| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"ta" |
| Date: |
16 Nov 2004 09:36:02 PM |
| Object: |
Magic, Fundies, and the Brain |
It's the end of the world as we know it
and they feel fine . . . ??
"One is left to try to explain the appeal of superstition, as it seems as if
faith unfounded on empiricism will over the long haul be found wanting. Can
we explain why some individuals -- even some non-retarded ones -- feel such
an attraction to magic, or can we perhaps explain their need to force
mindless superstition on others? The derogation of science, as in the
creationism superstition, accounts for some of the scientific illiteracy in
America, although it does seem as if some courts and some school systems are
increasingly willing to stand up to religionists and may be starting to
curtail the dumbing-down of our educational system.
Although there are various causal factors, the human tendency for magical
explanations may be accounted for by attempts of superstitious people to
empower themselves through energy-saving unintellectual shortcuts. The
scientific method of reaching answers is more efficacious, but it is
challenging and time-consuming. Reason, observation, and experience are all
required, and challenging stages of work must be pursued over time in order
to achieve meaningful tests of hypotheses. Scientific evidence is ultimately
gratifying, but it accumulates slowly and requires perseverance.
In contrast, superstition may offer a compelling shortcut. Virtually all
omens, spirits, and signs (and all magical solutions) afford nearly instant
gratification. Thus, superstitious explanations appear to empower their
adherents better and faster than does science which, by comparison, seems to
be a plodding affair.
A society concerned with advertising and sales may be especially tempted to
resort to instant gratification -- not only for products and services but to
achieve rapid pseudo-explanations for existential (life) questions. The
unintellectual shortcuts of superstition ostensibly save time and energy.
While superstition seems empowering in an easy way, we are also faced with
the puzzle of end-of-the-world fantasies which crop up around century or
millennial years. Clearly there is nothing in reality which makes a
rounded-off year special, any more than moving past a rounded-off mileage on
a car's odometer signifies anything. Such rounding-off milestones are based
on nothing but happenstance or number systems, the passage of time, the
calendar system, and other purely arbitrary factors. Where then do these
end-of-the-world ideas really come from?
Studies of psychopathology may offer some insights. Psychotherapists who
study and treat severe mental disorders are aware that some psychotics
harbor what are called world-destruction fantasies: ideas that their world
or civilization is about to end. Such fantasies may or may not be associated
with rounded-off years. Psychologists suspect that psychotic patients may
have a defect in the neurotransmitter systems in their brains. This
essentially short-circuits their cognitive processes and prevents them from
assessing reality accurately. Such patients become aware of this cognitive
breakdown on some level; but, especially if not diagnosed and treated
properly, they will feel highly threatened by their neurological breakdown
but have no understandable, valid explanation for what they are
experiencing. Some will attempt to externalize the threat from their
ingrained reality testing and project it onto their environment. "I am not
deterioriating; the world (or civilization) is, and thus it is not my
personal (existential) problem."
Psychotics who already hold some religious beliefs and have indulged in
society-wide institutionalized forms of magical ideation have a virtually
ready-made explanation for their frightening cognitive confusion: "Some god
is going to get me; better yet, get you -- because you are defective and
evil and I am not." This is an attractive and face-saving explanation. It is
energy-efficient and reassuring. It accounts for all kinds of doomsday and
rapture mythologies.
Such rapture fantasies will most appeal to people who feel as if they are
deteriorating and who also feel like profound failures in life. Their
doomsday and millennium fantasies thus serve to explain and externalize a
frightening feeling of deterioration, help to save face, and simultaneously
fulfill a sadomasochistic desire for the demise of all the rest of us -- to
the benefit of society's unfortunate failures. On their face, doomsday
fantasies offer an interesting social-psychological study and hold no real
threat. However, more disturbing is the possibility that a millennialist may
come across the wherewithal to put his fantasy into effect -- in other
words, a self-fulfilling prophesy may ensue. This has in fact occurred on
limited levels, as at Waco and Jonestown. With nuclear arsenals available,
it is conceivable that it might occur on a larger scale. Ronald Reagan, with
his apocalypse mythology and expressed belief that we might be living in the
end time prophesied in the Bible, may have exemplified this possibility.
