Dragaera

Damiano's Lute

Frank Mayhar frank at exit.com
Fri Nov 29 09:57:21 PST 2002

David Dyer-Bennet wrote:
> rone at ennui.org (definitely what) writes:
> > Frank Mayhar writes:
> >   Your belief itself may not be a disorder, but the fact that you feel that
> >   without it you couldn't function is pretty unhealthy, IMNSHO.
> > Given how important God is to those who do believe in him, your
> > opinion is fairly impolite.  If i were to lose my wife, say, i would
> > have a hard time functioning.  I'd get over it eventually, sure, but
> > she is only human.  To lose one's god should damn well be a major
> > problem.  Try to be a little more sensitive.

Erm, yeah.  I have this major disorder myself, called "clinical depression."
It has been a bitch and a half to deal with, and I'll simply never "get
over" it.  I have plenty of sympathy for people with disorders, but I will
emphatically not support their system of denial, no matter how much "good"
it might appear to do in the short term.

As I tried to say, it's not the belief, it's the reaction to a perceived
threat to that belief that exposes the disorder.

> Hey, recovering from a major psychological problem *is* a big deal,
> and I try to be as supportive as I can of people doing so.  Somebody
> who had thought better of god, and was having trouble adjusting,
> certainly falls into that sort of category, and I hope I'd be
> supportive of them. 

And I, too, would be as supportive as I could be.  I _know_ how difficult
this stuff can be, having gone through it myself.

> On the other hand, I don't want to be an enabler.

Egg-zactly.
-- 
Frank Mayhar frank at exit.com	http://www.exit.com/
Exit Consulting                 http://www.gpsclock.com/