Tag Archives: psychology

Ghost in the Machine

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Today, The Revealer points to this article over at the Guardian where Oxford scientists have received substantial funding to search for the "ghost in the machine." The machine in this case is us.

The scientists will apply a chilli-based gel to the skin of volunteers and ask them to try different strategies to lessen the burning sensation, including asking people with strong religious beliefs to draw on their faith to cope with the pain.

I don’t really understand what they hope to find. Some people may market religion as a way to escape from, ameliorate, or in some way "deal with" pain. But this hardly means that true religion can really provide it. Religion, at least Christianity, provides an answer, but not an escape hatch. On the contrary, a Christian understanding of pain might very well make the pain less and not more bearable. At any rate, the "pain" of having chili paste spread on your skin hardly rises to the level of pain at all–at least of the sort that religion purports to "deals with." Instead, I’d suggest that the researchers subject the volunteers to watching children be subjected to abuse, friends dragged out to sea by tsunamis, loved ones dying lengthy, "pointless" deaths. Then maybe we’ll get some useful data.

Disordered Appetites

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Pornography rapes the mind.

“Internet pornography is the new crack cocaine, leading to addiction, misogyny, pedophilia, boob jobs and erectile dysfunction, according to clinicians and researchers testifying before a Senate committee Thursday [November 18, 2004].” – Internet Porn: Worse Than Crack?

For those who suffer from sexual addictions, I have good news. The Order of the Legion of Saint Michael (home to blogs Bro. Bubba’s Journal and Catholics in the Know) has reopened the Catholic Support Group for Sexual Addiction Recovery. CSGAR “is a Catholic group of fellow sufferers from addition to pornography, lust, and sins of the flesh”.

“CSGSAR is a safe place (as a computer discussion group can be) where people with the common bonds of being Catholic followers of Christ and being fellow sufferers of sexual addictions may share and seek support for our struggles with this addiction. We offer resources for ‘Tips on How to Avoid Sin’, advice and remedies given by the Church and the saints, and the fellowship of fellow sufferers. You are not alone.”

Other sources for help are Porn-Free.org, Pure Intimacy, Open-Mind.org, Free in Christ, and Covenant Eyes.

Death: The Final Frontier

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Night Fright

Covered by a blanket
And the darkness of the night
I weep from the terror
And the Reaper in my sight
As I attempt to slumber
The thoughts begin to creep
Into my world of logic
Bringing horrors, dark and deep

My body starts tremble
As my heart begins to pound
Soon I lose sensation
And I cannot hear a sound

Comfortably numb is just a dream
Painfully dumb, I hold my screams
It won’t end!
It can’t end!
How can it end?!?

My tortured soul shouts
As fears tear apart my brain
And an evil chill torments me
As I pray to end the pain

“God, are you up there?”
I whisper to the ceiling
Exhaustion takes effect
And I get a warmer feeling

But the misery isn’t over
Though the terror’s gone away
Cause I’ll have to feel the sorrow
And face my fears another day

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Irrational and/or Pathological

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I don’t have time right now to answer in full Theomorph’s latest intellectual challenge, but I’ll take a moment to react to this:

Many people have argued that we make laws against acts like murder, theft, and assault because we have no choice if we want to maintain a stable society. We have even created psychological definitions of "normal" behavior that label as antisocial and mentally ill the people who are prone to these acts. Hence, while there may be some people who privately have no moral qualms with murder, theft, or assault, the rest of us have no problem with imposing our "morality" on them, because any arguments they might make in favor of their morality would be labeled as not just irrational, but pathological.

However, most people do not consider the desire to obtain an abortion as irrational or pathological. In fact, there are many rational arguments that favor the use of abortion. My personal favorite is that abortion provides a balance for women against the unfair advantage of men as regards the relationship between sex and reproduction. Men can always deposit their sperm and slink away, thus avoiding all responsibility and investment; women are stuck with the pregnancy and cannot slough the responsibility or investment in any way, except by getting an abortion.

Theo might be trying to be provocative again. If so, call me provoked. This viewpoint creeps me out and makes me shudder. Since when do two wrongs make a right? This kind of "feminism" really pisses me off. Women do not have to become men to gain equality! That is not real feminism. Real feminists seek to achieve equality (such as equal pay, equal respect, and equal rights) by embracing that which is feminine and challenging society to accept them without imposing androgyny.

If men are scum that sometimes plant seed and fail to care for what grows, we must try to stop that from happening. Whether it be by law or by education, we should seek to solve this problem, not encourage women to be just as selfish and inconsiderate. Besides, using abortion to level the playing field begs the question of whether abortion really benefits women. I’m sure Feminists for Life have a few things to say about that nonsense.

Do I think abortion is irrational? Yes. Its unsound judgment. Is it pathological? Yes. It’s a symptom of a diseased society. On a visceral level, irrespective of my faith, I am disgusted and frightened by the notion of a society that sees children as an unwanted responsibility or investment to slough off. If children outside the womb are treated as unwanted and sloughed off, the parents are charged with criminal neglect or worse, depending on the means. If medical professionals treat patients as unwanted, they’re in serious trouble, too. Yet babies in the womb can be discarded without consequence. Why is that? Well, another question is being begged here.

That question is whether or not a fetus may/must be considered person and thus deserving of protection. That is a philosophical and biological question that need not involve religion. Atheists are often quick to point out that ethics and morals need not be grounded in religion. Well, if that’s really what they believe then they shouldn’t be upset if some folks find abortion immoral and/or unethical based on logical, philosophical, and irreligious reasoning. Such reasoning exists and yet secularists still reject the pro-life movement off-hand, seemingly as though it were part of some conspiracy to construct a theocracy.

Finally, there are a lot of things that humans can be stuck with in the course of their lives. Some things can be avoided. Others can’t. Some may/should be avoided. Others shouldn’t. I have a great deal of sympathy for women who find themselves with an unwanted pregnancy. However, that unfortunate situation in and of itself does not secure them the right (since Theomorph objects to "giving" rights) to end a fetus’ life. That it is a life, there is no doubt. Is it a person? That’s a question that has yet to be answered satisfactorily and that supporters of abortion rights don’t seem to want answered. So long as it’s about a woman’s body, a woman’s rights, and a woman’s choice, pro-lifers look like a bunch of Puritans itching for a witch trial. I wonder how slave owners saw abolitionists.