All of the CULTS and religious sects I have investigated thus far teach "philosophical totalism," AKA "absolutism" and "authoritarian... dichotomism ("We are right, and they are wrong." "Our way is the only way." "There are only two ways to see something: Our way and the wrong way.")
Among the many things I have discovered working with apostates online and in person is that most of them go through lonnnnnnnng stages of a) rageful rejection of the cult (or religion) that abused them, and b) remaining stuck in the way of thinking they acquired in the cult... though they are mostly unaware of either circumstance.
Just today, I encountered a pair of ex-Christian apostates who appear to believe that all religions function the same way. I used to think so, as well, until I dug into Aldwin & Park, Bellah, Clarke, Fronsdal, Goleman, James, Krishnamurti, Masukawa, Miles (2015a & b), Mishra, Pals, Prothero, Smith (1958), and Strausberg in Recommended on Religion from Outside the Box.
Now, however, I understand the the two principal "religions" of East Asia were -- at least in their pure and unadulterated, original forms -- unlike any notion of "religion" in the West. Taoism and Buddhism are far more like "orientations toward life's challenges" and "practices to dodge or dig out of suffering" than mandated belief systems.
In whatever event, may I leave you with the following:
Good Old Books for New Apostates, and...
"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all argument and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance. This principle is contempt prior to examination." (Herbert Spencer)
(Which I first read at least 40 years ago, but didn't get in this context until about 15.)
No comments:
Post a Comment