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Delusional Beliefs: A Normative
Coping Mechanism?
Dr. Anthony G. Payne
One online source defines the term “delusion” thusly:
delusion
n 1: (psychology) an erroneous belief that is held in the face of
evidence to the contrary [syn: psychotic
belief] 2: a mistaken or unfounded opinion or idea; "he has
delusions of competence"; "his dreams of vast wealth are a
hallucination" [syn: hallucination]
3: the act of deluding; deception by creating illusory ideas [syn: illusion, head game]
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Source: WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University
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This pretty much lines up with how
psychiatrist Karl Jaspers, MD, defined “delusion” in his seminal book General
Psychopathology. Dr. Jaspers gave three main criteria for a belief
to be considered delusional:
·
Absolute certainty (A
belief is held with absolute conviction)
·
Incorrigibility (A
belief is not changeable by compelling counterargument or proof to the
contrary)
·
Impossibility or
falsity of content (A belief is implausible, bizarre or patently untrue)
Undoubtedly many of you reading
this hold fast to specific religious or other beliefs that meet all 3
criteria. To your way of thinking this is a demonstration of faith, a
strength that pleases the Almighty. Nothing will sway you from what you hold
to be sacred truth. Maybe you fear dire consequences in this life or the next
should you deviate from the faith tradition you were inculcated in as a child
or embraced later on. You may not even be able to consider the remotest
possibility that what you believe about (say) biblical accounts of miracles
or specific stories or accounts could be misinformed, misguided, or just plain wrong. As one neo-Pentecostal
minister put it, “God said it, I believe it, and that settles it”. This
appears to be a timeless species of faith down through the millennia of human
history.
Many fundamentalist believers and
scholars from the major faith traditions engage in the most incredible feats
of mental gymnastics to preserve sacred beliefs. Many Christians, for
example, believe that their scriptures are inerrant, while abundant evidence
exists that their Bible is chocked full of contradictions and is anything but
free of error. For example, the book of Genesis alone contains two separate
accounts of the creation saga that contradict one another profoundly http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/contra/accounts.html.
The same is basically true of the story of Noah and the flood http://www.sullivan-county.com/identity/2cs.htm. But rather than modify their
belief system to accommodate logic and fact, they force a fit between religious
dogma and contrary evidence (Or just deny the evidence altogether or define
or otherwise alter it such that it accord with belief). This imposition of
religious dogma or belief on the process and findings of history and science
has given the world an incredible array of pseudo-historical and
pseudoscientific books, documents, papers and such that, well, help reinforce
the delusions of multitudes of “true believers”.
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/jim_meritt/bible-contradictions.html
–Contradictions in
the Scriptures
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/contra/by_name.html
– Contradictions in
the Bible
http://www.nobeliefs.com/DarkBible/darkbible4.htm – Absurdities and troubling entries
in the Bible
Mind you, I am not an atheist or
an “enemy” of religious beliefs or faith. My family tree is one brimming over
with fervent Protestant fundamentalists, southern Baptist deacons,
creationists and even charismatic and neo-Pentecostals. My late maternal
grandmother, Faye C. Whittle, a rather extraordinary woman who helped aid and
encourage my studies in science and medicine, was about as devout a
Bible-toting woman as you could hope to meet and fully fundamentalist in her
thinking. I did not often challenge her beliefs.....and was especially less
inclined to do so as she reached into her eighties and nineties – for reasons
I will weave into this essay shortly.
My own quest for “religious truth,” which is to say a faith that is
concordant with logic, biblical scholarship, historic fact, and the findings
of science led me first to Roman Catholicism, then ultimately to Judaism.
Yes, there are some commonly held Jewish beliefs that run contrary to this
thrust, but at least there is room for reconciling all this within most
Jewish traditions.
Some of you gentle readers are probably having an “ah hah” moment as you
read all this. Some will surely be thinking, “Well, if I embrace delusional
beliefs, so does he. So does everyone”.
No doubt most of us – even those who are ultra-diligent in their efforts
to bring every aspect of their lives into accord with logic, fact and sound
reasoning – harbor some belief, conviction or idea that is at the very least
unfounded or suspect, but which we resist discarding unless and until
contrary fact compels us to. Such a belief or idea may not constitute a
full-blown delusion or delusional belief, but it in some respects belongs to
the “fraternity”. Psychologists have shown that we all possess cognitive
filters that bias what we perceive and believe; mechanisms (if you will) that
tend to find patterns in things (often where none exists), discard ideas or
facts that contradict cherished beliefs or views, and inflate our own
self-perception of being objective. This tendency to be self-deluded and to
deceive others has survival value. Deception is part and parcel of nature
itself, something documented by field ethnologists and primatologists
studying the behavior of chimpanzees and monkeys.
