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THE SOURCE OF RELIGIOUS NEED
Antagonistic Tendencies
A distinction should be made between normal developments
bringing changes in the direction of our interests, and
inhibitions of development that must be taken into account in
connection with a human being’s religious attitudes. We are
in some sense divided against ourselves. Affect-systems
sometimes include mutually incompatible qualities of feeling.
Tendencies antagonistic to the religious tendency may
counteract it or struggle against it. Negative experiences can destroy
a healthily developing religious tendency as a sprouting bud
is withered by a night-frost. If the religious need is suppressed
or repressed, it finds an outlet in disguised forms, sometimes
even as irreligion, which, as someone has truly said, can be as
dangerous to mental health as suppressed sexuality.
Wholesome personal development includes two things: first
healthy growth and development of the religious tendency;
second, development of the ability to give expression to the
religious tendency resulting from an increasing perception of
the religious significance of all experiences and an
environmental situation that encourages growth.
Where the latter is lacking, religion remains mere longing.
Where the opportunity for expression is found and perception is
developed, religion becomes a function of the total personality.
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