Anti-intellectualism and anti-science: Keep ’em on the reservation.

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Karl Gilberson has another post in the Huffington Post in which he, an evangelical himself, addresses the issue of anti-intellectual, anti-science stances taken by the evangelical movement. He attributes this issue to driving away the youth from evangelical churches and cites statistics to prove his point. And his position brings to my mind the work of Richard Hofstadtner on anti-intellectualism in American history (Anti-intellectualism in American Life), a tendency which Hofstadtner links with religious and political conservatism.

Some Christians feel that God wants them to turn their brains off and not think critically. Their stance reveals a perception of God who wants to be merely adored and worshipped, who will, after “the end of the world “comes will get his jollies from having all his believers fawn over him for eternity. And “eternity” in this mind set is a quantitative term, not qualitative. In other words, it will go on and on and on forever! AND, of course, meanwhile those “non-believers” will be roasting in hell for the same “eternity.” Why is it so important for Christians to have and to maintain this perspective? (There are some revisionist interpretations of hell in evangelical circles and they are not appreciated. That is putting it mildly.)

A key issue here is the very nature of identity. People who subscribe to this world view reflect a very rigid view of themselves; for, as we see God so do we see ourselves and the rest of the world. This is just another variation of my oft-used bromide, “What we see is what we are.” This static view of the world was reality at one point in the past and still is in many cultures. And that “static world” created static identities. But reality has evolved so far beyond that limited grasp of the world.

Identity…and the rest of the world we perceive…is ephemeral. When this understanding comes to an individual whose grasp of the world is otherwise, it is admittedly disturbing and potentially catastrophic. That is why conservative believers cling so desperately to their static world-view, their static identity, and amuse themselves with mindless repetition of dogma. I must insist, however, they could “let go” of their dogma and discover that their “dogma” would still be valid, though in a radically different way. The “letter of the law” would then give way to “the spirit of the law”. When identity has been transformed, worship of “god” becomes worship of “God.”

But I must offer a caveat to any True Believer (see Eric Hoffer) who might have stumbled upon my musings— “You had better keep your kids on the reservation! Yes, home-school ‘em and try to keep them out of college. And if you let them go to college, make sure it is some diploma-mill where their belief system will not be challenged.”

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Atheists often have the same enthusiasm and arrogance that hyper-conservative Christians do.  They appear to become very smug with their belief-system and view “non-believers” with disdain.  It is really kind of comical.  This is best seen in Carolyn Brigg’s description of her visit to an atheist convention in Iowa several months ago.  I provide the link here:

http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/culture/5283/waiting_for_lightning_to_strike%3A_a_wobbly_agnostic_among_the_atheists/

(You will probably have to copy-and-paste this to your address bar.  I haven’t learned yet how to import a link!)

Persons of faith can learn from reading Briggs’ report.  Her report illustrates how any belief system can become an end in itself, how that it can be used to make persons feel really good about themselves, so much so that they become smug.  I believe in feeling good about ourselves but we should not need a crutch to accomplish this.

One of the most prominent atheists of our day is Bill Maher.  And, I love Bill Maher!  But at times he is just too disdainful toward those who choose to believe.  And Christopher Hitches can be outright arrogant.  He was brutal in his treatment of Mother Teresa who honestly acknowledged the profound doubt that haunted her deep faith.

Obnoxious atheists, just like obnoxious Christians, need to get a life.  They need to follow the advice, “Get over yourself.”

Communication Perils and “Penetrable” hearts.

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“Let go of your mind and come to your senses.”  This 70’s era bromide, from Fritz Perls I think, is very astute.  Perls was encouraging us to discover our ability to forego our comfort zone—that safe cognitive haven we have created—and enter the world of sensual experience, the world of feeling.  That “cognitive haven” is the egoic consciousness that Eckhart Tolle has popularized.

And, I admit that this is easier said than done, especially for us who are so firmly ensconced in the cognitive domain.  I practice meditation but it is very hard to quiten that “monkey mind” that the Buddhists speak of—that mind that is always shrieking, chattering, and cavorting about, absolutely unable to embrace the present moment, Tolle’s “Now”.

Shakespeare recognized the need of feeling and its primacy over cognition.  In the famous scene in which his mother is compulsively wringing her hands, he admonished her to “cease wringing your hands and I will wring your heart.  And so I will if it be made of penetrable stuff, if damn custom hath not bronzed it o’er so that it be proof and bulwark against sense” (sense-experience, or feeling).  Here Shakespeare is noting how cognition, one dimension of that “damn custom”, tends to “bronze o’er” the heart and make it “impenetrable.”  When the heart is open to the feeling mode, it is full of “penetrable stuff” and communication can take place.  But when this “damn custom” or cognition predominates, there is only a robot-like exchange of data.  It makes me think of the scene in the movie Rain Man where two autistic men are engaging in a conversation.  But the “conversation” consisted of each man delivering a spiel to the other only to have the other respond with a spiel of his own, a spiel having nothing to do with the other spiel.  I’m reminded from a line from one of T. S. Eliot‘s plays, in which he describes people locked in formulaic, rote conversations as “people too strange to one another for misunderstanding.”

