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SYMPTOMATIC RELIGIOSITY
Compulsive Systematisation
A very typical form of neurotic behaviour that often finds a
religious outlet is compulsive systematisation. The fanatical
supporter of orthodoxy is an example of this. He is a person who
cannot enjoy inward peace or a sense of personal security except
with the support of a firmly knit system of religious thought,
every link of which must be well and truly forged. The question
here is not one of a synthesis of ideas or a well-balanced view of
spiritual realities. It is the formulation of words and sentences
that concerns the neurotic systematiser. He demands that
everything be defined and feels that he has nothing left to hold on to
unless every religious idea can be expressed with a verbal precision
that leaves no loopholes for misunderstanding or misconstruction. `
Another form of systematisation is also found in the
neurotically religious. People for whom self-preoccupation and
selfquestioning have become intolerable sometimes find release
from self-torture when they become aware of the objectivity of
spiritual realities. Just as a person will release himself from
responsibility for making his own choices and decisions by
committing himself unreservedly to an authoritarian faith or
leader, so some neurotically religious people dispose of all their
spiritual difficulties by asserting the ‘absolute otherness’ of God
and the autonomy of the realm of the spirit. The human
creature is utterly sinful and utterly helpless, they affirm. He
can do nothing, therefore he need do nothing. Several systems
of theological thought satisfy this longing for religious
objectivity. Barthianism is a good current example. It has for many
years provided a convenient retreat for souls wounded by the
thorns of religious subjectivism.
Certain forms of ritualism serve a similar purpose. If one has
failed to synthesise one’s religious tendencies and aspirations or
to give religious feelings constructive expression it may be a
great relief to turn one’s back on one’s failures and passively
accept a finished system of formal worship and regulated
religious activities. Thus a religious tradition may become a
hiding-place for a person who is spiritually afraid of life
instead of a means of releasing spiritual vitality.
Spiritual health is found in a synthesis between the
subjective and objective aspects of religion; in a harmonious union
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