The psychological mood of a person
Contemporary attitude toward religiosity
a. Abdullah bin Abdul Rahman Al Wahaibi
The contemporary style of religiosity can be described - in general - as a personal religiosity that is predominantly commercialistic and “liberal” from institutional frameworks. It is without affiliation to an authority or legal entity [1] . It is also centered on freedom of individual choice and the priority of personal psychological needs, and fabricates His ideas and beliefs, including symbols, doctrines, and teachings, belong to multiple religious and spiritual traditions [2] , and he pays special attention to the experimental aspects of religion, and aspects related to self-management, personal effectiveness, and life success [3] .
This type of contemporary religiosity represents a transition “from (religion) as something established in organized worship and systematic beliefs in an institution, to (spirituality) that is self-made outside formal structures, based on experience [4] , has no doctrine, and does not demand any coherence.” Philosophical: The contemporary concern of religiosity has shifted from “How do I comply?” to “How do I choose?” “ [5] .
Therefore, the increase in expressions of non-religion - as shown in opinion polls - is only slightly related to the increase in the percentage of actual adherence to atheism, but rather it is strongly related to the growing tendency to reject institutional religious traditions, and general religious and moral ties, and to promote a worldly spirituality designed according to To individualistic teachings that ultimately tell the individual: “Make your own religion” [6] .
Rainer Funk explains the psychological mood of contemporary people towards religiosity, explaining the contemporary aversion to traditional religions, as the individual has begun to look at...
“Institutional religions as systems of slavery and binding, and for this reason he tries to get rid of all slavery, orders and expectations, and to exploit some aspects of religion intermittently (birth rites, marriage ceremonies, burial rites) in order to self-extract [rites of passage], even though religiosity only exists.” in a secondary role for him; No, because it is not religious; Rather, it is because he wants to be the creator of his own religiosity and spirituality, and he has a clear need to attach his everyday and necessary world and personal self to a higher reality and subjective spirituality. He wants to conduct experiments, enjoy the moment, live in the here and now, and transcend the boundaries of space and time through religious and spiritual exercises and practices ” [7] .
Spirituality - which contemporary patterns of religiosity celebrate - is a concept that is not devoid of ambiguity and ambiguity, and - in its broadest sense - it applies to a wide variety of beliefs, feelings, and practices. Related to spirit as opposed to matter [8] , the most specific conceptions of spirituality are those that link it to life itself, that is, clarifying the essence of spirituality by understanding the nature of the reflection of the special feeling called “spiritual” on the individual’s own life; From this standpoint, some researchers describe spirituality as: “The force, energy, or vitality that supports our existence... It is the life with which we are born: basic traits in us, abilities, energies, and possibilities. Once we go through the experience of spirituality, it flows through our lives, to heal, empower, and inspire.” Creativity and wisdom, changing bad conditions into well-being, and enabling us to become truly “alive” [9] .
It can be said that “spirituality” is the meanings and sentiments that fill a person’s interior with reassurance, tranquility, and contentment, compensate him for what he loses, and satisfy his inner need to transcend life’s apparent affairs and its abstract materialism.
However, theoretical exaggeration and attempts to capture the essential meaning of spirituality - or even the so-called “religious experience” itself - lead the observer to places where the connotations are clear, and the linguistic signs are weak, no matter how much it is said that they revolve around the enormous feeling of beauty and majesty, astonishment and reverence [10]. Or other expressions. Indeed, there are many matters in this section that cannot be comprehended in the usual language, and there is no way to them except by pointing, taste, and special feeling [11] .
One of the most prominent types of this new, popular religiosity is the spiritual form as it appears in the concept of Sheilaism. This concept was derived by the prominent American sociologist Robert Bella (d. 2013 AD) and his colleagues - in their important book (Habits of the Heart [12] ) published in 1985 AD - from a conversation he conducted with A young nurse named Sheila Larson describes herself as believing in God, rejecting religious "fanaticism", not attending church, relying on "the voice of her inner conscience", and saying that the most important thing is "to love yourself, to be kind to yourself, and to take care of those you love." And this is the essence of religion [13] , and perhaps this form of religiosity is the most common in contemporary Western culture in multiple forms and variations.
