Chapter 35 Religion and Worldview

As self-discipline grows, love grows, and life experience grows, we become more and more aware of the world in which we grew up and our place in it.Due to the difference in talent and growth environment, each person's breadth and depth of life experience are often very different. Knowledge and understanding of life belongs to the category of our religion.We all have our own understanding of life, with a broad or narrow outlook on life and the world.Everyone has their own religion.While we often don't realize it, it's an unmistakable fact. Often, our definitions of religion are too narrow.We believe that having a certain religious belief means believing in certain gods, joining a certain organization of believers, and holding certain religious ceremonies.Someone who never goes to church and doesn't believe in supernatural deities, we conclude that he has no religion.Some scholars also made remarks like this: "Buddhism is not a real religion." "There is no religious element in the belief of a theist." "Mysticism is philosophy, not religion." We tend to regard religion as It is too simplistic and simplistic. Because of this, some facts confuse us, such as: why two completely different people call themselves Christians?Why are some atheists more observant of religious ethics than some Catholics who regularly attend Mass?

When I guide new psychiatrists for internships, I often find that they don't care about the patient's outlook on life and the world.Patients who do not believe in gods or never participate in church activities, and claim to have no religious beliefs, doctors think that these patients are not religious, so there is no need to learn about the patient's beliefs.In fact, everyone has specific views and beliefs about the laws and nature of the world, but they may not necessarily express them.For example, does the patient think that the world is a chaotic state with no meaning, and that the most realistic way to live is to enjoy yourself in time?Does the patient think they live in a cannibalistic world where only the ruthless can become strong?Or do you think that the world is full of kindness, that everyone will be helped and supported, so that no one should worry too much about being in a difficult situation?Do they think the world owes them a lot?Do they believe that the world has its own harsh "invisible" laws and that anyone who misbehaves will be punished eventually?

People's worldviews are different, even very different.Sooner or later, the doctor and the patient's worldview will conflict, and even form a situation of hand-to-hand combat.Therefore, doctors should work harder on this issue from the very beginning.Patients' psychological problems are often closely related to their world outlook. Therefore, their treatment involves the correction and adjustment of their world outlook.I always remind the psychologists I guide in this way: Even if the patients claim to be non-religious, they must find out the "religion" they believe in.

A person's religious beliefs or worldviews are only partially at the level of conscious thinking.Most patients are unable to experience their own subconscious mind, and their real view and overall conception of the world.They think they believe in one religion, but they actually believe in another.Stewart, a brilliant corporate engineer, was in his fifties when he suddenly became deeply depressed.He has a successful career and is an ideal husband and father, but he feels worthless, even a bad guy.He complained: "Maybe it would be better for the world if I die one day." His words were completely from the heart.He felt low self-esteem, often suffered from insomnia and restlessness—typical symptoms of depression.He also attempted suicide twice.In severe cases, he could not even swallow food.He felt a severe blockage in his throat, and sometimes he could only eat liquid food.However, X-rays and other tests proved that there was nothing wrong with his body.As for his "religion," Stewart had no doubts, no complaints.He considered himself an atheist and a scientist.He said to me: "I only believe in what I can see and touch. It is said that if I believe in a loving God, it may be more beneficial to my growth. However, I have heard enough of this set of lies since I was a child. It is impossible for me to be fooled again.” His childhood was spent in the Midwest of the United States with conservative concepts and simple folk customs.His father was a Christian pastor and his mother was also a devout believer, but when Stewart grew up, he quickly broke away from family and religion.

After several months of therapy, with my encouragement, Stewart began to tell me about his brief dream: "I went back to my childhood, back to my hometown in Minnesota. I seem to be a young child, but I know very well that I am still my age. One night, a man suddenly walked into the room and tried to cut the throats of everyone in the room. I don’t think I have ever seen this man; the strange thing is, I know who he is —he was the father of a girl I dated in high school. The dream ended here, and I woke up terrified. I knew, that man wanted to slit our throats." I asked Stewart to recall as much as he could, and to tell me everything he knew about the man.Stewart said: "It's really simple, I don't know him at all. It's just that a few times, I sent his daughter home, or picked up his daughter to a party. I rarely had an actual date with her." He smiled cautiously, and said: "In my dream, I felt that I had come into contact with him personally, but in reality, I had at most seen him from a distance. He was at the train station of the small town where I lived Be a station master. On summer evenings, when I watch trains coming into the station, I occasionally see him standing on the platform directing."

His words resonated with me.As a child, I also spent many lazy summer days near the train station, and I also loved being there, watching the trains come and go.The train station is a lively and interesting place, and the station master is the general director here.He seems to be an omnipotent man with supreme power.He knew which big cities the trains passed through, which trains stopped at our humble little station, which trains would gallop past without stopping for a moment.Station masters are also responsible for arranging the diversions of the railways, setting up signals for trains entering and leaving, and handling countless mails.He would also be in the telegraph room of the station, using codes we cannot understand, to keep in touch with all parts of the world.