And note the lyrics from the beautiful Simon and Garfunkel song,  “Sounds of Silence”:

And in the naked light I saw

Ten thousand people maybe more

People talking without speaking

People hearing without listening.

And I close with the words of the Psalmist (Psalms 115:4)

They have mouths but they speak not:

Eyes have they, but they see not;

They have ears but they hear not.

 

 

Richard Rohr and the church

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Richard Rohr was recently on a PBS program on religion and ethics.  I provide here a link to his 10-minute presentation and high recommend it.   Some of my regular readers are evangelical and I really think that Rohr’s spirituality and teachings is relevant to evangelicism although he is a Franciscan monk.

In this presentation, Rohr takes to task the church for opting for a “religious comfort zone” rather than meaningful spiritual development.  He also noted the need of “shadow boxing” to address the dark side that is with us all, even Christians.  “We need to clean the lens,” he said, pointing to his glasses.  He was here referring to the fact that we “see through a glass darkly” and our “glasses” are always being “dirtied” by this dark side, this ever-present shadow.

He emphasized the need of prayer and not hollow, empty, formulaic, meaningless prayer.  Instead he recommends meditative prayer in which one clears his/her mind of the clutter, engages in primordial silence, and follows the biblical mandate, “Be still and know that I am God.”  He declares that prayer helps us to let go of our self, to let go of “repetitive compulsive thoughts.”

(You will have to copy-and-paste the following link to your address bar)

<http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/november-11-2011/richard-rohr/9902/&gt;

Narcissicism and care-giving

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The recent Penn State University sex abuse scandal has brought to the fore again the psychological profile of sex offenders.  The following link connects to a Washington Post story by a Jesuit priest who elaborates on the narcissism of sexual offenders, in this instance,  but also in the Catholic Church sex abuse saga which still rears its ugly head from time to time.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/guest-voices/post/a-priests-view-of-penn-state/2011/11/13/gIQAcevnHN_blog.html

I think that narcissism is a human trait and that all of us should consider its relevance in our own life.  It is a challenge to get to the point in our maturity where we consider from day to day, “This is not all about me” whatever “this” might happen to be at the particular moment.  There is always a context and it is human nature to interpret any phenomena in a self-flattering, egotistical manner.
Being a professional care-giver by training (and disposition), I have learned to monitor myself from time to time and issue that reminder:  This is not about me!   It is so easy to care for some of us, especially we bleeding-heart liberals, but what we don’t want to realize is that this “I feel your pain” tendency is often just simple co-dependency.  We are sometimes just feeding on the anguish of our clients or charges.
And then there is the Jerry Sandusky sexual offender profile, where this “feeding” is not just simply naivety and immaturity, it is outright predatory.  This is garden-variety, plain-and-simple, evil sociopathy.  He purported to care, behaved in a “caring” manner (to all appearances), but he was a wolf in sheeps clothing.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/guest-voices/post/a-priests-view-of-penn-state/2011/11/13/gIQAcevnHN_blog.html

The following posting is in reference to material from the blog posting of 11/3/1, “Paean to Ayaan Hirsi Ali.”

When Ali was five, her grandmother orchestrated a “female circumcision” on her, seizing the opportunity provided by Ali’s father’s imprisonment.  Her father had opposed the procedure.  First, it is interesting to note that her father opposed this procedure and was able to prevent it when in the household even though it was a cultural/religious mandate.  I’m curious how he could have done that but am pleased that he did.    Second, can you imagine the balls of that grandmother????   Wow!  In some perverted fashion, she was a version of a “women’s libber” in that she acted contrary to the specific wishes of Ali’s father, a man. (And, this compliment is intended to be wry.  I’m not approving of anything that beastly woman ever did.)   But, of course, she did this in subservience to a “higher truth” which was the unequivocal mandate of the Koran.  It must have been an interesting moral dilemma for her but “moral dilemmas” are more easily resolved if you have a command from On High that you are obeying.

BUT, can you imagine having swallowed any cultural mandate or decree of Holy Writ to the point that you would brutalize a five year old girl, your own granddaughter?   And the brutality was not only physical, but sexual!  What a warped sense of personal and sexual identity it would give any girl.  No wonder that women in cultures of that sort are so subservient.   I would hope that if “God” should ever weigh on me to commit any deed so offensive to basic common sense and contrary to any basic human decency, I would readily tell him to “Fuck off.”  But, or course we routinely read/hear/see in our media gross examples of human stupidity in blind obedience to “God” speaking to them.

