Religious Experience
“I discovered that it is necessary, absolutely necessary, to believe in nothing. That is, we have to believe in something which has no form and no color--something which exists before all forms and colors appear... No matter what god or doctrine you believe in, if you become attached to it, your belief will be based more or less on a self-centered idea.”
― Shunryu Suzuki
Morpheus: “You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”
–The Matrix
Some of my clients have asked that I share some links on religious experience. Often, such clients have experienced conflict, trauma and doubt about their (religious) experience. Some, in spite of these conflicts, would like to remain affiliated with their childhood religion while others wish to leave the religion of their childhood or heal from toxic (religiously-based) teachings and want the most cutting edge information about the psychology of religion and have access to scholarly research, history and/or critical analysis of religious experience. Basically, they want to know the truth.
As a therapist it is not my role to steer clients in any particular direction, religious or irreligious. However, for those clients who have not found success with discussing religious conflicts or concerns with a minister, priest or rabbi, and want, as Rumi says, a field that is "out beyond ideas of wrong doing and right doing", I am available to offer such a non-judgemental space for you to discuss and process religious content that may be troubling you.
Below I have included several links which you may find of interest. I have divided these links into three areas: one, examines religious experience using cognitive science and evolutionary psychology; the second section has links to the most respected scholars who study the history of religion; and the third is primarily links to the most intelligible critics of religion and others links that don't fall easily into just one category.
Morpheus: I imagine that right now, you're feeling a bit like Alice. Hmm? Tumbling down the rabbit hole? Neo: You could say that. Morpheus: I see it in your eyes. You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he is expecting to wake up. Ironically, that's not far from the truth. Do you believe in fate, Neo? Neo: No. Morpheus: Why not? Neo: Because I don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my life. Morpheus: I know *exactly* what you mean. Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about? Neo: The Matrix. Morpheus: Do you want to know what it is? Neo: Yes. Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth. Neo: What truth? Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch. A prison for your mind.
As a therapist it is not my role to steer clients in any particular direction, religious or irreligious. However, for those clients who have not found success with discussing religious conflicts or concerns with a minister, priest or rabbi, and want, as Rumi says, a field that is "out beyond ideas of wrong doing and right doing", I am available to offer such a non-judgemental space for you to discuss and process religious content that may be troubling you.
Below I have included several links which you may find of interest. I have divided these links into three areas: one, examines religious experience using cognitive science and evolutionary psychology; the second section has links to the most respected scholars who study the history of religion; and the third is primarily links to the most intelligible critics of religion and others links that don't fall easily into just one category.
Morpheus: I imagine that right now, you're feeling a bit like Alice. Hmm? Tumbling down the rabbit hole? Neo: You could say that. Morpheus: I see it in your eyes. You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he is expecting to wake up. Ironically, that's not far from the truth. Do you believe in fate, Neo? Neo: No. Morpheus: Why not? Neo: Because I don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my life. Morpheus: I know *exactly* what you mean. Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about? Neo: The Matrix. Morpheus: Do you want to know what it is? Neo: Yes. Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth. Neo: What truth? Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch. A prison for your mind.
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Religion as viewed through the lens of Cognitive and Evolutionary Psychology
J. Anderson Thomson, Jr., M.D. is a psychiatrist in private practice in Charlottesville, Virginia. In June 2011 he published Why We Believe In God(s): A Concise Guide to the Science of Faith. You can watch his lecture on the topic here: http://www.jandersonthomson.com/about/ View a fascinating TED Talk by Dr. Daniel Dennett that reveals how religious memes (beliefs) enter a host (person): https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_dennett_on_dangerous_memes The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies—How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths A comprehensive theory on how beliefs are born, formed, nourished, reinforced, challenged, changed, and extinguished. This book synthesizes Dr. Shermer’s 30 years of research to answer the questions of how and why we believe what we do in all aspects of our lives, from our suspicions and superstitions to our politics, economics, and social beliefs. Listen and view an informative link from the BBC on the cognitive science of religion, Are We Wired to Believe in a Higher Power? http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z3b6hyc Michael Dowd served as a United Church of Christ minister for nine years in Massachusetts, Ohio and Michigan. He and his wife, Connie Barlow, a science writer and family educator, launched an itinerant ministry in 2002 and have since spoken to more than 1,500 groups as "America's evolutionary evangelists": http://thankgodforevolution.com/ Listen to podcasts every week of an interview with one of the leading contemporary scholars of religion without pushing a religious or nonreligious agenda: http://www.religiousstudiesproject.com/category/podcasts/ This website provides an introduction to the study of religion from an evolutionary perspective: http://evolution.binghamton.edu/religion/ |
