Learning in a time of Covid - Part 2, The Power of Religion
Published: Fri, 12/18/20
work?
How about my field of expertise? My academic qualifications are in religion and drama. In other words, beliefs and dramatic story telling. I trained as a RE teacher and I have been an active Methodist Local Preacher for most of my adult life. I also have a particular interest in understanding the underlying principles of any human activity. The principles of principles are:
1. Principles are simple and can be reduced to three elements, or maybe six if you work with the positive and negative aspect of each element.
2. Principles are fractal (eg they apply on all scales of activity).
3. Principles are consistent and will work in all relevant circumstances.
The right kind of expert genuinely understands the principle in its simplicity and has knowledge and experience of how to apply that principle in practical ways. It should be easy to explain a principle to another person, but just because you now know a principle does not mean that you know all there is to know about a subject. For example:
Ohms law states that: voltage = Resistance x current
This law is the fundamental principle of working with electricity. All choices of wiring and electrical components when wiring up a building, designing an electric vehicle, or transmitting electricity across the national grid, are dependent upon that formula. If there is a problem with an electrical system this principle will usually give a clue as to what the solution might be. If you asked an electrician why he would use a much thicker cable to connect a cooker than he would a light bulb then Ohms law provides the reason. Cookers need more power (resistance) than lights. Domestic voltage is supplied at 230volts so much more Amps (current) is needed to supply the extra power. Hence the need for the thicker cable. However, just because I have shared Ohms law with you doesn’t mean you don’t need a lot of other expertise to do electrical work safely and correctly. Yet, everything electrical comes back to Ohms law eventually.
What is the principle behind religion? I am using religion to mean a social phenomenon which seeks to make large groups of people believe and behave in a certain way. Religion has traditionally been seen as the way that a society responds to its collective idea of God or gods and how relationships between supernatural beings and a particular society should be managed. Priests would claim special relationship with supernatural beings and tell ordinary mortals what they should do to receive blessings and avoid divine punishments.
So, if you don’t believe in God, or gods then priests have no power over you? If only. I am afraid the principle of religion is very simple:
1. Belief - Plant ideas which become beliefs into people’s minds.
2. Practice - Expect certain rituals, practices, and displays of symbols to reinforce those beliefs and enable believers to show their devotion to the cult.
3. Taboo. - Enforce prohibitions and taboos with which to punish or exclude heretics, blasphemers and unbelievers.
This principle does not need to have anything to do with God or gods whatsoever, but can be applied to any kind of social control if the agents behind the plan have the means to disseminate ideas and reinforce those ideas into beliefs through societal pressure of various kinds.
Until the second half of the 19th century you could not hold many positions in English society such as a MP, university professor, or an army officer unless you were a member of the Church of England. Anyone with other religious affiliations, or none, was simply excluded from positions of power. Today, we think that we live in a secular society where being a member of a religious community might even seem a bit quaint. However, massive resources go into psychological and sociological research, marketing, news management, public relations, publicity, and, although the word is not often used, propaganda. What do you think the principle underlying these methods of social control is based on? Belief, practice, and taboo, the principle has been in use for thousands of years, it will still work perfectly well today.
As Covid became a thing at the beginning of the year the application of the religion principle was quite blatant. I will admit I was quite impressed with the skill and determination with which the trick was pulled off. It is still a trick though using an ancient principle which princes, priests, and magicians have used since ancient times. If you sit in the audience for a conjuring show the expectation is that you will admire the skill with which the performer demonstrates his craft. Even if you know the principles of stage magic and you can actually see how the tricks are done you are not meant to shout out, ‘Hey, it isn’t real, it is just an illusion.’ To call out the deception in a theatre would be inappropriate.
When our world is being destroyed by applying exactly the same principle, then pointing out what is real and what is not becomes essential. Although, once the principle of religion has been successfully applied, it can be very hard to reverse.
Regards
Graham
PS No principle is good or bad in itself, only in the way it is used. Proper religion has other factors which balance the power and control aspect described above. A subject for another day.
PPS I regularly produce a newsletter for members of Ice and Fire. If you would like to read the end of year issue you can download the PDF file from the link below. Please note that the file will not open online and you will be invited to download the file to your own device where you will be able to open and read it
Web of Wyrd, December 2020 https://www.screencast.com/t/kZj9Bs3cEzcB