Actually -- and this is not to be difficult -- no matter what I say, or anyone says, about the relationship ship to a *higher power* (that is a term that was popular and perhaps still is in the recovery community) or to 'God' or to 'the Higher Self' (etc.) it will always be misunderstood by those who simply put do not have or have not experienced such a relationship.Belinda wrote: ↑Thu Nov 20, 2025 12:28 pm "And if one does not have a spiritual life, some link with a higher self or “higher power” (the sense of a guide within the confusion of life) and that corner of the self that one can take refuge in, it is easy to see how people can go off the edge" wrote Alexis.
That needs to be explicit, Alexis, else you will not be understood.
I shall explain. People need moral principles. In past times religion was the medium for moral principles. Now religions have diversified .The worst of them are cults like that of Trump. The best of them, with the probable exception of the Quakers, are mystified by arcane language and ritual. In the US there never was an established religion.
Can anyone here argue cogently for a viable and popular religious form which is credible enough to support a moral code?
The best example I could refer to, and which would clarify my various assertions, would be the 'science of yoga'. That science is predicated on an understanding that the divine super-intelligence exists, that man is uniquely configured to realize it, and that there are people who have explored the avenues of self-development and self-realization and, shall we say, can guide others or point the way toward such realization.
Myself, I think of this in relation not only to the ultra-rational hard-headed denizens here for whom the concept of God or Higher Power is fantasy and expresses nothing real, but specifically as a way to respond to Gary who presents (me with) a unique puzzle. The puzzle seems to me to be that his sickness (his own description which he has been very liberal about) corresponds to a general mental and spiritual sickness within the human world, and especially notable at our specific historical juncture in America where people seem to be careening toward manifestations of social psychosis.
Gary cultivates his mental illness by having fastened himself into a pretty sick environment which is this forum itself. This is what I have concluded. By remaining here and in the midst of sickness he exacerbates his ailment. Is there a way out? I think there is, however I am aware that Gary defines his sickness as incurable (physiological). And indeed he alludes (basically) to wishing for, hoping for, either a natural end or perhaps some form of suicide to bring an end the suffering.
Here, there is a correspondence to the wider world that careens on hysterical, irrational, emotionally disturbed currents that threaten to explode at any moment. It is not merely the individual who is on edge, the entire world exists in a strange forbidding shadow of impending doom. If you are not aware of this, allow me to say, I would say 'I wonder what planet you live on'.
Those who cannot conceive of a route that leads out of the confusion and pain in which they live and for which there is no escape, no alternative, seem to me to represent genuine nihilism. It is a road to death. So, one can only attempt to propose that there is a 'road to life'. But -- and here is the weird thing -- those on the death-road fight tooth and nail against the possibility that there is a road out of their suffering, or in any case a way to understand it within a larger existential framework.
to be more English-comprehensible to you …