Here we notice the reference to relying on the inner voice, “conscience,” as a source, moral guide, and compass for meaning. This reminds us of the founding ideas of the individualistic “authenticity” model, as made clear in the previous chapters. Spiritual ideas circulating in recent decades include:
“The belief that a person can find in the deepest layers of himself a sacred, authentic, and true core , uncontaminated by culture, history, or society; a core that nourishes the evaluation of what is good, true, and purposeful, and this evaluation cannot be done by relying on external authorities and external experts, Rather, a person listens to his inner voice ” [14] .
The "Chilean" concept of religiosity is similar - in some respects - to the concept of "minimal religion", which is a concept proposed by the Russian critic Mikhail Epstein (b. 1950 AD) during his analysis of the religious situation in contemporary Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and it expresses the spiritual status that the individual experiences in the circle. Direct contact with family and friends, and not in churches [15] , is characterized by a lack of doctrinal content, and the absence of church or sectarian organizational forms, while refraining from adopting any religious text, and devoting the sanctity of love, brotherhood, and nurturing personal and family relationships, which constitute the focus of religious life [16] .
This emphasis on individual choice and “personal conscience”; They led to a shift in the attitude towards religion “and increasingly – from commitment to religious consumption” [17] , and to the transformation of spiritual beliefs and ideas into a list of options available for experimentation and discovery, rather than absolute fundamental beliefs. It has lasting significance and unseen effects, and sociologist Thomas Luckmann (d. 2016) confirms the “marketing” nature of the new patterns of religiosity by saying:
“The sacred universes in modern industrial societies no longer have a prescriptive, sacred hierarchy, and are no longer manifested as a central, coherent, holistic entity. The range of religious representations is not generally comprehended by prospective clients, and the “independent” client chooses, instead, religious themes from the available range. And builds it within a temporary system - to some extent - of “absolute meaning” [18] .
Characterizing the nature of contemporary individual attitudes towards religion as “consumeristic” or of a commercial nature; It is common in the field of studies of the sociology of religion, where contemporary religious reality is described as a market, and the behavior of individuals is described as consumer behavior common in capitalist cultures. “Consumers of religion... gradually deal with the religious market as if it were a menu in a cafeteria” [19] .
The basis of contemporary patterns of religiosity on spiritual “experience” rather than solid beliefs, rituals, and organized rituals is consistent with the current cultural trend that now prevails, which believes that “everyone has the right to develop their own image in life, based on their sense of what is important or valuable” [20] , That is, the concept of the individuality of self-actualization, and it is also considered a useful way to confront the excessive fluidity of the pluralism of religious beliefs, the lack of reliability, and the collapse of the certain foundations of traditional religiosity, due to the spread of subjective relativism, and under the influence of what Peter Berger (d. 2017 AD) calls “the plurality of living worlds” [21]. ; Whereas the certainty and solidity of religious belief are rooted in the strength of consensual social faith, but in today’s reality, “our situation is best described,” as Berger says, “as a “market” of world views that are simultaneously competing with each other, and in a situation like this it is difficult to maintain any certainty. It goes beyond the immediate, tangible, empirical necessities” [22] , imposing the legitimacy of pluralism, religious freedom, and tolerance at the legal level, and praising Christian “moderation,” which means rejecting fanaticism, that is, in a certain sense, approving the freedom to question, criticize, and raise controversy and suspicions against beliefs, and obliging and committing everyone to the right of Everyone accepts any belief and dedicates "religious coexistence"; All of this contributed strongly to the loss of certainty in the religious belief itself, because this Christian “tolerance” and “moderation” entailed, in its essence, “religious indifference,” and the extensive historical facts indicate that “peaceful coexistence between different religious groups... is a weakness that affects loyalty.” The absoluteness of religion,” because absolute belief prevents the establishment of equality in truth and existence, and because the “dissolution” in the structures establishing religious belief is reflected in societal reality; Some social psychology researchers have pointed out that “moderation and intellectual freedom are usually a precursor to social dissolution” [23] for the reasons mentioned above.
Because of this ideologically lax state, relying on subjective experience is more effective and more solid. Instead of presenting arguments, due to the impossibility of proving with certainty the correctness of the belief; The contemporary individual is satisfied with relying on personal spiritual experience, which alleviates the crisis of general certainty, gives him a kind of reliable reassurance, and prevents others from raising doubts and suspicions. Because “personal experience is beyond discussion” [24] .
