morse code. No, you actually have NO evidence to say it's entirely Lebanese. No, Gaelic is not at ALL related to Hebrew just because they both have nasal sounds. Wow. You're pretty dumb.) I know a few flipping brillant people, and they're all always questioning themselves and others, because truth is more important than being right to said brillant individuals.