How do you nicely deal with Skeptics?

[Akashic_Librarian]

I recently joing a forum skepticforum.com at the request of a friend. I made an account and started a conversation on why Skeptics never try and look it from both point of views and wel I was trying to be nice at first but these people are horrible, horrible, horrible closed minded people that consider spiritualists in ANY form fakers and liars. Is there anyway I can explain to them without swearing alot, why they can't be 100% right all the time on this type of thing...and also I need an idiots guide to Subjective Reality, like trying to teach trigonometry to someone who doesn't know what a triangle is!

[Jill]

You might be better off just dealing with the really smart and logical (and polite) skeptics that we have here.

Why waste your time on the close-minded?

[David Hausladen]

What was your first thought when you heard about the Law of Attraction? Psychic readings? Higher consciousness? I wouldn't blame anyone on this forum if they were still skeptical of one or more of those things, though I think the vast majority believe, in some capacity, in all three. When you deal with skeptics, understand that even the most "closed-minded" of them are just as human (and just as divine!) as you are.

Moreover, in the fearless, relativistic world that the Law of Attraction gives us, no opinion or belief is absolutely better than any other. Their beliefs put them in disharmony with you, and their beliefs are not right for you, and vice versa. But neither they nor you are wrong in any absolute sense.

That does not mean it's pointless to try to convince them of your way. A person cannot hear what he's not prepared to hear, but if one or two of them are drawing away from their current beliefs and somewhat toward yours, then they may be ready to hear what you have to say--and will actually hear it instead of perceiving just another spiritualistic threat to their vision of objective truth.

[Dharma]

Ummm....

these people are horrible, horrible, horrible closed minded people that consider spiritualists in ANY form fakers and liars.

Helloooo? skepticforum.com?
And you joined this forum, why? To educate the unwilling, non-listening, skeptical masses? Try kicking a dead horse, it might be more fun.

If you like doing battle with people, at least admit that. Sounds like you should close your account there and move on to easier surroundings.

If I were you I would take this time to see what parts of myself are very unbending and subborn in, and work on (1) allowing those pieces of myself to be ok as they are (2) see what's so bad if I became flexible around those beliefs.

[ScottS]

Your premise is bunk to begin with and if you said something like that on a skeptics board, it would look like you're trolling to me. Do you have a specific paranormal phenomenon that you claim to have done or do? Since your name has "akashic", in it, I assume you can astral project?

[Akashic_Librarian]

No. Its a long story about my name.

But I know its a Skeptic forum obviously lol. But I triedto explain that proper skeptics should be skeptical about skepticism but they just said I was being stupid!!!

[ScottS]

So in other words, they should watch out for pseudoskepticism?

[Reyv]

Having been one of those "horrible, horrible, closed-minded" people, I'd say you don't stand a chance. I would have ridiculed you to no end, and tried to convince you, in a most disrespectful manner, of the error of your ways. Nothing you could have said would have changed my mind.

It's funny how life takes you, really. It's like I've now gone to the other extreme, only without all the needless attachment to proving myself all the time, aggresiveness and all. The most surprising thing is that everything just makes so much sense. It's such a peaceful place to be in. I can't think of any reason to ever go back.

My "conversion" was initiated by Steve. Had it been anyone else, I'd have immediately discounted the attempt. But Steve, well, he had a very good track record with me. I'd learnt a lot from him, and he had always made a lot of sense. I had come to a point where I trusted his judgement.

My first encounter out of my skepticism shell was when Steve mentioned telepathy in a blog post. It continued with psychokinesis in another post. Very slowly I opened myself up to these things. I still remember my first psi ball. Holy shazam, is that just my mind playing tricks on me, or have I actually just created a ball of energy between my hands? By the time we reached full-fledged subjective reality, I had already warmed up to the notions of intuition and psychic abilities, and had stopped thinking Erin was a complete quack (it's quite the opposite right now, just to set the record straight). And even so, subjective reality proved too much to swallow for me. It was like Steve used up all his trust credits with me, and they weren't enough. I almost sent him an e-mail to inform him he'd lost it, but out of decency decided against it. I eventually eased in into subjective reality after watching The Secret. I found myself instantly liking and trusting several people in that movie, thus going beyond my trust in Steve alone. Subjective reality just made most sense when trying to explain the Law of Attraction. The rest has just been a natural progression. Once you accept a change as fundamental as subjective reality, it really opens up your thinking.

