The Psychological Basis of Faith.

[Existanz]

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Yep, faith- it's very psychological. It's the same as our appreciation for beauty and music for example. It's a built-in mechanism, a natural way of the mind in countering the seemingly irrational reality of our existence (Quantum theory showed that to us).

[kit_cebu]

religion, faith, love, respect, and among other feelings/beliefs is just a state of mind.. psychological...

[brownprose]

I've seen the video alright (all of them)...pretty convincing. Many thanks Alel...

I tend to differ a bit as to the primacy of psychology being the driving force behind one's faith or religious persuasions.

In fact, most religions we know today were generally from out of the musings of people...sages, philosophers, thinkers or what have you trying to make a sense of man's existence. His causality have been thoroughly explained by philosophers (in the secular and theological fields) to be one that is the handiwork of a transcendent force.

In other words, personal persuasions/notions about a god was once thought or was supposedly a reasoned exercise until the deluge of "anecdotal evidences" claiming to be accounts of said transcendent force's intervention in the affairs of man e.g, miracles, divine antics, and unexplained phenomena which were later on recorded (in the Bible, Qu'ran, etc), passed, even forced and left unsifted/unfiltered (by the rigors of science) through several generations now believed to be the "truth" about god which has become more mystical in orientation. That probably explains the preponderance of mysticism over reason because it is the easiest way to explain god that way.

Mysticism plays a special part in most religions today which comes also with its practical side using "agents of god" like faith healers, exorcisers, astral projection gurus, and etc...as if their god is deemed powerless without those mystic necessities (which, to me, is not mystical at all).

That's why I want to differ a bit because faith may not be necessarily the amount of psychological inputs, mysticism one has received overtime but by the amount of reason a person can get from the very nature of his existence.

I would like to say though that we have a rather skewed belief system (common in most religions) which is largely mystical and manipulative -- the abuse stares you at the face from faith leaders that profit upon the vulnerabilities of people using a system similar to which Brown employed. Or...did Brown learn that idea from them?

[brownprose]

Religion is not that too bad at all --- at times, it also pays when you're gullible . It only proves that placebo works. (Read article below).


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Faith in psychiatry

(source: Psychology Today: Faith in psychiatry)

Reports that David Larson has been warned against incorporating religion into his psychiatry practice. Evidence of Larson on the healing effects of religion.

Twenty-five years ago, one of David Larson's med school advisers warned thathe'd harm his patients by incorporating religion into his psychiatry practice. Back then many psychiatrists within the hallowed halls of academic medicine considered religious patients delusional, immature, or neurotic.

Larson has spent nearly two decades trying to prove them wrong. Now a psychiatrist and president of the National Institute for Health Care Research, Larson cites a mound of studies, both his own and others', attesting to the preventive and healing effects of religion. A sampling:

o In a 1995 report on 232 people who underwent elective open-heart surgery, those who received no strength or comfort from religion were more likely to die within six months of the operation.

o A decade-long study of 2,700 people showed that after accounting for risk factors, only one social attribute--increased church attendance--lowered mortality rates.

o Among women recovering from hip fractures, those with stronger religious beliefs and practices were less depressed and could walk further at discharge.

o In a rigorously controlled study of elderly women, the less religious had mortality levels twice that of the faithful.

o A review of 200 epidemiological studies suggests that religion has positive effects on diseases ranging from cervical cancer to stroke.

Provocative, yes. Proof of a cause--effect relationship between religion and health? No. The problem, says Larson, is that psychiatry "has done a pretty badjob of researching the topic." For one thing, studies have ignored crucial factors like the strength of a patient's beliefs. In recent years, however, he and his peers have found meaningful ways to measure faith, including attendance at worship services and involvement in church structure.

Why has psychiatric research been so scant and shallow? For one thing, few psychiatrists are religious. While 90 percent of Americans believe in God, an American Psychiatric Association study found that only 43 percent in the profession do. And almost a third of psychiatrists with religious upbringings now profess to have no religious beliefs.

[JX]

hmm.. most of the time but not all the time.. hehe..

[pusang_iring]

Watch! YouTube - Derren Brown - Messiah 1/8 8 parts!

Derren Brown shows us again, its just psychology

If that video is believable....which is...i dont know...

[Alel]

Watch! YouTube - Derren Brown - Messiah 1/8 8 parts!

Derren Brown shows us again, its just psychology

If that video is believable....which is...i dont know...

I Was about to post this vid...Thanks Bro!

This is actually one of his earlier programs...

Derren Brown is known for his programs/a book where he shares his knowledge and skills in suggestion, magic and mentalism, and psychology to shed light to the mysteries of spirituality and occult.

You might also want to see his Heist video...Wala sa YouTube, though...\


Alel

[JX]

hmm.. 1st vid seemed more like hustling, 2nd vid.. i didnt quite understand what he did with the athiest audience.. the instant conversion.. and with the talking to the dead, he seemed more like guessing.. on the psychic drawing-guessing, it seemed scripted as to how he guessed all drawings.. hehe.. but hes saying otherwise anyways..

[Alel]

One purpose of Messiah is to show how charlatanism can be 'implemented' in various ways.

In reality, it does not mean someone claiming to be a psychic IS a charlatan, since a considerable number of them are just living on a false belief - yet the psychological 'scheme' are still in play.

Example: Successful psychics could be either: consciously using the art of cold-reading (a ploy of a charlatan); or have undergone 'courses' that teaches them 'techiniques' that are seemingly 'innocent' BUT is based on the psychology of cold-reading concepts...

Being fairly familiar of such techniques myself as an entertainer, Ive read such books and found out that the techniques taught are cold-reading ploys dressed-up as someone else, some techniques means really nothing but provides 'effects' that are actually nothing but pure labelling, and the rest are pure BS...)
Pretty much like the concepts of the Law of Attraction: about those magnetism and same-thoughts-are-drawn-together thing. One could look through those emebellishments and see that its basically just thinking in positive and avoiding the pits of negative suggestion, but is presented/taught in a way that is more appealing, 'sensational', and kinda easy to understand for most people...(Like the 'Do Not' catch.)

When a person practice these type of masqueraded techniques effectively, he can still yeild more or less the same results, but he simply is not conscious of the 'real work'.
(By the way, is there a label for this type of 'scenario'?)

Derren Brown is also a hypnotist, too. The instant conversion part is a product of his expertise in suggestion + his knowledge and expertise as a magician (not esoteric, mind you.). One of the videos that I think kind of sums up the majority of his work is this: YouTube - Derren Brown Voodo

[JX]

^hmm.. marketing is one.. or even courtship.. although most of the time.. but not all the time.. hehe..

they say true seers never ask questions except what do you want to know.. had this experience.. my tita was so fond of psychic readers.. and i was the skeptic there.. (not of the idea) but of her powers.. then so i asked.. will i graduate from college? she then looked at my palms.. then closed her eyes and sort of concentrated.. after a few moments, she asked what year are you now? and then i laughed.. or rather, we all laughed except for her.. then she said "no, you'll not be able to finish due to bad influences" (maybe that was her cold-reading i guess for the attitude of being a skep).. then i told her, sorry but i just graduated.. and that was the end of the session..

the weakly susceptible (to hypnosis) people left during the instant conversion.. and then narrated only as a discomfort.. i think.. hehe..