Why do I do it?

[hummingwolf]

Why do I do this to myself? Why do I keep checking out new age fluff from the library and reading it? No, that's not the question. The question is: Why do I keep reading new age fluff by authors who try to support their mysticism with "science"? After all, it's not the metaphysics that bothers me; it's the physics. I'll be reading along happily, keeping my mind reasonably open in case the writer has something interesting or useful to say, when suddenly I'll be hit with a statement that "Quantum physics teaches us that nothing is random" and then I'll just sit there going "GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" for five minutes before my brain is willing to move on. I'll think everything is fine after that, but then the author will say that people used to think that the Earth was the center of the galaxy, but now we all know that the Sun is the center of the galaxy. Or there will be a discussion of the structure of the cells of living beings, informing us that the living cell consists of a cell nucleus and atoms orbiting around the cell nucleus. And I stop to think about this for a moment, and then I wonder how many of the living cells of my brain will give up and commit suicide before I finish the chapter.

~~~~~

Today I woke up at four a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep. Add this to the effects of my reading material and you'll realize how amazing it is that I can form coherent sentences at all. (Um... I am forming coherent sentences, aren't I? It is possible that I may not be the best judge.)

In other news, the radio part of my AM/FM/longwave/shortwave radio alarm clock has stopped working again. It was working fine from May 27 through yesterday evening, though, so I'm grateful for that much.

Link of the moment, via supergee: The negative power of positive thinking.

Comments

[slyfoot.livejournal.com]

The universe is sparkly. The Dancing Wu Li Masters told me so.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

I am one with the Universe. Therefore, I am sparkly.

[slyfoot.livejournal.com]

Hehe :)

I'm not really into becoming one with nature. There's way too many mosquitos.

[aekiy.livejournal.com]

I think we traded shifts; I finally got to sleep shortly after 4:00 a.m. Now that I'm up, I think it's about time for your nap.

And ya.. I have that problem too. I'm also just generally unnerved by how it seems everywhere I look — like in sociology and other science sections of a library — I see books espousing The Secret and The Power of Positive Thinking philosophy as science.

[flewellyn.livejournal.com]

Sometime I question your commitment to Sparkle Motion!

[magnifelyn.livejournal.com]

Yes, in my New-Agey reading and viewing, if there is one beginning of an assertion that chills me to the bone, it is the very common, "Quantum physics tells us..." Whatever follows, is inevitably brain-exploding. The FAKE PHYSICS, IT KILLS.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

I did a search on that quote, and while I now know which movie it comes from, I still have no idea what it means.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Did you go to sleep at 4 a.m. on Thursday too? And take lots of little catnaps during the day? Because Thursday was another day when I woke up early and had difficulty staying awake.

I see books espousing The Secret and The Power of Positive Thinking philosophy as science.

There are people who do that? Okay, bits of the original Norman Vincent Peale book probably appealed to the psychological theories of the day, so I could almost understand that, sort of not quite. But... The Secret??? AGH!

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

You know, I actually enjoy it when people take ideas or experimental results from quantum physics and use them as a jumping-off point for wild speculation about the nature of existence. (There's a reason why "quantum mythology" is on my interests list!) But when people state baldly that quantum mythology--or any other branch of science--"tells us" or "teaches" something, I get seriously annoyed. Especially when, as in this case, it would be more reasonable to say that experimental findings suggest the exact opposite of what is being claimed!

[aekiy.livejournal.com]

ya.. it is very sad.

[flewellyn.livejournal.com]

"Sparkle Motion" was a dance troupe that Donny Darko's younger sister was a member of.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Ahh, thank you for clearing that up!