The loss of the structure of certainty in the relationship - with existence in general and religious belief in particular -; It makes it easier for individuals to move between religions - or within them -, because the individual’s orientation to “religion” was not motivated by submission and faith commitment, or a requirement for afterlife salvation; Rather, it is the search for a meaning in life, and to enjoy the pleasure of emotional and reassuring satisfaction. The spiritual experience in contemporary religiosity is more important than belief [25] , and the center in contemporary spirituality is “the ego and its experiences,” not the religious institution (as is the case in Christianity), or God and his laws . God - in the individual’s imagination - is not transcendent or other, but rather immanent and worldly, “God is within” [26] , and here we see a radical representation of the Augustinian vision, after cutting it off from its context, and integrating it into the system of solutionist individualism.
Unlike traditional religions, contemporary spirituality does not entail the privilege of transcendence or unseen transcendence, which is determined by the fact that religions refer to something or a reality more real than everyday reality, a comprehensive and dense reality that lies behind the material image of material time, starting with the divine existence and the connection to it through supplication, prayer, and reliance. For his help and generosity, and access to divine promises in the afterlife, while contemporary spirituality does not contain this kind of unseen “transcendence.” Because its reliance is the basis, and its final reference; Purely worldly, confined to the visible temporal and spatial surroundings [27] .
Contemporary spiritual methods for achieving the “spiritual experience” rely on a number of meditative and practical activities, such as Reiki, yoga, tai chi, homeopathy, aromatherapy [28] , some forms of psychotherapy, and a number of alternative medicine “products” such as reflexology. ); These and other activities help participants “to achieve connection with who they naturally are as spiritual beings” [29] .
In general, contemporary types of religiosity do not mind investing in some aspects of Christianity or other religions. Some publications that include procedural guides for proposed “spiritual” rituals explicitly refer to two versions of this spirituality, one of which is directed to believers, and the other to non-believers. I recently had a post written by an Arab girl who introduces herself as an activist in the field of “healing, spiritual revelation, and clairvoyance.” It includes a proposed program for spiritual healing, in which it refers to reading Surah Al-Fatihah and Ayat Al-Kursi, and some other rituals. At the end of the program, she indicates that non-religious people can use the same program after Exclude reading the mentioned surahs.
However, there are other theses that adhere to atheism, declare hostility to religions, and attribute most of the world’s evils to them, and at the same time attempt to quote pure “spiritual” content, free of the impurities of “dogmatic” beliefs [30] ; In 2006 AD, the French atheist philosopher Andre Comte Sponville published a book entitled (The Spirit of Atheism - An Introduction to Spirituality Without God), and in July 2011 AD, the well-known British writer Alain de Botton gave a famous speech on the TED platform about what he calls (Atheism 2.0). ), and its goal is to promote an updated version of atheistic ideology that attempts to avoid “spiritual loss” and loss of meaning, by “stealing” some religious contents, such as guidance, consolation, ethics, and the method of awareness of time, as well as rituals or rituals that mix idea and belief with specific behavior and a specific physical movement that connects the soul to the body. . Bouton developed these ideas and published them in his book “Religion for Atheists: A Non-Believer’s Guide to the Purposes of Religion” in 2012.
In 2014 AD, the well-known American atheist Sam Harris published a book entitled (Awakening - A Guide to Spirituality Without Religions), in the introduction of which he says that he is trying to “extract important psychological truths” from under the pile of falsehoods in religions [31] , but without scientific falsification, he refuses Adding a pseudo-scientific character to spiritual experiences, as is the case in “New Age” theses [32] , and to find an alternative to organized religions, it is necessary to search “the broad spectrum of human experiences in a way devoid of any doctrine” [33] .
The basic idea of the atheist spirituality that Harris preaches revolves around awareness of the ego and meditation, and presenting some techniques to develop methods for this awareness that allow him to “rise above the limits of the self,” which he benefited from his long experiences with monks and Buddhist teachers, yoga experiences, and programs of isolation and long silence for days. The most famous [34] .
“Spirituality,” as he describes it, is based on the realization that “the traditional sense of self is nothing but an illusion” [35] , and that the source of human unhappiness lies in linking thoughts to the ego, and viewing them as if we are the ones thinking them, “rather than viewing them as fleeting manifestations.” In consciousness", that is, there is no self, there is no "ego", because the ego itself is a product of thought, and its existence obscures the awareness of "the non-self nature of consciousness", which is difficult to realize, but it can be easily observed, for "what you call (ego) is itself is a feeling that arises from among the contents of consciousness, and consciousness precedes this feeling and bears witness to it, and is therefore free from it” [36] . “The deepest goal of spiritual life is liberation from the illusion of the soul or self” [37] .
