Skepticism? What's That Good For?

As is my pedantic wont, I'll start the answer by defining the term. Skepticism is defined on Dictionary.com as:

1. A doubting or questioning attitude or state of mind; dubiety.
2. Philosophy

• The ancient school of Pyrrho of Elis that stressed the uncertainty of our beliefs in order to oppose dogmatism.
• The doctrine that absolute knowledge is impossible, either in a particular domain or in general.
• A methodology based on an assumption of doubt with the aim of acquiring approximate or relative certainty.

3. Doubt or disbelief of religious tenets.

This is all well and good, but it's not precisely where I'm going with this. A more commonly understood meaning for "skepticism" is what is known as scientific skepticism, which is a critical "examination of claims and theories which appear to be beyond mainstream science" (to quote Wikipedia). Scientific skepticism relies on a rigorous investigation of claims to establish validity and (rightly, in my opinion) holds that exceptional claims require exceptional evidence. The idea is that if you're going to claim some knowledge or discovery that flies in the face of everything we currently understand about the subject, that's fine. But if your claims aren't testable and aren't reproducible, it is possible - just possible - that maybe you haven't revolutionized the field and the "scientific establishment" isn't trying to suppress your discovery to retain a stranglehold on the masses. Maybe you're just, in a word, wrong.

But what, in the name of Eris, does this have to do with the occult?

The answer isn't a hundred percent straight forward.

Magic and mysticism have a bit of a checkered history with science. The kind of history where Science hopes nobody sees those old Spring Break in Cabo pictures that it put up on its Myspace page back in the day. Nowadays Science is more respectable, and has largely put all that behind it. But every once in a while Magic and Mysticism show up in town, drunk and horny and needing a place to crash for a few days. If Science lets them stay it usually ends up broke, hung over, and the proud owner of a nasty and suspicious rash. If it doesn't, it looks like a jerk and everybody gives it crap for not helping its buddies out.

Here's the thing: occultists frequently - not always, but frequently - are in the position of making extraordinary claims. Scientists want to see proof for those claims. Verifiable, reproducible proof. Then, if the results claimed can be verified and reproduced, they want to look and see what the mechanics are behind those results. Just because something works, doesn't mean it works for the reasons claimed.

I'm not down on magic or mysticism. Obviously - I'm writing a blog called "On Occult Philosophy", after all. I do directed meditation and spellwork, and I believe in spirits and Gods. But I am tired of the New Age willingness to try justify questionable (and even outright absurd) beliefs through pseudoscience and bad science.

There is wonder and majesty in the universe, and science is the tool that has given us the greatest insight into how it works. Take some time from your quaint and curious volumes of forgotten lore to study the new discoveries and new lore as well.

After all, if you're probably not bleeding yourself to rebalance your humours when you get sick. Take advantage of the newest discoveries and blend them with what works for you from your current practices.

You might just learn something new.