"Every Psychology has the Character of a Subjective Confessions!" In 1933, the famous psychologist-psychoanalyst, Carl Jung, made an incredibly astute and accurate observation that at that at his time the scientific understanding of religion was limited to “the testimony of a few individuals.” He goes on to say, "Our way of looking at things is conditioned by what we are" (my underlining) and these individuals tend to “see things differently and express themselves differently.” And in the end, as Carl Jung emphasizes, “every psychology – my own included - has the character of a subjective confession.” (Jung, 1933, pp. 116-118). (p. 420) That is, much of what psychologists write is, in effect, often no more than "informed" (theoretically) opinions. That would seem especially true in analyses of spirituality and religion, probably due to very strong emotional and idealistic beliefs. It would seem that spirituality and religious beliefs appear to be psychology's Achilles heel, as it were.
The perfect example of a theory, which is completely and entirely “subjective” and “opinion,” would be Freud’s theory that the Oedipal Complex, which would be the “instinctual drive” of a son to overthrow or kill the father (and have an incestual relationship with his mother) was the underlying drive that created religious beliefs. For instance, Freud argued that the Oedipal Complex, the instinctual drive of a son to overthrow-kill his father (and have an incestual relationship with his mother, is the drive at the core of formation of religious beliefs and religion (p.159 Anthro Studies). Freud stated that "the beginnings of religion, ethics, society, and art meet in the Oedipus complex (p.159 Anthro studies). Brian Morris, in Anthropological Studies of Religion, also emphasizes that the "positivist tradition" unequivocally argued that Freudian analysis was dependent completely on interpretation and anecdotal information, which drastically departed from "the model of the physical sciences." (p.154) That is, in a nutshell, Freud’s Oedipal Complex is a complete fabrication. There is not one shred of hard evidence and not one study to support Freud’s wild conjecture. It is totally and completely Freud’s opinion – nothing more.
The prominent psychologist John Bargh (PhD), in his book, "Before You Know It," Bargh describes, a bit ironically in view of the discussion about Freudian unconscious drives, how, in truth, much of Freud's concepts and ideas are pretty twisted. Bargh observes that "while his [Freud's] emphasis on unconscious drives was without a question a ground shaking insight, in effect Freud demonized the unconscious operations of the normal mind, claiming that each of us harbored a separate unconscious netherworld of dark, twisted urges that we could exorcise only through psychotherapy.....,.In his extensive and detailed theorizing, Freud presented the unconscious mind as a seething cauldron of maladaptive complexes bent on causing trouble and grief, which could only be overcome through the intervention of our conscious mind." (p.11-12) And there is not one piece of evidence and not one single fact to support his Oedipal Complex, yet still many people accept Freud’s obviously twisted ideas which mean little or nothing relevant and still claim Freud is some kind of genius. It took one hundred years for a psychologist to stand up and say, "You know the Oedipal Complex may not be all that good an idea after all.
I should note that, while some argue that Freud's Oedipal Complex is actually about a boy's sexual attraction to his mother, I seriously doubt if many ‘ordinary’ people would be able to actually make that fine of a distinction - especially emotionally. Stories are narratives and there is now an entire school of thought of narrative psychology which has shown how effective stories can be. So, one has to look at the core meaning of the Oedipal story and myth. On the face of it, and how many would likely emotionally read it, in a Freudian context, the Oedipal complex is, a story about a son murdering his father and fornicating with his mother . It is well-known that Freud intensely disliked religions and the Oedipal Complex is a thinly veiled attack that did actually effectively sabotage and undermine religious beliefs. In this day and age to include Freud’s Oedipal Complex at all shows a complete lack of concern for the underlying message and, in my mind, shows complicity of the authors with Freud’s pretty blatant, actually, sabotage of spirituality and religious beliefs.
Freud versus Durkheim and Frankl
The ‘Psychology of Religion’ textbooks-books, which I have reviewed, all refer to Freud, to one degree or another, and his Oedipal Complex. Furthermore all the ‘Psychology of Religion’ books that refer to Freud, rather incredibly, completely leave out Emile Durkheim, a founding father of sociology. It seems a bit strange – and unprofessional, in my mind – if not downright bizarre - that ‘Psychology of Religion’ textbooks and books, such as Wulff’s Psychology of Religion, Paloutzian and Park’s Handbook of the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, Fontana’s Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality, Fraser Watts Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality: Concepts and Applications, all talk about Freud and his explanation of religion and completely leave out Emile Durkheim. I say, only partly tongue in cheek, that, perhaps, a reason might be that to psychologists of religion, Durkheim was a lowly sociologist?
Collective Consciousness, the Function of Religion and Emile Durkheim
Emile Durkheim was a founding father of sociology. In The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, first published in 1912, Emile Durkheim stated that "A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, i.e., things set apart and forbidden—beliefs and practices which unite in one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them. (The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life) It should be noted that Durkheim' concept of the "sacred", which he viewed as the defining concept of religion, is very similar to how many view spirituality - as the ideas that appear to have no ordinary worldly explanation and which inspire awe and produce feelings of reverence.
Durkheim's theory stated that religion was the most fundamental social institution of humankind, and further, that religion gave birth to social-religious beliefs that later became integrated into the social structure. Durkheim felt that social interaction was the pivotal factor of forming society and that religious beliefs are a major influence on social interactions - and thus essential to the formation of 'society.'
The fact that religions have consistently advocated ideals such as compassion, justice, righteousness, as well as truth, would seem to lend strong support to Durkheim's arguments. That is, the synergies between social factors and religious influences, which emerged simultaneously in primitive societies, produced a collective consciousness - a social-religious community as it were. Emile Durkheim's concept of the collective consciousness predated Jung's concept of a collective unconscious by a decade or so. Durkheim forcefully argued that it was an essential characteristic of society, without which society could not properly function. Durkheim argued that the norms, beliefs, and values of the group - and of society - effectively formed a collective consciousness - a system mutually agreed to values which would seem to have a minimal autonomous functioning - which then produced the "social integration" that is a prerequisite of any social integrity.