The conclusion of this spirituality is the determination that happiness and unhappiness are mental states and events that emerge from awareness, which is “the light through which we know the features of the mind and body.” The goal is to “live the same experience of awareness” that leads us to rise above the illusion of the independence of the soul and the stability of the ego, so that we can enjoy a state of It is similar to the one described by the Englishman Douglas Harding (d. 2007 AD), a spiritual philosopher whose ideas were promoted by the New Age trend, in a book with the strange title “Being Headless,” when he said:
“I stopped thinking, a state of strange calm, and a state of laziness or numbness overcame me... There was no longer a past or future. I forgot who I was, what I was, my name, my humanity, my animality, and everything that could be described as mine, as if I was born in That moment, new and mindless, free of all memories, there was only the present moment , that present moment and what was clearly available to me in it” [38] .
Harris believes that approximating this type of experience as if the individual is experiencing it without a head is a work of genius, and he believes that Harding's statements are a clear description of the spiritual foundation that he aspires to reach, after freeing consciousness from dualities and illusions [39] .
The spiritual rupture and psychological divisions - which have been attacking the modern individual since he lost his close relationship with belief and faith - have led to; To his tendency to compensate for this loss from his own resources, “faced with the impossibility of reaching God, people surrendered to infinite loneliness, returned to themselves, and had to extract what they had lost in themselves, and struggle against the uncertainty that was born from discovering worldly certainty” [40]. The painful absence of meaning, glory, and the death of hopes of immortality and perfection pushes the individual to new paths of meaning. “Modern man can no longer find his heroism in daily life, as humans did in traditional societies, by carrying out their daily duties of raising children, work, and worship.” He became in need of continuous revolutions [41] and wars, as a result of the eclipse of the sacred dimension, and when he abandoned the idea of the spirit and God, he retreated - in despair - to his own resources, to himself, and to those around him” [42] .
When society no longer provided the individual with “appropriate moral and psychological guidance, the individual found himself forced to search - deeply - within himself to discover a new basis for integration and direction; and this need is what called for the creation of psychoanalysis” [43] ; This paved the way towards intense self-awareness and a deeper dive into its interior, until the twentieth century man was described as “the psychological man”, due to the intensity of his psychological (psychological) preoccupation, after the individual became isolated from the collective ideological structures, and the meaning of his life, and the pattern of his intellectual and behavioral choices, became ; It is self-determined, and it must “justify itself from within itself” [44] , and therefore
“The greatest contribution of modern psychology since Freud is to help the individual discover a new unity within himself, and to satisfy the need of modern man to find his meaning within himself” [45] .
The inner life of a person was considered an area of the soul, and in the eyes of religious traditions it was linked to faith and belief. Inner pains were attributed to evil, the devil, and sin. Gradually, the field of psychological sciences developed since the late nineteenth century, and psychologists began to subject the inner life to observation, research, and study. They rejected church interpretations, and wrote They proposed secularized causal explanatory theses for internal phenomena. They also proposed “scientific” treatment models for various psychological disorders, and attributed disorders to the social context [46] , or the type of relationship with parents, and childhood events, as is the case with Freudian psychoanalysis in its many versions, and they believed that the solution lies In revealing the psychological mechanisms that produce internal disturbance and imbalance, and that realizing these mechanisms and subjecting them to conscious analysis is sufficient for treatment or recovery and restoration of internal balance.
These theses have been popular since the first decades of the twentieth century, especially with the movement led by the most famous psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud (d. 1939), which aimed to be a new secular religion. Where I love it
“Middle-class [European] city intellectuals, who deeply desire to be at the service of an ideal, the leader of a movement, but who are deprived of any ideal, of any religious, political or philosophical conviction... Their religion was the psychoanalytic movement... [they] They search for a meaning in life , for an idea to sacrifice for, and for an interpretation of life that does not require faith or sacrifice, and that satisfies their need to be part of a movement. All of these needs were met by the psychoanalysis movement... They found everything in psychoanalysis: doctrine, rituals , leader, hierarchy, sense of possession of truth” [47] .
