Skepticism of concepts science does not support or cannot test is reasonable. It is also reasonable to be open-minded toward that which is not scientific–so long as we are not so open-minded our brains fall out. Skepticism of vaccines, evolution, and gravity is like leaving your brain on the floor and stomping it. There are also bad actors who desire no relationship with Truth and seek personal enrichment at others’ expense, along with other malicious motives. Pseudoscience does not need to be entirely dismissed, but taken into account with open eyes. There is a great gray area between the knowing liars and those who only accept vetted science. Many, many people attest to unproven phenomena–like visions, ghosts, interactions with aliens, etc.–and have a variety of causes for these genuine experiences. Often they are misinterpreted stimulus (ghost sounds are old plumbing) or the witness was having a cognitive event (even healthy brains can hallucinate). Others may be embellishing, story-telling, or lying as part of a social experience, desiring connectedness with a community. Perhaps some never grew past the imaginative stage of childhood where there is no delineation between fantasy and reality. We often cannot know which, if any, of these possibilities account for an experience. For my part, I intend to be as close to Truth as possible, with a mind more open than my culture may accept. I like being an artist and philosopher more than scientist. I want to accept others are also seeking Truth even if I am benignly bamboozled sometimes. I respect science but don’t want it delimiting my perception. Truth will always be Truth.

• Bob Monroe‘s experiments were pseudoscience, but with seemingly good intent.