Chapter 40 baby with bathwater
The examples mentioned above are all to answer a question: Is belief in God a kind of mental illness?We must take this issue seriously if we are to undo the shackles of traditional ideas and superstitious thoughts in childhood.As can be seen from the above examples, there is more than one answer.Sometimes, the answer is yes, as in the Catholic Church and the beliefs instilled by her mother, which Kathy accepted at the time, hindered her growth.She questioned her beliefs and found out the reasons for the problems. Only then did she lead a freer, more satisfied, and more energetic life, allowing her soul to find the freedom to grow.Sometimes, the answer is no. For example, when Marcia’s mind matured, she escaped from the narrow universe of her childhood and entered into a wider and warmer universe. Some brand-new beliefs also appeared deep in her soul. grow.Similarly, the rejuvenation of Ted's soul is inseparable from the restoration of faith.
The answer is yes and no, how should we face it?It is the bounden duty of scientists to seek the truth, but scientists are also mortals. Just like ordinary people, they subconsciously hope to find the simplest and clearest answers to the most complicated questions.In this way, when they explore the issues of religion and belief, they often fall into two traps: one is to adopt an attitude of rejection and rejection regardless of the situation, that is, to throw out the baby and the bath water the other is to paint the ground as a prison, refusing to admit that there are more mysterious things worthy of deep exploration outside the familiar small circle of individuals.
It is not an exaggeration to say that around the real God, there is actually a lot of dirty bath water flowing: cruel jihad, inquisition, animal sacrifice, human sacrifice, extreme superstition, ignorance, dogmatism, extreme ignorance, pretense Piety, self-righteousness, obstinacy, burning books, burning witches, hindering the progress of human thought, creating fear, forcing obedience, morbid original sin, mad worship, etc., the list goes on and on.So going back to the source, in all of this, is it God who owes mankind, or is mankind sorry for God?The innumerable beliefs in the world are characterized by a destructive dogmatism, and the evidence for this is innumerable.Is the problem, then, that we believe too much in God, or are we inherently prone to dogmatism?Those who are familiar with die-hard atheists know that they never believe in gods, and that they take pride in breaking god-worship, even to the point of arbitrariness.They're really no better than religious fanatics.So, should we abandon belief itself, or dogmatism?
Another reason scientists tend to throw babies out with the bathwater is that science itself is a religion.The degree of arrogance and paranoia of the new generation of scientists who have just received scientific enlightenment may not be inferior to the Christian crusaders or the warriors of Allah (the god believed in by Islam).If their family or cultural background originally has ignorance, superstition, stubbornness and hypocrisy caused by beliefs, arrogance and paranoia may be more serious.In breaking the original belief and worship, our motives are not only intellectual, but also emotional.One of the marks of a mature scientist is the awareness that science, like any religion, can be dogmatic.
It is my firm belief that a dispassionate and skeptical attitude towards everything we are taught, including common cultural notions and all stereotypes, is an essential element of mental maturity.Science itself can easily become a cultural icon, and we should remain skeptical.
Our minds may be mature enough to be free from belief in God, and at the same time we may be mature enough to believe in God, i.e. accept religious belief.Skeptical atheism or agnosticism does not necessarily belong to a higher worldview.We can even believe that despite all the false ideas of gods in the world, there must be a real "god".The famous theologian Paul?Dilich once put forward the concept of "gods beyond the gods"; some wise Christians also joyfully declared: "God is dead. Long live God." The maturity of the mind means getting out of superstition and entering into the unknown. Knowledge, and then break away from agnosticism, to truly understand the existence of gods.More than 900 years ago, the outstanding Islamic wise man Ahuakel took such a road. He wrote in a poem: The road less traveled Until the minarets of the colleges and mosques fall, our sacred duty It's all done.
Until belief becomes rejection and rejection becomes belief
Only the truly great Muslims will be revealed.
We cannot know for sure whether the path of mental maturity leads gradually to true belief in God through skeptical atheism or agnosticism, but it is certain that people like Marcia and Ted who have matured in therapy to take a skeptical stance People seem to be moving in the direction of believing in God.What's especially concerning is that the beliefs they cultivate are very different from the beliefs that Cathy has shed.Not only are there many kinds of religions, but there are also many levels of beliefs. For some people, some religions may mislead their children, while others may not be harmful, and can even benefit people's livelihood.
Such knowledge is necessary for psychologists and psychiatrists, who, after all, face directly the problems of their patients' mental maturity.It is their duty to pass judgment on the validity of the patient's religious system.Psychotherapists who presuppose rationality, who are at least skeptics if not Freudians, often view fanatical beliefs as pathological, which can easily lead to outright prejudice.
Not long ago, I was approached by a senior who had considered monastery a few years ago.He received psychotherapy a year ago and the treatment is still ongoing.He said: "I have been afraid to tell the doctor about my beliefs and my desire to become a monk. I don't think he will understand me." My knowledge of this young man is limited to accurately assess the nature of his beliefs.I don't know whether his idea of becoming a monk indicates a neurotic tendency, but I want to tell him: "You should tell the doctor what you think and feel, and tell everything frankly, so that the treatment can produce better results. What's more, the treatment itself is so important to you, you should give the doctor full trust and believe that he can take an objective attitude." However, I did not say these words to him, and I am not sure whether his doctor can remain objective. Can he learn more about his patients through the concept of religion and belief.
Psychologists and psychiatrists oversimplify religion to the disadvantage of their patients.Whether one insists on the great benefits of religion or sees religion in general as a deadly devil creates problems to varying degrees.Avoiding the patient's religious issues under the pretense of neutrality or objectivity is equally unhelpful.It is not easy to take a balanced and objective stand on these issues.I sincerely hope that psychotherapists can adopt a more mature and stable attitude towards patients' beliefs, instead of dismissing them or keeping them at arm's length, or even avoiding them in case of fire or water.