New Age Science Equals Baloney

Go into any book store and the shelves are filled with New Age Science books. But of course, in reality, there is no science to be had. The New Age movement actually contradicts every aspect of the scientific method. Science relies on inductive and deductive reasoning and conclusions are arrived at through principled procedures of investigation and identification, of objectively knowable phenomena, that obey physical laws within reality.

To couple New Age with science of course, leads to an oxymoron. The very definition New Age, implies that there is a new method of reasoning to arrive at, through determinable facts about the universe and these new age proponents, are doing something revolutionary and beyond what the average working day scientist is doing. But 'New Age science', should really be called new age mysticism and indeed, it is when people are being a little more honest.

So, why do people believe in this clap-trap. Well, the fact is that most individuals are mentally lazy and they will look for and even believe in any method of knowledge, that even sounds remotely scientific, even though of course, it is not based on scientific research in any way whatsoever. The other reason is; that most people don't really care about science and would rather live their lives in the realm of delusion, anything other than face reality as it really is.

An example of new age mysticism that 'borrows' from science is the writings, audios and lectures of Deepak Chopra. He makes his New Age science pitch sound scientific, by rapping it up in Quantum Physics. Of course he is not doing any scientific research within the field of quantum physics and not only that, he totally misappropriates the correct scientific definitions of what Quantum physics predicts in reality, wrapping it up in pseudo scientific predictions, about the individuals 'spiritual self', and how the physical self relates to the 'Quantum World' but really it has nothing to do with quantum physics and is just a religious position. He does this to pass on his New Age religion and sell it to the masses of none thinking dupes, in a form of pseudo scientific sounding mumbo-jumbo... Something all New Age gurus do, in one way or another.

Chopra is just one of many of course and the list of New Age 'sciences' is almost endless, it can really be defined as anything within the paranormal or supernatural realm, that 'apparently' cannot be explained through 'normal' science and thus New Age science fills that gap. The term New Age was popularized in the media in the 1980's... Such supernatural and paranormal phenomena include, but are not limited to: Crop Circles, holistic health and medicines, Crystal Healing, Channeling, psychic phenomena, cold reading, transcendentalism, Feng Shui, Magic Alchemy, Mesmerism... etc.

Now, what all these beliefs have in common, is that they rely on paranormal and supernatural claims. Well supernatural means above nature and paranormal means beyond the ranges of natural definition. So, in reality when one combines the term New Age with science, what one is really saying is that paranormal and supernatural claims can be subsumed under scientific definitions, but of course this is a complete contradiction, if something is above or beyond the realms of natural definitions, then it is by definition, beyond the realms of science.

The reason that the New Age gurus like to combine New Age within a scientific definition, is to raise it to a new level of credibility, simply through definitions. If you combine Science with New Age in a new definition of New Age Science , it leads to a gullibility in being swallowed as something it's not. By simply adding science to the definition New Age, then the mystic gurus are more able to 'peddle their wares' with an air of 'credibility' beyond that of simply calling it New Age. But at the end of the day, it is just mysticism and there is no science to be had.




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My Thoughts on Religion and Mysticism in General

I make absolutely no bones about criticizing the worst aspects of religion or indeed, any other spuriously held beliefs.

I have personally been an atheist for as long as I can remember, well at least from the age that I grasped the meaning of the word. Indeed, even as a young child I never bought into the God concept. I guess I would clarify my position thus: I do not believe in God for the same reason, that I do not believe in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy (sorry children). One cannot produce evidence for Santa Claus and Tooth Fairies and of course sane people don't attempt to. The reason one cannot, is because they are arbitrary man-made speculations that have no context within reality. There is a difference between an arbitrary statement and a false one. Even the false can be falsified through context, for example: 2 + 2=5 is falsifiable, because one can frame it within context. The same that applies to arbitrary mind spun speculations like Santa Claus and Tooth Fairies, applies equally to the God concept. It is an arbitrary speculation, because it is simply a subjective mind-spun idea and is devoid of context.

Let me give a simple example of context, as it relates to objectively definable entities within reality. Try if you will to point to an entity in the World called species - of course you cannot. The fact that one cannot point to an entity within reality called species, does not falsify objective context of the concept species. One needs to realize that species is a higher level concept and belongs in a hierarchy of man-invented labels, that help us identify categories. So, one cannot point directly to an entity called species, but one can identify an animal, that belongs to the category of a particular species such as a mammal, one still cannot point to an entity called mammal, but from mammal one can point to a dog called Spot. This hierarchical string of man-invented contextual labels, which we use to categorize through the process of language, helps us store information in an organized way in our brains. You will note that the above chain of hierarchical identifications, from species to mammal to a dog called spot, is what verifies the objective nature of the original concept in the hierarchy - re: species.