The main attraction of psychoanalysis lies in the fact that it provides “an alternative satisfaction to the deep human aspirations that search for the meaning of life,” claiming that it is possible to reach the truth after transcending “the distortions and projections that prevent reality from ourselves; thus it has become an alternative to religion” [48] .
In light of this context, the status of the psychoanalyst increased, and he became a spiritual guide. “With the eclipse of faith in God, modern man needs another person to turn to, and the therapist had to take his place.” [49] Many people - in the middle and upper classes - became accustomed to visiting psychoanalytic clinics that multiplied beginning in that era, until it was It is normal for each individual to have his own “psychoanalyst, and some of his time was spent on the doctor’s couch, as was the case with people who were accustomed to going to church or temple” [50] .
Perhaps the difficulty of family life and the separation of mothers from their children contributed to the escalation of this crisis. Due to the dominance of the labor market and the decline of the father’s authority [51] , and therefore “the classical structures that allowed subjectivity the opportunity to express itself do not exist,” this was also helped by the medical ideology with a biological tendency that exaggerated the dispensing of psychiatric medications, so that the medications became a kind of Drugs and tranquilizers [52] .
Psychoanalysis therefore offers a spiritual alternative to the religious conception. Discovering and organizing the self and questioning its inner truth leads in Christianity to reaching the absolute, where there is religious hope for immortality, stability, and touching the threshold of eternity. As for the absolute in psychoanalysis, it is that “unknown voice of speech with which we address others.” Let the patient get rid of his conflicts through speech, and let his disturbances be represented by questioning. And “to rebuild itself not as a fortified and closed castle, but as a permanent question,” so psychoanalysis appears in the face of new psychological diseases (drug abuse, for example) “as if it were an act of forgiveness,” even though forgiveness does not solve the existential problem, nor does it remove the pain or pleasure arising from it. Self-destruction, but rather it helps the soul to transcend what it cannot represent by giving it meaning, through questioning and listening provided by the psychotherapist; To reclaim the pain, pleasure, and difficulty of existence, to “start over,” to discover and define the meaning of that pain, and to share it with others.
“Psychoanalysis reveals the conflict that lies at the heart of every human being, and with it no possibility of reaching unity, or the absolute,” because there is no solution except through “questioning and reconsidering,” and “at the end of the analysis, the patient can separate from the absolute that he embodies.” "The analyst," and just as "atheism - as Sartre says - is a harsh process that requires long thinking," so too does psychoanalysis, "as analysis uncovers pain and what cannot be represented, and constitutes a continuous search for the meaning of this thing that cannot be represented . It does not give any hope of stability, but it gives hope with creative and revolutionary energy” [53] .
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[1] Brian Turner, Max Weber on Islam and Confucianism - The Kantian Theory of Secularization, in: Peter Clarke (ed.), previous source, vol. 1, p. 151.
[2] Philippe Portier, Charles Taylor and the Sociology of Secularization, in: Sylvie Taussig (ed.), previous source, p. 76.
[3] Wade Roof, Generations and Religion, included in: Peter Clark (ed.), op. cit., vol. 2, p. 941, in brief and in detail.
[4] On the theoretical level, many Western thinkers presented religion as essentially an “inner religious experience,” most prominent among them the German theologian-philosopher Friedrich Schlemacher (d. 1834 AD), the most prominent American psychologist William James (d. 1910 AD), and the German theologian Rudolf Otto (d. 1937 AD), the specialist Al-Kindi in Religions, Wilfred Smith (d. 2000), a proposal influenced by Protestant ideas. See: Richard King, Imaginary Religions in India, in: M. Dresler and A. Mandair (ed.), Secularism and the Industry of Religion, pp. 61-63, translated by Hassan Ahjij, published by the Arab Network for Research and Publishing, 1st edition 2017 AD.
[5] By: Ollie Rees and Linda Woodhead, The Sociology of Religious Emotion, p. 244, translated by Rabie Wahba, published by the Arab Network for Research and Publishing, 1st edition 2018 AD. Behave.
