Skáldskapr: How does religion affect psychology?

Today I’d like to discuss how religion affects our basic psychology, as many of you have asked me how that works. This is a great question, and I think it deserves a thorough discussion, because I feel that most people don’t understand even by thinking that “my spirituality has nothing to do with me as a person”, does it make it right, and I strongly disagree with the premise.  This is especially true when an individual declares a lack of faith in anything spiritually related at all. I propose that our entire psychological foundation is built upon values established by monotheistic practices which has mutated from a dependence on honor and truth, to the population control  paradigm it has become.  The most basic of constructs within our mind is based on values of “good” or “bad” that was instituted and “programmed” into our psyche from before our physical birth, most often inadvertently by the previous generations (no offense to the moms and dads here). These core understandings establishes the cornerstones to what we will interpret any information received. This then becomes our knowledge, and ultimately our wisdom. However, I want to be sure I separate the theology from the practice, as monotheistic theology makes complete sense, however, the horrible methods of conversion and implementation of the monotheistic practices across the globe needs to be identified as the psychological “brain washing” and domineering population control it is.

The primary issue we find with the implementation of these monotheistic “practices” is that it becomes increasingly difficult to separate the theology from the practice as time marches on. The underlying paradigm shift that has been happening throughout the current epoch has converted the idea of “honorable until not”, to a “different levels of dishonor”, by encouraging the teaching of the assumption of the original sin (and the associated guilt) from birth from an imaginary crime that they never experienced. In other words according to these modern beliefs, most modern day physical entities are born accepting a level of guilt, because of their forced separation from their deity. This imagined gap produces a cycle of guilt that becomes increasingly difficult to escape from, even when many attempt to discard this understanding. This is where we find that, while some may claim “happiness”, they have filled their deity channel with objects of material wealth. But, as we have heard from countless billionaires “money cannot buy happiness”, “it only buys amnesia”. Ok, so maybe that’s my interpretation.

The forced, hidden ideology of diversity within these modern practices has an obligatory Intrinsic value of “haves” and “have nots” that has caused a lifetime of division and mistrust. This subliminal doctrine causes an inherent division within the practitioners, creating a “we” versus “them” type of scenario between the practice, and the society around it. Notice I am trying to limit my scope to the practice, and not the theology. The understanding of a singular entity on the other side of our deity communications channel is completely understandable and logical. In much the same way we refer to a group as “a team”, or “a crowd”, so too can you apply monotheism to the deity connection they have. That part of their belief is understandable, however it is the practice (the action part (distribution and adoption)) that has caused so much suffering and tragedy throughout the millennia for a substantial number of groups. To this point, let us discuss some of the points promoted by this new monotheistic “church” that created division within society.

1. One of the cornerstone beliefs and teachings is “thou shall not have any other gods before me” within their holy texts. This meant that all the societies that had come and gone were fundamentally wrong in their beliefs. It also gave rise to the concept that, those not “with us” are “against us”. Which would lead to the slaughter of millions of people throughout the millennia.
2. The only method of being with god was recognizing their gods child as they way. While this is limited only through the Christian practice, the practice condemns anyone who has different beliefs. Before the “gods child” was introduced, we see the necessity of a member of the church running interference for the average person.
3. While the “heathens” of the north were savages in their beliefs and condemned to (their)Hell, it was completely acceptable to take all the celebrations that the Norse had and rebrand it.

The underlying idea that the monotheistic practices forced a level of inclusion, whether by desire or by force is what has always concerned me with that practice. The idea that one belief system was superior to another is what is the primary source of most of today’s societal issues. As we find the level of enforcement varied, by the assigned guilt and shame became more demonstrative throughout the generations. It is this guilt and shame that I believe causes the most damage to modern day psychology. The diversity within the enforcement types and levels, is what then makes it increasingly difficult to recognize these minuscule instances of guilt/shame within the psyche, as we may have already separated from the practice, yet the guilt/shame remain. How can that be?

In consideration about this guilt and shame, we must consider what I believe happens to these small instances. I believe that they are stored in memory with all the sensory memories attached. By retaining the sensory inter connectivity we leave open the doorway for new sensory input to then re-ignite the emotional chemistry flood to the brain. Each of these instances of guilt and/or shame create a chemical imbalance within the brain, thereby altering every piece of data retained and/or constructed by the brain, are corrupted by the chemical imbalance. This storage of corrupt data then creates inaccurate relationships between different pieces of stored data, ultimately leading to a fragmented knowledge base in which to review all future received data.

This is really where we can visualize the corruption of data into the storage locations within the brain. As the sensory input travels from the organ to the brain (in our example here we’ll use the hearing (so, we heard someone say something)), it depends on the neural connections between the ear drum and the brain stem where the signal enters into the brain complex. In our imagined travel in this example, there may be hundreds of neural connection between the two, meaning that the chemical balance of the fluid surrounding the neural joint may manipulate the actual data point being passed.

How can we avoid this cycle you may wonder? Well, honestly we can’t stop it from happening, however what we can do is understand and control our reaction to these instances of guilt or shame. We must focus on what they are, a lesson in emotional change. Once the instance is evaluated to determine if changes are necessary, it can be discarded. Once each of the instances are addressed and determined as to their redemptive value if any, they can be dumped from our psyche all together. Slowly we can remove the negative stigma from those minor events that we have committed in the past. If we have learned not to do it again, as an example, then we need to forget about it. I have found that making a big deal out of forgetting something seems to have more power, as the verbalization come all the way back to antiquity and Galdr magic and it’s incantation of the magical spells. This release allows us to dissipate the negative energies associated with these little instances, thereby reducing our overall baseline anxiety.

The idea behind the manipulation of our psychology by these religious beliefs, we must separate the practice from the theology. What many may not realize is the influence that the spiritual channel has on our basic psychology. As I’ve explained before and elsewhere, our ability to processed, received sensory input into the brain is based solely on the chemical makeup surrounding the neural pathway between the sensory organ, and the brain. By elevating the chemical imbalances by attaching to our emotional processes, we can alter how data is actually received at, and into the brain processes. This is an absolutely critical function when we consider the impact that this might have on creating relationships to other data points within the brain, which may, or may not, be related at all.