The Psychology of Atheism

A friend of mine sent in this link on the topic of atheism:

The Psychology of Atheism by Professor Paul C. Vitz

His approach goes something like this: if religious beliefs, particularly Christianity, are based on neurotic tendencies in a person, then to not believe must also be neurotic in origin unless one can demonstrate that one is cured of one's neuroses before one makes the decision not to believe.

Then he goes through a number of explanations of both what 'neurotic atheism' looks like, and how most famous atheists clearly made the decision to not believe in God out of a process that was clearly neurotic in origin: personal suffering and emotional reaction to it.  The truth is that very few, if any, atheists go through years of psychoanalysis and counseling to rid themselves of their neurotic tendencies before making the decision.

Rather, they make the decision, then work very hard to back it up.

Now, the honest truth is that most religious people do the same thing.  What it does do is places most religious belief on even footing with atheism, something which generally annoys atheists who usually revert to the I'm-too-smart-to-have-imaginary-friends stance when their facts start to shake under the the weight of their proposition.

However, in the case of addiction, most addicts in recovery find out that their rejection of God as he is was indeed neurotic.  Addicts don't want to really believe in God because that would interfere with drinking or using, yet the addiction itself is the coping mechanism for living a life without God.  The addicts process of overcoming his neurotic tendencies is directly linked to his belief in the 'Higher Power.'

That's the main problem for psychologists who take on this notion that believing in God is neurotic in origin: the most effective treatment for addiction is the 12 Step model which relies on belief.  A wholesale rejection goes contrary to their own evidence, and also violates a tenet of psychology: neurotic beliefs cannot make a person psychologically 'healthier.'  

What this means is that if a neurotic belief is preferable to reality in terms of its benefit to the patient, then the psychological process of returning the patient to reality also means confining the patient to a life of torment.  Do psychologists want to leave their patients stranded in a world of torment?  They'd be out of business if they advertised such a thing.

This article points out that the philosophers involved in the atheistic movement were indeed tortured people, many having a father problem which led to their rejection of the Christian God and thus a Higher Power as a benevolent force in the Universe.  This stand, naturally, means that addiction recovery would be impossible as a rational process from their perspectives.

In the end, we are left not with the evidence of God's reality, but rather the effect of beliefs (there is more than one particular religious belief) on the believer.  We must then ask that if the belief in God is helpful in curing neurotic behaviors (like addiction), then can one really classify it as neurotic?

Brief Video on Atheism

Someone posted a link to this video (H/T http://www.aoiusa.org/blog/for-most-atheists-atheism-is-a-lifestyle-choice-video/) on my FB feed, and I found it one of the most interesting things I've seen in a long time:

Why Study Atheism with Conor Cunningham

Addiction itself bears witness to the deterioration of the human condition under the effects of Atheism.  That is why the 12 Steps relies on the rebuilding of one's understanding of God in order to recover.  Recovery hinges on one coming to believe in God not as the 'yes/no' proposition Dr. Cunningham speaks of, but the key to existence itself.

The nihilism of modern atheism has devastated Eastern Europe to this day, some 20 years after the passing of official Communism and Atheism.  Western Europe is having a wealthier version of this social collapse, with plummeting birthrates and similar addictions problems.  people are doping themselves because the atheistic world lacks meaning and stability, two things the human psyche cannot do without.

Say what you want about reality, humans simply do not do well without God.  Modern atheists do indeed rely on Christianity to provide a God for them to reject, and yet rely on to provide essential meaning.  This is why atheists don't turn to Plato and Aristotle for meaning: they open the possibility of a creative force organizing the cosmos.  Atheists have Sartre and Nietsche... not too much hope for humanity in them.

I think those with significant time in recovery intuit what Dr. Cunningham is saying, and I think he articulates it well (I like the 'unpolished' feel of this video as a real conversation rather than a rehearsed and staged 'chat').  The concept of God that he puts forward is far more hopeful than the 'Jesus-or-hell'  narrative that bogs down Christians.  If you more closely read the Gospel of St. John, you see this bigger picture.  It is an image of Genesis: a world imbued with God and meaning.

A Nation of Wimps

Someone sent me this link, and I thought it sets a very interesting background picture for modern addiction, primarily among young people

A Nation of Wimps

It is very difficult to get addicts to mature when they are immature because of social expectations.  Even around my neighborhood, men older than me are dressing and trying to act young, down to the saggy pants and crooked hats.  Here in Los Angeles, old white men now wear Costco-issued Hawaiian shirts and board shorts as if to brag about their perpetual 'Beach Boys' lifestyle, when many are grandfathers and business owners.

Of course, they are also the first to complain when a young lady comes to church with too much of her cleavage visible.  I tell them, "You are wearing what you want, and she is wearing what she wants... what's the difference?"

Both have little in the way of manners or self-respect.  Both are also covering up insecurities and feelings of inadequacy that lead to sin and, in some cases, addiction.

This article represents a fair assessment of how this immaturity is being perpetuated in schools and colleges, largely by the Hawaiian-shirt wearing parents who, behind the 'awesomely cool' exterior, are neurotic and stressed out... and make sure to share that with their children.  So their kids end up drinking, drugging, and sexing just to relieve the tensions they have with their parents, not to mention themselves.

Some young people claw their way through this mess and end up OK, but there are plenty more that don't survive the over-pressured indulgence of their parents.  As a society, we need to wake up.

