Beliefs and Mental Illnesses

I was listening to NPR the other day (the NPR link is on the bottom of my page) and I heard a very interesting story about extremely religious people (people that spend a great deal of time praying). They examined the brains of the religious people and compared them to a control group and the results were amazing. When the religious people were praying a part of their brain actually began to light up. That part didn’t light up in the control group. It was as if their brains were somehow wired differently.

A very easy anthropomorphic explanation would be that God was causing this phenomenon inside the person’s head, however a deeper look may give us a better explanation. Scientist refuted this explanation by comparing these brains to people with schizophrenia and other mind delusions. And what do you know…they came up looking pretty much the same as the religious folks. Basically, through deep prayer and reflection, they were actually forcing their minds to abandon reality and believe something that is–practically speaking–illogical.

So why do I bring this up? Well because I am really struggling with many of my close friends and family members that seem to foolishly cling to their views that are obviously illogical. Hell, I don’t know why I cling to some of my views that I cannot articulate an argument to support. For instance, why does name brand food taste better (to me) than generic food? Have I programed my mind to think that a fancier box actually makes food taste better?

I know that analogy may not make sense at first glance, but if you think about it only thinking about the marketing tactics groups use to persuade us, it makes a lot of sense. Think religion–the robes, the churches, the gold chalices, the hymns…etc Political parties: the colors, the speeches, the commercials, the adds…etc. What does this marketing do? I think the same thing the religious people are purposely doing to themselves. The marketing forces us to program our brains to accept something despite the illogical/absurd consequences it bring about. As the religious man constantly tells himself that the “man in the clouds” is speaking to him, the political extremist–fueled by television, newspaper, billboards, and radio–tells himself that these politicians are working for him. Actually, he doesn’t have to tell himself anything…its already being said for him. And when he begins to let it in, it shapes his mind. He will, like the religious folks, have some inexplainable activity going on in his head. It is not the man in the clouds talking to him, its John McCain, Barak Obama, Hilary Clinton, George Bush…etc. He becomes a Democrat, Republican, or Libertarians…etc. He finds himself forcing a square peg into a round hole, and smiling at the results. The same way that the religious man rejoices when he hears voices when knows that he is alone–believing he is conversing with “the man in the clouds.”

Both the religious folks and the political folks begin by allowing everything “in” and analyzing it logically, but slowly many begin to have these new parts of their brain light up in response to the creative marketing tactics. He becomes the equivalent of our insane brothers and sisters…only instead, we call them Democrats and Republicans . Or in the extreme case we have called them Nazi’s, KKK, Stalinists, Marxists, Maoists…etc.

Brothers and sisters, be leery of these mental illnesses and be open to the Elenchus. I have no idea what irrational beliefs I hold until someone is kind enough to question me–thus challenging my wisdom. Take pity on those that cannot see through these absurdities, but also, don’t allow them to take power and run our country and the rest of the world into the ground. These are the folks that fight wars of passion, use resources without worrying about their scarcity, and burn bridges without ever knowing where that bridge may lead.

As a great French philosopher once said, “