How do you cope?

[Obscurus]

As occultists or at least those interested in the paranormal and hidden aspects of reality, how do we cope with the thing that constantly weighs down our field: lack of objective evidence?

I've experienced incredible things in my studies and practices of various areas of occultism and mysticism but I don't have a shred of conclusive proof for any of it. It was definitely real to me, but I'm quite sure that it would be hard to believe for most other people.

So how do you deal with it? Are you content just having this knowledge and experience for yourself or do you constantly strive to prove the objective reality of the paranormal or supernatural? Do you think it even matters?

Do you tell people about your experiences openly or do you fear being labeled mentally unstable? Are you afraid that you are actually going mad because you are having these strange experiences?

Personally, I know that probably no one will believe that I've made contact with an entity from another sphere of reality. I was quite surprised myself when it actually worked. But I'm willing to do it again because maybe, just maybe, I'll receive information that can help me along in more objective occult faculties. If some day I'm able to conclusively prove something miraculous to the world then great, but for the time being I'm content with seeing just how far I can go.  

[Arcane_Ninja24]

im pretty content just having the knowledge and memory of the experience.
if people ask i will answer (95% of the time)
if people don't believe, then good for them.
if people are asses about it, then they can go f**k themselves.  

[Allsixcolours]

Hm... well, I generally do not care much for what others think of the occult. I am not inclined to share generally because generally people would not believe me, though I do discuss it with those I know and trust to consider the possibilities. I am also satisfied with myself having the knowledge I do, though I wish someday the taboo around the paranormal would be lifted so that it could be openly discussed and shared. So long as I believe, that's good enough for me. I don't seek to objectively prove anything, I think that would be quite improbable for someone of my status. Science has written off the occult, so I don't think there really is any way to prove its existence in terms that would be accepted. It is just the sad reality that people will not believe until they see, but they are unlikely to see unless they believe.  

[Taigamma]

Arcane_Ninja24

im pretty content just having the knowledge and memory of the experience.
if people ask i will answer (95% of the time)
if people don't believe, then good for them.
if people are asses about it, then they can go f**k themselves.

This is a shared feeling. XD  

[Arcane_Ninja24]

Dalcain

Arcane_Ninja24

im pretty content just having the knowledge and memory of the experience.
if people ask i will answer (95% of the time)
if people don't believe, then good for them.
if people are asses about it, then they can go f**k themselves.

This is a shared feeling. XD

XD  

[Chieftain Twilight]

honestly, I kinda like that not everybody believes this inda stuff. I feel a little set apart, I'll admit I feel proud of knowing something that they don't, or having an experience that would have me labled insane if I shared it with them. I like just keeping it to myself.

on the other hand, I also enjoy knowing about others who do believe this stuff, who have experienced the same or similar things, or who have answers to questions of mine. I like honestly answering their questions, and sharing stries with them.

living in "more than one world", as I sometimes like to call this pattern of hiding and telling select people based on their belief, is in itself a coping method for some of my other issues. I'm diagnosed Paranoid Schizophrenic, and the Occult and Metaphysics are places where I can direct my frustrations and confusions to seek answers. I like Philosophy, Metaphysics, and the Occult. plus, I'm bored with the drudgery of mundane life. I don't wantto be pumped with meds and told to conform, so I'd much rather keep it secret. and besides, it's fun to live a double life! ^_^

I don't see the point of trying to prove the "Truth" to others. what does it matter? why bother? does it realy make you happy to show other folk that something they don't believe in actually exists? let them live the life they want, it doesn't make a difference.  

[Ask Jappleack]

Obscurus

As occultists or at least those interested in the paranormal and hidden aspects of reality, how do we cope with the thing that constantly weighs down our field: lack of objective evidence?

I've experienced incredible things in my studies and practices of various areas of occultism and mysticism but I don't have a shred of conclusive proof for any of it. It was definitely real to me, but I'm quite sure that it would be hard to believe for most other people.