"Stuart," I said to Stuart, "you think you're an atheist, and I take your word for it. However, I think there may be a part of your subconscious that believes in God—you believe in a horrible god who wants to cut people's throats." God." I was not wrong to be skeptical.Stuart also realizes that he has a weird and terrifying belief that the world is run by an evil force that wants to slit Stuart's throat.Any offense or wrong behavior will be punished severely.In Stuart's mind, the so-called offenses or mistakes were just harmless flirting.For example, he once secretly kissed the station master's daughter.The symptom he showed was the consciousness of self-punishment in his head.He hopes to escape God's punishment for him through the image of his throat being cut.

In Stuart's heart, why hide the evil gods and the evil world?Where does this negative notion come from?How do people form their own religions?On what factors does the formation of a worldview depend? ... These questions are very complicated, and this book cannot answer them one by one, but one thing is certain: people's religion comes from their cultural environment.Europeans presumably believe that God should be white, while Africans believe that God is black.Indians are more likely to become Hindus and form a relatively pessimistic world view; most people who grow up in Indiana, USA believe in Christianity, and their views on the world are much more optimistic than Hindus.It is often easy to accept the beliefs of those around us and take what is passed on by word of mouth as truth.

The basic factors that form religious thinking come from our families, and our parents are the roots of our beliefs.Their influence lies not only in their words, but also in the way they do things.For example, how do they get along with each other?How do they treat our brothers and sisters?And more importantly, how do they treat us personally?If the world is a macrocosm, then the family is a microcosm. What we see and feel in the family determines our views on the nature of the world.The words and deeds of our parents create a unique external world for us, on this basis, we gradually form our own worldview.

"I agree with you," said Stewart. "Yes, I believe there's an evil God who cuts our throats, but I don't know why. My parents used to say, ' God loves everyone, and we should love God and Jesus, and love is everywhere." "In that case, you must have had a very happy childhood, didn't you?" He widened his eyes and said, "Are you kidding me? I wasn't happy at all. My childhood was so miserable." "Why the pain?" "I was beaten almost every day. Belts, wooden boards, and brooms were all tools used by my parents to teach me. No matter what I did wrong, I would be beaten. They also said that beating me every day can make my body healthier and improve my health. my morals."

"Did they threaten to strangle you, or cut your throat?" "No. But I believe it's because of my caution, otherwise they might really do that." At this point, Stuart stopped suddenly. He was silent for a long time, with a frustrated expression on his face.He said solemnly, "I seem to understand what's going on." Stewart isn't the only one who believes in a "demon god."Many patients have the same understanding and view of God, and when God is mentioned, they feel fear.Of course, the idea of ​​a "demonic God" is not a ubiquitous situation in people's minds.I said: In the minds of children, parents are like gods and gods, and the way parents handle things is the supreme law of the universe.Children's understanding of the so-called divinity often comes from the humanity of their parents - parents are full of love and compassion, and children will believe that God is full of love and saves all sentient beings.In this way, even when they are adults, in their hearts, the world is still as full of love and warmth as they were in childhood.If the parents do not keep their promises, and if they look ahead, they must report. When the children grow up, they will feel that the world is full of evil.Children who have not been cared for since childhood will feel insecure when they grow up, full of wariness and hostility towards the world and the people around them. Our religion and worldview often depend on the influence of childhood experiences, which constitutes the opposition between religion and reality, that is, the opposition between the microcosm and the macrocosm.In Stuart's heart, the world is full of evil and danger.In childhood, he had to carefully and strictly follow the laws of the "family universe", otherwise his throat would be cut by God.He lives in the shadow of an almost brutal adult.Of course, not all adults or parents are as unreasonable as Stewart's parents.In the "big universe" of the world, there are different cultural environments, as well as different children and parents. To establish a religion and a worldview that are compatible with reality, we must continue to learn and increase our understanding of the world.We must push beyond our boundaries, step out into the wider world, and revise our maps.Stewart's religion and worldview may only apply to his family.In the wider world, his cognition is obviously impractical and cannot help him.Despite the success of his career, he lives in fear that God will cut his throat at any moment, which is typical of empathy.Many adult religions are actually "products" of empathy. After all, we are not "supermen", we cannot transcend the influence of our own culture, parents and even childhood experience, we can only treat people and things according to a narrow frame of reference in life.The human world is full of contradictions. People have various feelings and opinions about themselves and others, which originate from past experiences.People seldom think that their experience is not a "panacea" or a "one size fits all" rule, and they do not have a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of their own worldview.Bryant, a psychologist specializing in international relations?Wedge, who conducted in-depth research on the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, found that Americans and Russians had striking differences in their understanding of human nature, society, and the world. These differences largely controlled the exchanges between the two sides. and negotiations, but they didn't realize it.The result of this is that the Americans feel that the Russians are weird, and their words and deeds at the negotiating table are unreasonable, and may even be malicious. The Russians also have the same aversion to the Americans.We are all familiar with the fable of "the blind man touching the elephant". In fact, we are like the blind man touching the elephant in the fable. No one knows the true and complete appearance of this "monster".We blindly insist on our own "small universe view", and for this reason we do not hesitate to confront others, and we do not hesitate to magnify every dispute, and even turn it into a holy war.