What about transference and counter-transference? Perhaps I've had too much therapy, but they are tangible things. There is a heck of a lot humanity does not understand about human psychology, and it's not all BS. 'Energy' work isn't religious at all either - it could work for some people off the placebo effect.
And if you're an engineer, if something works, then use it. Whatever the 'patient' thinks is ... shamans have to play engineer sometimes, along with priest, psychologist, doctor, PR man, confidence trickster...
but yes, there are a lot of shallow thinking people out there, and not just in the New Age world, who can't grasp metaphors - e.g. the concept of the dead and dying god, who is reborn, as a metaphor for a psychological process.
And if you're an engineer, if something works, then use it. Whatever the 'patient' thinks is ... shamans have to play engineer sometimes, along with priest, psychologist, doctor, PR man, confidence trickster...
but yes, there are a lot of shallow thinking people out there, and not just in the New Age world, who can't grasp metaphors - e.g. the concept of the dead and dying god, who is reborn, as a metaphor for a psychological process.