Fear is not necessarily phobia. A phobia is an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something. Yes, that fits the fear which some people have. But I believe that there are some specific fears of religions which are rational and valid. This is not a comprehensive list nor one in any particular order. This is just some thoughts which I wanted to write in response to a recent event. I may add to this when I have time. That being said, the first one is probably my biggest fear. In a way, the fears which follow interconnect with the first one.
Fear of laws controlled by religion
There are countries with the death penalty for homosexuality. These are mostly based on Islamic law. But homosexuality is illegal in Uganda based on Christian influence of law. As a bisexual, I would be killed in some areas. Some counties will kill a person like me who changes from the state religion. My atheism will get me killed in some countries. The anti-abortion motivations are mostly based on interpretations of religion. There's even heavy bias against general birth control based on supernatural beliefs. In addition to these things, limited rights of women, slavery and currently the separation of children from immigrant families have been justified by referencing the Bible.
Fear for women's rights
The texts of the Judaeo-Christian regions are male centric in the lighter areas and downright harsh toward women in other areas. Religion has been used to legally suppress women. The tide has turned in secular run countries. But religious states, especially the ones controlled by laws derived from the Abrahamic religions, are almost universally oppressive to women.
Fear for education
A lot of people believe that their "holy books" are absolutely accurate and without error. Any scientific or historical discoveries which contradict these writings are considered wrong and suppressible. Some people believe that biblical views should be taught on equal terms while others support outright bans of contradictory information. People have been executed for differing opinions.
Fear for the environment
Air and water pollution were very bad in many areas of the United States when I was a kid. There was resistance to laws to clean things up and keep them clean. Some of the opposition came from religious groups. I asked someone about his opposition. He replied that it's all wasted expense because the end times prophesied in Revelations are close. Recently, there have been movements by some Christians to promote the idea that striving for a clean environment is biblical. Other Christian groups were opposed to that and even claimed that environmentalism is sinful. Some oil companies saw the latter groups as potential allies and funded them.
Fear of the restriction and loss of critical thinking
Religion, by its very nature, relies on people not thinking through things. There are concerns by some religionists that they are on the losing side. That's not yet happened, in part because people are prevented from or conditioned to avoid seeing contradictory information. Of course, that is not exclusive to religion. But most promoters of religion have it in their best interests to hide facts and masquerade their own regressive perspectives as truth.
Sunday, June 17, 2018
A problem with discussing Islam
There have been so much extreme anti-Muslim expression that it is difficult to discuss criticism of Islam without fear of being branded a hater. I believe that there are legitimate issues with Islam as I believe that there are issues with all supernatural beliefs, especially those which have been codified.
There are a wide range of people who call themselves Muslim. I have met people who were more general Muslims in that they did not believe in literal interpretation and adherence. I've known some who adhere to the core rituals but have modern interpretations regarding a number of subjects. Yet I have also encountered extremist Muslims. But the same range occur with Christians and followers of Judaism. The religions and their influence on people's actions are quite similar. So a lot of my criticism is toward religion and supernatural beliefs in general. But each religion does have their particular issues.
But some progressive folks who want to discuss issues specific to Islam are branded as Islamophobes and lumped in with the right-wingers. But there really are differences between critics of the religion and the people who believe. When I discuss issues which I believe to exist with particular belief systems, I am not expressing hate for the believers. How I feel about the people is dependent on the specifics of what attitudes and actions result from their beliefs. Unfortunately, there have been so much irrational and ugly anti-Muslim expressions that the rest of the discussion gets muzzled.
There are a wide range of people who call themselves Muslim. I have met people who were more general Muslims in that they did not believe in literal interpretation and adherence. I've known some who adhere to the core rituals but have modern interpretations regarding a number of subjects. Yet I have also encountered extremist Muslims. But the same range occur with Christians and followers of Judaism. The religions and their influence on people's actions are quite similar. So a lot of my criticism is toward religion and supernatural beliefs in general. But each religion does have their particular issues.
But some progressive folks who want to discuss issues specific to Islam are branded as Islamophobes and lumped in with the right-wingers. But there really are differences between critics of the religion and the people who believe. When I discuss issues which I believe to exist with particular belief systems, I am not expressing hate for the believers. How I feel about the people is dependent on the specifics of what attitudes and actions result from their beliefs. Unfortunately, there have been so much irrational and ugly anti-Muslim expressions that the rest of the discussion gets muzzled.
Saturday, June 2, 2018
About Dreams
I often have vivid dreams. They are often story style dreams but sometimes with impossible shifts and events in the stories. I occasionally have dreams which appear very realistic in my waking memory of them. Some were so vivid and realistic that my brain stores them as memories as if they were real events. An example is a dream or series of dreams where I stole cars. I had these dreams in my 20's. I know as fact that I never stole any cars. Yet the memories are there like half forgotten events.
I can definitely see how people can think that dreams as spiritually or dimensionally significance. I recall reading a book by a guy who even claimed that he traveled to other dimensions when he slept. My interpretations of dreams used to lean toward giving high significance to dreams. But, as I did with other matters in my life, I decided to take a more physical approach to dreams. My personal analysis and reading supplied the idea that there are multiple neurological causes for dreams.
The brain is complex. But it can generally be understood that we have cognitive functions and autonomic functions in the brain. A lot of the brain activity during sleep is autonomic. However, cognitive functions during sleep are suppressed rather than completely shut down. This is important to understand relating to the types of dreams. One of the autonomic functions of the brain during sleep is the processing of memories, which include activities, conversions and even thoughts which occur during waking times. I've read that the brain doesn't just transfer memories from short term memory to long term memory. The brain sort of replays the memories in order to associate them with related long term memories. This relates to dreams because the suppressed cognitive functions perceives some of the memory activity and tries to make sense of it. But we cannot usually think in a conscious way during sleep so the suppressed cognitive functions have difficulties making sense of what is going on. So sort of an unconscious imagination comes into play to interpret the memory replay. People who can remember their dreams can see how the dreams usually change based on changing conscious attitudes and experiences. For example, I tend to have more science fiction oriented dreams when I watch or read science fiction. Horror style dreams sometimes occur after watching a horror movie. When I was younger, I tended to have supernatural type dreams when I had religious and supernatural beliefs. A lot of my current dreams relate to travel because I think a lot and have planning related to the cross-country trip which I will do in less than 3 years from now. I also have work related dreams both relating to my current work and what I might do after the trip.
A second aspect of dreams relates to physical conditions during sleep. If I have the need to get up and use the bathroom, the dream which I have at the time will incorporate bathroom use in the dream. If I don't wake up when the urge initially comes, bathroom events will become repetitive in the dream until I wake up. Sounds which occur while sleeping can get incorporated in the dreams, sometimes as sounds and sometimes as shifts in the dream. Getting tangled in my bed sheets can result in some kind of entanglement in my dreams.
So 2 primary causes of dreams are memory (processing of memories which the suppressed cognition tries to interpret) and conditional (what is happening physically). A 3rd aspect of dreams can relate to the suppressed consciousness continuing thoughts which might have occurred during the day. I can sometimes generate specific styles of dreams based on what I am thinking about as I go to sleep. Sort of a 4th aspect to dreaming, which I think accounts for some of the more bizarre or chaotic dreams, is the merging of the other aspects of dreaming. Since cognition is suppressed, the sometimes conflicting dream elements generated by the different functions of the brain can result in odd twists, turns, shifts and even overlapping dream elements.
Another factor in dreams is neurochemistry. Different activities release different chemicals and nerve impulses. Sleep requires specific neurochemistry. However, certain dream activity can confuse the nervous system and cause a release of some neurochemical activity which normally occurs with wakeful activity. Since the body has limited mobility during sleep, the neurochemistry affected by dream activity can further affect the states of the dreams.
I find dreams entertaining and sometimes interesting. But I feel that the specifics of dreams have limited importance since a primary factor in dreams is suppressed cognition. But there is one thing which I find useful about dreams. Since an aspect of dreams relates to memories which come from occurrences and mental states during conscious times, some patterns in dreams can be useful to understanding our conscious states. But this can have a lot of misinterpretations so I mainly use dreams as a reference tool rather than a diagnostic tool.
Further reading:
Human Brain Still Awake, Even During Deep Sleep
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081008101740.htm
What Happens in the Brain During Sleep?
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-happens-in-the-brain-during-sleep1/
Why Do We Dream? Recent Developments In Neuroscience May Have The Answer.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2016/10/04/why-do-we-dream-recent-developments-in-neuroscience-may-have-the-answer/#212156055451
Cognitive neuroscience of dreams
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_neuroscience_of_dreams
How Sleep Works - Neurological Mechanisms of Sleep
https://www.howsleepworks.com/how_neurological.html
Dreams - Introduction
https://www.howsleepworks.com/dreams.html
I can definitely see how people can think that dreams as spiritually or dimensionally significance. I recall reading a book by a guy who even claimed that he traveled to other dimensions when he slept. My interpretations of dreams used to lean toward giving high significance to dreams. But, as I did with other matters in my life, I decided to take a more physical approach to dreams. My personal analysis and reading supplied the idea that there are multiple neurological causes for dreams.
The brain is complex. But it can generally be understood that we have cognitive functions and autonomic functions in the brain. A lot of the brain activity during sleep is autonomic. However, cognitive functions during sleep are suppressed rather than completely shut down. This is important to understand relating to the types of dreams. One of the autonomic functions of the brain during sleep is the processing of memories, which include activities, conversions and even thoughts which occur during waking times. I've read that the brain doesn't just transfer memories from short term memory to long term memory. The brain sort of replays the memories in order to associate them with related long term memories. This relates to dreams because the suppressed cognitive functions perceives some of the memory activity and tries to make sense of it. But we cannot usually think in a conscious way during sleep so the suppressed cognitive functions have difficulties making sense of what is going on. So sort of an unconscious imagination comes into play to interpret the memory replay. People who can remember their dreams can see how the dreams usually change based on changing conscious attitudes and experiences. For example, I tend to have more science fiction oriented dreams when I watch or read science fiction. Horror style dreams sometimes occur after watching a horror movie. When I was younger, I tended to have supernatural type dreams when I had religious and supernatural beliefs. A lot of my current dreams relate to travel because I think a lot and have planning related to the cross-country trip which I will do in less than 3 years from now. I also have work related dreams both relating to my current work and what I might do after the trip.
A second aspect of dreams relates to physical conditions during sleep. If I have the need to get up and use the bathroom, the dream which I have at the time will incorporate bathroom use in the dream. If I don't wake up when the urge initially comes, bathroom events will become repetitive in the dream until I wake up. Sounds which occur while sleeping can get incorporated in the dreams, sometimes as sounds and sometimes as shifts in the dream. Getting tangled in my bed sheets can result in some kind of entanglement in my dreams.
So 2 primary causes of dreams are memory (processing of memories which the suppressed cognition tries to interpret) and conditional (what is happening physically). A 3rd aspect of dreams can relate to the suppressed consciousness continuing thoughts which might have occurred during the day. I can sometimes generate specific styles of dreams based on what I am thinking about as I go to sleep. Sort of a 4th aspect to dreaming, which I think accounts for some of the more bizarre or chaotic dreams, is the merging of the other aspects of dreaming. Since cognition is suppressed, the sometimes conflicting dream elements generated by the different functions of the brain can result in odd twists, turns, shifts and even overlapping dream elements.
Another factor in dreams is neurochemistry. Different activities release different chemicals and nerve impulses. Sleep requires specific neurochemistry. However, certain dream activity can confuse the nervous system and cause a release of some neurochemical activity which normally occurs with wakeful activity. Since the body has limited mobility during sleep, the neurochemistry affected by dream activity can further affect the states of the dreams.
I find dreams entertaining and sometimes interesting. But I feel that the specifics of dreams have limited importance since a primary factor in dreams is suppressed cognition. But there is one thing which I find useful about dreams. Since an aspect of dreams relates to memories which come from occurrences and mental states during conscious times, some patterns in dreams can be useful to understanding our conscious states. But this can have a lot of misinterpretations so I mainly use dreams as a reference tool rather than a diagnostic tool.
Further reading:
Human Brain Still Awake, Even During Deep Sleep
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081008101740.htm
What Happens in the Brain During Sleep?
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-happens-in-the-brain-during-sleep1/
Why Do We Dream? Recent Developments In Neuroscience May Have The Answer.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2016/10/04/why-do-we-dream-recent-developments-in-neuroscience-may-have-the-answer/#212156055451
Cognitive neuroscience of dreams
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_neuroscience_of_dreams
How Sleep Works - Neurological Mechanisms of Sleep
https://www.howsleepworks.com/how_neurological.html
Dreams - Introduction
https://www.howsleepworks.com/dreams.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)