Quote:
Originally Posted by DechanDawa
My brothers, all alter boys, admitted to sipping the wine in the sacristy while preparing it for the service but nothing weird or strange happened to any of them, I don't think. They were all schooled in Catholic schools for 12 years (come to think of it, they all went to Catholic colleges, too) including an all-boys prep school. I was also schooled for 12 years in Catholic schools and for 4 years went to an all-girls convent school where we had priests, nuns, and lay people as instructors. In all this time I never once had even an inkling of anything strange or not right. I daresay I really enjoyed my education. So be it. I then went on to a very liberal "hippie" college which was the exact opposite. No rules, organized orgies on the weekends, a wild and wooly purging of regimented spirituality. Doors and windows thrown wide open and tons of fresh air streaming in...what a wonderful era!
You are right in saying...we cannot stay within these toxic systems just because of a sincere wish for belongingness (I am speaking of myself) -- and I don't mean just religious systems, but also political or socio-economic systems, too. For instance, the fact that I live in a town that is 98% white American has an effect on my reality. Not good, either. A homogenized reality. A bubble. A twisted reality.
I have had an obsession with the opposite of nihilism. I have described myself as an eternalist. If I have any mental illness label it would be adjustment disorder. I am surprised by change. I am trying to change that. 
Thank you for all your interesting comments.
Even though much of this thread is going over my head I have to say this is by far the most interesting thread I am ever come across on Psych Central. I just want it to go on forever! |
DD,
First I need to grovel in shame and apologize for misspelling
altar boy. I write quickly and loosely but that’s no excuse for so grave an error. Forgive me?
I, too, am the product of twelve-years of parochial education. Back then the nuns outnumbered the priests and the priests outnumbered the laity. But when selected my college I ran fast to the nearest rational-humanist that I could find! But I, too, genuinely enjoyed those first twelve-years.
No, you speak for me as well. There’s a comfort in belonging to, and being ritualized into, the largest Church on Earth. I miss the community but cannot be complicit in the countless horrors now.
I grumble about change now, in my old age and confined confusion, but I thrived on change when younger. I had hopes for the future, changes that could bring about real justice and equality, etc. Fifty years ago I had hope; now I’m ashamed.