In a recent thread or two, the topic of "magical thinking" came up.
Someone mentioned the "law of believing" as being at least a part of magical thinking. Perhaps that's true, but that's not my understanding of the term, which I didn't make up.
Neither did the so-called law of believing (or much of anything else, btw) originate with Wierwille.
"Think you don't believe in magic? Think again. Our brains are designed to pick up on patterns: Making connections helped our ancestors survive. You're not crazy if you're fond of jinxes, lucky charms, premonitions, wish fulfillment, or karma. You're just human."
We (former followers of Wierwille) were simply hoodwinked into believing that Wierwille was a god (I know he didn't use that term to describe himself, but he set himself up as the god of the cult anyway) who revealed to us a new mystical experience and way of conducting our lives (the 12 manifestations of pneuma hagion). He thus claimed it was something the First Century Church did and HE could show us how to live like that in the 20th (i.e. the blue book).
Magical thinking is further described,
Magical thinking springs up everywhere. Some irrational beliefs ... are passed on to us. But others we find on our own. Survival requires recognizing patternsnight follows day, berries that color will make you ill. And because missing the obvious often hurts more than seeing the imaginary, our skills at inferring connections are overtuned. No one told Wade Boggs that eating chicken before every single game would help his batting average; he decided that on his own, and no one can argue with his success. We look for patterns because we hate surprises and because we love being in control. Emotional stress and events of personal significance push us strongly toward magical meaning-making. Lancaster University psychologist Eugene Subbotsky relates an exemplary tale. "I was in Moscow walking with my little son down a long empty block," he recalls. Suddenly a parked car started moving on its own, then swerved toward them, and finally struck an iron gate just centimeters away. "We escaped death very narrowly, and I keep thinking magically about this episode. Although I'm a rational man, I'm a scientist, I'm studying this phenomenon, there are some events in your life that you cannot explain rationally. Under certain circumstances I really feel like someone or something is guiding my life and helping me." (Personally I would have felt like something was trying to kill me and needed to work on its aim.)
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When I was young, something like Subbotsky experienced would, partly because of twi dogma (dealing with the adversary), have scared the crap out of me.
If we are indoctrinated into a subculture that obsesses over the devil, of course we're going to infer that the devil's trying to kill us. But are there rational explanations when things like that happen?
"... you are wired to find meaning in the world, a predisposition that leaves you with less control over your beliefs than you may think. Even if you're a hard-core atheist who walks under ladders and pronounces "new age" like "sewage," you believe in magic."
At this time, I simply recognize and understand that Wierwille provided a framework to susceptible (mostly) young people based on known psychological/motivational techniques. In so doing, those of us who got caught up in it looked at the world through his framework. I also do not believe that Wierwille's framework constituted Christianity, even though he used biblical terms and verses to teach it and justify it.
There are other so-called Christian flavors that diverge immensely from the nugget that Jesus set forth in Matt 22:36-40. Namely, Dominionism. And yet, I am confident that some people actually did connect with a more genuine Christianity via (in spite of) TWI.
To me, the epitome of Wierwille's pathologic narcissism is wrapped up in his advanced class teaching on keys to walking in the spirit.
Wouldn't it be fair to characterize those keys as license to do what you want and claim what's really your own "inner voice" giving you that permission and you think it's really God?
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I recall a time sitting in the BRC at HQ, during the summer of the 9th corpse's first year in residence, with Wierwille. He, of course, was holding forth in a relaxed, matter of fact manner.
I mentioned something about Patrick Henry, the 18th century American who declared, "give me liberty or give me death." Wierwille about went ballistic, thinking I had referred to Thomas Paine.
Paine's name was familiar, but I didn't recall the significance at the time. And I didn't understand why it would make him angry. Now I do.
Besides being almost singlehandedly responsible for inciting the American Revolution, Paine's essay on, The Age of Reason, drew extreme ire from clergy of his time because it superstition and magical thinking head on.
