i'm an atheist & i value the "scientific method" a lot, but i think rituals, different belief systems, spirituality, and mysticism are highly underrated & should be explored and embraced more in modern western culture

these are not exclusive of course, it's just an unfortunate reality that many ppl who have bought into the idea of Scientism today have lost interest in these things and i'd like to see our non-analytic qualities being explored more

i think that we've lost a lot of these communal rituals and possibilities of spiritual experience through our technocratic capitalist society. the socialist movement should definitely try to reconnect with these elements of human experience

this shift towards making everything "tractable", valuing hard science over the humanities has done a lot of damage to our intellectual capabilities. history, philosophy and art, for instance, teach us how to think on a more fundamental and creative level.

if it wasn't for philosophy, i don't know if i'd be a socialist today. it's easy to justify my position now, but without the humanities, idk if the raw analytical mode of thinking would've led me to find all sorts of justifications for capitalism

that's not to downplay the value of the scientific method, & i do believe there is "objective" progress in how we use our methods to approximate reality. but we should never underestimate alternative forms of accessing reality. we should always be "epistemological anarchists"

also, keep in mind that i'm saying that as a european. i'm fully aware of the fact that there are problems in the US with christian influence in government etc. but spirituality/mysticism is not religion, i'm not referring to religion specifically here

if you're interested in this strain of thought, i'd recommend you check out feyerabend and his critique of scientism

also, don't forget that "scientific supremacy/racism" has been used to justify stealing resources or occupying areas from indigenous peoples and it's frequently abused to paint the west as superior to the middle east and other places