Study: Anger Toward God Linked to Poor Mental Health

Discussion in 'Health & Fitness' started by Mind Over Matter, Jun 23, 2011.

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  1. Fraggle Rocker

    Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    They are taking too small of a time-sample.

    Irrational religious faith indeed often does give people a sense of serenity in the face of hardship. If they've truly internalized the fairytale about an "afterlife," then they can be philosophical about life's travails and take comfort in (what to them appears to be) the assurance that when they die they will go to a place where bliss is uninterrupted and eternal.

    However, this is only a temporary effect. It is long-term temporary, and sometimes endures for as long as three or four generations. But when the effect wears off, entire populations of theists erupt into a united, coordinated paroxysm of anger, hatred and violence.

    It's usually focused on people who disagree with the details of their own faith, such as Muslims vs. Christians, Christians vs. Jews, Jews vs. Muslims, the three eternally recurring conflicts that we in the West are most familiar with--or Christians vs. traditional polytheistic faiths such as those of the Aztecs and Incas--or Muslims vs. Buddhists, etc., etc. But in a pinch they'll just as readily turn on each other: Catholic vs. Protestant, Calvinist vs. non-Calvinist, Protestant vs. Mormon, Sunni vs. Shiite, Orthodox vs. Reform Jews.

    Apparently belief in imaginary supernatural creatures does not actually make people less angry. It just allows them to bottle up the anger and express it later.

    So this is just plain crap. It's better to have a safety valve and let it out in small increments while everybody else is more mellow. Bottling it up so a couple of generations from now an entire nation makes war on "infidels" is a poor strategy.
     
    Fraggle Rocker, Jul 2, 2011
    #41

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  3. chimpkin

    chimpkin C'mon, get happy! Registered Senior Member

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    That's a very interesting view of the anesthetic effect of religion, Mr Fraggle...Not on an individual but a societal scale.

    I'll have to rotate that around in my head for a while.

    You weren't taught to view anger as dangerous, therefore you just have it and then let it go. Which is the way it ought to be.
    The results of a full psych workup in my case were fairly interesting. Lots of repressed anger. Not so repressed anymore.

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    :jason:

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    But yes, people are way more complicated that even several hours with a battery of tests.
     
    chimpkin, Jul 3, 2011
    #42

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  5. wynn

    wynn ˙ Valued Senior Member

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    I agree with the part about bottling up the anger, and so for generations.


    I've always found most theists to be oddly suppressed, like something is boiling in them, but mostly comes out only in small, but constant jabs and negativities, while generally, they keep a tight lid on it. A behavior typically called "passive-aggressive."

    With such people, one never knows where one is at, but there is an eerie feeling that something is badly off.

    Which, in and of itself, would not be so bad (although still quite bad), were it not that these same people purport to know what is best for us all and threaten us with eternal damnation if we don't follow them. That claim places them into the position of immense responsibility - and they should not be allowed to get away with it. No, they should be reminded of this responsibility and nobody should give in to their manipulation and bullying.
     
    wynn, Jul 3, 2011
    #43

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  7. wynn

    wynn ˙ Valued Senior Member

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    An individual does not live in a vaccum; issues pertaining to the individual necessarily pertain to the society as well.



    But he has it over and over and over again!
     
    wynn, Jul 3, 2011
    #44
  8. Fraggle Rocker

    Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    Then it is really good for all of us that he lets it out as it forms, instead of letting it build up!

    That's Jung's model of "the Shadow." You suppress something because you think it would be wrong to express it, or because you were taught that it's "evil," and all it does is fester deep down inside you with no sunlight or fresh air. After being suppressed long enough, it actually turns into something evil. You can't suppress it forever because it keeps getting stronger.

    Or as Lucas calls it, "the Dark Side of the Force." He's very much a Jungian.

    Besides, we all have anger over and over again. No one is so serene that nothing angers him. People who pretend to be are sitting on some pretty big Shadows.
     
    Fraggle Rocker, Jul 5, 2011
    #45
  9. chimpkin

    chimpkin C'mon, get happy! Registered Senior Member

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    Yes, awareness and maintenance, not denial, is best practices in demon management.
     
    chimpkin, Jul 6, 2011
    #46
  10. wynn

    wynn ˙ Valued Senior Member

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    In some cultures/philosophies, anger is seen as something to overcome, to end.
     
    wynn, Jul 6, 2011
    #47
  11. Stoniphi

    Stoniphi obscurely fossiliferous Valued Senior Member

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    I was taught that anger is pain or fear of pain. Recognizing that is of benefit. Expressing and then releasing anger is good for the individual. Letting go is important, just as suppressing it is detrimental.

    I favour "working through" things that make one angry.

