Reconstructing Cognitions of Christianity

By Monica Leslie
GSTR 310
10.27.2009
The Dalai Lama once stated, “We can live without religion and meditation, but we cannot
survive without human affection.” It is his belief that without love and compassion among all
human beings, humanity cannot survive (Lama). He goes on to say,
“I would like to explain the meaning of compassion which is often misunderstood.
Genuine compassion is based not on our own projections and expectations, but rather on
the rights of the other: irrespective of whether another person is a close friend or an
enemy, as long as that person wishes for peace and happiness and wishes to overcome
suffering, then on that basis we develop a genuine concern for his or her problems. This
is genuine compassion.”
Empiricism emphasizes the role of experience and evidence, especially sensory perception, in the
formation of ideas, while discounting the notion of innate ideas ("Encyclopedia > Empiricism.").
Taking this understanding of enquiry-based reasoning into consideration, it is safe to argue that
the narcissist attitudes of the empiricists, who criticize Christian ideals, are equally responsible
for tensions that arise with Christian followers and the irrational faith-based thinking that these
skeptics, who attempt to challenge the Christian understanding of faith, critique. While it is
important to continue to collectively evolve the process of cognitive thought, for the progression
of future social development, it is also important to remember the importance of finding more
constructive and affirmative ways to relate Christian values with the intrinsic principles of
enlightened enquiry. It is only through the collaborative understanding of spiritual progression
and rational theory that both Christians and skeptics can continue to preserve critical values and
find a respectful way to integrate these methods for the development of a healthier relationship
between the two groups. Studies have shown that deconstructing core values or stripping any
individual of their sense of self worth has proven detrimental toward the continued cognitive and
spiritual development of a human being. So as cognitive science begins to shape the future
development of emergent societal values, more mindful considerations must be made. Would
using empirical argument to refute or discredit fundamental Christian beliefs actually benefit the
cognitive development of those who exercise that faith? Or would the consequences would be
more detrimental to the person’s cognitive health than the subjective perceptions of Christian
faith they practice?
When making the assumption that the behavior of human beings is learned, there are many in
both the faith-based and scientific communities who can agree that human beings possess an
incredible capacity to learn. But it can be very difficult for those who rely upon scientific,
philosophical or psychological rationalization to understand and empathize with many of the
authoritative interpretations of the Christian faith. Adam Fieled, author of the blog, Stoning the
Devil, argues that much of the criticism that questions those understandings of Christianity are
not just used to undermine Christian authority. Often the attempts to rationally deconstruct these
answers, are a part of a very important human and cognitive process that allows our
consciousness to develop and evolve. Stating:
“Judeo/Christian cognitive systems often (but not always) privilege morality and its
expression in strictly defined (ethical) behavioral patterns over consciousness; i.e., your
consciousness can be shaped, refined or even reified in any way, as long as you tow the
party line. In the context of most Judeo/Christian systems, a given subject is by no means
compelled to investigate his or her own subjectivity; questions of language and
consciousness can be discarded if deemed uncomfortable or irrelevant (Fieled).”
There is a criticism of Christianity, from those who rely upon empirical thought and
rationalization, that the cognitive development of the followers of those who practice the
Christian faith is hindered through the Christian practice of vilifying the process of empirical
reasoning and deconstruction. Historically questions have often been raised about whether
subjective, faith-based practices allow Christians to accurately interpret the contemporary
challenges of their changing environments as the world around them begins to transform and
evolve. Or will Christians’ reliance upon outdated interpretations and historical illiteracy of the
origins of their texts hinder their ability to exercise rational, informed and ethical choices? Can
they rationally select which principles they exorcise, within the Christian faith, that can
progressively determine their spiritual and cognitive evolution? Dana Zohar mentions in her
book, The Quantum Self, that
“Until the seventeenth century, there was little distinction between priests and scholars,
and little scientific challenge to the physics or the cosmology of the Church. But with the
explosion of modern science, this challenge became impossible to ignore. Slowly, the
story of the creation, the notion of human uniqueness, the idea of an earth centered
universe and hence one to which a transcendent God would devote any special attention,
the credibility of miracles and that bodily resurrection have all become problematical.