It might be worth looking at other psychologists' views of collective consciousness, very briefly. Carl Jung, the famous psychoanalyst, of course, based a good deal of his theory of human consciousness on the concept of a Collective Unconscious and the role of archetypes. Archetypes were the pivotal concept of Carl Jung’s Theory of the Collective Unconscious. “These themes, symbols, and motifs are all a psychic mechanism of a collective repository of our shared evolution as a species and have grown around shared and repeated exposure to dilemmas and challenges to human experience. This repeating pattern of experience is expressed in the psyche as an archetype……In other words, we are endowed at birth with an innate sense of what experiences are likely to occur during a lifetime on earth as a human and are ‘preprogrammed’ through the psyche to respond in a typical human fashion.” (J. L. Henderson)
In a sense, the Jung's idea of archetype predated and presaged the concept of 'genetic memory'. Now, based on studies of twins and adopted children, it is generally known that personality, to a large degree is inherited. Also, "religiosity" is also believed to be genetic to a degree. In light of the fact that human beings have believed in spirit, spirits, and spirituality for tens of thousands of years, it would seem highly likely that the human mind would have several unconscious processes connected with the abstraction of spirit or spiritual. Social psychology, I might add, has definitely demonstrated the existence of largely unconscious-emotional "stereotypes" in the human mind. While that may not be the kind of proof Jungians would likely celebrate about, it does scientifically demonstrate, as Jung argued, the existence of "predispositions" (a definition of archetypes) in the unconscious.
William McDougall (1871– 1938), a psychologist, who was something of a maverick, was influential in the development of the theory of instinct and of social psychology. McDougall, who predated Carl Jung, advocated the concept of a ‘Group or Collective Mind.' McDougall stated: “We must recognize……the existence in a certain sense of over-individual or collective minds. We may fairly define mind as an organized system of mental or purposive forces, and in the sense so defined, every organized human society may properly be said to possess a collective mind….which yet is not compared within the mind of any Individual. (1921, p.9 – p. 899 sph) Furthermore, a contemporary mainstream social psychologist, Roy Baumeister, argued that there must exist a "sharedness," or common understanding, for society be able to function at all. Durkheim's emphasis was that the collective mind emerged as a product of religion and religious beliefs, such as the emotional effervescence of Australian Aborigine corroborees, and religious beliefs then gave birth to morality, social ideals and social structure - and ideologies.
There is an illuminating point about the materialist viewpoint relative to human connectivity and collective-consciousness. In Transcendent Mind, by Baruss and Mossbridge, the point is emphasized that Baruss and Moore's research into different types of consciousness (materialist,Conservative transcendents,Extraordinary transcendents)revealed that peoples' views about consciousness are directly related to their beliefs about reality: “That is, Materialists with their emphasis on consciousness as a product of brain neural activity will focus on the behavioral and objective aspects of consciousness." (p.27 tm) I have encountered several individuals, who appear to have the materialist view that consciousness is limited to the firing of neurons in their individual brains.
However, I point out that the materialist view of human consciousness is an extremely narrow and restricted view of human consciousness, and if you look at human consciousness, in light of social connectivity and collective consciousness it is pretty clear that a person's connections to others - mainly via the vehicle of human consciousness - are so intimately and inextricably connected to others that it would seem ordinarily an objectively tenable idea to separate a human being and human consciousness from others and social interactions. A human being is nothing without others.Furthermore, existential, positive and social psychologists all tend toward emphasizing that all meaning is social in nature, and, in the end, that all meaning - in one fashion or another - is obtained and gained through others. So an individual's meaning is not separable in any real and true sense from social meaning.
As Karen Armstrong, the religious scholar and historian, notes in The Case for God, the first evidence for human “ideologies” can be found in the prehistoric cave paintings of “shamans” in the French and Spanish caves dating as far back as twenty or thirty thousand years. Shamans created ceremonies marking the rites of passage of people – the births, deaths, marriages, sickness, as well as rites of passage from adolescence to adulthood. In ‘primitive’ societies, it would seem readily apparent that the religious and social structure were highly integrated. For instance, in the tribes of the Australian Aborigines, anthropologists observed that natives explained their actions most frequently by citing “tradition.” Traditions most frequently emerge from religious rituals, of course.
For better or worse, the “supernatural” beliefs were the first philosophies and scientific theories of humanity. One should remember that at that time ‘everything’ – the entire world – was completely unknown and therefore “supernatural.” The ancient Mesopotamian religious priests were, in fact, the first astronomers. With the Old Testament came the prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zechariah, Micah, Hosea, and so on who advocated concepts and ideals such as compassion, justice, truth, righteousness, and so on. Without question the Old Testament prophets made a significant contribution to the social structure of society. So, contrary to Freud’s theory which has no supporting facts or evidence, there would appear to be readily at hand a fair amount of evidence for Durkheim’s theory that religions gave birth to society.
As I mentioned earlier, many social Ideals are derived from sacred religious scriptures and there are numerous examples in Old Testament Prophecy. A number of Old Testament Prophets, such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Micah, and Zechariah, all who advocated ideals, such as justice, would seem to present, at minimum, some strong anecdotal facts and information that could be viewed as supporting the Durkheim’s argument that religious beliefs are heavily engaged in social processes defining right and wrong as creating social ideals. Furthermore, as William Gould notes, the famous philosopher Kant firmly believed that conscience is "the representative within us of the divine judgment-seat: it weighs our dispositions and actions in the scales of a law which is holy and pure..." (Kant Ethics, p.133) (WG p.55) William Gould observed that "Frankl insists that the noetic [spiritual] dimension gives the self the power to choose what one will be and what one will be and what one will become. A noetically empowered conscience is the key." (WG p.41) Frankl put a slightly different spin on "conscience" than Kant, and emphasized that "Only conscience is capable of adjusting the 'eternal' generally agreed upon moral law to the specific situation a concrete person is engaged with." (p.41 WG) However the bottom line is that the spiritual process and the 'eternal divine drive' is responsible for creating the ideals and morals of society.
