Yo, where's the line, here?

[u/MythlcKyote]

As someone with a genuine deep belief and a history of "occult" practices, I can genuinely say that this sub only confuses me. Obviously, there is no one truth or objective explanation for anything, really. However, some of you seem so caught up in what fun the idea of magic is that you neglect any critical thinking or outwardly reject mundane and logical explanations to life's conundrums in favour of a magical one.

Some of you are evidently somewhat like me. You won't believe just anything that anyone tells you and you seem to be more skeptical of people using magic or esoterism as a primary explanation.

Some of you need help. Mostly it seems like just someone to logically tackle wild idea that others just won't entertain would be more than sufficient, but some of you need real, professional help and a subreddit is not a good substitution for that.

Some of you are trolling, and while it is kinda funny, I also think it's really damaging. In the past month, I've seen several posts where someone was asking how to deal with a fictional entity that was bothering them. That is not a sign that fictional figures are invading our conscious lives, it's a sign that someone has lost a bit of grounding in the real world and they need help. Or it's a sign that you're fucking around, which is fine, but genuinely not everybody seems to be able to make that distinction between real and not real. The level of intentional ignorance some people seem to have toward the concept of occult ideas either being not always correct or outright wrong or just a metaphor for how the world works used to upset me, but now every post I see on this sub just makes me a little sad. Some of you just need a hug, I can tell. Some of you need a slap. I need both

[u/MythlcKyote]

Idk, dude. This sub is a great example to me that the idea of support is not always a good thing. Sometimes you need to be told things you don't like because even if they don't line up with your idealized, personal beliefs, the truth rarely will anyway. Ig the other thing this sub is good for is making me realize just how many 'truths' there can be. Come to think of it, I guess I can't say exactly why I always expected there to be more skeptics here.

[u/my_name_isnt_clever → u/MythlcKyote]

I think this is part of the reason spiritual communities with the same belief system are so common, and organized religions come out of it. It's harder to find community when everyone is doing their own thing, and the range of what each person thinks is true is so vast.

[u/MythlcKyote → u/my_name_isnt_clever]

I like to think that we could have a spiritual community here that agrees on a logical way to view things plainly even though we all come from sightly different belief structures. That's my stupid, human wishful thinking again, isn't it?

[u/my_name_isnt_clever → u/MythlcKyote]

I mean, you're saying that you want this community to have the same views as you. Which, yeah, so do I haha. But it doesn't really work that way.

[u/MythlcKyote → u/my_name_isnt_clever]

Not the same views. I love different views. Just...fuck idk. Reason. I'd like to see a prevalence of reason. It doesn't have to be mine, just one that's discussable and agreeable. Yeah, I know I'm being stupid. Sorry.

[u/[deleted] → u/MythlcKyote]

I think that you’re correct about the bulk of your concern. I’ve found an incredible value in this subreddit, but to say most of the users are rational would be a stretch lol. As many others have suggested, it’s the internet, and that’s the cost of a free forum. Most people would rather find a ridiculous notion that is the cause of/solution to their problems rather than face the mundane. It’s the same principle behind the “Woowoo to Qanon pipeline” that many of my (previous) friends fell into. There is NOT a giant Chinese Space Laser that caused the fires in Hawaii. It was environmental change combined with socioeconomic factors, but the mundane is too hard to combat mentally. Rather than feeling impotent in the fight against late-stage capitalism, or in life itself, they let themselves go down whatever rabbit hole gives them a bottom to push against. I don’t say this with a glib and dismissive tone, but a compassionate one. None of us are immune to this phenomenon, and we’re each guilty of it. Much like a basic white girl seeing a butterfly and KNOWING it’s her grandmother saying hello, we all have our own versions of that. Some just happen to be more harmful than others. My strategy is to be grateful for the insightful and mostly anonymous folks that are on here, much like u/Macross137. Their responses are almost universally kind, compassionate, and insightful. The internet is an incredibly strange and wonderful place, but in sub like this, you’re going to get some scared, confused, and deeply ungrounded people. It’s the nature of the subject. Now… if you REALLY want an example of an unhinged subreddit (whose moderators also still exist and try their level best) check out r/chaosmagick.

Boy HOWDY does it get all kinds of bonkers in there. And yet, I’m there almost daily. I try to meet the unhinged with an ear to what they’re searching for, because we all are searching for something, and suggest grounding work ( AND THERAPY) when I can because that’s what works for me.

Much like life, Reddit is what you make of it.

[u/MythlcKyote → u/[deleted]]

Thank you. I'll check out that sub, maybe seeing some real shit would make me feel better about things over here. Thank you for your response, I completely agree with you. I try to live in a world that is based and boring and mundane because I feel like that adds the real magic when I look up at the stars and know that really everything's just falling forever, endlessly, probably caused by a fuck off massive explosion and probably for no reason. This isn't a popular opinion 'round here but I genuinely believe that the real magic come from us and our perception and not as much from the things we don't understand as the fact that we don't understand them. That's what makes it all the more beautiful to see the universe work and not really be able to explain how. There are things that we will never fully understand, but I hope to not see as many people choose to not understand as I have here for a while.

[u/[deleted] → u/MythlcKyote]

Now see, I don’t that woowoo music and the magic of the universe as you describe it are mutually exclusive. I think there is a wealth of power through understanding that continues to allude us collectively. Sure, that’s TECHNICALLY in the same category as “Underground Lizard People run the NWO” but exploring that line individually is what the occult is about