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Angels, Demons and all the Hosts

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ANGELOLOGY<br />

M. M. NINAN<br />

_____________________________________________________________________________<br />

Freud<br />

“A system of wishful illusions toge<strong>the</strong>r with a disavowal of reality, such<br />

as we find nowhere else...but in a state of blissful h<strong>all</strong>ucinatory confusion.<br />

“ Freud in “Civilization <strong>and</strong> Its Discontents”, reduced <strong>the</strong> "oceanic experience"<br />

of mystics to "infantile helplessness" <strong>and</strong> a "regression to primary<br />

narcissism."<br />

The 1976 report Mysticism: “Spiritual Quest or Psychic Disturbance” by <strong>the</strong> Group defined<br />

religion as a regression, an escape, a projection upon <strong>the</strong> world of a primitive infantile state.<br />

Albert Ellis,PhD <strong>the</strong> creator of Rational Emotive Therapy, stated: “Spirit <strong>and</strong> soul is horseshit<br />

of <strong>the</strong> worst sort. Obviously <strong>the</strong>re are no fairies, no Santa Clauses, no spirits. What <strong>the</strong>re is, is<br />

human goals <strong>and</strong> purposes...But a lot of transcendentalists are utter screwb<strong>all</strong>s.” “The elegant<br />

<strong>the</strong>rapeutic solution to emotional problems is quite unreligious ...The less religious <strong>the</strong>y<br />

[patients] are, <strong>the</strong> more emotion<strong>all</strong>y healthy <strong>the</strong>y will tend to be"<br />

“However diligent research in <strong>the</strong>se areas has given tot<strong>all</strong>y different conclusions.<br />

Controlled studies have also found that "The notion that religion exerts a negative influence<br />

on mental health in patients was not gener<strong>all</strong>y supported by our findings" (Pfeifer <strong>and</strong> Waelty,<br />

1995). In fact, a meta-analysis of religiosity <strong>and</strong> mental health found <strong>the</strong>m to be positively<br />

related. Church-affiliated individuals showed greater happiness <strong>and</strong> satisfaction with marriage,<br />

work <strong>and</strong> life in general. Studies of <strong>the</strong> self-reported relationship between quality of<br />

relationships with divine o<strong>the</strong>rs (e.g., Christ, God, Mary, etc.) <strong>and</strong> several measures of wellbeing<br />

also found a significant positive association. While <strong>the</strong>re does seem to be a relationship<br />

between religiosity <strong>and</strong> psychopathology in <strong>the</strong> seriously ment<strong>all</strong>y ill, for <strong>the</strong> vast majority of<br />

<strong>the</strong> population, spirituality <strong>and</strong> religion are associated with positive characteristics of mental<br />

health. Similarly, mystical experiences <strong>and</strong> spiritual practices are positively associated with<br />

mental health variables. ”<br />

227

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