Myopia: a lack of foresight or discernment;
a narrow view of something
Ours is a small community concerned with a very complex range of subjects, all related to subtle energy, the nature of a greater reality and possible survival of personality. This includes psi functioning, biofield, morphogenesis, trans-etheric influences, an etheric-to-physical interface and the nature of personality. All are facets of the same gem. All must be studied as a whole and rejection of one necessarily means the rejection of all.
The mainstream view is that all of these phenomena are impossible, and therefore cannot be. The mainstream does not discriminate between academically trained parapsychologists, mediums and ghost hunters. In the mainstream’s view, we are all dangerously deluded and causing irreparable harm to society.
With this view in mind, I have begun collecting myopic quotes from people who should know better.
Roger Nelson appears to be the editor of the unsigned website: Skeptical Concepts. On the home page, he states that:
“Organized skepticism does a service by educating the public to detect and reject unscrupulous practitioners who prey on seekers hoping for contact with departed loved ones, or knowledge of the future, how to find love, etc. Unfortunately some of the organizations and many of the skeptics paint with a broad brush, and include scientific research addressing psi and parapsychology in their spectrum of targets. This would not be a great problem if the skeptics would do their homework and apply the scientific methods they claim to protect. Too many do not do so, and the result is often hand-waving claims and arguments that fail when compared with facts that are readily available.
“Organized skepticism” means the James Randi and Michael Shermers of the world. Dr. Roger Nelson is the Director of the Global Consciousness Project (GCP), a project that has had its share of attacks from the Skeptics.
It is probable that some people pray on the gullible, but by definition, they are not part of the community and their actions speak to greed and not to the science. As Nelson notes himself, the Skeptical community does not distinguish between good science and fraud. If one aspect is shown to be fraud, then all will be seen as fraud. From the quote, I can only assume that Nelson feels it is okay for the Skeptics to attack anyone trying to help grieving people connect with departed loved ones.