It remains to be seen if millennialists or other religious fanatics endanger
our society. But, at the least, they will be working to perpetuate magical
thinking and will try to continue the dumbing-down of American culture -- at
least for the next four years.
John Higdon, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University
of Missouri Medical School at Columbia, where he teaches medical psychology.
Dr. Higdon was a featured speaker at the Sacramento convention of American
Atheists in 1993, and has published numerous articles in American Atheist on
the psychology of religion."
http://tinyurl.com/4rjwk
.
|
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| User: "Scotius" |
|
| Title: Re: Magic, Fundies, and the Brain |
26 Nov 2004 01:28:07 PM |
|
|
On Tue, 16 Nov 2004 22:36:02 -0500, "ta" <ta33@bellsouth.net> wrote:
It's the end of the world as we know it
and they feel fine . . . ??
"One is left to try to explain the appeal of superstition, as it seems as if
faith unfounded on empiricism will over the long haul be found wanting. Can
we explain why some individuals -- even some non-retarded ones -- feel such
an attraction to magic, or can we perhaps explain their need to force
mindless superstition on others? The derogation of science, as in the
creationism superstition,
John Higdon's expression of his opinions as if they were well
established facts does not make them such. There is in fact NO
evidence for Darwin's theory of evolution, and quite a few scientists
will admit it's badly flawed. On the other hand, there is ample
evidence the the flood of Noah was real, and not only that but that it
happened just as the Bible said it did. Perhaps the illustrious PHD
degreed doctor should check out a show that aired on PBS if he has a
problem with that; they're the ones who ran the show, against the
wishes of many bigoted "freethinkers" who are imprisoned by their
minds more than any "fundy agenda" ever could limit them.
accounts for some of the scientific illiteracy in
America, although it does seem as if some courts and some school systems are
increasingly willing to stand up to religionists and may be starting to
curtail the dumbing-down of our educational system.
I live in Canada, and near where I live there are private
schools, some Catholic, and some Christian. Guess what? Yep, you
guessed it; bad news for Higgie baby if he wants to claim that a
Christian school is "dumbed down".
Although there are various causal factors, the human tendency for magical
explanations may be accounted for by attempts of superstitious people to
empower themselves through energy-saving unintellectual shortcuts. The
scientific method of reaching answers is more efficacious, but it is
challenging and time-consuming. Reason, observation, and experience are all
required, and challenging stages of work must be pursued over time in order
to achieve meaningful tests of hypotheses. Scientific evidence is ultimately
gratifying, but it accumulates slowly and requires perseverance.
In contrast, superstition may offer a compelling shortcut. Virtually all
omens, spirits, and signs (and all magical solutions) afford nearly instant
gratification. Thus, superstitious explanations appear to empower their
adherents better and faster than does science which, by comparison, seems to
be a plodding affair.
A society concerned with advertising and sales may be especially tempted to
resort to instant gratification -- not only for products and services but to
achieve rapid pseudo-explanations for existential (life) questions. The
unintellectual shortcuts of superstition ostensibly save time and energy.
While superstition seems empowering in an easy way, we are also faced with
the puzzle of end-of-the-world fantasies which crop up around century or
millennial years. Clearly there is nothing in reality which makes a
rounded-off year special, any more than moving past a rounded-off mileage on
a car's odometer signifies anything. Such rounding-off milestones are based
on nothing but happenstance or number systems, the passage of time, the
calendar system, and other purely arbitrary factors.
Quite right, and just as the Bible says.
Where then do these
end-of-the-world ideas really come from?
Studies of psychopathology may offer some insights. Psychotherapists who
study and treat severe mental disorders are aware that some psychotics
harbor what are called world-destruction fantasies: ideas that their world
or civilization is about to end. Such fantasies may or may not be associated
with rounded-off years. Psychologists suspect that psychotic patients may
have a defect in the neurotransmitter systems in their brains. This
essentially short-circuits their cognitive processes and prevents them from
assessing reality accurately. Such patients become aware of this cognitive
breakdown on some level; but, especially if not diagnosed and treated
properly, they will feel highly threatened by their neurological breakdown
but have no understandable, valid explanation for what they are
experiencing. Some will attempt to externalize the threat from their
ingrained reality testing and project it onto their environment. "I am not
deterioriating; the world (or civilization) is, and thus it is not my
personal (existential) problem."