Now, here is the main point, what one absolutely cannot do with the concept of God, ghosts gremlins, fairies Santa Claus et al, is to identify a conceptual objective hierarchy of context, that allows one to string a context of conceptual identifications, in the form of category labels, that would allow one to for example identify the God concept as objectively definable, with reference to reality, it cannot be done.

The reason one cannot identify the God concept, within objective context, is because it is an arbitrary man-invented speculation, that is subjectively arrived at and not objectively arrived at within context of something axiomatically knowable.

Now, individuals do of course have different definitions of God. There is God in the Einsteinian sense, which he used simply as a metaphor and shorthand to personify the universal forces as a totality. There is also Spinoza's God, which he simply referred to as nature. I would have no problem with someone labeling me as a philosophical Spinozian in the context just described.

The other kind of God of course, is that of the major monotheism's. These are the kind of gods that I call arbitrary and man-made. These are the gods that individuals believe in, not based on evidence, but simply because they are believed on faith and passed down through tradition.

What applies to God applies to all forms of mysticism one can think of; from mind-reading, Tarot Card reading, UFO abduction, Crystal Healing, Water Divining, Telekinesis, Ghosts, spiritual healing, dream analysis, in fact I could go on and on with an ever expanding list. What all these have in common, is that they all rely on faith and are believed without a shred of evidence in their favor.

So, am I being a kill joy, to all the mystics out there. Well maybe. But the fact is that I write these articles because I think it matters. There are a lot of charlatans in the World who prey on the feeble minded, who sometimes out of desperation, look towards a mystic for help. Not all mystics are in it for the money, but many are, and they will happily rip off, the next 'mug-punter'.

What I find particularly disturbing is the inculcation with mysticism, of a child's mind. The child mind is desperately and courageously attempting to grow its mind and integrate aspect of reality. Religious mysticism in particular, is poisonous to the child mind. What is particularly vile, is the inculcation of the child mind with the concept of Hell.




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Crystal Healing is Bunkum

The truth is not determined by numbers. The fact that a room full of mystics can stand up and shout "Crystal Healing works", is not evidence that it does.

The mystically minded individual does not care for evidence. Indeed, the mystic is closed minded to evidence.

One ploy of the mystic, when confronted by a reasonable minded individual who shows healthy skepticism, is for the mystic to call them closed minded. The facts are the opposite, the mystic is the one with a closed mind. Such an individual will avoid any evidence or potential evidence; that undermines their mystical world-view.

Book shop shelves are filled with such nonsense: Tarot Cards, Palm Reading, UFO abduction, telepathy, astrology, conspiracy theories - etc ...The list goes on and on.

Crystal Healing belongs in the same category as pink unicorns and the tooth fairy.

James Randi the founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation, is a magician and World famous junk science scam buster. He has spent more than 30 years studying claims of the paranormal and pseudo new age science 'bunkum'. His foundation is famous for its ongoing million dollar challenge: anyone who produces evidence of a supernatural, paranormal or occult power or event... They will win US $1,000,000. Year after year, the mystics come banging on his door and year after year they fail to produce any evidence of the paranormal.

James Randi invited a Crystal Healer into a TV studio (you can watch this on YouTube, entitled: James Randi Tests Crystal Power and Applied Kinesiology). He set up a test, for the specific purpose of the demonstration, of the crystal healers powers. Not surprisingly the 'healer' failed miserably.

Of course the mystic who claims to have special powers, whether through the healing induced through the use of Crystals or some other such bunkum, rarely demonstrates such powers without demands for a fee. Well, there are plenty of gullible mugs, ready to throw their money away.

Why would anyone believe in such nonsense when it is totally uncoupled from evidence? - The fact is that most individuals don't give a damn for evidence and they care even less when it comes to the scientific method. Go into almost any bookstore and do a comparison check. Compare the 'New Age Science' section to the science section. In almost every case the New Age Science bookshelf; out competes the Science bookshelf by a ratio of about 10 to 1.

The very term New Age Science is an oxymoron... There is no science to be had. It is not surprising there are so many books on the subject. Any fool can dream up yet another wacky theory and get a cult following. It's far easier than all those years of training for a PhD, when instead you can just make something up and pretend it's scientific.

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