While not immune to delusional beliefs, in my own case precious few (if
any) of my core religious beliefs meet Dr. Jasper’s 3 criteria. How so? In a
word, I am willing to modify or reinterpret them to gel with logic and
compelling scientific and historic fact. My belief in the Almighty, for
example, is resolutely entrenched (A delusion according to many skeptic
friends) – but my views on His nature, interaction with humankind, activities
and such is amenable to modification in light of reason, logic and fact.
Actually, this willingness to modify or discard one’s beliefs about anything
that is redefined or overturned by new evidence lies at the heart of the
scientific method. Without this plank, there would be little scientific
progress. And while this process can and does generate evidence and reasoning
that wrecks havoc with many beliefs long held to be sacred, this is not
something to be feared or resisted. If religion and religious beliefs are to
genuinely enable us to zero in on truth, it must necessarily be informed by
the scientific method, critical thinking and hard logic. If not this, there
is only a retreat into blind faith – this being often a wellspring of
irrationality and, in the case of fundamentalism, a path to unhealthy
extremes and even monstrous intolerance and bloodshed.
Of course, the mere idea that one has birthed, embraced, nurtured or
perpetuated delusional beliefs is, for most of us, something we tend to
resist or deny. After all, to be delusional or harbor such thoughts is
invites the stigma of being weak or intellectually failed or possibly given to
a form of pathology (Disease). And I would readily agree that more extreme
expressions do indeed reflect a pathological form of aberration or deviance.
Especially forms that are divisive, that create or sustain barriers that
marginalize others or foster bias, racism or ethnocentrism, or otherwise
diminish our individual or collective human potential for caring for others,
extending kindness and aid to strangers, and encouraging a peaceful
coexistence that denies justice, opportunity and fairness to no person.
But what of delusional beliefs that do not give rise to or involve these
negatives? Many would argue that a delusional belief is always antithetical
to fullest personal development or best appreciation of reality, and this is
a reasonable contention. However, I tend to view “benign” delusional beliefs
as an effective coping mechanism; a way of ably dealing with the pain,
vicissitudes and ugly moments in life, as well as being a mental tool for
handling the contradictions and seemingly irreconcilable aspects of
life. In this sense, I see delusional
beliefs as not only a tendency, but a normative coping mechanism.
And in this vein, truly benign delusions can play a useful role when it
comes to the genesis or maintenance of our individual and shared (societal) weltanshaung or
worldview; the mental constructs of reality we fashion and refine all the
days of our lives. They also can have beneficial physiological effects.
People who, for example, believe that ultra-diluted homeopathic medicines
effect or foster healing despite overwhelming scientific evidence that they
do not produce statistically significant results in well designed and
executed clinical trials, nonetheless can and sometimes do perceive good
things “going on” that in and of itself is encouraging; that may spawn some
corresponding benefits such as one would expect when a person stops being
anxious and fearful, and adopts a positive frame of mind. There are studies
that link this species of faith or belief with reductions in resting blood pressure.
Delusions can also give life
purpose or special meaning in some instances or settings. Consider those who
vest tremendous money, time and energy in pursuit of beliefs, events or
practices that are contradicted by a confluence of historic and/or scientific
fact, logic and well honed scholarship. Some actually border on the
irrational, while some truly are. However, when such beliefs, pursuits or
devotions cause no harm to self or others, do not generate intolerance or
violence or other negative behaviors, do not wind up sanctioned by the state,
and basically function to endow the lives of believers with a sense of
purpose or meaning, then they have arguable utilitarian merit.
Of course some species of
delusional thinking can obviously set the stage for doing great harm to
others. One need look no further then Nazi Germany to see this. In this
tragic example from history’s darkest page, delusional beliefs and the pseudo-history
and pseudo-science they sprang from and reinforced became ideology, then law,
and finally a national religion of sorts. The Nazis elevated malignant
delusions to sacred status and then took them to their logical conclusion:
Repression, brutality, murder and finally genocide.
Given this, it logically follows
that people need to be vigilant in terms of identifying, openly exposing,
countering and even legally penalizing all forms of delusional thinking that
clearly leads to the deprivation, denial or erosion of basic human rights to
any group, creed, religion or what-have-you. Humankind can ill afford a Fourth Reich.
