Posted by:
ab
(
)
Date: August 29, 2014 09:47PM
See previous posts
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1366222 and
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1365508To facilitate explaining myself I need to mention neurosis and stages of spiritual development. Neurosis is a term that has somewhat fallen out of use but one that I find quite appropriate in understand human thought and behavior. While psychosis is a loss of being in touch with reality, neurosis is an uncomfortable relationship with reality. Carl Jung said, “Neurosis is always a substitute for legitimate suffering.” Example – A mother knows, at least unconsciously, that her child could get sick and die or die in an accident at any time. Consciously living with this knowledge is legitimate human suffering. If the mother is not able to consciously face this situation it causes neurosis and she may become obsessed with her child’s safety. Her obsession could lead to development problems for the child including, for example, rebellion from his mother, using drugs and dying at a young age.
The following is from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._Scott_Peck.
Peck postulates that there are four stages of human spiritual development:
• Stage I is chaotic, disordered, and reckless. Very young children are in Stage I. They tend to defy and disobey, and are unwilling to accept a will greater than their own. They are extremely egoistic and lack empathy for others. Many criminals are people who have never grown out of Stage I.
• Stage II is the stage at which a person has blind faith in authority figures and sees the world as divided simply into good and evil, right and wrong, us and them. Once children learn to obey their parents and other authority figures, often out of fear or shame, they reach Stage II. Many so-called religious people are essentially Stage II people, in the sense that they have blind faith in God, and do not question His existence. With blind faith comes humility and a willingness to obey and serve. The majority of good, law-abiding citizens never move out of Stage II.
• Stage III is the stage of scientific skepticism and questioning. A Stage III person does not accept things on faith but only accepts them if convinced logically. Many people working in scientific and technological research are in Stage III. They often reject the existence of spiritual or supernatural forces since these are difficult to measure or prove scientifically. Those who do retain their spiritual beliefs, move away from the simple, official doctrines of fundamentalism.
• Stage IV is the stage where an individual starts enjoying the mystery and beauty of nature and existence. While retaining skepticism, he starts perceiving grand patterns in nature and develops a deeper understanding of good and evil, forgiveness and mercy, compassion and love. His religiousness and spirituality differ significantly from that of a Stage II person, in the sense that he does not accept things through blind faith or out of fear, but does so because of genuine belief, and he does not judge people harshly or seek to inflict punishment on them for their transgressions. This is the stage of loving others as yourself, losing your attachment to your ego, and forgiving your enemies. Stage IV people are labeled as Mystics.
Also see
http://factnet.org/stages-spiritual-growth-m-scott-peck-abridged-richard-schwartz for more information on the subject. Note that a person identified as a Mormon or a Catholic could actually be in any one of the 4 spiritual stages.
A stage 2 person is comfortable with a stage 1 person (the stage one person is their project) but uncomfortable and neurotic with a stage three individual; think of a Fair TBM’s neurotic dancing and mental gymnastics while discussing the Book of Abraham with a stage 3 person. Similarly, a stage 3 person is comfortable with a stage 1 or 2 person but uncomfortable with a stage 4 person. A person operating with an active neurosis loses part of their humanity and ability to think clearly; they become a sales person. My perception of the recent threads on NDEs is that they reflect a neurotic need to convince others and thus reassure the author that reality is confined to their current understanding. It was similar to how scientists were unsettled by Einstein’s theories.
You might be asking, why would I not consider myself neurotic in my defense of things happening that transcend the logical mind? As I have written, I am very Ok with reality if there is no survival after death. I suspect that our egos do not survive intact after death. My experiences, as I have shared in an earlier thread, and the experiences of others that I trust, such as those I have shared from Carl Jung, is that there is a transcending reality consistent with mythical experiences and consistent with what Maslow calls peak experiences. (See
http://psychology.about.com/od/humanist-personality/f/peak-experiences.htm)
You most likely know the feeling of talking with a TBM until you are blue in the face with no ability to break through the protective shell of their world view. It has been to same for me in exchanging my points of view on this site over the years with atheists. In my last two threads I have challenged atheists to consider the implications of some of my own experiences, which I shared, and those of Carl Jung on their world view. I haven’t seen any intelligent response to these challenges, just like challenges made to a TBM are ignored. All bluster and no substance. I really, really don’t need atheist to believe like I do. What I would like to ask for is a toning down of the neurotic drive to explain away experiences that are completely out of the ball park to one’s own experience. I would like for a person coming out of Mormonism who has an interest in mysticism to not be belittled. Is this too much to ask for?
Years ago when I first read about M. Scott Peck’s 4 stages of spirituality I excitedly shared them on this site. The response to my thread left me feeling like I had stepped on an ant hill. I would like this not to happen to others like me coming out of Mormonism.