Religion as viewed through the lens of religious scholars
Bart D. Ehrman is Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has served as both the Director of Graduate Studies and the Chair of the Department of Religious Studies. He has published extensively in the fields of New Testament and Early Christianity, having written or edited twenty-four books, and numerous scholarly articles. You can view and listen to his lectures and debates at: http://www.bartdehrman.com/index.htm In her new book Revelations: Visions, Prophecy and Politics in the Book of Revelation, Princeton University religious professor Elaine Pagels places the Book of Revelation in its historical context and explores where the book's apocalyptic vision of the end of the world comes from. Listen to her talk on NPR: http://www.npr.org/2012/03/07/148125942/the-book-of-revelation-visions-prophecy-politics Religious historian Philip Jenkins says scriptures from the Bible are more violent than those from the Quran. Jenkins is a professor at Penn State University and author of two books dealing with the issue: the recently published Jesus Wars, and Dark Passages http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124494788&sc=17&f=1001 Dr. Bart Ehrman and Dr. Craig Evans debate the question "Does the New Testament present a reliable portrait of the historical Jesus?": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZakwU4m9IJg and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr6KX3wM71s&feature=related Have you been negatively affected by the religion of your childhood, even traumatized? You may find the attachment below on "Religious Trauma Syndrome"to be of interest:
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Critical voices of religion and other links
Sam Harris is the author of the New York Times bestsellers, The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation, and The Moral Landscape. Mr. Harris is a cofounder and the CEO of Project Reason, a nonprofit foundation devoted to spreading scientific knowledge and secular values in society. He received a degree in philosophy from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA. You can watch fascinating debates between Sam and other theologians and interviews of Sam at: http://www.samharris.org/site/debates
Christopher Hitchens was a writer and political observer, whose books, one being ''God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything'' made him a staple of talk shows and lecture circuits. He described himself as a believer in the Enlightenment values of secularism, humanism and reason. He was the best debater about the dangers of religion. You can view his enlightening and very entertaining debates here: http://www.buildupthatwall.com/ and http://hitchslapped.co.uk/
Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends is a television documentary series, in which Louis Theroux gives viewers the chance to get brief glimpses into the worlds of individuals and groups that they would not normally come into contact with. In this episode Louis meets TV evangelists Marcus and Joni Lamb, and joins a group of hardline Christians called “The Family”: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/louis-theroux-fundamentalist-christianity/
The Root of All Evil? is a television documentary, written and presented by Dr. Richard Dawkins, in which he argues that the world would be better off without religion: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-root-of-all-evil/
In this ground-breaking series, neurologist turned playwright and atheist Jonathan Miller interviewed six of today’s leading men of letters and science including New York Times best-selling author Richard Dawkins, Philosophers Daniel Dennett and Colin McGinn, playwright Arthur Miller, theologian Denys Turner and physicist Steven Weinberg discuss their personal intellectual journeys and offer illuminating analyses of non-theism from a wide range of perspectives: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/atheism-tapes/
Sea of Faith in the Churches (SoFiC) is a special interest group within the Sea of Faith Network that explores the interface between church and SoF.The Sea of Faith Network continues to explore the riches of human religious traditions without any reference to a supposed divine reality outside human experience: http://www.sofn.org.uk/index.html
Valerie Tarico is a psychologist and former director of the Children's Behavior and Learning Clinic in Bellevue, Washington. Dr. Tarico wrote, Trusting Doubt, about her personal encounter with religious fundamentalism and her on spiritual journey: http://valerietarico.com/
The following link will bring you to a series of great articles written by psychologist, Dr. Ed Chandler entitled: PSYCHOMECHANICS: Managing Feelings, Coping with Trauma, & Building Connections. It addresses a number of issues, to include chapter 6, Spiritual Atheism, in a very honest, heartfelt, and informative manner. http://www.turningpoint4u.com/PsychomechanicsbyDrChandler.en.html
