My friend Karen Stollznow has written a nice, compact synopsis of skepticism on her blog. I like it! It has some NSFW language, in case you have delicate sensibilities. But, if you do have delicate sensibilities, I’m guessing skepticism may not be for you. It takes a lot of personal fortitude to withstand the usual slings and arrows from people who prefer fantasy to reality, of course.
But you know what? There’s a lot of stuff about the Universe that’s not much fun to think about, either. Scary stuff, unpleasant stuff, depressing stuff, ugly stuff. Skepticism makes you face that starkly, frankly, and unflinchingly.
But on the plus side, you get to see the man behind the curtain (or the lack thereof). You get to understand the secret, you get to perceive the underlying cause, you get to grok the intricate connections, you get to absorb the unfiltered beauty.
You get to see things the way they are, and not the way you wish they were. That’s skepticism, and it’s a good thing.
