Hi Ngawang Drolma,Ngawang Drolma wrote:Pure and Good? No, I've never said that. Just saying that if it's a house of cards that's being built, at least start with a solid foundation so that wind meets mountain.- Delusions of grandeur and attainment.
- Clinical depression.
- Psychosis.
- Extreme intellectual rigidity, or extreme lack of personal boundaries.
- OCD
- runaway magical thinkingFor many humans, the irrationality of religion serves as a gateway for the egoic embracement of other irrational mind-statesI've seen it happen to some, what Pink Trike describes. The mind can be a dangerous place. It's the person not the religion, of course. But I don't think PT is really putting the responsibility on Buddhism.Religion, including Buddhism if it is engaged with religiosity, is easy pickin's for the crafty ego in it's quest to run the show.
Actually, I do put the responsibility squarely on any institutionalized religion (Buddhism included) that doesn't acknowledge that what they widely disperse is potentially mind-altering and potentially dangerous to many people, especially in this time/place when the collective human mind is in a near barbaric state of confusion, alienation, and disconnection from the natural world. There was a time when the mysteries and related practices required initiation and close supervision, and were only given to those who were believed to be capable of integrating them safely, and who had been very carefully trained over long periods of time to receive them in a way that didn't endanger them - in environments that helped keep the initiate on the right path.
Imo, when the the mysteries are widely dispersed via mainstream publication channels or urban teaching centers (that resemble factories) that have no time for individual consultation (both frequently resulting in enormous profit - but that's another topic) and without personal supervision or care about the mental states of those who blunder into the teachings - this defines religious corruption. It really is no different than letting our children grow up sitting in front of the violence box for years and then wondering why there is so much violence in our world. It should be no surprise that mind-altering practices (mind-training practices) combined with religious irrationality can potentially cause mental disorders.
The human mind tends to default toward literality and irrationality - so great care must be taken to make sure that what is put into it doesn't harm or result in thicker literality or deeper irrationality. At this point in the evolution of religion, much harm is being done to many people, and countless people are being led deeper into delusion that can result in any number of mental dis-eases or pathologies. Unfortunately most institutionalized religions have built a wall between them and the field of psychology (and the natural world). The field of psychotherapy is all to often left to clean up their messes. Religion has turned into a cheap drug for the masses, with the same dangerous potential as street drugs.