The Great Unknown

I was never a Goth, or an Emo, I never really bought into any subculture for that matter.  That's not to say they didn't appeal to me, I've always had an interest in those sorts of things, just not enough to seek it out with conviction.  The Occult however is something more specifically that I have dabbled in.  The reason I have explored it was primarily out of curiosity, but also the desire to explain what I didn't have explanations for.  I still keep an open mind and I have developed many personal beliefs based on my experience.

Whilst I never bought into those subcultures, that was mainly because my interest was passing and very much individual.  I never met anyone else who had an interest in them who was part of my life, if I had then I might have taken the plunge and explored those communities with greater depth.

The belief I always held in the back of my mind for justifying my curiosity was simply the argument that everything we do as a species we start out with no understanding of it or how it works and uncover that understanding the more we explore.  Modern medicine and all that it encompasses often looks down on folk remedies and herbal alternatives with disdain, but the thing is, most modern medicine in centuries past started out with the same beginnings.  Primitive society discovers a condition can be eased with a given herb or plant, society and its technology evolve and a greater understanding emerges.  We discover why that particular plant relieves the symptoms of that condition, then we refine the process.  Technology and understanding develops further and we begin to synthesise the compounds to create more potent forms, add a caking agent, a bulking agent, sometimes a sweetener, or a flavouring, or a coating, mass produce it, patent it, and stick it in a box and sell it in a pharmacy.

With this belief in mind I try to explore things with an open mind with the caveat that what you explore might actually work for reasons that as yet are unknown, but one day will be explained in greater detail.  In philosophy this mentality versus that of one where all new knowledge has to be immediately linked to existing knowledge and experience for it to be considered valid is known as the 'A Priori vs A Posteriori' knowledge debate.  The former is defined as knowledge gained without prior experience which you won't be able to link to anything you already know and therefore inherently requires blind faith to accept, and the latter is defined as knowledge that is derivative or can be linked to existing knowledge and experience to reinforce it and verify its validity.  Interestingly enough you can define the distinction between human intelligence and artificial intelligence by saying that humans can accept both whilst AI at present can only accept the latter and can't form new knowledge on their own which is independent of their established neural networks.

It's October, specifically tomorrow is the 31st of October, when we will celebrate All Hallows Eve more commonly known as Halloween.  This time of year is particularly permeated with the occult, its imagery, and the traditions that are linked to it.  It's easy to look past everything as fanciful and to dismiss any validity to it, but I wonder what some people would find, what they would discover if they were to explore out of curiosity, not out of desire to disprove or any other motivation that may cause cognitive bias, just simply to explore with an open mind and see just what exactly they can find.

Happy Halloween