Ideology and the Formation of Groups-Societies
The famous anthropologist Clifford Geertz studied the problems of emerging countries after World War II. He observed that emerging nations are frequently subject to the ‘primordial’ force of religious, ethnic, and nationalist and political ideologies. I really haven’t seen references to religions as “groups,” but that is, in fact what religions are – groups. Of course, from the extensive human history of ideology, it would be self-evident that what ideologies do is that ideologies establish - and maintain – groups. In light of that fact, it would stand to reason that, as Durkheim correctly argued, a major role of religions, especially early on was to establish groups, collectives, and, yes – societies.
Summary
It would seem clear that there is an abundance of facts and evidence that support Durkheim’s argument that religions gave birth to social structure – and society, in fact. The concept of compassion, justice, truth, as well as righteousness are prevalent in all the major religions. Needless to say, this ties into the argument of Viktor Frankl, Carl Jung, William James, Clifford Geertz, and Emile Durkheim that “spiritual processes (largely unconscious) generate and create meaning as well as a ‘sense of reality.” Furthermore, it would appear somewhat self-evident, that ideologies – in this particular case. religious ideologies – form groups (and societies). So, while there is an abundance of fats and information to back up Durkheim, no evidence has been presented that supports Freud’s Oedipal Complex.
As I pointed out earlier, The ‘Psychology of Religion’ textbooks-books which I reviewed all refer to Freud and his Oedipal Complex. Furthermore all the ‘Psychology of Religion’ books that refer to Freud, rather incredibly, completely leave out Emile Durkheim, a founding father of sociology. It seems a bit strange – and unprofessional, in my mind – if not downright bizarre - that ‘Psychology of Religion’ textbooks and books, such as Wulff’s Psychology of Religion, Paloutzian and Park’s Handbook of the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, Fontana’s Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality, Fraser Watts Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality: Concepts and Applications, all talk about Freud and his Oedipal Complex as an explanation of religion and completely leave out Emile Durkheim.
Preface to Critique of The Psychology of Religion: the Medium is the Message
First, I should say that, if you talk to three different psychology professors about spirituality and religious beliefs you will likely get three different answers. That being said, it is crystal clear that the 'institution' of 'mainstream' psychology - that "mainstream psychology" - has a definite materialist bias. Y ou know that "Mainstream Psychology which has a distinct Materialist Bias" is a very real and and very pressing issue, when you read a 700 plus page comprehensive 'History of Psychology' by Morton Hall, and find there is not have one single reference to meaning, spirit, spirituality, or even religion. M aterialist psychology has, as Carl Jung noted, a distinct bias for physiological, physical, and, generally, quantifiable phenomena. However, materialist psychology, in particular specifically excludes "spirituality"and "meaning" - completely and totally. Furthermore, "transcendental spiritual experiences" are frequently vilified and degraded in strict materialist psychology. It should be noted that in restricting psychology to only quantifiable phenomena, that excludes many critical aspects of human consciousness and human social interactions. Carl Jung specifically cited "creativity" as an example of a characteristic of human consciousness which is beyond the ordinary scope of the science of psychology. Materialist psychology also excludes concepts such as freedom, justice, human rights, justice, and so forth. perhaps it was for this reason that William James, the Father of American Psychology, argued that psychology is not a proper "science" at all.
In thinking over Morton Hall's comprehensive 'History of Psychology' - which does not have even one single reference to either spirit, spirituality, meaning, or even religion - the thought crossed my mind that perhaps this "materialist bias" could possibly been just one individual's prejudices. So, I checked into my comprehensive "reference handbooks" which I had for Self and Identity Psychology, as well as, Social Psychology. To my dismay, I discovered there was not a single reference to either spirit, spirituality, or religion, in either one of those handbooks which were both over 700 pages each. The editors of the Self and Identity Handbook advertise the handbook as a comprehensive review of all theories and studies into self and identity psychology. It is important to realize that existential and positive psychology, as well as Viktor Frankl, were completely eliminated and omitted from Morton Hall's comprehensive 'History of 'Psychology" altogether, and from looking over courses at four of Maryland's Universities as well as from talking to a psychology major in her last semester, it seemed clear that existential and positive psychology courses were largely absent or nonexistent at Maryland Universities. What is important in existential and positive psychology is that they are the only school of thought in psychology that has done substantial studies and research into meaning and spirituality.
On top of that, anyone who does a critical analysis of how the 'Psychology of Religion' has dealt with spirituality and religion and spirituality will find it seriously lacking. For instance, leaving out the "function" of spirituality and religion, in mind, seriously distorts what spirituality and religion are all about. To start with all the 'Psychology of Religion' books talk about Freud and completely leave out Durkheim - who, as I have shown was pretty much right on target, while Freud was pretty much lost in the woods. As they say, the "medium is the message" - and what 'Psychology of Religion' books include - or don't include - is critical.
