It just seems to me like everyone around me is crazy. They latch onto these self-serving woo-woo things to believe in and have no interest in things that actually function and work like Medicine, Science in general, and critical thinking.
Like, someone at my work was recently diagnosed with cancer. It seems like it’s very early and they can knock it out. Anyways, my boss (who is pretty much in part of a cult) said, “You know, cancer is just anger within.” Why do people say these things? They spend so much time professing crap, no time proving crap, and the rest of their time rejecting factual crap. It’s maddening. She thinks that thought really causes events and bodily problems. I mean, if you’re arguing that positivity is good for your health and that negativity and vexation are harsh on your nervous system and may weaken your immune system, I’m there with you, and I’d bite. But this isn’t the kind of thing they’re saying. They’re saying that thoughts have energy (aside from atomic energy) and that they cause events’ genesis’ in the Universe, citing that “The mind is a very powerful thing.” (BTW, when I say ‘they’ I’m referring to my ex gf, my boss, and my mom.)
My ex gf has recently started going to a church and gotten really cozy with (the Christian) God. She was always depressed, couldn’t lose weight and was generally miserable. Now she has started going to this church, has made a couple friends, has something to occupy her time, and has a (even if imaginary) supporter (i.e. God). She has lost weight, had a change in her attitude, and is generally happier. These are indisputably good things. But she credits them with God’s intervention. Why do people do this? These things are not things that are impossible to do on one’s own. She could have changed her attitude by regaining hope in herself and extracting from her religion what she should have been bring about from within herself. I was telling her that her achievement is more impressive to me than to her because I think she has done it all herself, whereas she thinks God pushed her along. Maddening. I told her she was stealing credit and honor from herself by thinking in this way.
I talked to my Mom about my Boss’s cancer comment because my Mom is an otherwise intelligent person. She told me, “I believe there is scientific evidence that our thoughts have energy.” This is not talking about atomic energy, but a type of self-transcending energy which feeds into the universe and brings about good or bad events upon oneself. She sent me this website to back up her claim. Quantum Physics, Spirituality And Your Thoughts, Beliefs and Emotions . She’d sent me that website before and I’d broken some things down point-by-point and I guess she forgot because I reminded her that she already sent me that site and that I refuted (some of) its claims. But If I show her a scientific study, her level of skepticism skyrockets. If you show her something leaning in the favor of astrology or homeopathy, then her level of skepticism drops.
These are three examples of crazy (in my eyes) behavior by people who don’t apply the same skepticism to their woo woo beliefs as they do to clinically tested scientific studies. I mean, anyone should be able to see the merit behind the Scientific Method and its valiant effort to avoid delusion. These ladies (which I don’t think is a coincidence) in my life think that the mind is a very powerful thing, but they don’t seem to recognize that the mind is very capable of self-deception and delusion. This power they claim it has, seems to be only a power that helps confirm their beliefs, whether tenable or not. It makes me feel like I’m the only sane one here. Thoughts?
and gotten really cozy with (the Christian) God. She was always depressed, couldn't lose weight and was generally miserable. Now she has started going to this church, has made a couple friends, has something to occupy her time, and has a (even if imaginary) supporter (i.e. God). She has lost weight, had a change in her attitude, and is generally happier. These are indisputably good things. But she credits them with God's intervention. Why do people do this? These things are not things that are impossible to do on one's own.hmmm, interesting reading this, it occurred to me that most of us roll along within our own ruts (I don't mean that pejoratively) but you know, within each of our comfort zones, be that a healthy one, or not so healthy. I've heard a million times the mantra "change must come from inside" - yet looking back as I near 60, seems to me all the real changes I've witnessed have come from outside "inspiration" (+ or -). Falling in love - be it with a person, idea, or thing, opens up a new world of hope and possibilities like nothing else. Catch my drift, it's that inside her belly rush of love (not god) that's inspired and reenergized her life. Also she's now in the bosom of a seemingly loving family (so long as she follows their expectations). Being part of an real community is deep human need. (IMHO). But, how the blessed would you convey "rational" ideas to someone caught up in a love affair?
These are three examples of crazy (in my eyes) behavior by people who don't apply the same skepticism to their woo woo beliefs as they do to clinically tested scientific studies. I mean, anyone should be able to see the merit behind the Scientific Method and its valiant effort to avoid delusion. These ladies (which I don't think is a coincidence) in my life think that the mind is a very powerful thing, but they don't seem to recognize that the mind is very capable of self-deception and delusion. This power they claim it has, seems to be only a power that helps confirm their beliefs, whether tenable or not. It makes me feel like I'm the only sane one here. Thoughts?Too many people are sheeple :down:
If by “make you crazy” you mean “define you as crazy”, then no. If you mean “does it make me angry and feel like others think I’m crazy and feeling like the world is going downhill fast”, yes.
The “define as crazy” thing has two meanings. “Crazy” can mean non-conformist, different, out of the ordinary, as in LGBT being considered a mental illness up until recently. But that certainly doesn’t make you wrong, which is the other definition of crazy. That is, wrong about what makes you individually healthier and contributes to the overall health of the rest of the world.
I’ve had to do a lot of dealing with my own values over the last decade or so. For instance I was in a room with some people who were setting up solar power on their building and growing their own food and one of them started talking about the collapse of society and how many guns should we have and who should be allowed to use this power and food when all the other sources were gone. Call me crazy, but my opinion was EVERYONE WHO NEEDED IT! If that meant we all died because there wasn’t enough, then there wasn’t enough.