The Church has clung tenaciously to what some of her more modern priests call, a
‘Sunday school religion,’ but large numbers of her followers have been assailed by doubt.
It is no longer possible to believe in both the discoveries of modern science and in the
traditional dictates of the Church, and, for increasing numbers of people today, science
and psychology have taken the place of traditional religion. We want more than ever, to
understand ourselves and the world, to know the history of the universe and of our place
within it, to form a coherent picture of how we should behave and towards what goals we
should strive. We long to know what is valuable and what is not. But we look
increasingly to science to tell us these things (Zohar, 218).”
In fact, for many Christian skeptics, the Christian concepts of sin, duality of good and evil, and
rationalization of blind faith over methodic enquiry have led many to discredit the authority of
Christian based thought. This includes matters of ethics regarding scientific development as well
as social liberation theories. By ignoring the historical origins of the foundations of Christianity,
or discouraging the process of contemplative or methodically skeptic enquiry, the validity of
Christian thought will always raise questions among those who make the distinction that faith
does not equate to reason. Retired author and theoretical Quantum Physicist, Amit Goswami
notes, in his attempts to correlate the principles of evolutionary consciousness, science, and
religion, that “The main criticism that materialists raise, against organismic and idealist theories
of creativity is that the latter theories posit ideas of transcendence, the self, and self-development
but without having concrete models (Goswami, 31). “ Furthermore, the lack of empirical or
archaeological evidence needed to support the claims of the existence of the historical of Jesus,
further substantiate many of the reasons why critics fear that a reliance upon Christian thought,
as an authoritative compass for contemporary ethics would be a hindrance to the collective
emergence of healthy thought and rational development. Because of this acknowledgement,
many tensions have arisen over the questionable authority of Christian cognition and those who
feel threatened by being challenged in their faith. Goswami attempts to propose a new theory of
quantum cognition and creativity in order to unify common ideals and dissolve this criticism by
providing well developed models of these cognitive ideas. He hopes to incorporate his model
into both creative and conditioned representations of how to evolve our understanding of these
ideas better.
As contemporary ethical concerns continue to arise, whether faith-based reasoning should be
given validity in the cognition of modern day issues; it becomes critical that non Christian
thinkers must begin to be more mindful of whether the aggressive methodology used to
challenge faith-based logic is even necessary or beneficial to use, in the context of challenging
Christian thought. Many researchers have erred in the past by challenging the ideas of
Christianity by bombarding Christian followers with attacks toward those who exercise Christian
thought. These researchers often forget that these ideas are principles that are mental constructs
integrated into these individuals’ identities, support systems, and patterns of cognitively learned
behavior. Challenging the beliefs upon which the Christian culture is founded upon would do
more than to threaten the ideals of Christian practice and behavior; it would create the risk of
stripping away the cognitive identity of the Christian follower and destroy the fundamental frame
of reference for morality and rationalization. And this kind of cognitive development is
necessary for the growth and progression of human beings.
In his book, Quantum Creativity, Goswami makes reference at how even in the quantum context
of wave and particle continuity that patterns of recognition must first be established at the
mechanical level of processing before alternative structures and contexts can be built. It is
through the foundations built through lower levels of learning, processing and development that
we instill the fundamental values and methods of recognition into our neural network that define
the value of our core beliefs. Any core beliefs and ideals that need to be challenged or evolved
through the process of developmental cognition must be interpreted through the fixed context of
what is familiar to the subject. Then connections can be made through the processes of rituals
and rote memorization before ideas can be evolved through cognitive development and the
context of learning is shifted toward creative and independent reasoning (Goswami 71).