Psychotics who already hold some religious beliefs and have indulged in
society-wide institutionalized forms of magical ideation have a virtually
ready-made explanation for their frightening cognitive confusion: "Some god
is going to get me; better yet, get you -- because you are defective and
evil and I am not." This is an attractive and face-saving explanation. It is
energy-efficient and reassuring. It accounts for all kinds of doomsday and
rapture mythologies.
Such rapture fantasies will most appeal to people who feel as if they are
deteriorating and who also feel like profound failures in life. Their
doomsday and millennium fantasies thus serve to explain and externalize a
frightening feeling of deterioration, help to save face, and simultaneously
fulfill a sadomasochistic desire for the demise of all the rest of us
Higdon is a nut. He's also one of those nuts who thinks the
bigger the lie he can tell and get away with, the more intelligent he
must be. My thinking right now is this; is he a lawyer? He certainly
is one of those guys who likes the sound of his own voice.
-- to
the benefit of society's unfortunate failures. On their face, doomsday
fantasies offer an interesting social-psychological study and hold no real
threat. However, more disturbing is the possibility that a millennialist may
come across the wherewithal to put his fantasy into effect -- in other
words, a self-fulfilling prophesy may ensue.
Sorry dude, but Christians aren't the ones hoarding the
nuclear weapons.
This has in fact occurred on
limited levels, as at Waco
The "self fulfilling prophecy" that occurred at Waco happened
after the BATF decided they would either get a photo-op gun raid on
the tube to ingratiate themselves to Clinton, or burn the place down.
and Jonestown. With nuclear arsenals available,
it is conceivable that it might occur on a larger scale. Ronald Reagan, with
his apocalypse mythology and expressed belief that we might be living in the
end time prophesied in the Bible, may have exemplified this possibility.
That reminds me of a joke. I think it was Jay Leno who said
this one. "CNN announced today that president Bush is behind John
Kerry in the polls. In other news, president Bush announced that his
administration believes that CNN has developed weapons of mass
destruction and has ties to Al Qa'ida." In other words, you apparently
project onto any politician you don't like, these ideas of what you
say you believe motivates other people you don't like. Of course, I'm
not a practicing Christian, so I can use language like "Go *****
yourself" if I get fed up enough with you, or your idol, Mr. Higdon
(and I guess that makes you an idolater in search of a tin god).
It remains to be seen if millennialists or other religious fanatics endanger
our society. But, at the least, they will be working to perpetuate magical
thinking and will try to continue the dumbing-down of American culture -- at
least for the next four years.
Yeah, well, why not let him compare his son's public school
education (if he's not in a private school) to that available at a
Christian school.
John Higdon, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University
of Missouri Medical School at Columbia, where he teaches medical psychology.
Dr. Higdon was a featured speaker at the Sacramento convention of American
Atheists in 1993, and has published numerous articles in American Atheist on
the psychology of religion."
http://tinyurl.com/4rjwk
.
|
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|
| User: "Al Klein" |
|
| Title: Re: Magic, Fundies, and the Brain |
26 Nov 2004 11:19:41 PM |
|
|
On Fri, 26 Nov 2004 14:28:07 -0500, Scotius <wolvzbro@mnsi.net> said
in alt.atheism:
I live in Canada, and near where I live there are private
schools, some Catholic, and some Christian. Guess what? Yep, you
guessed it; bad news for Higgie baby if he wants to claim that a
Christian school is "dumbed down".
Evidently you obtained your "education" at one, since you seem to
think that Catholicism isn't a sect of Christianity.
-- to
the benefit of society's unfortunate failures. On their face, doomsday
fantasies offer an interesting social-psychological study and hold no real
threat. However, more disturbing is the possibility that a millennialist may
come across the wherewithal to put his fantasy into effect -- in other
words, a self-fulfilling prophesy may ensue.