Someone mentioned the "law of believing" as being at least a part of magical thinking. Perhaps that's true, but that's not my understanding of the term, which I didn't make up.
Neither did the so-called law of believing (or much of anything else, btw) originate with Wierwille.
"Think you don't believe in magic? Think again. Our brains are designed to pick up on patterns: Making connections helped our ancestors survive. You're not crazy if you're fond of jinxes, lucky charms, premonitions, wish fulfillment, or karma. You're just human."
We (former followers of Wierwille) were simply hoodwinked into believing that Wierwille was a god (I know he didn't use that term to describe himself, but he set himself up as the god of the cult anyway) who revealed to us a new mystical experience and way of conducting our lives (the 12 manifestations of pneuma hagion). He thus claimed it was something the First Century Church did and HE could show us how to live like that in the 20th (i.e. the blue book).
Magical thinking is further described,
Magical thinking springs up everywhere. Some irrational beliefs ... are passed on to us. But others we find on our own. Survival requires recognizing patternsnight follows day, berries that color will make you ill. And because missing the obvious often hurts more than seeing the imaginary, our skills at inferring connections are overtuned. No one told Wade Boggs that eating chicken before every single game would help his batting average; he decided that on his own, and no one can argue with his success. We look for patterns because we hate surprises and because we love being in control. Emotional stress and events of personal significance push us strongly toward magical meaning-making. Lancaster University psychologist Eugene Subbotsky relates an exemplary tale. "I was in Moscow walking with my little son down a long empty block," he recalls. Suddenly a parked car started moving on its own, then swerved toward them, and finally struck an iron gate just centimeters away. "We escaped death very narrowly, and I keep thinking magically about this episode. Although I'm a rational man, I'm a scientist, I'm studying this phenomenon, there are some events in your life that you cannot explain rationally. Under certain circumstances I really feel like someone or something is guiding my life and helping me." (Personally I would have felt like something was trying to kill me and needed to work on its aim.)
---------
When I was young, something like Subbotsky experienced would, partly because of twi dogma (dealing with the adversary), have scared the crap out of me.
If we are indoctrinated into a subculture that obsesses over the devil, of course we're going to infer that the devil's trying to kill us. But are there rational explanations when things like that happen?
"... you are wired to find meaning in the world, a predisposition that leaves you with less control over your beliefs than you may think. Even if you're a hard-core atheist who walks under ladders and pronounces "new age" like "sewage," you believe in magic."
At this time, I simply recognize and understand that Wierwille provided a framework to susceptible (mostly) young people based on known psychological/motivational techniques. In so doing, those of us who got caught up in it looked at the world through his framework. I also do not believe that Wierwille's framework constituted Christianity, even though he used biblical terms and verses to teach it and justify it.
There are other so-called Christian flavors that diverge immensely from the nugget that Jesus set forth in Matt 22:36-40. Namely, Dominionism. And yet, I am confident that some people actually did connect with a more genuine Christianity via (in spite of) TWI.
To me, the epitome of Wierwille's pathologic narcissism is wrapped up in his advanced class teaching on keys to walking in the spirit.
Wouldn't it be fair to characterize those keys as license to do what you want and claim what's really your own "inner voice" giving you that permission and you think it's really God?
------------
I recall a time sitting in the BRC at HQ, during the summer of the 9th corpse's first year in residence, with Wierwille. He, of course, was holding forth in a relaxed, matter of fact manner.
I mentioned something about Patrick Henry, the 18th century American who declared, "give me liberty or give me death." Wierwille about went ballistic, thinking I had referred to Thomas Paine.
Paine's name was familiar, but I didn't recall the significance at the time. And I didn't understand why it would make him angry. Now I do.
Besides being almost singlehandedly responsible for inciting the American Revolution, Paine's essay on, The Age of Reason, drew extreme ire from clergy of his time because it superstition and magical thinking head on.