IN THE CURRENT ISSUE OF THE LIVING RESOURCES NEWSLETTER:

Atheists, More Atheists and Agnostics

There are two types of atheists. The first is psychological, the other philosophical. The psychological atheist is simply angry. The anger might be a reaction to family members who are religious, the policies or actions of various organized religions, or just generalized anger at “God.” Though, strictly speaking, the psychological atheist does not believe in God, he or she is often angry at God for “allowing trouble and pain in the world” (translation: “not making me happy”). Paradoxically enough, they see the ultimate way to punish God is to stop believing in God ... (Subscribe now and read the rest!!)

ALSO:

Psychological Environmentalism?

People who disagree with my political perspective sometimes tell me, “You shouldn’t comment on social or political matters. That’s not appropriate for a mental health professional." Yet these same people never question or criticize the comments and official positions of organizations like “Psychologists for Social Responsibility.” Surprise, surprise: This organization has come out for legislation to limit or eliminate the activities of industrialized civilization for the sake of “the environment.” (Subscribe now and read the rest!!)

ALSO:

Google and Freedom

In an interview with “Foreign Policy” Magazine on 12/9/09, former Czech President Vaclav Havel was quoted as saying: “Politics...means, every day making some compromises, and to choose between one evil and another evil, and to decide which is bigger and which is smaller. But sometimes, some of these compromises could be very dangerous because it could be the beginning of the road of making a lot of other compromises, which are results of the first one, and there are very dangerous compromises.” In other words: Principles—when rational—are practical. The founders of Google.com understood this when, in January, they issued the following public statement in response to the government of China’s hacking private computers for the purpose of censorship: “We have taken the unusual step of sharing information about these attacks [by the Chinese government] with a broad audience not just because of the security and human rights implications of what we have unearthed, but also because this information goes to the heart of a much bigger global debate about freedom of speech …. These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered—combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web—have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China.” The premise of this statement is that freedom is more important than business or profit, because without freedom, there is no business or profit.  (Subscribe now and read the rest!!)

AND:

Spiritual Warrior and Their Victims

The sweat lodge is the culminating event that symbolizes being in a mother’s womb. Nearly halfway through the two-hour ceremony, people began to show signs of weakness and three died. Eighteen others were hospitalized with illnesses ranging from dehydration to kidney failure.” Steve Salerno, author of “SHAM: How the Self-Help Movement Made America Helpless” (a book in which Dr. Hurd is quoted extensively), asked Dr. Hurd to comment on the Arizona “sweat lodge tragedy.” Dr.Hurd’s comments to Mr. Salerno are as follows: The notion of “self-help” implies a definition of “help”—including whether or not the self is actually being helped, and if so, in what way. Much of self-help is based on following a “guru,” as in the sweat lodge tragedy. You go to the guru to somehow be led. That’s not help! (Subscribe now and read the rest!!)

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