Below, I offer a quick outline which shows the Psychology of Religion books that I reviewed leave out any, of what I would consider, reasonable or adequate analyses of the "teachings" of religion. The medium is the message and leaving out what would appear to be a major characteristic of religion would convey the message that there is no "relevance" to religion, which the extensive Barna study of the younger generation's views of religion and spirituality. Further, there has been no proper study of people who have spiritual experiences, nor were spiritual experiences ever categorized. From my research, there are three strong advocates of spirit and spirituality in psychology: Viktor Frankl, Carl Jung, and William James. For some reason which I can't fathom, Viktor Frankl was excluded. To add insult to injury, Freud and Maslow, both of who are complete and utter fabrications - pretty much hoaxes, in fact, are included. Also prayer studies appear guilty of some rather blatant methodological flaws.
Brief Summary of Shortcomings evident in the 'Psychology of Religion'
1, Gathering the Facts and Categorization
Scientific method as established by Aristotle could be summarized as: 1. Gather the facts 2. Categorize and classify the facts 3. Analyze the data. 4. Draw Conclusions.
Gathering the Facts: the Psychology of Religion has not done a proper study of people who have spiritual experiences - which would be the first step of 'gathering the facts. As the religious scholar Fraser Watts states, several "surveys" have been done of people who have spiritual experiences. The psychologists Paloutzian and Park also cite "numerous" surveys, which have been done, and point out that spiritual and transcendental spiritual experiences appear to occur relatively frequently and that spiritual experiences, now, would appear to have some "normalcy." Paloutzian and Park do indicate that the "surveys" do appear to have some definite limitations. That is, the surveys which have been done of people who have spiritual experiences are incomplete. Furthermore, t he positive psychologists, Kenneth J Pargament and Annette Mahoney, emphasize that, “Researchers [psychologists] have tended to study spirituality “from a distance,” relying on surveys that contain global distal measures, such as whether the individual believes in God, how often he or she goes to religious services, how often he or she prays, and his or her self-rated religiousness and spirituality……” (p. 616) In any objective sense, it wouldn't seem even remotely possible to do an in depth and complete analysis of religion and spirituality based solely on surveys - it simply isn't scientifically possible, as it were. Surveys are Not studies.
For perspective I should mention that a huge study was done by NIH on heart disease that took place over the space of several decades and involved very large numbers of people.
In light of the fact that suicide rates have increased roughly 25% since 1999, I would think "spirituality" - a historical source of meaning for humanity and human beings - would be equally as important at the moment. A proper study - or anywhere near complete study - of people who have spiritual experiences has not been done. A proper study, in my mind, would be a large scale study to establish how many people have spiritual-psychic experiences, what kind, how many, how they affected their worldview, how the experiences affect their relationships with their families and friends, how the experiences affect their personality, and so on. I should emphasize that in talking to psychologists as well as ordinary people, the people that I have spoken to seem to have any idea whatsoever, that, according to surveys, a fair number of people do appear to have spiritual or transcendental spiritual experiences.
Categorization of Spiritual Experiences
In reviewing the Psychology of Religion books that I have, I did not come across a satisfactory effort to categorize experiences. Besides failing to properly gather the facts, it would appear, also, that no substantial effort was made to 'categorize" spiritual experiences.
For instance, o ne type of spirituality which appears to be relatively common, would be the spiritual experience of the beauty and harmony of nature. Natalie, a very spiritual person observed that one can see Spirit and spirituality in "the perfection of a flower, the intelligence of a tree, the majesty of a waterfall and in the eyes of a baby." My wife, Kathi, a lifelong and loyal Lutheran, who, by the way, has had a few personal transcendental spiritual-psychic experiences of her own, firmly believes that, in a sense, one of the best "proofs" that God "exists" lies in the beauty, wonder, and miracle of nature, life, and the universe. She said, all you have to do is look around you, and any person who truly "sees" will "see" God. In a remarkably parallel statement, Einsteins said, "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science."
The awareness - and the sense of beauty and wonder in life, nature, and the universe - is a common emotional-spiritual experience felt by many. Rachel Carson in her book Silent spring, writes: “Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature -- the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.” The famous theologian, Abraham Joshua Heschel argues that, "Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement....get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed." Scientists and astronomers frequently express eloquent and almost ecstatic praise for the universe and for 'creation,' as it were, and speak in awe and wonder of the incredible miracle and mystery of life and the universe. It is a bit ironic that Carl Sagan speaks in awe and wonder at the immensity of the universe, in almost precisely the same way the Christian theologian Schleiermacher spoke about the "sense of infinity," which Schliermacher believed was an essential characteristic of 'true' belief in God. In reading what Sagan says about the universe, I can't help but comment that, in a way, Sagan describes the "sense of infinity" better than Schleiermacher did. Perhaps, similar to Einstein's recognition that his sense of awe and wonder were, in the end, a form of spiritual beliefs, Carl Sagan stated several times, unequivocally, that there is no conflict between science and spirituality.
I haven't seen that "type" of spirituality properly identified referred to in my research and reading. Fraser Watts notes that the existential psychologist Kenneth Pargament "suggests that whatever is sacred elicits certain spiritual emotions from the client especially a sense of awe and wonder." (p. 102) William Blake, perhaps best expressed the difference in a spiritual and materialist awareness: “The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity... and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.” Being that the materialist view generally excludes what can't be quantified, that would seem automatically to exclude "imagination" which Einstein valued far above knowledge since knowledge is limited to "what is" while imagination considers all that which could even possibly be. Lastly, I would point out that there are probably a very large number of different types of spirituality, in truth.My writing focuses on spirituality and I talked about a few ideas with a couple of intelligent college graduates about the spirituality of the activist leaders like Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Tolstoy, Nelson Mandela, and others. Even though these people had what I would call a 'rationalist" leaning in their thinking, I felt I would be safe on the issue of the spirituality of pivotal civic leaders like Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. I was wrong. I got two very emotional - and in my mind - irrational responses. One responded, I do not believe in spirits, spirit, religion, religious beliefs, God or anything to do with spirituality. Personally, my sense of it is that when you can't have an intelligent conversation with college educated people about the spirituality of people like Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr., then this society has a problem. In any case, it would seem clear, in my view, that as a result of the failure to categorize spiritual experiences, All spirituality was lumped together, and then labeled as "superstitious nonsense" - in spite of the fact that the "superstitious stigma" was first brought up by 'science' in the context of the existence of a 'supernatural Being.'