So how do you deal with it? Are you content just having this knowledge and experience for yourself or do you constantly strive to prove the objective reality of the paranormal or supernatural? Do you think it even matters?

Do you tell people about your experiences openly or do you fear being labeled mentally unstable? Are you afraid that you are actually going mad because you are having these strange experiences?

Personally, I know that probably no one will believe that I've made contact with an entity from another sphere of reality. I was quite surprised myself when it actually worked. But I'm willing to do it again because maybe, just maybe, I'll receive information that can help me along in more objective occult faculties. If some day I'm able to conclusively prove something miraculous to the world then great, but for the time being I'm content with seeing just how far I can go.

How did you contact an entity? and what kind of entity?
Yeeeeep im here too lol  

[BSPBleach]

First off, everyone that knows me already labels me as mentally unstabel, so I don't have to fear that. But I don't tell people actually because I'm afraid that they'll think that these happenings mean im past unstable, or proof that im a 'heathen'. And I'm not ready for them to know I''m not christian.....soo...........I just stick to putting these happenings in stories, or if I have the courage, post them in threads here on Gaia. lol yea tons of mockery in there.......

and you contacted an entity? awsome. i think i did once, but that was long ago. i was still a small child at the time and everyone said it was just a figment of my imagination.......but i had always kept my imagination in my head. so i doubted the it was my imagination, but i cant really push the issue now can i?  

[BSPBleach]

Arcane_Ninja24

Dalcain

Arcane_Ninja24

im pretty content just having the knowledge and memory of the experience.
if people ask i will answer (95% of the time)
if people don't believe, then good for them.
if people are asses about it, then they can go f**k themselves.

This is a shared feeling. XD

XD

rofl  

[Rustig]

Obscurus

As occultists or at least those interested in the paranormal and hidden aspects of reality, how do we cope with the thing that constantly weighs down our field: lack of objective evidence?

I've experienced incredible things in my studies and practices of various areas of occultism and mysticism but I don't have a shred of conclusive proof for any of it. It was definitely real to me, but I'm quite sure that it would be hard to believe for most other people.

So how do you deal with it? Are you content just having this knowledge and experience for yourself or do you constantly strive to prove the objective reality of the paranormal or supernatural? Do you think it even matters?

Do you tell people about your experiences openly or do you fear being labeled mentally unstable? Are you afraid that you are actually going mad because you are having these strange experiences?

Personally, I know that probably no one will believe that I've made contact with an entity from another sphere of reality. I was quite surprised myself when it actually worked. But I'm willing to do it again because maybe, just maybe, I'll receive information that can help me along in more objective occult faculties. If some day I'm able to conclusively prove something miraculous to the world then great, but for the time being I'm content with seeing just how far I can go.

I gave up looking for objective evidence some time ago. That isn't to say that I don't think such a thing exists, just that I don't necessarily require compelling evidence to demonstrate to other people what my gains are - I'm into the occult largely for my own benefit, and that doesn't require me to prove much.

As an aside, I do wonder if perhaps the reason we've supposedly not found conclusive proof of the paranormal is that we don't recognise it for what it is - given that a lot of the mental trickery supposedly available to magicians from previous ages can be passed off as mentalism, perhaps there are entire subsections of the occult that have been proven to be due to other forces we have some knowledge of, but are still very much part of magic/the occult?  

[Arcane_Ninja24]

BSPBleach

Arcane_Ninja24

Dalcain

Arcane_Ninja24

im pretty content just having the knowledge and memory of the experience.
if people ask i will answer (95% of the time)
if people don't believe, then good for them.
if people are asses about it, then they can go f**k themselves.

This is a shared feeling. XD

XD

rofl

biggrin  

[Obscurus]

Mitsh

Obscurus

As occultists or at least those interested in the paranormal and hidden aspects of reality, how do we cope with the thing that constantly weighs down our field: lack of objective evidence?

I've experienced incredible things in my studies and practices of various areas of occultism and mysticism but I don't have a shred of conclusive proof for any of it. It was definitely real to me, but I'm quite sure that it would be hard to believe for most other people.