Journey Free is a small group working to provide education about religious harm and resources for recovering from the effects of dogmatic religious indoctrination. The Director Dr. Winell, Ph.D published Leaving the Fold: a Guide for Former Fundamentalists and Others Leaving their Religion. http://journeyfree.org/rts/ or you may listen to a podcasts about her talk on Religious Trauma Syndrone: http://www.podcasts.com/living_after_faith/episode/religious-trauma-syndrome-episode-71
Dr. Robert M. Price is Professor of Biblical Criticism at the Center for Inquiry Institute. Check out his writings and podcasts, "Bible Geek": http://www.robertmprice.mindvendor.com/bio.htm
The Symphony of Science is a musical project of John D Boswell, designed to deliver scientific knowledge and philosophy in musical form: http://symphonyofscience.com/
Over 600 fascinating debates between scholarly theists and atheists on a variety of religious issues: http://worldviewnaturalism.com/debates/
Listen and view talks from Ken Wilber: http://www.kenwilber.com/home/landing/index.html
Christianity Disproved provides concise excerpt's from the work of different scholars and logical arguments critical of the Bible: http://www.christianitydisproved.com/
The mission of Openly Secular is to eliminate discrimination and increase acceptance by getting secular people - including atheists, freethinkers, agnostics, humanists and nonreligious people - to be open about their beliefs: http://www.openlysecular.org/about
The mission of the Richard Dawkins Foundation is to promote scientific literacy and a secular worldview: 1) Teaching the value of science, and 2) Advancing secularism.https://richarddawkins.net/aboutus/
Many people are reconsidering the role of religion in their life, and many more feel negatively impacted by religion and faith. If this describes you, you are not alone: http://recoveringfromreligion.org/
More Resources
Books critical, and/or providing a scientific analysis of religious and superstitious thinking:
Bad Faith: When Religious Belief Undermines Modern Medicine: http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Faith-Religious-Undermines-Medicine/dp/0465082963/ref=pd_sim_14_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=08WJ2QQ31N6GHQGNX2X8
Alpha God: The Psychology of Religious Violence and Oppression: http://www.amazon.com/Alpha-God-Psychology-Religious-Oppression/dp/1633880206/ref=pd_sim_14_13?ie=UTF8&refRID=01AWF3Q4CQ6H0G4TCB42
Faith Versus Fact: Why Science and Religion Are Incompatible: http://www.amazon.com/Faith-Versus-Fact-Religion-Incompatible/dp/0670026530/ref=pd_sim_14_5?ie=UTF8&refRID=1DJQ7ZPSYXYB8G34QCDC
If you are one of the many people who have determined that religion no longer has a place in their life, but are still dealing with the after-effects in some way or another, Recovering From Religion (RR) may be just the right spot for you. http://recoveringfromreligion.org/about/overview/
A rich intellectual and accepting environment to explore your religious beliefs and identity is the UU. Locally, there are congregations in Panama City, Valparaiso and Pensacola, FL. As noted on their website: http://www.uua.org/ in Unitarian Universalism, you can bring your whole self: your full identity, your questioning mind, your expansive heart. Together, we create a force more powerful than one person or one belief system. As Unitarian Universalists, we do not have to check our personal background and beliefs at the door: we join together on a journey that honors everywhere we’ve been before. Our beliefs are diverse and inclusive. We have no shared creed. Our shared covenant (our seven Principles) supports “the free and responsible search for truth and meaning.” Though Unitarianism and Universalism were both liberal Christian traditions, this responsible search has led us to embrace diverse teachings from Eastern and Western religions and philosophies. Unitarian Universalists believe more than one thing. We think for ourselves, and reflect together, about important questions.
Sam Harris is the author of the New York Times bestsellers, The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation, and The Moral Landscape. Mr. Harris is a cofounder and the CEO of Project Reason, a nonprofit foundation devoted to spreading scientific knowledge and secular values in society. He received a degree in philosophy from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA. You can watch fascinating debates between Sam and other theologians and interviews of Sam at: http://www.samharris.org/site/debates
Christopher Hitchens was a writer and political observer, whose books, one being ''God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything'' made him a staple of talk shows and lecture circuits. He described himself as a believer in the Enlightenment values of secularism, humanism and reason. He was the best debater about the dangers of religion. You can view his enlightening and very entertaining debates here: http://www.buildupthatwall.com/ and http://hitchslapped.co.uk/
Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends is a television documentary series, in which Louis Theroux gives viewers the chance to get brief glimpses into the worlds of individuals and groups that they would not normally come into contact with. In this episode Louis meets TV evangelists Marcus and Joni Lamb, and joins a group of hardline Christians called “The Family”: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/louis-theroux-fundamentalist-christianity/
The Root of All Evil? is a television documentary, written and presented by Dr. Richard Dawkins, in which he argues that the world would be better off without religion: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-root-of-all-evil/