More to your question, once I started applying consistent methodology to all questions, instead of allowing for invisible energies, I found people pretty quickly dug their heals in and started quoting their favorite spiritual leader rather than try to deal with the messy details of whatever it was we were talking about. I’m a pretty simple guy, so I relate just about anything to having enough food, water and air to go around. If you don’t have that, you’re not going to cure cancer. As far as I can tell, nothing other than advancement in technology and an increasing sense of fairness has improved the delivery of those things to more people, despite them sometimes being at odd with themselves.
Call me crazy, but if there is a methodology that works and has self-improvement built into it, use it.
Yea, that whole idea of the Community and a sense of order is what’s so wonderful and powerful about religions.
If only so many didn’t go off the deep end - into egomania with their presumption that they actually KNOW God’s Mind and Will.
That’s the really creepy part.
A little humor
a little self-deprecation
a little respect for the experience and knowledge of others
a little more appreciation for the overwhelming incomprehensible grandness of all that surrounds us…
and that whatever is at the heart of all that is way beyond any “god in our image” nonsense so many insist on clinging to.
Being “certain” of your God is the biggest ego trip their is.
but I digress
I’ve Always Been Crazy]
but it’s kept me from going insane.
Or, as Ford Prefect said, “I highly recommend going insane. I’ve done it several times.”
Yes, I sometimes wonder about my friends and family when they go off on the woo. Just go to show people prefer to believe that makes them feel good rather than what is true.
It just seems to me like everyone around me is crazy. They latch onto these self-serving woo-woo things to believe in and have no interest in things that actually function and work like Medicine, Science in general, and critical thinking. Like, someone at my work was recently diagnosed with cancer. It seems like it's very early and they can knock it out. Anyways, my boss (who is pretty much in part of a cult) said, "You know, cancer is just anger within." Why do people say these things? They spend so much time professing crap, no time proving crap, and the rest of their time rejecting factual crap. It's maddening. She thinks that thought really causes events and bodily problems. I mean, if you're arguing that positivity is good for your health and that negativity and vexation are harsh on your nervous system and may weaken your immune system, I'm there with you, and I'd bite. But this isn't the kind of thing they're saying. They're saying that thoughts have energy (aside from atomic energy) and that they cause events' genesis' in the Universe, citing that "The mind is a very powerful thing." (BTW, when I say 'they' I'm referring to my ex gf, my boss, and my mom.) My ex gf has recently started going to a church and gotten really cozy with (the Christian) God. She was always depressed, couldn't lose weight and was generally miserable. Now she has started going to this church, has made a couple friends, has something to occupy her time, and has a (even if imaginary) supporter (i.e. God). She has lost weight, had a change in her attitude, and is generally happier. These are indisputably good things. But she credits them with God's intervention. Why do people do this? These things are not things that are impossible to do on one's own. She could have changed her attitude by regaining hope in herself and extracting from her religion what she should have been bring about from within herself. I was telling her that her achievement is more impressive to me than to her because I think she has done it all herself, whereas she thinks God pushed her along. Maddening. I told her she was stealing credit and honor from herself by thinking in this way. I talked to my Mom about my Boss's cancer comment because my Mom is an otherwise intelligent person. She told me, "I believe there is scientific evidence that our thoughts have energy." This is not talking about atomic energy, but a type of self-transcending energy which feeds into the universe and brings about good or bad events upon oneself. She sent me this website to back up her claim. http://www.abundance-and-happiness.com/quantum-physics.html . She'd sent me that website before and I'd broken some things down point-by-point and I guess she forgot because I reminded her that she already sent me that site and that I refuted (some of) its claims. But If I show her a scientific study, her level of skepticism skyrockets. If you show her something leaning in the favor of astrology or homeopathy, then her level of skepticism drops. These are three examples of crazy (in my eyes) behavior by people who don't apply the same skepticism to their woo woo beliefs as they do to clinically tested scientific studies. I mean, anyone should be able to see the merit behind the Scientific Method and its valiant effort to avoid delusion. These ladies (which I don't think is a coincidence) in my life think that the mind is a very powerful thing, but they don't seem to recognize that the mind is very capable of self-deception and delusion. This power they claim it has, seems to be only a power that helps confirm their beliefs, whether tenable or not. It makes me feel like I'm the only sane one here. Thoughts?It doesn't make you crazy, unless you start taking it too seriously. Keep in mind, everybody displays some level of irrational thinking or behavior.
You asked for thoughts and my first one would be to drop using the word crazy. That is good advice I received from a friend many moons ago who happens to be a psychiatrist. He said he never one saw a person who came to him saying “I think I’m crazy” who actually was and he also said the main difference between himself and his institutionalized psychotic patients was only the fact that he had the keys. I’m not mentioning what he said next to frighten or accuse you but he did say that many people who say everyone else I “crazy” may be the ones who need to be evaluated.
Good point, deros. I asked a psychiatrist friend about this a few years ago. His response was psychiatrists do not use the words “crazy” and “insane,” rather they ask, “Is this person dangerous?”
Good point, deros. I asked a psychiatrist friend about this a few years ago. His response was psychiatrists do not use the words "crazy" and "insane," rather they ask, "Is this person dangerous?"Everyone has the right to be crazy in this country--or to be seen as crazy. It's one of our civil rights--one that corporations have not yet managed to trample on. (But watch out). If we didn't have the right to be crazy where would democracy be? Craziness is what has made this country great. Lois