So anyway, the reason I went into all of this was to show you how difficult it is to convert a hardcore skeptic. Unless you already have a solid trust relationship with that person, you don't stand a chance. I actually think if you'd shown me The Secret back then, I'd have argued how ridiculous it was, and immediately discarded it. Skepticism is a very useful tool in protecting your ego from change.

[RandomJohn]

Skepticism is also a useful tool in protecting yourself from quackery.

And therein lies the rub. Because in being a pseudoskeptic, you won't get sucked in by anything. Not the spam promising more, um, proportional body parts, not con-artists posing as psychic readers, not cults, not anything. And yet you won't be open to anything but a narrow and extreme set of views.

I've basically decided to stop engaging in conversations about paranormal, alternative medicine, or anything not "hard-science-y" with pseudoskeptics because it's an absolute waste of time. I have better uses for my temper, anyway However, I love to discuss with or debate people who engage in honest skepticism (by that I mean that combination of curiosity and doubt, thrown in with a willingness or eagerness to experiment and gather data) because I tend to learn a lot (both in terms of personal development and in my job which requires a lot of scientific and critical thinking).

[TimFlan]

I saw this thread earlier, and before I even read it, I thought to myself “What is there to be skeptical about?” Immediately, I tried to understand my response, because I wasn’t really sure what I meant. I’ve been thinking about it all afternoon.

If you're interested, see my response over on my Ecumenical Mysticism blog: Ecumenical Mysticism » Blog Archive » Responding to the skeptics.

Tim

[Leandro Leme]

The proper way to deal with them must be congruent with the purpose you have to join the skeptic forum. But if the purpose is to "convert" them...
Skeptical people are just people, just like you, trying to organize theirs perceptions about the world, making a meaning and a sense of this just like you, but with other references.
IMHO, avoiding an approach like "I know/ understand something that you don´t" is the best way to connect, share and learn

[elainevdw]

Originally Posted by Akashic_Librarian

Is there anyway I can explain to them without swearing alot, why they can't be 100% right all the time on this type of thing...

Honestly? Probably not!

The funny thing is a definition I found of the original Greek skeptics:

A member of a philosophical school of ancient Greece, the earliest group of which consisted of Pyrrho and his followers, who maintained that real knowledge of things is impossible.

Our current-day skeptics, however, think not only that it is possible to have real knowledge, but that their knowledge is the only real knowledge to be had.

To save yourself a headache, I'd avoid those forums. Do you really need more antagonism in your life?

[songwriter]

Tolerance.

[dorothy hanna]

I plant seeds, like Johnny apple seed. Sometimes I even say the words, "I know you don't understand me at this time, nor will you believe what I'm going to tell you, but, I'm telling you this so you will better recognize it when you see it, and you will remember that I told you this...", and then I tell them, as simply as I can, something, I feel they need to know, for future reference.

I do this because people are at different levels, and experiences. Mostly, I try to speak to them, at whatever level they are at, and then I plant a seed, with the aforementioned phrase.

I do this, because I know, they will see something, or experience something that strikes a chord in them, and I'm letting them know, in advance, that they can come, and speak with me, when that new door opens. And it always has, at some point.

[Alvin]

Originally Posted by Akashic_Librarian

I recently joing a forum skepticforum.com at the request of a friend. I made an account and started a conversation on why Skeptics never try and look it from both point of views and wel I was trying to be nice at first but these people are horrible, horrible, horrible closed minded people that consider spiritualists in ANY form fakers and liars. Is there anyway I can explain to them without swearing alot, why they can't be 100% right all the time on this type of thing...and also I need an idiots guide to Subjective Reality, like trying to teach trigonometry to someone who doesn't know what a triangle is!

Like everyone else Akashic Librarian, I'd say forget it. Why make your life more miserable?

Unless there's a secondary gain you're getting out of this...

[Acting Like Godot]

Think of it this way ...

There are probably things (spiritual and non-spiritual) that you believe or know today, which you would have disbelieved or did not know ten years ago.

Many of these things are things which would have been impossible to explain to you, ten years ago.

When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. Not before that.

[Andrew Brunelle]

This is the whole positional aspect of everything all over again. If you hold a position, then you will have to defend it. Just allow yourself to be, to exist and have your beliefs, but don't constantly regurgitate them to other people in hopes of convincing them or in hopes of having them try to convince you that you are wrong. "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still."