2, How could it be possible for the "Psychology of Religion" to reach a good understanding of religion if it hasn't done a decent analysis of the "Teachings" of the major religions? Any objective analysis of religion would clearly indicate that the "teachings" of religion would be a major aspect and core characteristic of religious beliefs and religion - and perhaps, in a sense, a reflection of the function and purpose of religion.
The "Teachings" of the major religions throughout the world are relatively consistent in many of the pivotal concepts of their theologies: compassion, truth, justice, righteousness, and so on. To me it indicates somewhat of a lack of perspective by psychology, as it were. Not only were there no references to "Truth," which is a pivotal concept in Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, but, also, in most 'Psychology of Religion' books there were as many - or more - references to Freud than to "compassion." Compassion is a very prominent "teaching" in Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. The medium is the message - and bringing in Freud's Oedipal Complex, which, on the face of it, portrays religion and religious beliefs as a product of the instinctual urges of a son to murder his father and fornicate with his mother, while failing to bring in a decent study/analysis of the "teachings" of major religions, would be a powerful message in and of itself.
The medium is the message. The absence of a decent study/analysis of the "teachings" is a clear indication of, in my view, lack of perspective of some mainstream psychologists, perhaps, also, a reflection of the rather prevalent materialist bias and academic taboo against spirituality. What the 'Psychology of Religion' communicates is that religion, religious beliefs, and spirituality are not "relevant." In my view, the first chapter, theoretically, should at a minimum cover not only the "teachings" of the major religions, but also the affect of "teachings' on people. The "teachings" of religions should play a very prominent place in any 'Psychology of Religion' book, in my mind.
The extensive 2018 Barna study of the younger generations' attitude is that religion and religious beliefs are not relevant. As you may have gathered by now would be that, I, personally, believe that spirituality is, in truth, very relevant, at times to large numbers of people. of course, I should mention my understanding of spirit and spirituality is a bit off the beaten track, as it were - mostly due to my personal spiritual experiences.
2, Since Freud plays a such a visible role in 'Psychology of Religion' books, and Emile Durkheim is completely absent, it would seem readily apparent that the 'Psychology of Religion' completely failed to properly and definitively establish what the "function" of religion is. Leaving out the function of religion from the 'Psychology of Religion' would seem, on the face of it, like selling a car without an engine and just showing people an external shell and skin-deep analyses.
3. The 'Psychology of Religion' books also appear to have insufficiently separated the chaff from the wheat. For instance, Psychology of Religion books frequently include Feud's Oedipal Complex. Freud's Oedipal Complex is a complete and utter fabrication as the "positivist tradition" points out, with no
factual foundation whatsoever. Freud's Oedipal complex makes a mockery of science. The Psychology of
Religion books generally, also, include Maslow. Maslow is best know for his "Hierarchy of Needs" theory (if that is what you can call it). Again, Maslow's theory, like Freud's theory is also a complete
fabrication - to which many objections have been raised by many psychologists and is pretty much
garbage. Maslow's idea of esteem or self-esteem being a stage in religious development
has no basis in any religious literature I have seen. In fact, from a brief overview of religious literature, it would appear that "self-actualization," "self-fulfillment," and "self-esteem" have no basis in any sacred scriptures I, personally, have seen. I suspect some of the psychologists viewed themselves as the new gurus of truth and wisdom and were essentially, for all practicable purposes, presenting what would appear to be their own personal "pseudo-religion."
Again, the medium is the message, and presenting Freud and Maslow which simply are not "scientific" or "science" in any way - while leaving out Viktor Frankl - which none of the 'Psychology of Religion' books include, communicates a message that the "Truth" is not relevant or important in religious beliefs and spirituality. Personally I find including Freud, who is really pretty sick, and Maslow, who is junk, and leaving out Frankl and Durkheim incredibly offensive. Furthermore, there are some people, as an Intorduction to Psychology textbook noted who accept Maslow (and Freud still to some extent) as "gospel." As the maverick scientist Rupert Sheldrake observes, “[S]ome people have made science into a kind of religion and are often exceptionally dogmatic. They accept the scientific worldview on faith, impressed by the authority and prestige of scientists,….” (p.161)
In consideration of the fact that psychology is, in theory a "science" and as such the "truth," it seems clear that the 'Psychology of religion' has strayed pretty far off the mark in any objective sense, as it were. The academic "superstitious stigma" attached to spirituality and religion coupled with the materialist bias would appear to be excessively prevalent and powerful force in the "science" of psychology, as it were. The prominent sociologist Robert Bellah (1970b), observes that “There is no other sphere of human culture which is excluded from sympathetic academic consideration on its own terms on the grounds that such a study endangers science, reason, logic, and the whole heritage of the Enlightenment” (p.133).” (p.36)
Here is a link to a refutation of Maslow if you are interested: https://www.spirittruthandmeaning.com/refutation-of-maslow
5. If one accepts Freud's argument, arrived at apparently in one of Freud's saner moments, that the only proper approach to analyzing religion would be a 'functional" approach since the "supernatural" is beyond scientific measurement and quantification, then the studies of prayer which largely focus on the "efficacy" of prayer (whether prayer actually works or not) are obviously attempts to measure "divine intervention" - which, of course, would be outside a functional approach. A Towson University textbook on "Aging" states that studies of prayer have failed. Actually, the results are mixed and there are some which have produced positive results. The point is that since the studies were not scientific, they should not have been included at all.
