Spirituality and the "Scientific Method"

Otherkinphenomena.org is known as a place where members use a scientific way of exploring their beliefs. But what does that mean? Very often, we are met with the accusation of being elitist, of harassing people with questions, of trying to prove everything we feel inside, or of forcing new members to reveal everything about themselves, only to pick at them afterwards.

These accusations make me sad, because that is not what we do, or want to do.

We don't want anyone to prove anything. Heck, we can't prove the existence of otherkin, gods, or other things that people believe in either. The "scientific method" doesn't require people to reveal every little part of ther psyche, or to submit complicated figures and formulas in order to support their beliefs.

The two main traits we share are curiousity and skepticism. I'm aware that the latter is often frowned upon in the "esoteric" community. Some people feel that, if someone wants to believe that they are an elven princess who can shoot sparks out of her fingers, they should be "respected" by believing them and treating them like the elven princess with spark shooting fingers. However, I disagree strongly. In my opinion, it doesn't show respect to support outworldish claims, it just makes things worse. Most, if not all, people who haven't done a lot of self-discovery but jumped to the most exciting conclusions usually get to a point where their world view shatters and leaves them with nothing but the broken pieces of something that used to be a big part of their lives. I have seen this happen. It hurts much more than a few questions and thoughts and needs a long time to recover from.

That is why I don't see anything wrong with being a little skeptical with oneself. It doesn't hurt to check your health before claiming to be a vampire, for instance. On the contrary! Finding out you have been suffering from some disease all along doesn't only destroy your vampire self perception but is also dangerous for your health. When you've seen a doctor and got yourself checked out, you can still return to the metaphysical explanation.

A newcomer to OKP will be asked questions. As I said, we are curious and want to learn from other people's experience. But we also want to help, and it is our idea of helping people to ask them questions and share our knowledge with them - which involves the knowledge about the pitfalls of self-exploration (or a lack thereof). "I don't know" is just as valid as an answer as "I don't want to talk about it".

Every forum is different, every community has to define its rules and procedures. This is what we chose for ourselves, what we feel is the right thing to do. Unless stated otherwise, no question is meant as an attack - and if it is clearly marked as one, please report that person to the mods. <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_wink.gif" alt=";)" title="Wink" /><!-- s -->

If you're looking for a cozy place where each and every belief is accepted and it is forbidden to question anything, OKP might not be for you. However, if you're brave enough to explore the depths of your own mind, we will gladly accompany you on your journey.

Well said, 'hoku!

I really like this, well done. I think we should put this some place where everyone can see it at all times. A sticky maybe?

moved to announcements and made sticky. <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt=":)" title="Smile" /><!-- s -->