My brother has fallen hardcore into Reiki "healing". He carries a healing rock with him and "studies" it at a "school" where he pays money. I've never said anything but "oh that's cool" when he's brought it up, but inside I'm frustrated an otherwise smart person can be scammed.
He's always been prone to this stuff and I'd love to know why some people are more susceptible to spiritual beliefs and some aren't? Why does he wholeheartedly believe in ghosts, the afterlife, God, life force, etc. Whereas I don't? We were raised almost identically. I also want to clarify that when I say "God", I mean spiritually. Not as an explanation for the universe. I say all this as someone who practices meditation and mindfulness. There's no spirituality in that practice however. I also don't hold any contempt for religious people so long as they're not dedicating large amounts of money to it (a 10% tithe seems reasonable).
Bro, i have no idea. I have a nurse sister and she believes heavily in astrology and crystal healing, same with my grandma.
And i will straight up not become friends with someone if i know they are deep in that stuff, particularly astrology.
You arent alone.
Grayson Mitchell
Do they never shut up about it?
I fuckin' love computers, but I know enough socially not to berate someone with conversation regarding them every time I see them. I think the more passionate you are, the harder this 'holding yourself back' becomes.
Luke Nelson
you try to convince people otherwise and if they don't listen accept that they disagree and move on. That's his prerogative.
If the folks he's purchasing services from advertise that they can provide treatment without requisite approval or disclaimers, then you should file a consumer complaint with the FDA.
if he's harming himself and won't be swayed, organize an intervention or something.
if he's harming any of his dependents, call the police / child protective services.
otherwise, it's not criminal; there's nothing you can do but lead him to some resources to understand why he's wrong, like studies
Asher Hill
I think this sort of thing fills an important role in human need for fantasy (for lack of a better word that comes to mind) . I don't mean placebo effect, I mean human brain is highly compartmentalized that our beliefs are not internally consistent with one another at all times. But to a degree that dissonance serves an important purpose.
Humans are not logic machines and we have needs beyond the material. Sometimes we're rational and logical and sometimes we fulfill our other psychological needs that happen to require otherwise. It's probably not good to move toward either extreme and I think we should stick to logic and reason insofar as possible but the optimal answer for living a fulfilling life is gonna be somewhere on the middle of that continuum.
This new age stuff is on the whole fairly benign anyway so it's a nice choice to have for someone looking to fill that void in their life.
Logan Lee
I feel like the best course of action is the "play the game" in a sense. Show them things about science, physics, math wutever that is cool. Slowly inundate them and turn them over the dark side of logic (like pol does to innocent bystanders)
Give casual unrelated examples to logical fallacies that they will agree with and then relate it later.
Alexander Long
Faith in other people is where belief comes from. Have you ever tried to verify that the earth isn't flat or that rocks don't heal?
Grayson Miller
I have, and rocks have no more healing powers than an ant beneath my boot.
Owen Baker
That's not true, if you put a healing rock in a sock you can smash your dumb friends head with it.
Luis Gomez
alright. that's not healing him, but that's healing me.
Logan Carter
Its YOURS healing stone, bruh, so it heals you.
Lincoln Kelly
Bad example, it is in fact easy to personally verify that the Earth isn't flat.
Sebastian Carter
My aunt gets into any passing alternative medicine trend, and it's horrible (I'm an MD-PhD student). I needed so many hours just to convince her to allow her kids standard vaccinations.
For her at least, I feel it's her way to feel special and like she belongs in a group. She is just looking for some identity I guess.
Jaxon Thomas
>How do you combat alternative medicine? With disease.
Asher Torres
a friend of mine had lyme disease, they tried everything they could in order to cure it, and in the end, only alternative medicine worked. was this coincidence? I find it hard to believe it actually worked.
Nathan Myers
+1 good luck, a lot of healing crystal folks have very adamant (albeit half-baked) opinions about science and they will always have a very good explanation as to why "science doesn't explain everything" and will usually try to end the conversation if you aren't "open-minded" enough to agree with them 100%
Brandon Walker
>How do you combat alternative medicine?
Some of it works, some doesn't. Some even gets adopted into "normal" medicine.
If you want to test the validity of something, stop making crybaby shitposts on Veeky Forums and start making posts on how to scientifically test a hypothesis. Maybe you'll discover something works or be able to debunk it. At least you'll be doing actual science, which helps people, and not masturbating your own ego.
Jose Cook
you don't
Isaac Harris
>Why does he wholeheartedly believe in ghosts, the afterlife, God, life force, etc. Whereas I don't?
>I say all this as someone who practices meditation and mindfulness. >"meditation" >"mindfulness" I dunno, user. I think it might be hereditary.
Jordan King
That sort of argument only works if a person didn't get treated by doctors.
>I got treated but it didn't work but then I got better
Grayson Rivera
What kind of nurse? Practical or registered?
Ryan Ortiz
Probably either placebo effect or coincidence. Or the medicine actually worked, and you didn't notice the effects until you tried something else.
Thomas Allen
>I also don't hold any contempt for religious people
That's only cause they are a large majority, if they were a small group you would think they were absolute retards