6. The 'Psychology of Religion' books appear to have glossed over the argument that "spiritual processes create meaning" - an idea and concept that Viktor Frankl, Carl Jung, William James, Emile Durkheim, and Clifford Geertz all advocate, in one form or another.
Some Reflections:
"All things are subject to interpretation. Whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not the truth!" - Friedrich Nietzsche.
From my personal experience with mainstream psychologists and (worse) psychiatrists (I am bipolar) , which revolves around transcendental spiritual experiences, and from reading much of academic psychology's writing about spirituality and religious experiences, it appears pretty clear to me, that, unfortunately Carl Jung was absolutely correct when it comes to spirituality and religious beliefs, which is to say that psychologists' theories and psychologies' are, in essence and at the core, "subjective confessions" - primarily expressions of opinions shaped by personal experiences. A Jungian once told me that people who have not had any spiritual experiences sometimes have difficulties understanding spiritual experiences, especially transcendental experiences. I believe she was pretty much on target as it were. As I said, from my research William James, Carl Jung, and Viktor Frankl seem to me to be the only ones to do a really decent job with spirituality and religious beliefs. All three of those iconic psychologists had their own personal spiritual experiences, so I feel sure knowing what one is looking for would be extremely helpful to them in searching and finding the answers.
You know, I can't help but comment that if any “psychic” researcher had published anything like the theories of Maslow and Freud, they would be immediately and vociferously declared to be "hoaxes" – especially by the National Academy of Sciences. Yet the National Academy of Sciences is perfectly fine with basing a theory of religion on the instinctual urge of a son to murder his father and fornicate with his mother. I read the National Academy of Science’s review of Russel Targ’s remote viewing research. They completely (and actually pretty viciously) trashed Targ on “methodological” flaws. They failed to note that as the parapsychologist Schwartz observes in an essay on the history of remote viewing, that all of those particular methodological errors had been addressed and corrected in subsequent research. From personal experiences as well as from researching the ‘Psychology of Religion’ it is readily apparent to me that “materialist” psychologists and scientists simply are Not objective or even-handed in their analyses of spirituality and religion. And the "materialist" viewpoint is without question in"power" at the moment!
Personal Transcendental Spiritual Experiences
Before going on to my personal spiritual experiences, I should mention that there is some research and experiments by Julia Mossbridge and Daryl Bem on presentiment and precognition which have been both repeated and successful. However, I do not rely on scientific proof to justify my experiences. Also I should note thatone of my experiences is notarized (with a FOIPA stamp) and several what I would call tags (not full blown predictio ns) are documented in emails, as well as a couple of dreams which appear to demonstrate some synchronicity.
My argument is that my experiences are “real” and in view of the well-known and well-proven “categorization process” in the mind (i.e. psychologists Tajfel, Turner, Hogg, Abrams, as well as a large number of other social psychologists) my beliefs, therefore, are naturally derived from ordinary processes of the brain – and perfectly healthy. The "categorization" argument dovetails with William James argument that spiritual experiences create a "sense of reality." One of the problems with transcendental spiritual-psychic experiences is that frequently people connect them with some preconceived misconceptions and sometimes really bizarre ideas, in my view, about spiritual and psychic experiences being connected with an all powerful supernatural force of some sort. . My own older sister, for example, after I shared my experiences with her emailed me that her perception was that I thought I have powers. Nothing I have ever written has even remotely suggested or even hinted that I have any powers. In my experience spiritual-psychic is primarily perception - responding to stimuli, in my case - more than anything else.
I have only had a handful of experiences, seemingly somewhat haphazard and random, though there does appear to be some consistency in that my spiritual-psychic experiences tend to be verbalizations or expressions of perceptions of threats to the group and Instinctual in nature. The prominent parapsychologists Bem and Radin also believe many of spiritual-psychic experiences are reflections of instinctual processes. In general, Carl Jung believed "spirits" are reflections of the Collective Unconscious. "Documented" precognitive experiences show,, actually that precognition is far from unlimited and generally very limited.
I should emphasize that, in my most striking and formative transcendental spiritual experience there was no blinding flash of light and the skies didn't open and God's voice descend from the clouds, I have generally regarded the transcendental aspect as a relatively small piece of the puzzle, as it were. In talking with people who have also had transcendental spiritual experiences, I found none even mentioned the transcendental aspect and usually spoke of "guidance," "judgment," or "discernment." As William Gould observes in Frankl: Life With Meaning, that Max Ferdinand Scheler, a German philosopher, argued that "The spirit guides, it does not control. Spirit helps persons understand their intentions so that they can fully make their own choices as to how and where to live." (p.87) Like Frankl, Scheler appears to give the "Will" a significant role in human consciousness.
Research into Spiritual Experiences and Transcendental Spiritual Experiences
In fact, it might be a surprise to some, but in contemporary times, spiritual experiences appear, on the face of it, to be much more common than many people might ordinarily think. The prominent positive psychologists Paloutzian and Park, in the Handbook of the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, emphasize the fact that "numerous survey studies have been done" of people who have spiritual or religious experiences which has "demonstrated the normalcy" of spiritual experiences (p. 67). The religious scholar, Fraser Watts, Psychology, Religion, and spirituality: Concepts and Applications, points out that surveys show that roughly 1/3 of people report having spiritual experiences (p. 63). In one study, atheists and agnostics compromised 24% of the people surveyed who had transcendental spiritual experiences. That should be no surprise since human beings have believed in spirit and spirits for tens of thousands of years so (unconscious) spiritual processes would likely be genetically inherited among the process of the human mind. If Fraser Watts, and Park and Paloutzian statements that there are a large number of people who have spiritual and transcendental spiritual experiences and there is some "normalcy" to these spiritual experiences, then the inescapable conclusion would seem to be that the institution of psychiatry as well as "mainstream psychology" (which does, in fact, exist) have seriously skewed their data!
