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The end times are here, judging from the news
headlines. It seems that all we normally take for granted and rely upon for our survival
can no longer be trusted. This sense of betrayal and unease is as good a mark as any of
the end days and it appears widespread.
If natural disaster, famine, warfare and disease
were not enough to portend the millenium, if it weren't ominous enough that the sunshine
gives us cancer, that our water isn't safe to drink, that the air is unhealthy, and that
there's lead poisoning the dirt where our children play and our tomatoes grow, then
consider these other betrayals of trust. The money we've placed in an I.R.A. may disappear
in a savings and loan scam and our pension funds may go broke before we retire. If we call
a policeman for help, we may get beat up and if another policeman stops by to check it
out, he may actually be a serial killer. If we go to a doctor for relief from all this
pain, we may leave with infected with AIDS. If we go to a psychiatrist to make sense of it
all we may get molested while under hypnosis and our children, left at the church's
daycare center, may be abused in a satanic ritual. These are times that try our souls and
the jury's been bribed.
How do we survive when we can't trust anyone or
anything? While under the Chinese curse of "living in interesting times" we are
driven to desperate measures, such as old-fashioned self-reliance and religion. I haven't
"set food by," for example, but by developing my abilities to be of service,
I've tired to insure some means of survival, and for good measure I exercise, watch my
diet, and above all, meditate. Just when I think I'll be able to muddle through the end
days, however, I find a couple of books that force me to re-examine my assumptions.
One book is We are Driven: The Compulsive
Behaviors America Applauds. Its authors, Drs. Robert Hemfelt, Frank Minirth, and Paul
Meier, are pastoral counselors with several other books to their credit. The other is
Toxic Faith: Understanding and Overcoming Religious Addiction. Its authors, Stephen
Arterburn and Jack Felton also combine the ministry with counseling. Both books are
published by Thomas Nelson of Nashville and are part of that firm's reputable program of
recovery books.
Today is the age of recovery from the multitudes
of "aholisms" not related to drink: workaholism, sexaholism, shopaholism and
religiholism, to name a few of the most popular addictions. The premise of We are Driven
is that many of our compulsions are disguised as activities and values that our culture
salutes as noble. I can't even trust my own virtuous strivings because they may be secret
puppets of ulterior motives." Sound like our politicians? What initially attracted my
attention to We are Driven was the statement on the cover, "Discover freedom from the
need to DO more and BE more." That sentence seemed directed specifically to me,
alerting me that I need relief from unfettered ambition. Happily, simply recognizing that
my life has become unmanageable is the "first" of the "twelve steps"
to recovery.
Feelings of shame or inferiority, the authors
contend, tempt us to compensate through extraordinary achievement: success at career, a
perfect lifestyle, even altruistic volunteer work. Obsessive-compulsion disorders are
rapidly becoming the nation's most prevalent mental health menace. Compulsively pursuing
an activity to avoid feeling bad perhaps provides momentary relief but ultimately perverts
that activity and toxifies rather than cleanses.
The premise of Toxic Faith is that even your
religious strivings may be a perversion of the real thing. The god you believe in may not
really be a god at all, but a way of satisfying an emotional craving. What happens when
you live by the motto, "In God we trust," then find out that not only is your
trust fabricated but also the God you trusted is bogus? Recovery from false gods might be
another name for the end days.
How can you tell, during these end days of
uncertainty, the difference between the false gods and the right stuff? "My [name
your compulsion] seems to give my life meaning and justifies my right to exist" and
"I can work my way to Heaven" are two statements that are expressions of
"toxic beliefs," or apparently virtuous ideas which are actually destructive.
Social scientists distinguish between
"extrinsic" versus "intrinsic" motivation. Extrinsic means the purpose
of the activity is some reason external to the activity itself, while intrinsic motivation
means doing something for its own sake. Researchers struggle to distinguish when a Good
Samaritan rescues others out of a compulsive, vicarious act to relieve their own inner
pain and when altruism is a creative choice to help another out of pure love. Research on
the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic religious activity, however, reveals clear
differences. People who are intrinsically religious out of love of God paradoxically
receive more than faith as their reward, in terms of immunity from stress disorders, for
example, while people who go to church out of a sense of duty or to gain spiritual credits
reap few benefits.
"Religious addicts don't worship God,"
the authors state in Toxic Faith. "They use spiritual highs to satiate the need to
experience something other than the boredom and pain of their existence." They add,
"We do not need to deny who we are to be acceptable to God." An honest
self-appraisal, such as these books inspire, is a good way to face the end days. Health
and happiness lies in the choice to love rather than the compulsion to avoid feared
consequences. The blessing of the changing times, Cayce reminded us, is that it gives us
the opportunity to let go of fear and to dedicate ourselves to our ideal for the pure love
of it.
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