Nathan made a really good comment on the self-directed education / conspiracy theory post:

And that is the thing about self-directed education - is this epitome of the unpredictable, you have no idea where it will take you, no idea how many mistakes you might make, no idea how many sacred cows will have to be abandoned, if you really let loose and go after it. So you have to get past it, learn not to indulge it - the fear of being laughed at, the fear of being eventually proven wrong (a big risk if you push the envelope),

This sheer unpredictability is one of the biggest drawbacks I think from letting “ordinary people” make the leap into self-directed conspiratorial thinking. If you stay on a normal track of education, you’re presented with goals, objectives, syllabi, and at the end of it you have a shiny degree to show for your efforts. Meanwhile, if you start on a path of self-directed alternative education, you have no clear path, and a difficult time setting and achieving goals (no one ever finds out who really killed JFK). Is there a way around this unpredictability factor? Personally I think that’s part of the strength of it, that at any moment, your research could veer off in any direction. Sometimes you gotta run with that. But how can other people make the leap from ordinary structured education into this free-wheeling style that we’re so involved in?

One of the other points that Nathan made indirectly is the idea of giving people permission. Permission to actually follow their interests. A lot of people need that, are lacking it, and can’t seem to give it to themselves. They’re worried that people will laugh at them or think they are crazy. But I’ve found in my own life that the best thing you can do for somebody like that is be like: “Hey, go for it. You don’t need to be a whacko to do this. It’s perfectly ordinary to be curious. In fact, it’s great. Just run with it, stay true to yourself, and you’ll be fine.”

In any event, I’d sort of like to compile all this at some point into a sort guideline for self-directed learning in the occult/conspiracy circles, sort of akin to Joseph Campbell’s Ten Commandments for Reading Myth.