Lastly, I might mention that I have gotten a quite a bit of grief, at times, because of my experiences, which were both documented and real, and the rather evident repression of the studies and surveys revealed by religious scholars and positive and existential psychologists, has caused me some serious pain and anguish. If my family had known that I am not some kind of freak, they most likely wouldn't have given me the grief they did - not to mention the rather orthodox psychologists, I had the unfortunate opportunity to meet. As I said, every psychologist is a bit different and I suspect that now that I can let psychologists know about these studies, I would have much less difficulty. It is, personally, a bit disconcerting that the psychologists, and especially psychiatrists have expressed some rather, to be quite blunt, stupid, and, at times, actually ignorant observations and even diagnoses at times (I am bipolar) simply because psychologists and psychiatrists simply didn't do their jobs - they didn't do the proper research.
In any case, Mainstream psychology does, in fact have a definite "materialist bias," and a strict materialist viewpoint excludes all spirituality as well as even "meaning" (presumably materialists throw out all meaning simply on the basis that the ultimate purpose of humanity is beyond the scope of science. As the psychologists Baruss and Mossbridge observe in their book Transcendent Mind,“The problem is that materialism, and its offspring neuroscientism, are not just theories. We have already seen that they can function as worldviews and schemata. But they also function as dogma (Baruss, 1996; Bowie, 2014, Eccles, 1976; Sandelands, 2006; Tallis, 2010). Once an ideology becomes dogmatic, it is held in place by the usual mechanisms of social compliance acting within academic, scientific, and political institutions.” (TM p.24)….. “Dogma distorts science so that it no longer functions properly but devolves into scientism, an inauthentic version of science with materialism as it central tenet.” (p.24) I would argue that strict materialistic science is simply not science at all. For instance as existential and positive psychologists have already shown it is possible to measure and quantify meaning. As Carl Jung noted back in the 1930's, when it comes to psychology much of it has the character of "subjective confessions."
Daryl Bem cites a study that shows that psychologists tend to be more prejudiced about the "psychic" question than any other of the social scientists and humanitarians. I should note that all psychic research I have seen has been published in 'off-brand' or non-mainstream publications. From studying psychic phenomena there have been a substantial number of studies done in Ganzfeld, mental telepathy, precognition and presentiment. The repeated precognition experiments, as I recall, involved 100 different experiments in 90 countries involving, I believe over 1,500 subjects. J.E. Kennedy and H. Kanthamani's "Exploratory Study" of people who had transcendental spiritual-psychic experiences had a grand total of 120 subjects. There are Ganzfeld Meta-analyses, presentiment Meta-analyses, and precognition Meta-analyses. I definitely have not seen any Meta-analysis of Spiritual Experiences. I just have not seen anything at all in any of the literature about spirituality even remotely resembling the really substantial volume of experiments into psychic. Of course, the social psychologist Kay Deux did observe that, in social psychology, at least, there did appear to be a predisposition for laboratory experiments - which precluded coming to grips with the emotional characteristics of groups dynamics and group related behavior. To my knowledge there is nothing like that in studies or experiments of people who have spiritual experiences. The "science" of psychology and the U.S. government seem to care much more about the "phenomena" of psychic than people who have spiritual or religious experiences. My personal experience in trying to engage psychology professors in research into people who have spiritual experiences is that their appears to be a greater "Superstitious stigma" attached to spirituality than to even "psychic" - which is saying something.
Here is a link to research into Transcendental spiritual-Psychic Experiences: https://www.spirittruthandmeaning.com/research-into-psychic-phenomenon
For Perspective: "This besotted humdrum age of spiritual blindness"
Hope you found this interesting. I must say, without question, you will never hear anything like this from anybody else.
Here is a link to the essay if you are interested: https://www.spirittruthandmeaning.com/unconscious-spiritual-processes
Future Shock: Difference between Psychics now and then
Lastly, I would mention in passing, that if you look at the contemporary psychics since WWII like The TV Long Island Medium, Theresa Caputo, the documented psychic Edgar Cayce who was a very good healer, the largely undocumented psychic Jeane Dixon, the numerous "Remote Viewers" today, as well as occasional psychics like I saw on Doctor Phil show, there is no comparison to what is happening today and the pretty much the last two thousand years. For instance, the immortal Oracle Delphi prophecies were all entirely in ambiguous metaphors and prophecies - much like most of Nostradamus - while Theresa Caputo is relatively straightforward. If you compare apples to apples - documented to documented - there is simply no comparison. Both the quality and quantity is vastly better and increased. The comparison is black and white - night and day!
