You can change your feelings at will, you can direct them, you can focus them. They change with your expectations and thoughts and with your action and so with your belief. Your feelings are your reality. I believe in that. I think a lot of it is smoke and mirrors, people fooling themselves and pretending and the placebo affect. I know i can feel things when they're close even if i'm not touching them. I think there are many things possible that we don't know, that science doesn't need to or cannot answer. But yeah most of these people are quacks stealing your money.

As long as there are dishonest people who want you to follow them/make them rich, etc and gullible people willing to buy the BS then you will have these types of scams.

There are all sorts of things waiting to be discovered, measured, defined, observed, ad infinitum -- that's what science is about. The nice things about science are that it doesn't have to know everything, it says without hesitation that it doesn't know much, it invites evidence/information that may prove it wrong, and revels in finding its mistakes.

There is a big difference between that and merely believing in some unseen power source. I see that as being no different than believing in god(s), it has just been replaced with the mysterious power source. When the evidence rolls in, I'll consider it. Otherwise, it is another belief and nothing more.

alternative spirituality, including Reiki, was a transition phase for me... while in that phase, I saw many of the same excuses and similar thought patterns that the religious use... and as time went on, I became more and more upset-same as while going to churches, "why am I different?" "why can't I see what everyone else sees?" It only took a few years of this to realize that alternative spiritual practices don't serve any better than religious practices-and are just as fake-- wishful thinking..

'If you believe in an energy source that is yet to be observed, measured and defined by science, what method are you using to quantify your understanding?'

Wishful thinking.

So frustrating sometimes. A "free thinker" who believes in an energy or spiritualism, is no different from the person who thinks a belief in Allah is outrageous, but bows down to Jesus. You (the collective you) made it up. The argument that something has neither been proven nor disproved is a mind trick used by those who fear making a commitment to full logical thinking on the subject. People do not use that argument on most other things in life, except for the spiritual or supernatural. Does anyone really think that Zeus or Ganesha are possible because they have not been proven or disproved? That argument is reserved mostly for the desert Abrahamic god. It's time to really examine the origins of a god belief, which came from psychosis, a belief in dreams, no understanding of the brain, and a lack of knowledge about how the world works. It is silly for anyone to trade a god belief for other supernatural or spiritual beliefs. To say that we lack knowledge is only true concerning the natural world. There are questions that we may never answer, but the question of a deity or energy has been answered. You made it up!

I personally would tend to lump together any theist with any proponents of any other mystical or vague "energy" force or influence, in that there can be no demonstrable proof, only vague feelings etc. So no I can't "believe" fullstop.

Take it as an honest report rather than a concealed sales pitch.

There are many who dismiss the monotheistic form. Plenty of people who have a yearning for something spiritual, and a few exercises, that delivered with the right speech, can "awaken?" people to that space.

For me it was a transition phase. I went from true believer to a force in the universe and finally to nothing paranormal with a lot of baby steps in between. I’ve got a friend who is now and probably will end his life right where you describe. He’s a big reiki fan and goes for crystals and power points, all the New Age BS. He’s a great guy but that’s where he’s at and that’s OK. I’ve met good folks who listen to Deepak Chopra and his woo. He reads up on some quantum terms and then acts likes he knows what he’s talking about. To me he’s no different than a lot of faith healers, out for money.