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This was handed down in families as lore that helped them survive. It is the organic nature of the living tradition that makes it a wisdom teaching. You have yo

This was handed down in families as lore that helped them survive. It is the organic nature of the living tradition that makes it a wisdom teaching. You have your life thanks to this tradition. The positive connotation is the default mode of healing and 'magick'. It is the negative connotation that gets pushed, which is what leads to 'spirit possession': mental illness. People with burnout survive these days. That is new.

simonh 5y ago
Pregnant women leaping over graves repeating rhymes (from the article) is wisdom that helped our ancestors survive? Ok. I'm fascinated by this stuff. I have shelves full of books on it, and occultism of various forms. It's fascinating, because it opens up a window into how people perceived the world, how they communicated with each other, and what they valued. It's 99% tosh though, and much of it is either dangerous and counterproductive, or often time wasting or an explicit scam. Charms and potions that couldn't possibly be what they were purported to be were rife. The history of the occult and witchcraft is as much a history of fleecing the gullible as it is of any kind of wisdom or philosophy. It's one of the reasons I find it so interesting, and the characters involved so colourful. Someone has a problem and you have, or want a reputation for wisdom? Make up a silly little ritual or charm and send them on their way. Everyone's happy.
- hutzlibu 5y ago
  Whether magic works in mystic ways, or not - it is also psychology. Placebo effect. A pregnant women close to freaking out, that does some ritual, she believes is helping - likely does help. More than her running in circles. (and with no modern medicine avaiable)
- ganzuul 5y ago
  Why would I waste my time on someone as arrogant as you?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
makeitdouble 5y ago
My issue with this viewpoint is, it’s survivor bias in its purest form. We try our best to learn from history, and I think we can reasonably accept that the tradition that got perpetuated up until now might not be optimal, and is only “wisdom” until it’s widely proven wrong. Problem is, it can take centuries to finally accept that it was wrong (and boy do we have deeply wrong views of the world and humans, that took centuries to prove wrong, and we’re not there yet) That’s why I’m not fond of labelling tradition as “wisdom” when we should keep a critical view of it, and be open to chalenge these at any situation where it matters to not screw it.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- ganzuul 5y ago
  You missed the selection bias of both the author and simonh homing in on something fanciful and eye-catching instead of something reasonable, and proceeding directly to extrapolate a tale of ignorance. - This is cynicism and not insightful.

simonh 5y ago

Pregnant women leaping over graves repeating rhymes (from the article) is wisdom that helped our ancestors survive? Ok. I'm fascinated by this stuff. I have shelves full of books on it, and occultism of various forms. It's fascinating, because it opens up a window into how people perceived the world, how they communicated with each other, and what they valued. It's 99% tosh though, and much of it is either dangerous and counterproductive, or often time wasting or an explicit scam. Charms and potions that couldn't possibly be what they were purported to be were rife. The history of the occult and witchcraft is as much a history of fleecing the gullible as it is of any kind of wisdom or philosophy. It's one of the reasons I find it so interesting, and the characters involved so colourful. Someone has a problem and you have, or want a reputation for wisdom? Make up a silly little ritual or charm and send them on their way. Everyone's happy.

hutzlibu 5y ago
Whether magic works in mystic ways, or not - it is also psychology. Placebo effect. A pregnant women close to freaking out, that does some ritual, she believes is helping - likely does help. More than her running in circles. (and with no modern medicine avaiable)
ganzuul 5y ago
Why would I waste my time on someone as arrogant as you?
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

makeitdouble 5y ago

My issue with this viewpoint is, it’s survivor bias in its purest form. We try our best to learn from history, and I think we can reasonably accept that the tradition that got perpetuated up until now might not be optimal, and is only “wisdom” until it’s widely proven wrong. Problem is, it can take centuries to finally accept that it was wrong (and boy do we have deeply wrong views of the world and humans, that took centuries to prove wrong, and we’re not there yet) That’s why I’m not fond of labelling tradition as “wisdom” when we should keep a critical view of it, and be open to chalenge these at any situation where it matters to not screw it.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
ganzuul 5y ago
You missed the selection bias of both the author and simonh homing in on something fanciful and eye-catching instead of something reasonable, and proceeding directly to extrapolate a tale of ignorance. - This is cynicism and not insightful.