A problematic attitude I have seen in followers of Western allopathic medicine is their dismissive, even hateful, attitude to the practitioners of alternative medicine. The claim being made about them is that they are irrational quacks who do not live in the real world. In fact these are simply people who have figured out that there have been smart people in the world before there was Western allopathic medicine, and that some of these people have come up with valid things. Their stance is not irrational; it is highly rational. It comes from understanding that there have been many smart people outside Western allopathic tradition, and that is a lesson from which many people, including regular doctors, stand to learn.
Another claim has been that such things are witchcraft. I see witchcraft in the same way in which I see guns. It is what you are using it for. Witches believe that all that people send out comes back to them three times; which means that most witchcraft is going to be good. With ones who are doing bad things through witchcraft, there should be a way to keep them in check in the same way as can be done with any kind of wrongdoing.
Of vast influence in the Western world are three worldviews: Materialism, Christianity and Metaphysics. All of them hate one another. However it is also possible for them to work with one another as well. During the Second World War, the English military went to Aleister Crowley for advice, especially as to how to deal with Nazi magic. There have been people in the academia studying such things as re-incarnation. There are many people who, having been exposed to paganism or occultism, convert to Christianity and use the knowledge they’ve gained to empower the church.
I guess the question to ask is one made by Rodney King: “Can we all get along?” I think that we very well may be able to all get along. I follow Jesus, but I am respectful of other paths to wisdom. I have especially found wisdom in the Hindus and Buddhists. Probably the only major spiritual path I’ve never considered seriously is Islam, and they have to blame for that the behavior of their followers.
I have seen the best and the worst in people, and both appear to cut across ideologies. They are not all equally good or equally bad; some are better than others. However within each one there is also variety among individual practitioners. I both embrace and oppose multiculturalism. It is valid for there to be a cultural variety in the world instead of a universal monoculture that fails to consider ways and wisdom other than its own.. At the same time, tolerance for other cultures doesn’t mean accepting a culture that thinks it is right to throw sulfuric acid into the face of a child for going to school, or to brutally beat one’s family, or to kill one’s daughter and throw her body to the dogs for getting raped.
Is there a potential for abuses with things such as occultism? Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. The correct solution is for the benevolent to learn the tricks of the malevolent and use them for things that are right. Academia gains absolutely nothing from failure to consider alternative medicine; instead it impoverishes its own understanding. A truly rational person will realize, once again, that there have been many smart people in the world before there was allopathic medicine, and that things stand to be learned from these people. Then one’s understanding of the world will grow deeper, and one will be able to do more for the world.