Porn and the Brain

While I generally find "TED" lectures to be 'academic infomercials' at best and self-aggrandizement for upper-middle class faux-intellectuals at worse, there are occasional gems in the mud.  Here is one:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSF82AwSDiU&feature=player_embedded

 

This is informative not only for porn addicts, but lots of other stimulus-based addictions.  While rather brief, he cuts to the chase and makes an excellent argument for treating internet addiction through abstinence.

 

The rewiring process that young people are experiencing is what is most troubling, and something we should all be aware of.  I have railed time and again on this blog about how we are creating a generation of addicts.

 

At the lecturer states here, once a man is liberated from his addiction, his real potential is released.  I think many of our social problems today are the results of so many people being doped up on porn, alcohol, drugs, food, & and the many other addictions that are holding us hostage.

 

We are being oppressed by a new 'Opiate of the People' that keeps us obedient to politicians and marketing executives.  The ruling classes from all the various parties have come expect us not to think critically, and they have found it is easier to keep people stoned than to really engage in the risky business of leading. 

 

We are so doped up we have no idea what our children are being taught, or what they are being exposed to.  As this lecturerer states, kids are getting into porn in their early teens, at a time when their parents are supposed to be in charge of their home lives.  Instead, mom and dad are just as enthralled by their own popular hypnosis.

 

Our children are being damaged, and we are too wrapped up in our own selfishness to notice.  Porn is becoming part of the new serfdom, where mankind is being locked up by addictions and dependencies.  Our votes and our 'voluntary cooperation' with the system are being installed so that we can be controlled through Pavlovian responses rather than independent thought.

 

This brain chemistry is meant to wash away critical thinking.  It is working.  Just look around.

 

 

 

 

 

 



Enjoyment of Life and Sobriety

So much of addiction begins with attempts to 'enjoy' a life that is, by circumstance, joyless.  People often begin using drugs and alcohol to have 'fun' or as a social lubricant.

That's because social events are often filled with fear and the subsequent self-consciousness that intoxicants erase, along with a great deal of impulse-control and judgement.  In our broken world, we have cause to be concerned about how others think of us, especially when such virtues as compassion are in short supply.

Christians and addicts share a problem: how does one balance the challenges of life with our desire to be happy?  How can we learn to laugh without it being at another's expense, or a nervous chuckle?

Too often Christ is portrayed as the great 'buzzkiller' because He spoke of sin and condemned it, yet the Pharisees condemned Him for spending time at the tables of 'bad people,' i.e. the 'partiers' of His time.  If He was a dour fellow, people would not have been drawn to Him.  He clearly was not.

Addicts face the deceptive image that abandoning drugs and alcohol means a life without joy.  They will have to sit in their discomfort.

The message of the Gospel is not one of joylessness, but true joy that is found in God's love, just as the addict finds joy in the loving Higher Power who will save him from his fears.  Christians and addicts must learn to not live in the panic mode, worrying about how they will avoid their fears.

We all must learn to enjoy life: to see people in the light of divine love rather than the coldness of mere biological existence.

We cannot give thanks to God for all things unless we first appreciate these things, and we cannot appreciate them unless we experience them and ultimately enjoy them.  This is not an excuse to do things in an inappropriate way, but to experience life as it has been given to us.

That's called gratitude, and it is really important to harness.

No one can stay sober if he lacks gratitude, just as no one will stay sober if he is constantly unhappy.  Sobriety brings joy because it brings the freedom to enjoy life.

May You Have a Joyous Pascha

To all my Orthodox readers, I pray that you have a joyous Pascha.  There hasn't been much activity here with all of the services, and today will be super-busy with this morning's Liturgy, then a bunch of adult Baptisms, and then the Paschal services.  I will try to get back to posting during Bright Week.

Much to be thankful for.

Addiction Hits Home

On Holy Monday, there was a fire department ladder company, a rescue truck, a police car, and an ambulance in front of my house.  This not a normal occurrence even in my neighborhood.

They were actually for the neighbor.  His wife came home and found him unresponsive on the living room floor with a needle in his hand.  He has been out of prison for five days after doing a five year stretch on a parole violation.

He's OK for now.

His wife was complaining that there was no addiction treatment in prison.  So, I asked her, "Has he asked for help since he got out?"

"No," she admitted, "he is hard headed and wants to do things his way."

Prisons really are for punishment and public safety.  If 'penitentiaries' really helped people repent, they'd have something to show for it.  The whole idea of the penitentiary system which reforms prisoners has never worked because of one thing.

People are healed by love, and prison is anything but a loving place.

Expecting a prison to heal wounded souls is kind of like asking your auto mechanic to replace your pacemaker.  One could make the argument that the two are both mechanical devices, just like we can connect addiction to crime.  But, the honest truth is that both are entirely different skill sets.

I would not want my heart surgeon to also be my auto repairman.

Prisons cannot heal, just like churches cannot punish.  They are different.  This does not mean that one is more important than the other.  But, they cannot cross the boundaries of what they really are.

Prisoners should be allowed to form AA or NA groups in prison, but it should not be the responsibility of prison officials to try to treat addicts, especially since even voluntary programs have a very low success rate.  Expecting a prison to treat addiction is never going to be effective.

I hope my neighbor gets help.  he has been 'in-and-out' most of his adult life, and his children have spent most of their childhood seeing their father through plexiglass.  He can make the change if he wants to.  Lots of us have.

You can't blame the prison, because it is doing what it does best: warehousing prisoners until they are done with their sentences.