Confessions of a Chronic Skeptic
The other day, -to be exact, yesterday- I was talking to a friend of mine and suddenly the topic went on to confessions and god and stuff like that. Well, as usual, I think a lot and come up with some observations that I thought I should record here.
Confessions : Typically, the Christian confession to priest. My theory is that, when people did serious wrongs, they were restless and could not talk about it to others for the fear of being judged and isolated and given bad PR. So, the priests were the ideal ones. They were bound by oaths to not speak about it to anyone.
They typically did the work of a counselor who gave an ear or two and some advice. Wrongs were righted and people had peace of mind.
There is nothing in the Bible about confessions. That is, if you accept it is the'original' version of all the Bibles in the world.
My ideas against this practice :
- What a priest thinks is wrong, may not be my wrong.
- His set of rights may not suit me. His set of ideals may be still puritan for some.
- A counselor may work better in some cases.
- Making it compulsory is senseless. People must go if THEY need it. Not when the church demands it.
- It gives people an idea that you do whatever you want, go confess, its 'forgiven'. No dude, you gotta go do something about it! You cannot just talk your way out of things like that.
The second part, about God, is the age old talk about it. About how thunder and lightning decided to give humans the idea of something they cannot control and controls them. I think, years or decades or centuries from now, men would control most natural phenomenon like they control lightning with lightning conductors. And all that blah like that.
Anyway, the point is, humans seriously cannot stand anything that they cannot explain. What do they think they are? Gods?
Comments
I verified. But how far do you advocate the use of medication in psychiatry and psychology to 'cure' people?
As far as psychological problems are concerned, medications are used mostly to solve temporary but debilitating conditions like depression, anxiety, insomnia etc. arising as a natural response to deep trauma, while at the same time other means are sought to stabilize the mind. This can sometimes aid in faster recovery and pain management.
There is a lot of stigma surrounding the seeking of medical intervention for problems of the mind. What I feel is that the mind is not some separate entity. It is a function of the body and just like any other function is prone to corruption at times. Often people have no problems when they see mentally sick people seeking comfort in hardcore religion or other such lies and living in a fantasy world but deeply object to them taking medications which help them handle reality better. This is a tendency that must change as sometimes only medications can help preserve the real "you"!
But I dont think there is a 'real' you. What you are at a certain point, is the real you. What you are talking about, is 'normal' you. And yeah, people who are not 'normal', believe they are. So, it is kinda a matter of perspectives.. :)