In this ground-breaking series, neurologist turned playwright and atheist Jonathan Miller interviewed six of today’s leading men of letters and science including New York Times best-selling author Richard Dawkins, Philosophers Daniel Dennett and Colin McGinn, playwright Arthur Miller, theologian Denys Turner and physicist Steven Weinberg discuss their personal intellectual journeys and offer illuminating analyses of non-theism from a wide range of perspectives: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/atheism-tapes/
Sea of Faith in the Churches (SoFiC) is a special interest group within the Sea of Faith Network that explores the interface between church and SoF.The Sea of Faith Network continues to explore the riches of human religious traditions without any reference to a supposed divine reality outside human experience: http://www.sofn.org.uk/index.html
Valerie Tarico is a psychologist and former director of the Children's Behavior and Learning Clinic in Bellevue, Washington. Dr. Tarico wrote, Trusting Doubt, about her personal encounter with religious fundamentalism and her on spiritual journey: http://valerietarico.com/
The following link will bring you to a series of great articles written by psychologist, Dr. Ed Chandler entitled: PSYCHOMECHANICS: Managing Feelings, Coping with Trauma, & Building Connections. It addresses a number of issues, to include chapter 6, Spiritual Atheism, in a very honest, heartfelt, and informative manner. http://www.turningpoint4u.com/PsychomechanicsbyDrChandler.en.html
Journey Free is a small group working to provide education about religious harm and resources for recovering from the effects of dogmatic religious indoctrination. The Director Dr. Winell, Ph.D published Leaving the Fold: a Guide for Former Fundamentalists and Others Leaving their Religion. http://journeyfree.org/rts/ or you may listen to a podcasts about her talk on Religious Trauma Syndrone: http://www.podcasts.com/living_after_faith/episode/religious-trauma-syndrome-episode-71
Dr. Robert M. Price is Professor of Biblical Criticism at the Center for Inquiry Institute. Check out his writings and podcasts, "Bible Geek": http://www.robertmprice.mindvendor.com/bio.htm
The Symphony of Science is a musical project of John D Boswell, designed to deliver scientific knowledge and philosophy in musical form: http://symphonyofscience.com/
Over 600 fascinating debates between scholarly theists and atheists on a variety of religious issues: http://worldviewnaturalism.com/debates/
Listen and view talks from Ken Wilber: http://www.kenwilber.com/home/landing/index.html
Christianity Disproved provides concise excerpt's from the work of different scholars and logical arguments critical of the Bible: http://www.christianitydisproved.com/
The mission of Openly Secular is to eliminate discrimination and increase acceptance by getting secular people - including atheists, freethinkers, agnostics, humanists and nonreligious people - to be open about their beliefs: http://www.openlysecular.org/about
The mission of the Richard Dawkins Foundation is to promote scientific literacy and a secular worldview: 1) Teaching the value of science, and 2) Advancing secularism.https://richarddawkins.net/aboutus/
Many people are reconsidering the role of religion in their life, and many more feel negatively impacted by religion and faith. If this describes you, you are not alone: http://recoveringfromreligion.org/
More Resources
Books critical, and/or providing a scientific analysis of religious and superstitious thinking:
Bad Faith: When Religious Belief Undermines Modern Medicine: http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Faith-Religious-Undermines-Medicine/dp/0465082963/ref=pd_sim_14_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=08WJ2QQ31N6GHQGNX2X8
Alpha God: The Psychology of Religious Violence and Oppression: http://www.amazon.com/Alpha-God-Psychology-Religious-Oppression/dp/1633880206/ref=pd_sim_14_13?ie=UTF8&refRID=01AWF3Q4CQ6H0G4TCB42
Faith Versus Fact: Why Science and Religion Are Incompatible: http://www.amazon.com/Faith-Versus-Fact-Religion-Incompatible/dp/0670026530/ref=pd_sim_14_5?ie=UTF8&refRID=1DJQ7ZPSYXYB8G34QCDC
If you are one of the many people who have determined that religion no longer has a place in their life, but are still dealing with the after-effects in some way or another, Recovering From Religion (RR) may be just the right spot for you. http://recoveringfromreligion.org/about/overview/
A rich intellectual and accepting environment to explore your religious beliefs and identity is the UU. Locally, there are congregations in Panama City, Valparaiso and Pensacola, FL. As noted on their website: http://www.uua.org/ in Unitarian Universalism, you can bring your whole self: your full identity, your questioning mind, your expansive heart. Together, we create a force more powerful than one person or one belief system. As Unitarian Universalists, we do not have to check our personal background and beliefs at the door: we join together on a journey that honors everywhere we’ve been before. Our beliefs are diverse and inclusive. We have no shared creed. Our shared covenant (our seven Principles) supports “the free and responsible search for truth and meaning.” Though Unitarianism and Universalism were both liberal Christian traditions, this responsible search has led us to embrace diverse teachings from Eastern and Western religions and philosophies. Unitarian Universalists believe more than one thing. We think for ourselves, and reflect together, about important questions.
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The philosopher Dan Dennett presents a very compelling talk about how religious beliefs or "memes" take over a host, much like a virus.
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In this sweet documentary short, an elderly Jewish woman who has recently become an atheist decides to try bacon for the first time.
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