Inquiry: That’s idiotic

That’s idiotic. (To lump together everything “alternative”, as Norwegian media tends to do: UFOs, acupuncture, herbalism, auras, ghosts, Buddhism, crystals etc.)

1. True?
   Yes. Feels true sometimes.
2. Sure?
   No. Just an opinion. One viewpoint.
3. What happens when I believe that thought?
   • I get annoyed. Feel I get it, they don’t.
   • Go into stories about how they are wrong. For instance, medicinal herbs, if used with knowledge and at medicinal dosages (often 10-20 times higher than what is recommended on the bottles), can be very effective, as much as and sometimes more than western medicine (which is sometimes based on the very same herbs), and that is in many cases documented through research.
   • Feel I don’t belong there. Is a reminder of why I moved initially, to be in a place where (some) people are more sophisticated in those areas.
   • Experience separation. Loneliness. Not at home.
   • Tense. Feel I need to protect and defend my own viewpoint. Feels precarious. (Partly because I suspect I can’t really defend it.)
4. Who would I be without it?
   • Clear. Receptive. Curious.
   • Curious about how they are right. It makes sense to lump those together, in a certain way, because *some* people who are into one are sometimes into one or more of the other things in that list. It tends to be people curious about anything that doesn’t fit into mainstream. It even fits me, to some extent.
5. Turnarounds.
   • That’s not idiotic.
     • No. It is perceptive. They notice that some folks are curious about what is outside of mainstream, including several things on that list.
     • Also, the same people who lump those things together are probably well aware of the ways they are differentiated as well. They most likely know about the research on acupuncture that shows it works in many situations. They probably know that much western medicine is based on traditional herbal medicine. They know that many Buddhists are smart and down-to-earth folks. (Such as the Dalai Lama, much admired in mainstream society in Norway.)
   • That is very smart.
     • Yes, also because it encourages people who are more serious about those things to approach it in a more pragmatic and down-to-earth way.
   • I am idiotic.
     • Yes, when I believe that thought. I obviously hadn’t looked at it much.
   • My thinking is idiotic.
     • Yes, when I believe that thought without investigating it.