I keep running across blogs and websites with the same theme. We're all lost sheep. We are all powerless. We are all sinful. Give your life over to this dead guy and his invisible buddy. Everything will be okay.
It seems to me like a great number of people in this world are suffering from a vast inferiority complex. Of course, it's easy to understand why. The leaders of our various societal institutions keep telling us what weak imbeciles we are! You hear something often enough and far too many people start to believe it's true. In time, no one has to tell you this explicitly because you implicitly already accept it as an unmitigated fact.
What's worse, it's hard to combat this mentality. It becomes so ingrained in a person's self-identity that, if someone suggests otherwise, it won't be believed. Not only will they not believe you, but they will concurrently know that you are, in fact, deceiving yourself which only confirms to them that most people are imbeciles.
I liken this mentality to that of a woman in an abusive relationship who can't seem to bring herself to leave it. All her life she's been told that she's no good, a tramp, and a whore by people who supposedly love and care about her. In time, she comes to view herself as a no-good, tramp-like whore.
So, she hooks up with some abusive jerk (who most likely was told throughout his life that he was no good either). This brute starts to use her as his personal punching bag. Instead of blaming the abuser for the violence, she blames herself because she thinks women like her "deserve" it. Far too many such women refuse to leave the relationship because their self-image is so bereft that they figure this guy is about as good as it gets.
I know all too well about the above scenario because I used to be a social worker. It was very frustrating and terribly sad to watch women -- who we had rescued from abusive relationships -- run back to the same SOB at the first available opportunity. In almost every single case, the abuse began anew almost immediately.
I see this very same pattern playing out with those married to religions like Christianity. In far too many cases, adherents seem incapable of breaking away from an institution that continuously saddles them with guilt, fear and self-loathing.
Well, I long ago left behind my own such abusive relationship. Try as some might, the sticky tentacles of religion can no longer touch me. They can no longer attempt to wound me.
Why?
Because I am not lost. I am not powerless. I am not an imbecile.
It seems to me like a great number of people in this world are suffering from a vast inferiority complex. Of course, it's easy to understand why. The leaders of our various societal institutions keep telling us what weak imbeciles we are! You hear something often enough and far too many people start to believe it's true. In time, no one has to tell you this explicitly because you implicitly already accept it as an unmitigated fact.
What's worse, it's hard to combat this mentality. It becomes so ingrained in a person's self-identity that, if someone suggests otherwise, it won't be believed. Not only will they not believe you, but they will concurrently know that you are, in fact, deceiving yourself which only confirms to them that most people are imbeciles.
I liken this mentality to that of a woman in an abusive relationship who can't seem to bring herself to leave it. All her life she's been told that she's no good, a tramp, and a whore by people who supposedly love and care about her. In time, she comes to view herself as a no-good, tramp-like whore.
So, she hooks up with some abusive jerk (who most likely was told throughout his life that he was no good either). This brute starts to use her as his personal punching bag. Instead of blaming the abuser for the violence, she blames herself because she thinks women like her "deserve" it. Far too many such women refuse to leave the relationship because their self-image is so bereft that they figure this guy is about as good as it gets.
I know all too well about the above scenario because I used to be a social worker. It was very frustrating and terribly sad to watch women -- who we had rescued from abusive relationships -- run back to the same SOB at the first available opportunity. In almost every single case, the abuse began anew almost immediately.
I see this very same pattern playing out with those married to religions like Christianity. In far too many cases, adherents seem incapable of breaking away from an institution that continuously saddles them with guilt, fear and self-loathing.
Well, I long ago left behind my own such abusive relationship. Try as some might, the sticky tentacles of religion can no longer touch me. They can no longer attempt to wound me.
Why?
Because I am not lost. I am not powerless. I am not an imbecile.
Yeah, you're right. I'm still escaping from the tentacles of inferiority, nay, self-condemnation complex after many years of having been falsely indoctrinated.
ReplyDeleteHi R T
ReplyDeleteI used to be trapped in religious garb, haven't been for years. And despite your thoughts on Christianity, I find the teachings of Jesus empowering and freeing and loving. I just try and do unto others as I would want to have done unto me, I love hard, live simply, try not to take more than I need, give back what I can, in many ways I ally with Tao, I just can't let go of my friend Jesus - I think he is a cool guy, and had lots of good things to say.
Love to you
Gail
peace.....
Temaskian,
ReplyDeleteYes, I think you've termed it better than I -- self-condemnation.
Gail,
As the blogger Forest Wisdom has pointed out again and again, we really don't know that much about the teachings of Jesus. His story is buried and layered within a book that is rife with inconsistencies and contradictions. It's next to impossible to tell what may be authentic and that which was added later to serve specific religious and political purposes.
Not only that, but, in many ways, Jesus is blank canvas with which each of us can project our own image. There are millions of people in this nation who utilize the Jewish carpenter as their role model for war and oppression. There are just as many who view him as the role model for peace and humility.
Which model is accurate? The answer seems to be in the eye of the beholder.
TRT,
ReplyDeleteNow I understand why you are so conversant on women's issues. No wonder! Who needs to be a parent when one can be a social worker, eh?
not all those who wander are lost. :)
ReplyDeleteLorena,
ReplyDeleteA social worker is a lot like being a parent. More importantly, I served as a state child abuse investigator, so I have a lot of experience nurturing children suffering from the ravages of abuse and neglect.
Iktomi,
So true. So true.