The Christian church relies heavily upon rudimentary processes of memorization and
developmental education. To avoid disrupting these foundations, non Christian skeptics are
going to have to learn safer ways to approach the way they argue or provide insights that could
significantly shift the context of Christian thought if they hope to improve the Christian
relationship with reason based enquiry. But before this can happen, both factions must be
willing to admit that they are not seeing the whole picture during the process of rational
argument, threatened faith and philosophical undoing. The Dalia Lama notes:
Through a preliminary sense of emptiness, you will gain a clearer sense of what
ignorance is; this will lead to a better experience of emptiness. Knowing emptiness better
will, in turn, enhance your identification of ignorance, and what is being negated. This
identification will deepen the impact of the reasoning as you use it again and again,
inducing more understanding and undermining your belief in what is exaggerated. This
is how you undo trouble (Lama 163).
Making more mindful considerations of how cognitive processing differs in many other
ideological contexts can allow both groups to move toward a more unified understanding of how
some of the more challenging issues can be used as an opportunity to develop a more
contemplative and cognitive examination of how we interpret faith and reason.
Scientific studies of the relationship between consciousness and faith indicate that “an
understanding of necessary preconditions for consciousness in the human brain may allow us to
address important ethical questions (Farlex).” The principles of Consciousness, raise many
philosophical doubts and questions about the ability of those who observe the Christian faith to
be able to move forward without using Christianity as a framework for making rational and
ethical connections. Consciousness is defined as a characteristic of the mind that allows a person
to have “an awareness of one's environment and one's own existence, sensations, and thoughts.”
In his book, Race Matters, Dr. Cornel West argues that the parallel threat of “the black against
degradation and devaluation in the enslaved circumstances of the New World,” were in part “a
struggle against nihilism,” what he describes as the nihilistic threat that derives from having to
face and process the “loss of hope and absence of meaning (West, 23). The Christian church has
been for many years the foundational tool used to demystify and transcend the historical
oppression and exploitation of the African American community. West believes that as the fear
of losing the sense of personal worth and value increases as African Americans struggle to define
meaning and hope that is necessary for black individuals to transcend their oppressive
circumstances. West asserts that, “the lived experience of coping with a life of horrifying
meaningless, hopelessness and (most important) lovelessness” that comes with challenging the
value of faith or comes into conflict with their culture, faith and personal sense of value can
result in a “numbing detachment from others and a self-destructive disposition toward the whole
world.” Similarly Christians who use their faith to create that solace of hope, community
support, and meaningful value to their lives equally run the same risk of fulfilling self destructive
behaviors when their fundamental beliefs are challenged. This comes fromr having the sense of
meaning and purpose stripped from one’s fundamental faith-based values.
In Dr. M. Scott Peck’s book, The Different Drum, Peck acknowledges that communities must
begin to accept and understand the cognitive process of transformation in other individuals.
Peck feels acceptance affects the ability for communities to either be cohesive or undermine each
other’s cognitive growth and spiritual transformation. He admits:
Like the community itself, love is not easy to muster. It is a part of the journey of the
spirit. If that journey is not understood, it can be a major factor in driving us human
beings even farther apart. The knowledge of its principles, however, can do so much to
bring us together in peace. Just as there are discernable stages in human physical and
psychological growth, so there are stages in human spiritual development (Peck, 186).
Peck argues that it is more beneficial for collectives to accept this distinction and learn to
celebrate and negotiate those differences if the relationship between those who rely on faith and
those who rely upon enquiry is ever to improve. Because one thing is for certain; attempting to
define another individual’s ethical truth is a form of oppressive behavior. So is attempting to
impose upon the right of a human being to define their own. By challenging the credibility of
the individual who chooses to practice the Christian faith, critics provide Christians the
opportunity to feel as if their perception of reality is threatened. It is unethical to challenge
another person’s ideological construct by consciously stripping the human being of the beliefs in
which they have rooted their sense of self worth, heritage and identity, even if we do not agree
with the values. By using arrogant attempts to deconstruct the Christian basis for faith and
identification instead of empirically considering what challenges these attacks pose upon the
patterns of identification of progression of spiritual thought, Christians are also deprived of the
of the opportunity for solace and the security they gain from the support of their communities.