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    Stoniphi, Jul 7, 2011
    #48
  12. Me-Ki-Gal

    Me-Ki-Gal Banned Banned

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    I think your right for a good part of the time Stoni when you say pain and anger are attached at the hip. Maybe not always ? Some people appear to carry anger as a badge of accomplishment. Maybe a reflection of past hurting ? I don't know . I tell you one thing " Letting go is big " as far as self help goes . You got to know when things are beyond your control , or to know when to say "Fuck it" ( I think I got that line from a Charles Bronson movie )
     
    Me-Ki-Gal, Jul 7, 2011
    #49
  13. Fraggle Rocker

    Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    I would be extremely careful of those cultures. Anger is as natural as hunger or love. Those people are probably walking around with a lot of repressed anger.
     
    Fraggle Rocker, Jul 8, 2011
    #50
  14. wynn

    wynn ˙ Valued Senior Member

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    I know that some of those people have quite a bit of anger in them.

    As for anger being "natural" - according to whose standards, in what circumstances ...
     
    wynn, Jul 8, 2011
    #51
  15. Stoniphi

    Stoniphi obscurely fossiliferous Valued Senior Member

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    Yes, some of us have been so harmed that we carry the hurt around with us at all times, just beneath the surface and ready to explode if given the chance. I agree that some of us are just always angry as well, likely due to our individual circumstances.

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    Controlling and directing anger is a skill to be mastered. In the martial arts, one can learn to reach within and turn on the anger to accomplish a task like breaking boards, then shut it back off when it is no longer needed.

    My internal image is a big, red, old - fashioned electrical throw switch. I shut my eyes, look within, find the switch, throw it, then open my eyes and perform the break. I see the red tunnel and the target at its focus. This technique allows me to perform some pretty amazing stuff. It also gives me confidence in my ability to guide and direct my anger appropriately. Control it, in a word.

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    Stoniphi, Jul 8, 2011
    #52
  16. wynn

    wynn ˙ Valued Senior Member

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    I have never heard of that from a martial artist - but I have heard it from lays ...
     
    wynn, Jul 8, 2011
    #53
  17. Fraggle Rocker

    Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    I'd say it's rather widespread in mammals, even herbivores, who don't kill to survive. Ever try getting between a mother of almost any species and her baby? I wouldn't try it with a moose. Or a cockatoo for that matter; it's not limited to mammals.
     
    Fraggle Rocker, Jul 11, 2011
    #54
  18. wellwisher

    wellwisher Banned Banned

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    Anger in animals is very common and is typically a defensive reaction, such as the mother defending her offspring, or the dog defending his bowl of food. But in all cases, it is based on irrational impulses connected to animal instinct. The mother moose will feel threatened, even when there is no threat; stupid nature tourist. This is due to the irrationality of instinct, since cause and effect are not important.

    Since this animal anger is also an important part of atheism, it is also a defensive reaction, based on similar irrational impulses. Like the moose, even if there is no real threat, it feels threatened due to irrationality. So much for the sales pitch connected to the rational atheist. This last statement, the rational atheists, is a recrutiment con job for atheism. Logically if atheism was teaching its recruits to be rational, its defensive approach would not be about irrational anger, but a calm presentation of logic and ingenuity to assess threats before acting on impulse.

    The irrationality of anger makes atheism a type of dogmatic religion, that can't defend its dogma territory with logic, but needs to do so with irrationality like an animal; mother moose.

    Religion, on the other hand, is a behavior that is strictly human. Religion is not an animal behavior, since this behavior requires self awarement. One has to differentiate something without using the sensory systems. This behavior may be too evolved for the irrational animal based atheists, making them feel threatened. Animals can't do religion.

    The anger is sort of like mother atheist, protecting her atheists young, from a perceived threat. Even if the perceieved threat is simply walking past calmly, without intent to harm, the mother moose attacks. This level of irrationality, in terms of the day-to-day induction, is due to the bait and switch nature of the atheist doctrine. The young recruits think there are becoming rational only to become irrational and angry.
     
    Last edited: Jul 11, 2011
    wellwisher, Jul 11, 2011
    #55
  19. Rav

    Rav ∞ Valued Senior Member

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    Not sure what you mean by that.
     
    Rav, Jul 11, 2011
    #56
  20. gmilam

    gmilam Valued Senior Member

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    gmilam, Jul 11, 2011
    #57
  21. wynn

    wynn ˙ Valued Senior Member

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    That you're angry, then you let go of the anger; and then sometime later, you are angry again, and again, you let go ... and so on.

    That must get boring!
     
    wynn, Jul 11, 2011
    #58
  22. wynn

    wynn ˙ Valued Senior Member

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    And you yourself are behaving nicely, of course, no anger there at all. Totally calm and composed.


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    wynn, Jul 11, 2011
    #59
  23. Rav

    Rav ∞ Valued Senior Member

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    It might get old pretty fast if I was angry often enough for it to do so, but I'm not.
     
    Rav, Jul 12, 2011
    #60
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