Sorry dude, but Christians aren't the ones hoarding the
nuclear weapons.
The current government is Christian. The current government has more
nuclear weapons that the rest of the world combined. If you had been
educated, you could have drawn your own conclusion.
Of course, I'm
not a practicing Christian, so I can use language like "Go *****
yourself" if I get fed up enough with you
That doesn't mark you as a non-practicing Christian, it marks you as a
non-practicing decent person.
--
"Christians, it is needless to say, utterly detest each other. They slander each
other constantly with the vilest forms of abuse and cannot come to any sort of
agreement in their teachings. Each sect brands its own, fills the head of its own
with deceitful nonsense, and makes perfect little pigs of those it wins over to its
side."
- Celsus On the True Doctrine, translated by R. Joseph Hoffman, Oxford University Press, 1987
(random sig, produced by SigChanger)
rukbat at verizon dot net
.
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| User: "wbarwell" |
|
| Title: Re: Magic, Fundies, and the Brain |
27 Nov 2004 05:57:23 PM |
|
|
Scotius wrote:
On Tue, 16 Nov 2004 22:36:02 -0500, "ta" <ta33@bellsouth.net> wrote:
It's the end of the world as we know it
and they feel fine . . . ??
"One is left to try to explain the appeal of superstition, as it seems as
if faith unfounded on empiricism will over the long haul be found
wanting. Can we explain why some individuals -- even some non-retarded
ones -- feel such an attraction to magic, or can we perhaps explain their
need to force mindless superstition on others? The derogation of science,
as in the creationism superstition,
John Higdon's expression of his opinions as if they were well
established facts does not make them such. There is in fact NO
evidence for Darwin's theory of evolution, and quite a few scientists
will admit it's badly flawed.
This is like saying 2 + 2 = 67. Totally wrong in all ways.
Deep ignorance. Crazy man talk.
On the other hand, there is ample
evidence the the flood of Noah was real, and not only that but that it
happened just as the Bible said it did. Perhaps the illustrious PHD
degreed doctor should check out a show that aired on PBS if he has a
problem with that; they're the ones who ran the show, against the
wishes of many bigoted "freethinkers" who are imprisoned by their
minds more than any "fundy agenda" ever could limit them.
accounts for some of the scientific illiteracy in
America, although it does seem as if some courts and some school systems
are increasingly willing to stand up to religionists and may be starting
to curtail the dumbing-down of our educational system.
I live in Canada, and near where I live there are private
schools, some Catholic, and some Christian. Guess what? Yep, you
guessed it; bad news for Higgie baby if he wants to claim that a
Christian school is "dumbed down".
Although there are various causal factors, the human tendency for magical
explanations may be accounted for by attempts of superstitious people to
empower themselves through energy-saving unintellectual shortcuts. The
scientific method of reaching answers is more efficacious, but it is
challenging and time-consuming. Reason, observation, and experience are
all required, and challenging stages of work must be pursued over time in
order to achieve meaningful tests of hypotheses. Scientific evidence is
ultimately gratifying, but it accumulates slowly and requires
perseverance.
In contrast, superstition may offer a compelling shortcut. Virtually all
omens, spirits, and signs (and all magical solutions) afford nearly
instant gratification. Thus, superstitious explanations appear to empower
their adherents better and faster than does science which, by comparison,
seems to be a plodding affair.
A society concerned with advertising and sales may be especially tempted
to resort to instant gratification -- not only for products and services
but to achieve rapid pseudo-explanations for existential (life)
questions. The unintellectual shortcuts of superstition ostensibly save
time and energy.
While superstition seems empowering in an easy way, we are also faced
with the puzzle of end-of-the-world fantasies which crop up around
century or millennial years. Clearly there is nothing in reality which
makes a rounded-off year special, any more than moving past a rounded-off
mileage on a car's odometer signifies anything. Such rounding-off
milestones are based on nothing but happenstance or number systems, the
passage of time, the calendar system, and other purely arbitrary factors.