[6] See:
Claude Fischer, Make-your-own religion, (December 22, 2011):
https://blogs.berkeley.edu/2011/12/22/make-your-own-religion/
For this reason, these contemporary spiritualities - New Age theses as a model - are characterized by fragility and weakness due to excessive subjectivity. The source of the narcissistic self does not help in establishing an alternative social structure and a coherent cultural framework, “because no religion can challenge the status quo unless it contains an approved reference.” “Greater than the individual” drives him to sacrifice and unites members behind a specific goal. In fact, the followers of these spiritual trends do not share common values or beliefs, except for some dull abstract principles such as “no person has the right to tell another person what he should do.” See: Steve Bruce, New Age Spirituality as an Alternative to Secularization - The Invalidation of Individual Religion, pp. 201-204, translated by Rami Touqan, Occidentalism Magazine, Issue 2, December 2016.
[7] Rainer Funk, previous source, pp. 92-94.
[8] See: Eva Hamberg, Spirituality Outside the Control of the Church, included in: Peter Clark (ed.), previous source, vol. 2, p. 1120.
[9] Paul Hellas, The Spirituality of Life, included in: Peter Clarke (editor), previous source, vol. 2, p. 1140.
[10] He also mentions the most prominent theorists in describing the religious experience phenomenologically: Rudolf Otto, The Idea of Al-Qudsi, published by Dar Al-Ma’arif Al-Hikmiyya, 1st edition, 2010 AD. For a broader analysis of the context of this thesis, see: Jean Gresh, The Flaming Bush and the Lights of the Mind, vol. 2, p. 93 et seq., translated by Ezz al-Arab Bennani, published by Dar al-Kitab al-Jadeed, 1st edition 2020 AD. The psychological philosopher William James (d. 1910 AD) tried to approximate the “religious experience” by describing it as “ a mental state known only to religious people; in which the desire to assert ourselves and to hold together is displaced, to be replaced by a willingness to close our mouths and to be nothing in the heart of God’s floods and hurricanes, and when we arrive... In this case, what we were most afraid of becomes our shelter of safety, and the hour of our moral death becomes the hour of our spiritual birth. The time of spiritual tension has passed, and the time of happy tranquility has come, the time of calm and deep breathing, the time of the eternal present . William James, previous source, pp. 94-95.
[11] This meaning is well-known and widespread in the writings of scholars, Sufis, and masters of behavior. Ibn al-Qayyim says, for example: “Whoever knows God, Glory be to Him, and His names and attributes, desires Him, loves Him, and is closest to Him, will find in his heart something that cannot be expressed. He is known only by taste and conscience.” Relief to the anxious in the traps of Satan, p. 947, published by Alam Al-Fawaid, 1st edition 1432 AH. This is confirmed by William James himself, whom I quoted in the previous footnote, when he said, explaining the uniqueness of “religious experience”: “There is something in life that, when a person feels his presence, seems to challenge all possible sources of linguistic expression.” By: Ralph Perry, The Ideas and Personality of William James, p. 433, translated by Muhammad Al-Erian, published by the National Center for Translation, 1st edition, 2013 AD.
[12] Full title: Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life
[13] See: Paul Hellas, The Spirituality of Life, included in: Peter Clarke (ed.), previous source, vol. 2, p. 1161. And: Article (Sheilaism) on Wikipedia.
[14] By: Kerry Mitchell, The Politics of Spirituality - Liberalizing the Definition of Religion, in: M. Dressler and A. Mandair (ed.), previous source, p. 209.
[15] See: Charles Taylor, A Secular Age, pp. 757-758.
[16] For expansion, see:
Mikhail Epstein, Minimal Religion: in the book: Russian Postmodernism: New Perspectives on Post-Soviet Culture (with Alexander Genis and Slobodanka Vladiv-Glover, in the series Studies in Slavic Literature, Culture, and Society, vol. 3), (New York, Oxford: Berghahn Books, 1999), pp.163-171.
[17] By: Ollie Rees and Linda Woodhead, previous source, p. 244.
[18] By: previous source, p. 244.
[19] By: previous source, p. 244.
[20] Nikolai Wenzel, Postmodernism and Religion, in: Peter Clarke (ed.), op. cit., vol. 1, p. 276.
