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From Dawkins to James Randi, there exist a bunch of skeptics who pursue "rationalism" and try to get people to stop believing in the paranormal. Well, I am one guy they will never convert and I will never become a "rationalist"...
First of all, I will add that the existince of ghost, spirites, magick etc is not the usuall "atheists vs. theist" thing, because there are plenty of atheist out their who don't believe in god but do believe in the "supernatural", and I know some myself. One can be a atheist without being a "rationalist". Atheism is simply the belief that there is no god, while Rationalism is the belief that reason and reason alone is the answer to everything and hence, the supernatural must be excluded.
I am not now, nor will I ever be, a rationalist. I believe in...
Why do I believe? One, because they cannot be disproven and, most importantly, the one thing no rationalist can ever refute, at least in my case...
BECAUSE IT'S FUN!
I have so many great memories of childhood being a crazy black-wearing kid listening to the Sisters of Mercy, the Cure, Bauhaus, etc and doing seances and rituals and all. When I was younger, it didn't matter...left handed path, right handed path, magick was magick. I would do a ritual to Freya one day and a ritual to Leviathan the next, and man were they fun!
I once snuck out to the woods with a couple of my friends late night on June 21st...yep, Midsummer's Night! We started a bonfire in a trash can (it took ALLOT of convincing for me to get those idiots to not just stack logs and light 'em and maybe burn the whole forest down!) and did a ritual to call forth the power of the Seelie Court. Did it work? Probably not. Was it fun to do? HELL YAHH!
I will always get a kick out or ghost stories and tales of demons. I will always go to "haunted locations" and look for spokes. I will always use magick...GRANTED, I am more careful with my magick now, and I do not use the black arts anymore, not ever since some erie "coincidences" while using the dreader Goetia or "Lesser Key of Solomon"..., but the safer arts of Alchemy and folk magick, those I use.
Do I depend on it? No! Does that mean it doesn't work? Not at all! All it means is that I am not sure I am that good a sorcerer that I can get by with just magick alone, and I should also depend on my more mundane powers to get through life. I did cast a spell to find a job quickly and it did work because a week after I cast it, I found a job! Coincidence? Maybe...but how much fun is a "coincidence"?
I will always be into ghost and fairies and demons and all that. Why should I give up my hobby? Because some pencil-neck "rationalist" doesn't like it? Give me a break!
And spare me "well, there are other hobbies out there" rubbish! It's what I like to do, damn it! I don't mock someone who plays horse-shoes or collects baseball cards, so why should a rationalist mock what I find fun?
Simply the fact that I find the supernatural to be loads of fun is enough for me to say that I will never be a rationalist.
*(granted, sea monsters are not supernatural, because even the most devout "rationalist" has to admit, it's a big ocean out there and who knows what's in it)
Things can be fun without being believed in or (more so) being worshipped. Being realistic about something's existance doesn't mean you can't enjoy it. You know? I love fairy stuff, scary movies, and I've spent years begging my husband to let me go to Bardstown KY (one of the supposedly most haunted places in the state). I'd love to visit haunted houses and cemetaries while hunting for ghosts. But that doesn't make ghosts real.
I really enjoy a good movie that's based on supernatural events that I know aren't real but it's fun to enjoy so I can sort of understand what you're saying. It's just that for myself if I'm going to actually believe that something is real I have to have a reason and evidence for it. Believing in something because it's fun isn't much different than believing in something because it makes you feel good which is what I think religion is doing. Just a thought.
Things can be fun without being believed in or (more so) being worshipped. Being realistic about something's existance doesn't mean you can't enjoy it.
How much fun are ghost if they aren't real? How much fun is magick if it doesn't work? Being realistic about ghost and fairies means that they are just stories which are passively enjoyed, but believing in them means that I can get involved with the story. Hence, it's more fun to believe.
many professing atheist or agnostic are in fact attempting to replace one religion with another.
separation of church and state was never the real motive.
IBelieving in something because it's fun isn't much different than believing in something because it makes you feel good which is what I think religion is doing. Just a thought.
Everyone believes in something "just because it feels good". Take romantic love. I have never been in love romanticly, never kissed a girl or had a girlfriend, and guess what? I am still happy! I can read a love story and enjoy it, but do I believe romantic love exist? Not quite...if love was god, I would be Agnostic. I am not sure love exists and even if it does, I have lived 27 years without it and I imagine I could live a completely happy life without it.
HOWEVER, I could not imagine living a happy life as a rationalist...no fairies? No dragons? No ghost? No waking up in the middle of the night to do a ritual on the solistice?
For me, that would be a life not worth living. I have always, will always, be a crystal-waving weirdo, and I like it like that.
For me, a life without the supernatural would be like most people living a life without romantic love, i.e., dreadful and empty.
To me there’s a line between believing and knowing and that line is just something one has to come around to understanding. I'm an atheist and skeptic. But I also consider myself a bit of a Fortean and I especially enjoy cryptozoology and UFO speculation. I think these are underappreciated subjects and there is much to be learned, even for mainstream science. (A lot of BS and quacks too, but worth investigating in spite of them.) I'm willing to look at evidence and keep an open mind, but I also use my rational mind when it’s said and done. So you can balance the two out without practicing irrationalism, I guess the opposite of a rationalist? But in the end, for me, the natural world and our universe is truly mesmerizing; the complexity and beauty that can be known is my love and exploring that makes life VERY much worth living. But I understand where you are coming from, as a former believer.
You seem to prefer a lifestyle involving lots of amusement. Beware of becoming a capitalist tool, a creature of mindless consumption.
First of all...ahh yahh, I do like being amused, what's wrong with that?
And second, everything in moderation! I am not going to blow too much money on herbs and oils, just maybe $40 a month tops, and you can't even get two cups of coffee at Starbucks for that.
Hummmmm, I think that the height of my ambition is to become rational, .....eventually. Rational, all reasonable things in equal measure, no hatred, no anger, superstition is ok as long as I don't take it seriously, as is mythology, I too, enjoy a good story, I just don't wanna pack my bags and try to go live in one. Mythology can be fun to read, it is dangerous if taken to extremes-(see fundamental christers).
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I do like being amused, what's wrong with that? 