Quite right, and just as the Bible says.
Where then do these
end-of-the-world ideas really come from?
Studies of psychopathology may offer some insights. Psychotherapists who
study and treat severe mental disorders are aware that some psychotics
harbor what are called world-destruction fantasies: ideas that their
world or civilization is about to end. Such fantasies may or may not be
associated with rounded-off years. Psychologists suspect that psychotic
patients may have a defect in the neurotransmitter systems in their
brains. This essentially short-circuits their cognitive processes and
prevents them from assessing reality accurately. Such patients become
aware of this cognitive breakdown on some level; but, especially if not
diagnosed and treated properly, they will feel highly threatened by their
neurological breakdown but have no understandable, valid explanation for
what they are experiencing. Some will attempt to externalize the threat
from their ingrained reality testing and project it onto their
environment. "I am not deterioriating; the world (or civilization) is,
and thus it is not my personal (existential) problem."
Psychotics who already hold some religious beliefs and have indulged in
society-wide institutionalized forms of magical ideation have a virtually
ready-made explanation for their frightening cognitive confusion: "Some
god is going to get me; better yet, get you -- because you are defective
and evil and I am not." This is an attractive and face-saving
explanation. It is energy-efficient and reassuring. It accounts for all
kinds of doomsday and rapture mythologies.
Such rapture fantasies will most appeal to people who feel as if they are
deteriorating and who also feel like profound failures in life. Their
doomsday and millennium fantasies thus serve to explain and externalize a
frightening feeling of deterioration, help to save face, and
simultaneously fulfill a sadomasochistic desire for the demise of all the
rest of us
Higdon is a nut. He's also one of those nuts who thinks the
bigger the lie he can tell and get away with, the more intelligent he
must be. My thinking right now is this; is he a lawyer? He certainly
is one of those guys who likes the sound of his own voice.
-- to
the benefit of society's unfortunate failures. On their face, doomsday
fantasies offer an interesting social-psychological study and hold no
real threat. However, more disturbing is the possibility that a
millennialist may come across the wherewithal to put his fantasy into
effect -- in other words, a self-fulfilling prophesy may ensue.
Sorry dude, but Christians aren't the ones hoarding the
nuclear weapons.
This has in fact occurred on
limited levels, as at Waco
The "self fulfilling prophecy" that occurred at Waco happened
after the BATF decided they would either get a photo-op gun raid on
the tube to ingratiate themselves to Clinton, or burn the place down.
and Jonestown. With nuclear arsenals available,
it is conceivable that it might occur on a larger scale. Ronald Reagan,
with his apocalypse mythology and expressed belief that we might be
living in the end time prophesied in the Bible, may have exemplified this
possibility.
That reminds me of a joke. I think it was Jay Leno who said
this one. "CNN announced today that president Bush is behind John
Kerry in the polls. In other news, president Bush announced that his
administration believes that CNN has developed weapons of mass
destruction and has ties to Al Qa'ida." In other words, you apparently
project onto any politician you don't like, these ideas of what you
say you believe motivates other people you don't like. Of course, I'm
not a practicing Christian, so I can use language like "Go *****
yourself" if I get fed up enough with you, or your idol, Mr. Higdon
(and I guess that makes you an idolater in search of a tin god).
It remains to be seen if millennialists or other religious fanatics
endanger our society. But, at the least, they will be working to
perpetuate magical thinking and will try to continue the dumbing-down of
American culture -- at least for the next four years.
Yeah, well, why not let him compare his son's public school
education (if he's not in a private school) to that available at a
Christian school.
John Higdon, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the
University of Missouri Medical School at Columbia, where he teaches
medical psychology. Dr. Higdon was a featured speaker at the Sacramento
convention of American Atheists in 1993, and has published numerous
articles in American Atheist on the psychology of religion."
http://tinyurl.com/4rjwk
--
Kerry - two medals a silver and bronze star.
Bush? Well they don't give medals
for going AWOL, missing your medical and
getting grounded or falling off of a bar stool.
Kerry - a hero, Bush - a zero
Cheerful Charlie
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