I Speak of Dreams

Mastering A New Field

Tim Burke has a long essay on humilty, the value to thinking clearly of  Miller's Law (but not by that name),  and how to learn.  Go, read, and then  we'll talk.

(Language in Emergency Medicine is also useful for people not in medicine)

New Age Profiteers

I am working on another essay on the celebration of out-of-control children which is the "Indigo Children" phenomenon, and how many Americans have lost the knack of good parenting, or refuse to see the consequences of the way they treat their children.  Along the way, I encountered a woman who used the phrase "New Age profiteers" (in reference to a man who was promoting the existence of psychic children. ). 

I have a hunch that  many New Age healers are in fact, soulless profiteers, merely  looking for a way to support themselves instead of doing honest work.

First of all, a working definition of "New Age": this seems to fit (from Religious Tolerance.Org)

Although it is often referred to as a religion, the New Age is in reality an almost completely decentralized and unorganized spiritual movement. It is composed of metaphysical bookstores, seminar leaders, authors, teachers and user/believers of a variety of techniques, such as channeling, past life regressions, pyramid science, crystal power, etc. It is a free-flowing spiritual movement -- a network of believers and practitioners -- where book publishers take the place of a central organization; seminars, conventions, books and informal groups replace of sermons and religious services. Conservative usage: closely coordinated groups including occultists, Wiccans, Satanists, astrologers, channelers, spiritists, etc.

The first stop is where I saw the phrase, an essay by Lorie Anderson warning her fellow citizens of Ashland that one James Twyman is in more interested in making money and having a successfull career than in helping children:

We have an incredible story that perfectly fits a bogus archetype that has been perpetuated, repeatedly, by dubious spiritual seekers of the past. We can see striking similarities between Twyman's story and his familiarity with A Course In Miracles, and his associations with ENDEAVOR ACADEMY and The Emissaries of Divine Light. We have several events in the real world that Twyman embellished, misrepresented, and spin-doctored to serve his own interests. And we have Twyman, continuing to claim his emissaries are real, but providing no way to contact the other people who reportedly shared the experience with him.

Anderson closes her essay with a call to parents to become more skeptical:

As the New Age movement grows from marginal to mainstream, we need programs for New Age consumer protection. We must caution educators and parents about, and object to, programs with paranormal underpinnings, like the Indigo Child and Brain Respiration, which are fervently marketed to private and public schools. We need age-appropriate critical-thinking skills programs in education, starting in the early grades. We must educate ourselves and our children on the scientific method of inquiry, how to evaluate studies and spot pseudo-science and pseudo-scientists. We must help our children to develop radar to detect and avoid deceptive New Age profiteers - no matter how noble their stated cause.

New age profiteers?  Where else does that take me? To Druids;  to the New Age hucksters who rip off Native American spirituality;  to people who want to revive European tribalism; to Native Americans rebuffing the hucksters.

Part II Critique of Homeopathy: The Foundations and Background

Update April 2010 Homeopathy a systematic review finds no evidence that homeopathy has effects beyond placebo. Dr. Steven Barnett's article, Homeopathy: The Ultimate Fake reviews the status of homeopathy in the United States. Homeopathy lists the critiques published of homeopathy in April, 2010. homeopathyThere's Nothing In It, the 10:23 campaign.

Why It Is Hard to Think About Homeopathy And Why It Is Health Fraud part 2

The Background to Homeopathy

Homeopathy's founder is considered to be Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), a German physician, who began formulating homeopathy's basic principles in the late 1700s. We should honor Hahnemann for what he he accomplished in his milieu, as we honor other great medical thinkers such as Lister or Pastuer. Hahnemann worked before the germ theory of disease was well established, before the mechanisms of infections disease were well understood. before the understanding of public health, and before the scientific method and more advanced testing of hypothoses, such as double-blind testing were established. Hahneman, as a physician, noticed that the common treatments of the day, such as bloodletting, leeching, purging, and the administration of toxic remedies, did far more harm than good. As a good healer, and scientist, he went in search of remedies and theories.

Part I Critique of Homeopathy: An Overview of Why Homeopathy is Cannot Be Effective And Is More Like A Religion

Update April 2010 Homeopathy a systematic review finds no evidence that homeopathy has effects beyond placebo. Dr. Steven Barnett's article, Homeopathy: The Ultimate Fake reviews the status of homeopathy in the United States. Homeopathy lists the critiques published of homeopathy in April, 2010. homeopathyThere's Nothing In It, the 10:23 campaign.

What is Fraud and Quackery?

Dr. Steven Barret, over at, Quackwatch offers the following definition:

"Quackery" derives from the word quacksalver (someone who boasts about his salves). Dictionaries define quack as "a pretender to medical skill; a charlatan" and "one who talks pretentiously without sound knowledge of the subject discussed." These definitions suggest that the promotion of quackery involves deliberate deception, but many promoters sincerely believe in what they are doing. The FDA defines health fraud as "the promotion, for profit, of a medical remedy known to be false or unproven." This also can cause confusion because in ordinary usage -- and in the courts -- the word "fraud" connotes deliberate deception. Quackery's paramount characteristic is promotion ("Quacks quack!") rather than fraud, greed, or misinformation.

Are homeopaths, and the big homeopathic remedy companies, quacks or medical frauds? This is sincerely a difficult question for me to answer. I believe that most persons who provide or promote homeopathic remedies sincerely believe in what they are doing. I am less sure about the large companies in Europe and the United States. In this essay I propose to examine the philosophical and economic aspects of homeopathy.