So how do you deal with it? Are you content just having this knowledge and experience for yourself or do you constantly strive to prove the objective reality of the paranormal or supernatural? Do you think it even matters?

Do you tell people about your experiences openly or do you fear being labeled mentally unstable? Are you afraid that you are actually going mad because you are having these strange experiences?

Personally, I know that probably no one will believe that I've made contact with an entity from another sphere of reality. I was quite surprised myself when it actually worked. But I'm willing to do it again because maybe, just maybe, I'll receive information that can help me along in more objective occult faculties. If some day I'm able to conclusively prove something miraculous to the world then great, but for the time being I'm content with seeing just how far I can go.

I gave up looking for objective evidence some time ago. That isn't to say that I don't think such a thing exists, just that I don't necessarily require compelling evidence to demonstrate to other people what my gains are - I'm into the occult largely for my own benefit, and that doesn't require me to prove much.

As an aside, I do wonder if perhaps the reason we've supposedly not found conclusive proof of the paranormal is that we don't recognise it for what it is - given that a lot of the mental trickery supposedly available to magicians from previous ages can be passed off as mentalism, perhaps there are entire subsections of the occult that have been proven to be due to other forces we have some knowledge of, but are still very much part of magic/the occult?

I agree with most of this. I think that since most, if not all, occult activities take place in or through the mind then finding conclusive evidence is very hard. This problem is encountered in parapsychology as well as psychology. The more controls you put in place the smaller the effect becomes. When you throw individual, unique minds into the mix it's hard to get concrete data through the scientific method (which relies on large sample sizes).

I think that some, if not most, of the occult stuff that has been incorporated into the "understood" category has stripped away the deeper meanings and perhaps misses a lot of the points and subtler applications. For instance, the well-known example of alchemy going on to form chemistry. All esoterica has been stripped away and we're left with hard and fast applications, for good or ill.

I also think that sometimes it's easier to pass off paranormal experiences as being because of the fallibility of the senses or products of psychology. However, I've brought this up with dogmatic materialists before: if the senses are fallible then how can we trust them with any certainty at all? The majority argument doesn't really work there as according to them all people are susceptible to the same fallibility. Obviously we trust our senses beyond scientific reason everyday; why shouldn't we accept all sensations as perhaps having some basis in reality, however subtle that reality may be?

I also think that the sheep/goat effect comes into play. In order to find something you have to be looking for something and if you're already opposed to something you're most likely not going to find it. I've recognized that most of my experiences can't be objectively proven but they still benefit me and that's the important bit. I study the occult because I have an interest and desire. I've found very few subjects that I find as interesting and one of my driving goals has always been knowledge. What is more coveted than occult knowledge?


As to everyone asking about the entity: I evoked a Neptunian spirit to the astral plane and viewed it/communicated with it through scrying. The overall process is pretty similar (but more controlled) than that given by Trithemius for drawing spirits into crystals. It's not quite as stuffy as the Golden Dawn or Enochian traditions for evocation though. It was not an evocation to the physical plane. If there are any other questions then do please ask.  

[AniMajor]

Mostly, I just accept that my occult experiences (and, to a certain degree, my experiences as a whole) could be entirely false. I could just be wrong. Or, my experiences could be the result of mental instability or personal hypnotism.

So all my magic is done with the idea of "do it as if it works", or "screw it, it'll make me feel better".  

[Vanilla eXee]

Believe in what you know is real, not what other people tell you is real. That's how people discover new things.  

[Chieftain Twilight]

AniMajor

Mostly, I just accept that my occult experiences (and, to a certain degree, my experiences as a whole) could be entirely false. I could just be wrong. Or, my experiences could be the result of mental instability or personal hypnotism.

So all my magic is done with the idea of "do it as if it works", or "screw it, it'll make me feel better".

this applies to every facet of my life, and is what I tell anyone who questions me for answers to unprovable questions or such thoughts as plague them.