See what I mean? It's a sales pitch calculated to challenge a lot of people who are uncertain: "Try it, it'll change your life. Forget your common sense, what do these eggheads know?"

"Skeptics," as the article calls those with critical thinking skills who have evaluated the pressure behind the pitch, are comfortable in resisting it. Once you're into the touchy-feely stuff, you're an easy mark for manipulation. You're in for the "cold reading" that is mentioned in the article. She also says, after discussing her decision to exit the New Age field:

I respectfully ask that you in the skeptical community consider making a similar (though hopefully not so jarring) shift in your behavior and approach to us. I understand now, after years of reading and research, that the skeptical culture exists because of a very real concern for the welfare and well being of others. Of the two cultures, I can honestly say I now vastly prefer the skeptical one. However, I know firsthand that the skeptical viewpoint cannot be heard or assimilated in the New Age and metaphysical community; it is anathema, and that's a shame for every single one of us. It is a shame because the search for the truth, the concern for the welfare of others, the need to be treated with respect, and the need to be welcomed in a culture - are all things my people share with yours.

The trouble with these shouting matches is that they draw hard and fast lines. I'm not willing to speculate or enlarge on any of the uncharted gray-area subjects that interest me and in which I have personal experience, when someone is very likely going to come along and appropriate it as something that is part of their LaLa Land stuff.

. . .the yelling between our cultures just becomes louder while the real communication falls into the chasm that divides us. In all the din, people in my culture hear what they deem to be hyper-intellectual and emotionally charged attacks upon their cherished beliefs, while people in your culture hear what they deem to be wishful thinking, scientific illiteracy, and emotionally charged salvos in defense of mere delusions.

I think she has pegged it.