Blogging has been a great release for me; a way to solidify my thoughts and present both (hopefully) a bit of humor and a little useful information to my readers. I know that some of my blog entries rub people the wrong way; particularly those who are “believers” in Deistic or Theistic god(s), energies, Chakras, Chi and any number of warm fuzzy comforting supernatural and paranormal beliefs. You, as a reader, can choose to accept or reject my comments, but what I hope though, is that you at least THINK about them... maybe ask some questions of your own.The film I made about Jerry Andrus chronicled a man who had a sincere and deep appreciation of life. In order to fully appreciate it, he had to know all he could about it. He found the complexity of the universe exciting and fulfilling, full of “wonder” as he very often said. He found that religion and superstition added nothing to the human experience, in fact, he saw religion as inhibiting the potential of humans. He noted that every day science adds to the body of human knowledge; while religion brings nothing new to our understanding of our world and life.
I have never (yet) censored comments made to my blog; I value dissenting opinions. I am not always right, I am human and humans make mistakes. But I am a Skeptic – so when someone presents an idea, then I need to know that it has some substance behind it, that the source of the position is not that it simply feels good to believe it is true. If you offer Reiki or “The Secret” or Feng Shui as actual forces in the universe, then I expect that you can back them up with explanations of how they work and statistics proving they do. Believing is not the same as knowing. Skeptics are from Missouri – the “Show me” state!
We humans are remarkably susceptible to self-delusion; we can fool ourselves much easier than we can fool others… and without even being aware of it. As Michael Shermer said in my film in talking about how Jerry’s mind worked: “…to really see what no one else sees, or very few other people see, you have to be vigilant and consciously attempt to look outside of the box, get out of your rut. It does take some effort, it’s not natural.”
I am planning to continue my blogging. I hope you will find it at times, entertaining, informative, thought-provoking, and possibly at times it may even piss you off. I blog for all those reasons and more.
Thank you for reading. – Robert the Skeptic
