Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Religious moral reasoning vs. guilt and getting better

A reader sent me this video of David Woods (Christian psychopath) talking about his religious conversion and how he gets pushback from other Christians because he still doesn't feel guilt.

First, him explaining (I don't think super well) about guilt. 


Second, him talking about how religious people insist that feelings of guilt are a necessary part of religious conversion/salvation. 



I remember when I got judged by some members of my own church, they said that it wasn't necessarily what I had done in the past that made me such a bad person, but that the way that I felt about it. I thought that was a totally anticipated reaction for people to have because my religion does emphasize to a certain point one's change of heart over the ledger recording one's actions in life, whether good and bad. That is, someone might have a change of heart at the last minute death row style and still be just as worthy of salvation as someone who had been "good" their entire life. On the other hand, it's obvious a mental health disorder to not have the same feelings of guilt and to expect someone to feel differently is like expecting gay people to not be attracted to members of the same sex. So I feel like this thoughts vs. action issue is something that many if not all religions have had to evolve their thinking on as we learn more and more the limits of controlling one's thoughts and feelings.

A quick word about guilt. The way I explain a sociopath's lack of guilt is through sense of self. Shame is something that society imposes on you to make you feel bad because you have violated one of their moral constructs. Guilt is a feeling that you have violated your own moral construct or self construct. For instance, if you think of yourself as being an honest and generous person, you may feel guilt if you behave in a dishonest or selfish way. But if you don't think of yourself in any sort of terms, either as being dishonest or honest, you won't ever have experience guilt because you won't ever violate your own self concept. I think sociopaths can regret that things didn't play out differently, and they can even feel remorse when they understand that it was their action that led to things paying out poorly or hurting people that they didn't want to hurt but maybe in a moment of extra impulsivity they did hurt.

Here's his video saying that before a sociopath can get better, he has to see himself as having a problem or being flawed or missing something, rather than seeing sociopathy exclusively as a super power.






10 comments:

  1. How do y'all feel about Daniel Woods saying that "sociopaths have a less severe form of ASPD and it's thought that they don't lack a conscience, they have a very weak conscience whereas psychopaths seem to lack a conscience"?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sociopaths are made due to harsh environment. Psychopaths are born. Nothing will ever change the fact that psychos are materialistic (the passive psycho who only wants a cosy sofa & some tasty food is not different, just a more relaxed version).

    ReplyDelete
  3. Religion is as old as humanity. It survives god(s) changing over time because it is a very affective way of controlling people.

    Do sociopaths, any rational person for that matter believe it really.
    Be that as it may. The article raises question for me. As I understand it christianity requires remorse for sins committed. If you have no guilt how would you know what to be remorseful for. The cure aspect is interesting, Sound like the reconditioning that was attempted with gay people by churches in the US.

    All makes for interesting reading I will grant you that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Blah blah blah. Your understanding is pedantic.

      Guilt is an emotion. A cognitive understanding that you are a shit and the capacity to humble yourself before God is all that's required.

      Delete
  4. Talking religion with a psycho probably is similar to somebody trying to talk poetry with a plummer. That part most likely is missing, similar to so many other "pieces" that got lost somewhere. He may like the pretty church building.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. (correction: ..with a plumber.)

      Delete
  5. I love this guy. Before I ever heard his testimony, I had him pegged- mostly due to the way he gleefully eviscerates his intellectual adversaries. This is a man who argues for sport, and who enjoys obliterating his opponents. I discerned that he was a psycho after watching a couple of his videos on Islam, even prior to listening to his testimony and learning about his background, by virtue of his demeanor and conduct.

    That said, David Woods is absolutely correct regarding his assessment of Islam. Most people do not want to hear the way in which be dissects and dismantles the Quran and Hadith, because it offends their sensitivities and desire to virtue signal to the tune of Kumbaya, or whatever. But he bang on.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sometimes when I see an edit in his videos I think that he had to stop because he was laughing.

      Delete

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