11-25-2009, 08:17 PM
I'm so glad you preserved Steve's excellent post! I almost didn't want to delete the thread because I didn't want to lose that!
Excellent topic of discussion!
I think mainstream religions are full of those hooks. "God loves you...you are a wretched sinner...believe a certain way, or ELSE! be tortured forever! oh but God loves you..."
This pattern is easily recognized in fundamentalist religions, but perhaps more difficult to recognize when it's cloaked in New Age jargon.
What I've noticed as being helpful is to get past the fluff and dissect what is really being said...remember how we used to dissect sentences in English class? Or, if you've ever taken a logic class, you'll know about congruency...look for congruency. If the statements aren't congruent, then that's a clue right there. Ex: "You are a beautiful being of Light...you have free will and can discern for youself...I am from Dimension X and I have the truth...believe what I say or you won't ascend" ...stuff like that...see how it's incongruous? First it said we can discern, then it said it was an authority...you can't have it both ways! If they are claiming to be some sort of authority or expert, or if they say something bad will happen if we don't do xyz, or if reading it generates FEAR, then I would be suspicous of mixed-polarity or even negative polarity. The good guys don't threaten or judge!
Excellent topic of discussion!
I think mainstream religions are full of those hooks. "God loves you...you are a wretched sinner...believe a certain way, or ELSE! be tortured forever! oh but God loves you..."
This pattern is easily recognized in fundamentalist religions, but perhaps more difficult to recognize when it's cloaked in New Age jargon.
What I've noticed as being helpful is to get past the fluff and dissect what is really being said...remember how we used to dissect sentences in English class? Or, if you've ever taken a logic class, you'll know about congruency...look for congruency. If the statements aren't congruent, then that's a clue right there. Ex: "You are a beautiful being of Light...you have free will and can discern for youself...I am from Dimension X and I have the truth...believe what I say or you won't ascend" ...stuff like that...see how it's incongruous? First it said we can discern, then it said it was an authority...you can't have it both ways! If they are claiming to be some sort of authority or expert, or if they say something bad will happen if we don't do xyz, or if reading it generates FEAR, then I would be suspicous of mixed-polarity or even negative polarity. The good guys don't threaten or judge!