[21] In their book “The Displaced Mind,” published in 1974, Peter Berger and his companions believe that one of the aspects of modernization that generated a feeling of “psychological homelessness” is what can be called “the plurality of living worlds.” In pre-modern societies, the majority of people embrace a set of beliefs. And common and similar traditions - to some extent -; Which facilitates acquaintance between people, and this ideological and cultural rapprochement also enhances the consolidation of beliefs and traditions in the souls, and with the disintegration of the cohesion of the social space due to the effects of the spread of modernist ideas, the deepening of secularization, individualism, and liberal liberation, the increase in the population, and the development of communication and transportation systems inside and outside society with other societies. ; These beliefs fragmented and these traditions became fragmented, and individuals began to realize that their beliefs were not widely recognized, and this caused the spread of doubts and loss of certainty, and the shrinking of the space in which these beliefs were expressed. As it no longer enjoyed collective consensus, and thus the individual’s life was divided into private and public life, and expression and activities related to belief were confined to the private space, and this modern transformation and separation between the public and private spheres; It increases the isolation of the individual from society, and deepens the feeling of “psychological homelessness.” See: Garrett Wilson's review of the book:
Peter Berger, Brigitte Berger, and Hansfried Kellner, The Homeless Mind: Modernization and Consciousness, (Vintage Books, New York, 1974).
on the link:
https://www.garretwilson.com/books/reviews/homeless-mind
[22] By: Steve Bruce, previous source, p. 194.
[23] See: Nadim Al-Bitar, The Coup Ideology, p. 431.
[24] Robert Wuthnow, The Contemporary Encounter between Art and Religion, in: Peter Clarke (ed.), op. cit., vol. 1, p. 550.
[25] Nikolai Wenzel, Postmodernism and Religion, in: Peter Clarke (ed.), op. cit., vol. 1, pp. 273-275.
[26] Karl Doebler, The Meaning and Scope of Secularism, in: Peter Clarke (ed.), previous source, vol. 2, p. 911.
[27] Previous source, vol. 2, p. 915.
[28] See: Steve Bruce, previous source, pp. 197-199.
[29] Paul Hellas, The Spirituality of Life, included in: Peter Clarke (ed.), previous source, vol. 2, p. 1140. Related to spirituality are the esoteric ideas and currents to which some common practices and behaviors are linked, such as interest in horoscopes, tarot cards, divination and astrology. See: Kent Granholm, The Sociology of Western Esotericism, in: Peter Clarke (ed.), op. cit., vol. 2, p. 1195.
[30] The attempt to invent spirituality outside the religious framework involves a false claim, which is the possibility of separating religion as a system of “rituals” from internal spirituality. The truth is that spirituality that brings tranquility, tranquility, a feeling of fullness, and extended and stable inner wealth is only achieved by performing outward rituals and worship while achieving their inner goals. Spirituality is the fruit of those acts of worship, because they do not arise in a vacuum, just as the establishment of virtuous heart meanings strengthens the effect of outward worship in the soul and imprints the spirit. With the nature of sublimity and exaltation. See: Taha Abdel Rahman, The Misery of Secularism - Credit Criticism for Separating Morality from Religion, pp. 140-146, published by the Arab Network for Research and Publishing, 1st edition 2014 AD. And see a valuable research by Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali in which he mentions the way to obtain the effect of apparent devotions in purifying the soul. In: Ihya’ Ulum al-Din, vol. 5, pp. 210-214, published by Dar Al-Minhaj, 2nd edition 1434 AH.
In fact, “reducing religion to spirituality is worse than reducing it to acts of worship, since restricting religion to the inner feeling of faith is more restrictive of human existence than restricting it to outward devotional behavior. Whereas the interior is something unseen through which its existence [i.e., its presence in the visible world through its spirit] and its insight are achieved, and existence and insight cannot be achieved except by the occurrence of existence and sight.” Taha Abd al-Rahman, “The Spirit of Religion - From the Narrowness of Secularism to the Broadness of Trust,” p. 206, published by the Arab Cultural Center, 2nd edition 2012 AD.
The reason for this reduction is the ignorance of these atheists and non-religious people about the reality of spirituality. “Because knowledge of existential spirituality necessitates belief in the true religion, just as it necessitates engaging in a struggle with the soul over its revealed origins. It is knowledge that stems from a living emotional experience, and these people do not believe in the existence of this true religion, and therefore they did not achieve their knowledge of spiritual things except through an abstract intellectual method.” Taha Abdul Rahman, The Misery of Modernism, p. 147.
[31] Sam Harris, The Awakening - A Guide to Spirituality Without Religions, p. 4, translated by Khulud Groves. (electronic copy).