I think that it would behoove each of us to just take a time-out anytime “The Spirit is upon me” or “God is speaking to me.”  If we have any thoughts of this sort, we should be given pause for in these communications often lies the portal to gross stupidity and even brutality.  But in that moment, the “old brain”, that reptilian brain…..dare I say “Sataaaan”….is clamouring in our brain and we have a tendency to “know” that we are receiving the truth.  But, even if so, what harm would it do to pause and perhaps get feedback.

And I do think that each of us can say on occasion that “God is speaking to me” or “The Spirit of God is upon me”—I don’t doubt this in the least.  BUT, does it do any harm to give pause and consider the message?  I wish God would impose an early-warning system in our neurological depths and that anytime He was about to speak to us, we would hear…and perhaps see….a “WARNING” message like we see on our car’s dashboard when the engine is overheating.The issue here is meta-cognition.  So often it is lacking.  So often it is turned off when cultural mandates, i.e. the Word of God, is involved.  And I think God is then insulted, that we feel we have to turn off our brain when he is “speaking” to us or even when he is speaking to us.  God is not stupid.  But we often are.

I close with Goethe who in Faust noted, “They call is Reason, using light celestial, just to outdo the beasts in being bestial.”

narcissism temptation with all care givers.

all of us are healers when we can forget about ourselvesd.

Praise for Republicans

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I actually feel some sympathy for Rick Perry re his memory lapse in last night’s debate.  He really screwed up and embarrassed himself and probably knows that this was the death-knell of his campaign.  But I cringe when someone humiliates himself anywhere, especially in a national forum.  I commend him for acknowledging this even then, with his “oops” comment, and even later when he admitted, “I stepped in it.”  (I like that course image as we all know what “it” was that he stepped in.)  And I’m impressed that he didn’t trot out the usual political refrain, “Well, I certainly was amiss on that occasion,”  and which point they trot out their talking points, prefaced with, “But, here is my central message…..”  He didn’t do that.   Well, at least he has not of yet.  I personally hope that he drops out, returns to Texas, looks seriously into his campaign and the issues that it brought to the surface, that he will delve more deeply into his faith and explore that faith more fully, and then will resurface to engage meaningfully…and hopefully with more humility…in the rest of his life.

And, yes, even a word of praise for Michelle Bachman, though I grimace at the prospect of praising this very simple, not-ready-for-primetime woman.  But I like her idea of imposing a tax liability on that 50% of the population who pay no income taxes each year, perhaps even $10.00.  And, yes, this responsibility could cost them a “happy meal” or two, or even better yet a couple of packs of cigarettes.  But, it would help impose reality on them and I fear that with the “welfare state” we do create a false reality for many.  Now, of course, there would have to be exceptions.  There are those who could not afford even $10.00 and do not have even the luxury of a “happy meal” or cigarettes.

God, I hope I don’t rot in hell for offering even the faintest praise for this appalling political character!  But I must always remember, “Even a blind pig finds a walnut eve now and then.”

 

 

Conservative faith and fear of difference

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Yesterday I noted my reluctance to read Ram Dass even though I stumble upon his teachings often and always find them very insightful.  I attributed this reluctance to my conservative youth when he and his ilk were roundly demonized by my conservative faith.  I often find little intrusions into my life by this conservative past, little themes that are resurrected by day-to-day events in my life and the life of my culture.  For example, I was raised in a racist Southern culture but have gone far beyond racism ever since I made my escape from that culture in the early 70’s.  But from time to time that demon just faintly resurrects itself in my heart with some passing thought.  And, I don’t then berate myself or “confess my sin” to God; I merely exercise “mindfulness” for a moment and then go on with my life, recognizing that all of us have these haunts in our past

It is interesting that Ram Dass and “his ilk” were so hated by conservative Christian culture back then and that it continues today.  I know it had to do with the “foreignness” of it all—trekking to India, studying in an “ashram”, receiving teachings from guys with names like Meha Baba and Maharaja Ji.  And there was all this talk of “foreign gods” and holy literature when I knew there was only one “holy literature” available—the Bible.  They talked a different language than I did and it made me uncomfortable.  And, of course, there was this issue at the root of it all—they did not believe in Jesus and would one day rot in hell for their unbelief.

