Madness and reality
"Ironically enough, it is religious illusion that causes madness, not prevents it. Madness is separation from reality. Reality isn't exciting enough or meaningful enough or fair enough for most people, so they buy some illusions. But the more illusions they buy, the farther they get from an accurate perception of reality, and the more insane they become.
It is no coincidence that education and religious fundamentalism are inversely related. Critical thinking is a reality based tool."ewkpates, a poster on metafilter
It is no coincidence that education and religious fundamentalism are inversely related. Critical thinking is a reality based tool."ewkpates, a poster on metafilter
posted by Flimsy Sanity @ 11:47 AM
4 Comments:
At 1:09 PM,
Shephard said…
no arguments there. Religion is emotion-based thinking, not rational. ~S
At 3:37 PM,
Anonymous said…
One of the handy features of suffering dissociative personality disorder, I can be a "believer" of sorts while recognizing that faith is no substitute for logic and data, and that logic and data have very little to do with why I have my particular version of faith.
The latter is a matter of personal comfort -- and it's handy to have a face (even an invisible and disembodied one) into which I can shake my fist when what I confront after assessing logic and data is so unfair and cruel and unjust that I want a target I can invoke at will for my frustraton and rage.
If there is a God, I'm sure He'd be willing to dispense with me. I, on the other hand, am totally unwilling to let Him off the hook so easily as that!
At 1:29 PM,
Flimsy Sanity said…
In my short, unremarkable career as an English teacher, I assigned the required term papers to my juniors. The only topics they were interested in were those that were fanciful - UFO's, Witchcraft and spells, ghosts, Bigfoot, etc. Illusion and the unknown has a powerful attraction for humans.
As in all things, moderation probably doesn't hurt anyone, but I think religion is a slippery slope. I think a calm, peaceful state can be induced by praying, chanting or meditation but if it gets too intense, the slip into temporary insanity happens easily - talking in tongues, thinking God talks to you, etc. Almost all psychotic delusions are religious in nature. xristim, I'm not sure what dissociative personality disorder is nor am I really sure what good mental health looks like. If someone choses to believe in a personal God, that certainly should not affect me, but if that person (say Bush or Pat Robertson) thinks God directs him personally, I'm afraid his grasp of reality is in jeopardy.
At 9:33 AM,
Anonymous said…
Flimsy, I think dissociative personality disorder used to be called being schizoid. Or, of course, my compartmentalized mind could be of astrological origin -- I understand I'm a Gemini. Or perhaps it's all attributable to the fact that I'm always uncomfortable with "final decisions" so tend to keep all options open! In any event, much of Christianity is now made up of what I call XianXrazies, for whom I have a natural antipathy. So I have my one-person schismatic church which does not permit proselytizing and which recognizes that secularists and humanists and people of other faiths can be, and quite frequently are, highly ethical and moral people.
See http://gadflying.blog.com/438512/
As for those who believe they have direct communication with God...well, when I actually SEE the white dove perched on a shoulder and HEAR the voice, I'll be willing to consider the possibility. Maybe.
Post a Comment
<< Home