Posted by
HARRY on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 6:06:47 PM
Now the mind is a very peculiar instrument in that once it picks up an idea from any source, from the worst possible source, once a mind picks up an idea, it tends to become possessive over it. It tends to say, 'Ah, this is my idea.' Then it goes to the next stage and says, 'This is not only my idea, but my life depends upon following it, believing it, protecting it.' And regardless of how nonsensical, how self-destructive these ideas may be, human beings will fiercely protect them thinking - listen to this please - thinking that they are protecting their own life when all it is is picking up a collection of ideas that have made them what they are today."
--Vernon Mowisdom
I was (even as I try not to ) listening to the Michael Medved radio show. Today’s guest was an “eco-therapist” who was claiming to be able to help people eliminate here
“eco- anxiety” by holding various objects from nature - like pine cones and rocks. And it seemed that Michael was (in a rather subtle way and often a not so subtle way) making light of this woman’s beliefs. I’m really not sure why this particular guest was on the show - other than for Michael to make fun of her. So I thought I might examine the obvious disdain he had for this woman in the context what I must imagine are his own beliefs.
I wouldn’t call the show because he’s rude, condescending and ignorant. But, if I did I would have to ask Michael how this woman’s beliefs were any different than his own personal beliefs and certainly his religious beliefs. I’m somewhat familiar with Jewish and Christian methods of worshiping god. And, they often involve rituals. Exactly the kind of rituals that this eco-therapist was so fond of. Jewish faithful believe that placing a yamika on their head will gain some benefit from god. This woman believes holding a plant brings some benefit from nature. Catholic people believe that kneeling before an alter and praying can bring them peace and tranquility. This woman believes that holding a crystal in a pouch can bring peace and tranquility. Both of these beliefs are perhaps based upon nothing more than some origination which is unsupported by personal first hand experiences. God never talked to Michael Medved personally and told him to eat Kosher - in fact god never even told the Jewish people to eat Kosher (but that’s another story). Just as nature never told this eco-therapist that holding dirt would make her feel better. They each believe what they believe because it appeals to their superstitious beliefs in some action that can create extra-sensory reactions. And for Michael to make fun of this woman is sort of like a drug addict making fun of an alcoholic.
A religious belief almost always causes the believer to be unable to have a rational unemotional discussion about the validity of that belief. The normal reaction to any attempt to confront a strong ingrained belief, even those based upon nothing other than pure repetition (or those acquired without any independent thought) is to reject any alternative idea without much (if any) consideration. “No, no, I don’t want to hear it” or “what I believe is true and that’s final”, are the boiler plate responses often given. Alternatively, some people offer up their beliefs like dirty laundry. Suddenly they’re shaving their heads in some cult drinking Kool-Aid. The reason I believe each of these phenomenon’s occur is basically the same. In the first instance your biological programming tells you instinctively to defend your position (if you are so genetically inclined). You can not accept rational thought as your pack mentality programming clicks on and tells you to reject any other position and defend yours ("must reject and defend"). In the second instance, your submissive program (as that may be alternatively dominant in your genetic make up) tells you you must follow this new exposed point of view. To be able to overcome these programs and offer your open mind is difficult to varying degrees based upon your current situation (did your granmother just die?), your genetic make-up (random really), your age, your experiences (or environmnet) and your intelligence. For instnace, the younger you are the more easily you are influenced - you are often a blank slate without a belief one way or the other. Similarly, the less intelligence you have the easier you are influenced. So basically a belief operates like a kind of virus - seeking out the weak, moving from the dominant in the world to the submissive in the world. When it encounters and experiences a grounded intelligent person who can control his animal tendency to either be dominant or submissive, it get’s a real examination under a microscope and dissected toward a rational acceptance or rejection.
How does one then (if they have an alternative position with some substance) approach the average (instinctual) religionist or agnostic or atheist in order that they may listen to a new rational and meaningful position with an open mind? And then how does the necessary approach lead to a belief change on a global scale? My best guess is that the place to acquire some belief changing skills is to look at the past where these changes have actually occurred. And the first question that needs to be asked is “how did this belief begin and then gain acceptance historically such that they became ingrained on a large scale?” It seems once a belief catches one (even minimally) it can gain momentum and spread. We teach our beliefs to our children (who like clay take most belief systems at face value no matter what they are told). As a result they become further intrenched without the requirement of any further examination or thought. Essentially a changing belief system on a global scale is like a small snow ball running down a mountain. If you can create that small snow ball belief and roll it down that mountain, it might gain momentum as it is further presented to children and other people by the people they look up to and/or trust (professors, clergy, holy men, your parents as some examples).
One of the greatest belief creating programs in we humans is fear. Fear that if we don’t wear the yamika, if we don’t hold the rock, something bad is going to happen to us. What inspires fear? The thought that there is something that we can do to prevent some bad thing from happening to us - either in the here and now (like an accident) or in the afterlife (like going to hell). Based upon this fact of human nature, people should be more inclined to hedge their bets and engage in all the superstitious rituals they can! In that vein, I think it’s only a matter of time before I see the people out there with a yamika on their head, a cross on their chain and some rocks in their pockets...