But what of countering benign
delusional beliefs that offer solace and comfort? This brings me full circle
to my maternal grandmother: She believed that her New Testament was inerrant
and, as such, was a reliable and sure guide to all that’s needed to assure a
place in God’s realm (following death). Yes, there were many occasions – many
kitchen table chats on religion (especially during her more vigorous 60s and
70s) -- in which I placed before her facts and reason that clearly
demonstrated the errancy of scriptures. This she
resisted solely on the basis of her faith, not reason or logic or fact. And
while this belief influenced her life and actions to a degree, she did not
seek to have this view become the law of the land or promulgated in public
schools as fact or paraded as science in the classroom. At first I
diplomatically and gingerly challenged her stance, but ceased doing so as she
grew older and frailty began to take its toll on her physical and mental
faculties. Who would be so callous as to deprive her of a delusion
(inerrancy) which was a vital component of her worldview (Especially given
its benign, tempered expression, as well as its utility in terms of dealing
with her own mortality)? Not me.
“No
man is happy without a delusion of some kind. Delusions are as necessary to
our happiness as realities.”
-Christian
Nestell Bovee
http://www.famousamericans.net/christiannestellbovee/
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/guido_deimel/judaism.html
http://www.religioustolerance.org/imm_bibl1.htm#diff
http://www.dhushara.com/book/orsin/decalog.htm
http://home.teleport.com/~packham/bible.htm
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/donald_morgan/atrocity.html
- Atrocities
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/donald_morgan/absurd.html
- Absurdities
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/donald_morgan/inconsistencies.html
- Inconsistencies
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/donald_morgan/precepts.html
- Questionable Guidelines
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/jim_meritt/bible-contradictions.html
- List of biblical contradictions
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/donald_morgan/vulgar.html
- Vulgarities
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/mark_ball/bible.html
- Errancy
NOTES
ON BIBLE PROBLEMS Compiled
by Richard Packham
http://home.teleport.com/~packham/index.htm
CONTENTS
MORALITY
IN THE BIBLE
MORAL MODELS
HUMAN
SACRIFICE
ANIMAL
SACRIFICE
WAR
GENOCIDE
AND SLAUGHTER
CRUELTY,
BARBARITY, VIOLENCE
DECEIT,
TREACHERY
LYING
INCEST
POLYGAMY,
CONCUBINAGE
PROSTITUTION
ABUSE OF
WOMEN, WOMAN'S INFERIORITY
ABANDONMENT
OF WIFE, CHILDREN, FAMILY
HYPOCRISY
HOMOSEXUALITY
EXTORTION
CANNIBALISM
SLAVERY
DRUNKENNESS
RELIGIOUS
INTOLERANCE, CLOSED MINDS
OBSCENE,
OFFENSIVE, INDECENT, EROTIC PASSAGES
ABOUT GOD
PUNISHMENTS
GENERAL
PRINCIPLES, LAWS
PARTICULAR
EXAMPLES OF GOD'S PUNISHMENTS
CONTRADICTIONS
NUMERICAL
CONTRADICTIONS
GENEALOGICAL
CONTRADICTIONS
DETAILS
OF EVENTS - OLD TESTAMENT
DETAILS
OF EVENTS - NEW TESTAMENT
CONTRADICTORY
DOCTRINE, COMMANDMENTS
CONTRADICTIONS
ABOUT GOD
OTHER
CONTRADICTIONS
OTHER
PUZZLES, ANOMALIES, QUESTIONS
PROPHECY
IN THE BIBLE
PROPHECIES
OR PROMISES NOT FULFILLED
"FULFILLMENT"
OF NON- EXISTENT PROPHECIES
"FULFILLMENT"
OF PASSAGES NOT PROPHECIES
PROPHECIES
CLAIMED AS FULFILLED
PROPHECIES
IGNORED BY CHRISTIANS
PRECEPTS
OFTEN NOT OBEYED BY BELIEVERS
OLD TESTAMENT
PRECEPTS
TEACHINGS
OF JESUS NOT OFTEN FOLLOWED
HISTORICAL
/ GEOGRAPHICAL INACCURACY, ANACHRONISMS
SCIENCE
EXAGGERATION,
"TALL TALES"
WEB
LINKS, BOOKS, PERIODICALS
© 2009 by Dr. Anthony G Payne. All rights
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