Perhaps the core issue there was simply “difference.”  I was raised to fear and loathe difference.  I was taught that everyone should be just like me and if they didn’t, it was merely an issue of them getting right with God and joining the Christian fold.  But, this exploration has been deeply enriching to my faith….my “Christian” faith…to learn of different ways to approach spirituality. Not that I have to adopt any of them!  When I explore these other religions I am made more aware of reality and I can bring this increased awareness to my faith.  But in conservative religion, there is no need for ‘awareness”.  There is merely the need to accept the dogma being presented to you, swallow it uncritically, and then regurgitate it the rest of your life.  (This “regurgitation” brings to my mind a cow chewing her cud—-the cow just stands there nonchalantly chewing her cud, apparently just as happy as a bug-in-a-rug.)

Ram Dass

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I keep running across Ram Dass in my readings.  And I still have not read him and his name still rings slightly dissonant in my heart.  But I recognize that this dissonance speaks volumes about me and my conservatism in the 1970’s (when he first surfaced on the cultural scene) and nothing about him.  Though I have not read any of his books, I have discovered numerous quotes all of which speak to his insight and courage.  For example:

In most of our human relationships, we spend much of our time reassuring one another that our costumes of identity are on straight.

 Everything changes once we identify with being the witness to the story, instead of the actor in it.

 Religion is the product of the conceptual mind attempting to describe the mystery.

 Ego is an exquisite instrument. Enjoy it, use it–just don’t get lost in it.

 I recognize why I was so averse to him in my youth and why conservative spirituality still is averse to him and all Eastern religions—he recognized a spiritual reality that is not reduced to the conceptual and which, consequently, cannot be owned and controlled.  That posed a threat for me as it brought into question everything I assumed about spirituality…and I have discoursed here several times re the “tyranny of assumptions.”

One task I have before me is to start reading Ram Dass, probably starting with his book, Be Here Now

Book review re Frank Schaeffer’s “Crazy for God”

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Frank Schaeffer is the son of Francis Schaeffer who was a leading spokesman and intellectual for the Christian Right in the ‘70’s and ‘80’s.  Frank himself was groomed in his childhood as their heir apparent for his father and did indeed step into that role as a young man.  But, safely ensconced in that prominent position, he became disaffected and disillusioned by the bigotry and closed-mindedness that he witnessed and eventually left the fold.  But, if that wasn’t enough, he began to speak and write about what he witnessed during his youth, not just with the Christian Right, but with his family itself.  His book, Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All of It Back” is the story of his “conversion” from hyper-fundamentalist Christianity and political conservatism to a pronounced liberal stance in both regards.  If you are an ex-fundamentalist, or if you are a fundamentalist who would deign to look critically at yourself, you really need to read this book.

Politically and familial-ly his book is a story of a standard dysfunctional family, a family trapped inside its own limited world-view and incapable of dealing honestly and openly with the world.  Families of this sort are in service to the myth that they are caught up in and dutifully dedicate themselves to perpetuating that myth even at the expense of its members own soul. Yes, it is sheer lunacy at times.

However, let me note that the “lunacy” presented here cannot compare with the lunacy I noted last week when I discoursed re Muslim culture from the perspective of Ayaan Hirsi Ali.  Any closed-mindedness veers toward lunacy and will end up there unless reality sets in.  But, I much prefer our culture’s conservative lunacy over that of the Muslim world.  There are more limits set here, largely by the power of a liberal and critical press.

Emptiness and religion

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I’m sure you have noted that my posts have a heavy emphasis on Eastern religious, Zen-themes, emptiness and “such.”  This is the result of, first of all, the alienation that has been my blessing/curse all of my life.  Second, it reflects the extensive reading I have done in world religions and philosophy.  These two considerations have left we with strong convictions (i.e. a “bias”) toward the notion that this world is ephemeral and that reality lies beneath the surface of day to day life….or “out there” or “beyond the grasp of cognition” or however you wish to put it.  And to “find it”, you have to “lose” your own grasp of reality or, in the words of Jesus, you have to lose your life to find it.

Western Christian culture often fails to consider that Christianity itself is an Eastern religion that has been dragged kicking and screaming to the West.  And we have done a thorough job on westernizing this spiritual tradition, i.e. reducing it to dogma and mindless ritual.

I’d like to share with you two different translations of one of Lao Tzu‘s verses relevant to the subject of emptiness:

We join spokes together in a wheel,
but it is the center hole
that makes the wagon move.

We shape clay into a pot,
but it is the emptiness inside
that holds whatever we want.

We hammer wood for a house,
but it is the inner space
that makes it livable.

We work with being,
but non-being is what we use

 

Thirty spokes are united around the hub of a wheel,
but the usefulness of the wheel
depends on the space where nothing exists.
Clay is molded into a vessel,
but the usefulness of the vessel
depends on the space where nothing exists.
Doors and windows are cut out of the walls of a house,
and the usefulness of the house
depends on the space where nothing exists.

Therefore take advantage of what exists,
and use what does not exist.