Here is a link to an essay about the dramatic changes both in the environment and in documented psychic experiences:
https://www.spirittruthandmeaning.com/a-spiritual-storm
Epilogue - Note about Documented Prejudices and Biases of Psychologists
The Biases and Prejudices of Psychologists
While existential psychologists and positive psychologists have recently found significance, value, and importance in meaning, religious beliefs, and spirituality, over the years studies and surveys have shown that the majority of psychologists appear somewhat hostile to religion, spirituality, and spirituality-psychic. In his book, Psychology of Religion, David Wulff states, “Now and then evidence appears that points to a genuine antagonism toward religion among typical psychologists.” (p. 34 Psy of Rel) Psychologists (and psychiatrists), when tested by various scales, such as the Belief pattern Scale, Religious Activities scales, and the Religious scale of the Allport-Vernon-Lindzey Study of Values, were found to have some negative views of religion. Wulff goes on to say that “As we have already noted, the suspicion or hostility encountered by the psychologists of religion is experienced by all scholars of religion. The sociologist Robert Bellah (1970b), observes that “There is no other sphere of human culture which is excluded from sympathetic academic consideration on its own terms on the grounds that such a study endangers science, reason, logic, and the whole heritage of the Enlightenment” (p.133).” (p.36)
The prominent psychologist and iconic parapsychologist, Daryl Bem emphasizes, in his article, A Summary of “Feeling the Future: ….” , how psychologists display some distinct prejudices and biases: “A survey of 1,188 college professors in the United States revealed that psychologists were much more skeptical about psi than respondents in the humanities, the social sciences, or the physical sciences, including physics. They are more than twice as likely as respondents in other disciplines to assert that psi is impossible (34% to 16%) (Wagner & Monnet, 1979).” (p.5 Bem – my italics)
Content Copyrighted Charles E Peck Jr. Copyright ©
References and Footnotes
Profile of Dr. James Doty: https://profiles.stanford.edu/james-doty
The Center for Compassion And Altruism Research And Education: http://ccare.stanford.edu/
American Psychological Association: https://www.apa.org/
Association for Psychological Science: https://www.psychologicalscience.org/about/links.cfm
Albert Einstein comprehensive website: http://alberteinsteinsite.com/
Albert Einstein Biography: https://www.biography.com/people/albert-einstein-9285408
Godel’s Theorem of Incompleteness: https://www.jamesrmeyer.com/ffgit/godels_theorem.html
John Bargh, PhD: http://bargh.socialpsychology.org/
https://www.rogerdooley.com/john-bargh-priming
http://www.psych.nyu.edu/bargh/index.html
Rupert Sheldrake: https://www.sheldrake.org/
Viktor Frankl: http://www.viktor-frankl.com/
Viktor Frankl: http://www.viktorfrankl.org/
Dr. Harold Koenig: https://spiritualityandhealth.duke.edu/index.php/harold-g-koenig-m-d
Dr. Harold Koenig: https://medicine.duke.edu/faculty/harold-g-koenig-m-d
Roy Baumeister: http://www.roybaumeister.com/
Roy Baumeister: https://psy.fsu.edu/faculty/baumeisterr/baumeister.dp.php
Dr. Paul Wong: http://www.drpaulwong.com/
Dr. Paul Wong: https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/paul-wong-biography/
Clifford Geertz: https://www.biography.com/people/clifford-geertz-9308224
Carl Jung: https://www.biography.com/people/carl-jung-9359134
Carl Jung: https://www.psychologistworld.com/cognitive/carl-jung-analytical-psychology
12 common Archetypes: http://www.soulcraft.co/essays/the_12_common_archetypes.html
Emile Durkheim: http://durkheim.uchicago.edu/
Emile Durkheim: http://faculty.rsu.edu/users/f/felwell/www/Theorists/Durkheim/index2.htm
William James: https://www.biography.com/people/william-james-9352726
William James: https://study.com/academy/lesson/william-james-psychology-theories-lesson-quiz.html
Tania Singer references: http://cultureofempathy.com/References/Experts/Tania-Singer.htm
https://charterforcompassion.org/discovering-empathy/dr-tania-singer-and-the-neuroscience-of-empathy
Dr Amit Sood Mindfulness: https://www.mindfulleader.org/amit-sood
Dr. Harold Koenig Director, Center for Spirituality,
Theology and Health: https://spiritualityandhealth.duke.edu/index.php/harold-g-koenig-m-d
Dr. Koenig on what spirituality can do for you: https://www.beliefnet.com/wellness/health/2006/05/what-religion-can-do-for-your-health.aspx
Keith Karren – Body, Mind, Spirit:
http://pgrpdf.abhappybooks.com/mind-body-health-keith-j-karren-ph-d-pdf-5716009.pdf
E O Wilson Biodiversity: https://eowilsonfoundation.org/
E O Wilson - PBS on Ants: http://www.pbs.org/program/eo-wilson/
Anthropologist Malinowski: http://anthrotheory.wikia.com/wiki/Bronislaw_
MalinowskiSocial Anthropology - Malinowski: http://scihi.org/bronislaw-malinowski-social-anthropology/
St. Augustine (Catholic source): https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=418
St. Augustine: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/augustine
Konrad Lorenz: https://www.age-of-the-sage.org/scientist/konrad_lorenz.html
Konrad Lorenz: http://www.famouspsychologists.org/konrad-lorenz/
St. Gregory of Nyssa (Franciscan): https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-gregory-of-nyssa/
St. Gregory of Nyssa (wikiorg): https://orthodoxwiki.org/Gregory_of_Nyssa
Neuroscientist Stanislas Dehaene: https://www.edge.org/memberbio/stanislas_dehaene
Imants Barušs, psychologist and parapsychologist: http://www.baruss.ca/
Julia Mossbridge, psychologist and parapsychologist: https://noetic.org/profile/julia-mossbridge
https://sharingthesearch.com/tag/j-mossbridge/
https://www.closertotruth.com/contributor/julia-mossbridge/profile
Friedrich Nietzsche: http://nietzschecircle.com/
Nietzsche biography: https://www.biography.com/people/friedrich-nietzsche-9423452
Abraham Joshua Heschel: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/abraham-joshua-heschel-a-prophets-prophet/
Iroquois:
http://www.ushistory.org/us/1d.asp
Greek Mythology: Apollo and the Oracle of Delphi
https://www.greekmythology.com/Olympians/Apollo/apollo.html
https://www.thoughtco.com/apollo-greek-god-sun-music-prophecy-111902
http://greek-gods.info/greek-gods/apollo/
https://www.coastal.edu/intranet/ashes2art/delphi2/misc-essays/oracle_of_delphi.html
https://www.pbs.org/empires/thegreeks/background/7_p1.html
https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/pythia-oracle-delphi-001641
https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/pythia-oracle-delphi-001641