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| Subject: "Irrational superstition" | |
Author: zenwind | [ Next Thread |
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] Date Posted: 9/08/07 18:27 The not so open minded..... "Known as "Darwin's rottweiler", Prof Richard Dawkins caused a furore with a stinging attack on religion. Now the evolutionary biologist has turned his wrath on "new age" alternative therapies, describing them as based on "irrational superstition". Prof Dawkins says that alternative remedies constitute little more than a "money-spinning, multi-million pound industry that impoverishes our culture and throws up new age gurus who exhort us to run away from reality". Prof Richard Dawkins: new age remedies are ‘therapeutic stabs in the dark’ The 66-year-old scientist has investigated a range of gurus and therapists, including faith healers, psychic mediums, angel therapists, "aura photographers", astrologers, Tarot card readers and water diviners, and concluded that Britain is gripped by "an epidemic of superstitious thinking". Britons spend more than £1.6 billion a year on alternative remedies which Prof Dawkins describes as "therapeutic stabs in the dark". Health has become a battleground between reason and superstition, he says. "There are two ways of looking at the world - through faith and superstition, or through the rigours of logic, observation and evidence, through reason. Yet today reason has a battle on its hands." http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/E/enemies_of_reason/index.html [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |
| [> Subject: Re: "Irrational superstition" | |
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Author: Rowan [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 10/08/07 16:36 Sad man, (or worried man?) ... I fear he protesteth too much! Trying to measure alternative therapies... healing / spiritual or whatever, with "scientific" methods is akin to trying to measure the height of a tree in american dollars, or the colour of a flower in pounds and ounces. The energy sytems and vibrational techniques are on different planes. All this tosh banded about by the scientists, many of whom are in the pay of the drug companies are fighting a rear guard action - if alternative therapies were as he says, nothing but superstition, then presumably in many cases, people using them would be disappointed at the lack of results. At the end of the day ... we fight to survive, by any means possible. However into alternative stuff we are, if it doesn't work and "trad" science does, then we swallow our pride and take the best option for a positive outcome. It always amazes me, how quiet these scientists are on the stats for deaths caused by allopathic medicine. And compare these to those caused by, say herbal medicine. And as for "money spinning" - that's a joke, seeing that the drug companies are the biggest fat cats of all. These guys see themselves as the traditionalists ... alternative as "new age", when in fact it is actually the other way round. These so say new age therapies have been around and used successfully by indiginous cultures all over the world, for thousands of years. I do agree that there needs to be proper regulation in this field, as there are people out there who are acting unscrupulously to line their own pockets and using their clients/patients vulnerability to do so. And I am not saying that the scientific route has no place ... it does, very much so, but alongside "alternative", not instead of. Maybe certain aspects of the alternative scene are down to a placebo effect, often because this area focuses on the whole person rather than just the symptoms, hence allowing the body to access its own healing. This would likely take longer and would be more subtle and difficult to measure. But, hey i was forgetting ... of course ... scientists don't want us to get better, or stay well and not be ill, or in fact, to feel happy and contented in any way. Cos that would put them out of a job, wouldn't it? Here endeth my rant for today! LOL [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> Subject: Re: "Irrational superstition" | |
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Author: zenwind [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 10/08/07 19:13 Rowan I know and I could not agree more and echo what you said. And I always find it perplexing when people say "I don't believe in anything" but they believe in the scientific method as pointing to their truths. And science has its fundamentalists too. Dawkins believes in a lot of speculative assumptions....he may not want to open the doors of temples, churches, but hey he could do so a little in his mind. I agree that science and complementary routes both have their place but there is a lot that science does not do..... and spirituality and religion can....help to relieve suffering, compassion, kindness....and be there to hold someones hand.... peace zenwind [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
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Author: Rowan [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 10/08/07 20:17 Greetings to you dearest friend, Zen .... tee hee, I have calmed down a little now and climbed off my soapbox! LOL. Yes so true ... perhaps the greatest gift we can give to someone who suffers is not the medical support so much as the personal touch of empathy ... of touching their heart and their spirit with our own. Of making that connection so they know they are not alone. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
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Author: Paganwolf [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 11/08/07 8:53 Let us not forget that we didn't have medicine, healing or whatever until the seventeen hundreds did we? (that was sarcasm incidently). I've heard this Bozo on Radio 4 and dislike him intensly. The sad thing is that he is very educated and talks in a very concise manner but unfortunately, he can't accept anything more than facts and figures on paper. Incidently, We've missed you Zen. Blessings Paganwolf )0( [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
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Author: zenwind [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 11/08/07 16:59 Rowan and Paganwolf, Hope you are both well An article I read today in the paper in an interview with the guy: 'the lack of scientific education means that people are not armed, not equipped to see through irrationality.' I love people that challenge my thinking but the anger and frustration that is clearly apparent in him makes me feel more compassion than anything else..... for the possible pain that is driving this constant attack on spiritual experiences, beliefs etc....am heartened to know that some scientists feel it is all a bit 'personal' for him which is in itself unscientific tee hee! He does seem to have quite a high profile and as you say Paganwolf he is very eloquent and educated, and there are a lot of people following dawkinism without question, a lot of young people too. Even the title of his latest book 'the god delusion' just seems arrogant to me but hey I'm a bit fluffy... namaste zenwind [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
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Author: Pilgrim [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 12/08/07 23:17 I wonder what his great, great, grandmother did when her family was sick. I'm sure she reached for the penicillin or Tylenol she had stored in her root cellar. LOL [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |