Forty years ago, my research on the relationship between religious fundamentalist beliefs and peak experiences [Breed, G.,& Fagan, J. (1972). Religious dogmatism and peak experiences: a test of Maslow’s hypothesis. Psychological Reports, 31, 866] showed that folk with high fundamentalist beliefs were less likely to have peak, oceanic, or mystical experiences. Stating it another way, folk having mystical or peak experiences were less likely to be religious fundamentalists.
My later research showed that people with concrete conceptual systems were more likely to go against the evidence of their senses and yield to group pressure to accept a false conclusion than were people with abstract (open) conceptual systems.
Today I call these differences in human consciousness: the hedgehog and the phoenix. The hedgehog, when challenged, rolls itself into a tight ball with extended bristles. The phoenix, when challenged, lets its old self burn into ashes and rises anew. A huge difference in style.
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If your research is correct, then where does it fit in with other studies showing the psychological benefits of religion? Your research would tend to suggest that an individual's strict religious framework or belief system is in some sense delusional because that person is rejecting unusual sensory inputs and seeking the advice of others rather than working out or analyzing the experience on his or her own. Or am I completely off base here?
ReplyDeleteIs this because the phoenix Loves, but the hedgehog fears?
ReplyDeleteJohn & Patrick, I will respond with my take on this in a forthcoming blog. Thank you for your inquiring minds.
ReplyDeletePerhaps others of you who read this will give your thoughts before that time. Data is data -- what do it mean, Billy Bob?
Your characterization of these "types" certainly supports similar findings I've read over the years, but your research seems to have preceded the others by a few decades. Good work!
ReplyDeleteYour labels reminded me of a long essay on Tolstoy written in the 1950s by Sir Isaiah Berlin entitled "The Hedgehog and the Fox." You might want to chase it down (Simon & Shuster 1968). In it, Berlin quotes an ancient adage, "The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing." Berlin says this difference means that the hedgehogs relate all human experience to one organizing principle (perhaps the fundamentalist beliefs you cited), while the foxes "seize upon the world's variety for its own sake," (or, perhaps peak experiencers, mystics, and the like).
The issue surrounding this for me is that there is some deeper level of the psyche that formulates these diametrically diverse world views: What is that deeper level?
I look forward to your future writings on this, George, as I do to all of your observations and insights. This one's a dandy.
I wonder...I view mystic or peak experiences sort of as a letting go or surrender of form or fear...a deep abiding trust in what is rather then how things should be. It allows for the imperfect to be perfect in it's own way. This seems contradictory to the fund-a-mental-ist perspective.
ReplyDeleteGreg, thank you for the Isaiah Berlin reference. Our local university library has it. I'll trek over there today and get it. Sounds highly relevant. Will probably inspire new thought, which is always a blessing.
ReplyDeleteYour question concerning the deeper level is exactly where I'm heading in this dialogic monolog.