[32] As do some of its prominent figures, such as Deepak Chopra and others. For expansion, see: Haifa Al-Rasheed, The New Age Movement - Its Concept, Origins and Applications, published by the Rooting Center, 1st edition 1435 AH.
[33] Sam Harris, previous source, p. 7.
[34] Previous source, p. 11.
[35] Previous source, p. 63.
[36] Previous source, pp. 77-79.
[37] Previous source, p. 95.
[38] Previous source, p. 111.
[39] See: previous source, 112.
[40] Ulrich Beck, The Risk Society, pp. 213-214. With great behavior.
[41] A French writer points out - in a famous and expressive observation - that the Salpêtrière mental asylum was empty of patients during the French Revolution, and the reason, as Becker says, “is that all the neurotics found a ready-made drama of transcendent action and heroic identity,” that is, the value and meaning that the action produced. The revolutionary caused psychological crises to be healed or overcome. See: Ernest Becker, previous source, p. 196. “Pitit Salpêtrière” is a famous hospital in Paris, affiliated with the Sorbonne University. It was established in 1656 AD, and it still exists today.
[42] Ernest Becker, previous source, pp. 196-197. Behave.
[43] Rollo May, The Problem of Man and Psychology, p. 96, translated by Osama Al-Qafash, published by Dar Al-Kalima Library, 1st edition, 2006 AD.
[44] Ernest Becker, previous source, pp. 196-197.
[45] Rollo May, psychology and the human dilemma, (WWNorton Company, New York, 1979), p. 90.
[46] See: Ernest Becker, previous source, p. 197.
[47] Erich Fromm, Freud’s Mission - An Analysis of His Personality and Influence, pp. 105-106, 111, translated by Talal Atrisi, published by the University Foundation for Studies, 1st edition 1432 AH.
[48] Erich Fromm, Freud’s Task, p. 111.
[49] Ernest Becker, previous source, p. 200. Behave.
[50] Erich Fromm, The Crisis of Psychoanalysis, p. 20. On the other hand, the psychoanalysis movement falls within a general movement that moves towards subjectivity and individualism, as we described previously, and this is a type of psychological treatment in which the patient or client’s self is the center of attention. It is completely consistent with that movement, and some of them even argued that the attraction of psychoanalysis expresses “indulging in a kind of narcissistic luxury, and just as there are those who sell their services to satisfy the sexual needs of others, so there are analysts who play the role of a kind, sympathetic listener to satisfy the narcissistic needs of others, and they obtain Big sums of money for that.” Mario Jacobi, previous source, pp. 16, 33.
[51] The social philosopher Max Horkheimer (d. 1973) links the emergence of fascist and Nazi tendencies with the decline of the father’s authority and changes in the family structure under monopolistic capitalist culture. “The combination of rationalized love on the part of the mother and socially conditioned weakness on the part of the father leaves the child’s ego exposed to society and vulnerable before it.” ; Hence, the child aspires to “superior parents” and to “everything that is strong and socially effective.” Likewise, Theodor Adorno (d. 1969 AD) believes that the narcissistic tendency in the contemporary self - resulting from the deterioration of the traditional family model - provided the opportunity for the development and growth of fascism, which It is achieved through the image of the leader's overwhelming power, and narcissism is manifested in the fact that "the leader's followers experience his person as being so closely identified with them that there is no longer any room for any other vision of the world." Alan Howe, Critical Theory, pp. 145, 149, translated by Thaer Deeb, published by the National Center for Translation, 1st edition 2010 AD. This connection is confirmed by another researcher, who says: “Many young Germans in the 1930s sanctified the Nazi leaders who exaggerated (machismo) to a caricature degree. The Americans invented Rambo after the defeat of Vietnam, and the youth of the suburbs have the gang leader and the extremist leader... The more the social image of the father deteriorates, the more the child demands another, bigger, stronger, and more beautiful.” By: Jean Jabar, Feminism and Its Deviations, included in: Al-Bashir Essam (translator), Feminism’s Felony, p. 294, published by Dalal Center, 1st edition 1441 AH.
[52] See: Julia Kristeva, The New Diseases of Psychology, pp. 453-454, within (Values to Where) under the supervision of Jerome Bundy, translated by Zahida Jabour and Jean Jabour, published by the Tunisian Academy, 1st edition 2005 AD.
[53] Previous source, pp. 456-458.
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