I always think that it would be enough for anyone to just think consciously and therefore logically about their ''religious belief'' to conclude negatively about its veracity.
That's why I consider it, at the least, a psychiatric symptom.
We just don't think of it that way for historical-political and technical reasons, because to say that most human beings are a little psychotic, demonstrating from their religious beliefs, would be problematic for those who want something more than just telling the truth.
And also because, of the three main criteria for defining a mental disorder, subjective well-being is over-considered and therefore if a certain thought/feeling is doing you more harm, that is, it is helping to keep you servile/productive, then there would be no reason to call it a symptom of a disorder.
Although there is no difference between a delusion typically considered psychotic and a delusion such as this type of belief//conviction.
It is interesting to think about when the emergence of the perception of finitude occurs.
Supposedly only human beings who manage to have an understanding of death long before experiencing it organically.
The feeling that everything is eternal, especially human life, could be a human atavism, that exists in other species, in which, if there is no perception of finitude, then there is a feeling of eternity that is only challenged by the decay of the body.
I have an upcoming article this week on the madness of social normality. Religious delusions are clearly among the trances that automate much socially accepted behaviour.
I don't know if religious folks are less self-aware than secular ones. They'd define the self differently, so this comparison would beg the question. Is the self a spirit or a brain? It depends on our view of reality.
But if self-awareness is just a penchant for self-reflection, I think that's a trait of introverts rather than of secularists in general. Lots of nontheists aren't especially self-reflective.
Here we are at considerable convergence.
ReplyDeleteI always think that it would be enough for anyone to just think consciously and therefore logically about their ''religious belief'' to conclude negatively about its veracity.
That's why I consider it, at the least, a psychiatric symptom.
We just don't think of it that way for historical-political and technical reasons, because to say that most human beings are a little psychotic, demonstrating from their religious beliefs, would be problematic for those who want something more than just telling the truth.
And also because, of the three main criteria for defining a mental disorder, subjective well-being is over-considered and therefore if a certain thought/feeling is doing you more harm, that is, it is helping to keep you servile/productive, then there would be no reason to call it a symptom of a disorder.
Although there is no difference between a delusion typically considered psychotic and a delusion such as this type of belief//conviction.
It is interesting to think about when the emergence of the perception of finitude occurs.
Supposedly only human beings who manage to have an understanding of death long before experiencing it organically.
The feeling that everything is eternal, especially human life, could be a human atavism, that exists in other species, in which, if there is no perception of finitude, then there is a feeling of eternity that is only challenged by the decay of the body.
I have an upcoming article this week on the madness of social normality. Religious delusions are clearly among the trances that automate much socially accepted behaviour.
DeleteReligious people tend to be less self-aware, so do they try to confuse what they imagine/would like to be true with reality?
ReplyDeleteI don't know if religious folks are less self-aware than secular ones. They'd define the self differently, so this comparison would beg the question. Is the self a spirit or a brain? It depends on our view of reality.
DeleteBut if self-awareness is just a penchant for self-reflection, I think that's a trait of introverts rather than of secularists in general. Lots of nontheists aren't especially self-reflective.
tend to be less
Delete