Magical Realist:
Oh look! You posted something moderately interesting. Watch out, or it might become a habit!
No..I swapped a faithbased worldview for an evidence based experience of reality.
That statement is belied by your puppy-like enthusiasm to believe all the kinds of woo you believe with no concern at all about the evidence.
Which is also why I gave up skepticism, another faithbased worldview.
The only faith involved in skepticism is a faith that the world is comprehensible by the application of reason. No doubt somebody like Yazata would be interested to jump in and give that assumption a good shake, but I don't really think you're equipped.
I learned how their much lauded critical thinking was actually a pretext for confirmation bias.
You must find it remarkable that the skeptics brought the idea of confirmation bias to popular attention, then. So hypocritical of them (us) to advise others to be on their guard against it, while simultaneously falling hook-line-and-sinker for it themselves. If you're right, that is.
The skeptics were merely defending their belief system much as the religious do. I needed more than that. I needed an approach to reality that acknowledged its inherent mystery while honoring the authority of direct experience.
Your assumption that mystery (read supernaturalism) is inherent is just that. It is not evidence-based. As for the authority of direct experience, the skeptics have devoted a lot of time and energy to investigating, specifically, just how far this supposed "authority" can be trusted. Turns out, not very far at all. This is, of course, all backed by the kind of evidence that you claim matters so much to you.
Skepticism is simply the other end of the belief spectrum from religion. It dismisses evidence for an unwarranted faith in scientism as the arbiter of what is real.
Ah, yes, the old "skepticism = scientism" canard, characteristically trotted out by those who understand neither skepticism nor science.
That faith substitute for me was skepticism and scientism, which is what you use as your precious religion.
As it happens, I'm not a big fan of scientism. Your claiming that it is some kind of religion of mine just shows how little you understand my approach to these matters. Maybe you ought to read some more of my posts, in the adult subforums outside Ghosts and Monsters.
I dispensed with the need for faith and belief altogther.
Like I said, your claim is belied by your posts, most of which show absolutely blind faith and credulous, unthinking belief in all kinds of myths.
Now I just let reality be itself without having to know what it's all about. I dwell in the mystery of it, and recognize the limitations of my own mind to grasp it all.
I can appreciate the attraction of the "mystery". For some people, the real world is not mysterious enough. There have to be fairies in it as well for them to be satisfied. Mostly, I find that those people underestimate the extent of our ignorance. It's one reason why they imagine that scientists and skeptics are know-it-all stuck-up smart-arses.