This also means that non Christian thinkers are not utilizing their own empirical methods to
understand what patterns of destructive behavior they might be using that give them the need to
intellectually bully those who hold Christian ideals instead of helping them to celebrate those
differences and develop more cognitive value out of nurturing Christians through the progression
of cognitive development of Christian thought.
Catherine Crawford’s book, The Highly Intuitive Child, categorizes intuitive cognition into two
classifications; intuitive thinkers and intuitive feelers. Crawford asserts that “Intuitive thinkers
like Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein, experience and express their intuitive insights through
cognitive channels (Crawford, 11).” The tales of failed light bulb designs and poor grades in
school also provides evidence that often, cognitive and discontinuous creative shifts have been
made by simply shifting the contexts of the more rudimentary understandings. For Einstein this
was particularly notable because he had to face the problem of resolving dual understandings of
wave and particle theory. Crawford believes, however, “that intuitive empaths, experience
intuition through their body and their emotions (Crawford, 12).” She adds that,
The world is finally warming up when it comes to scientific breakthroughs, but it appears
a bit slower to warm up to the role of intuition as it commingles with empathy in a
person’s life. I think this is largely because our culture still values thinking over feeling.
When intuition and empathy combine, the experience is typically a visceral feeling, or a
gut instinct, that gives us a good feeling about people safety, and bodily truths that say
‘it’s a Yes’ or ‘it’s a big No.’ We are all intuitive, just as we are all thinkers. But people
differ in the degree to which they possess these abilities as dominant functions in their
personality. The Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung brought this variance to our attention in the
last century involving personality typing (Crawford, 12).
Peck’s theory also makes the argument that “we are not all in the same place spiritually.” The
same rings true for parallels made when assessing the nature of both Christian thought and how
non Christians cognitively interpret and understand the value of faith based rationalization. Peck
used his understanding of cognition to develop his own realization that there is “a pattern of
progression, through identifiable stages” that must be experienced, for Christians to be able to
cope with shifting the context in which they interpret enquiry-based reasoning; that is, at least if
the process is to be constructive or to improve their cognitive capacity to use enquiry-based
reasoning without demeaning the spiritual foundations. Harvey Jackins’s cognitive theory of
reevaluation also stresses this importance.
Everyone is born with tremendous intellectual potential, natural zest, and lovingness, but
that these qualities have become blocked and obscured in adults as the result of
accumulated distress experiences (fear, hurt, loss, pain, anger, embarrassment, etc.)
which begin early in our lives. Any young person would recover from such distress
spontaneously by use of the natural process of emotional discharge (crying, trembling,
raging, laughing, etc.). However, this natural process is usually interfered with by well-
meaning people ("Don't cry," "Be a big boy," etc.) who erroneously equate the emotional
discharge (the healing of the hurt) with the hurt itself. When adequate emotional
discharge can take place, the person is freed from the rigid pattern of behavior and feeling
left by the hurt. The basic loving, cooperative, intelligent, and zestful nature is then free
to operate. Such a person will tend to be more effective in looking out for his or her own
interests and the interests of others, and will be more capable of acting successfully
 against injustice. In recovering and using the natural discharge process, two people take
turns counseling and being counseled. The one acting as the counselor listens, draws the
other out and permits, encourages, and assists emotional discharge. The one acting as
client talks and discharges and re-evaluates. With experience and increased confidence
and trust in each other, the process works better and better (“RC Reevaluation
Counseling”).
Jackins was able to take use his research to identify that the persecution and refutation of a
human being and his or her ideals suppress the evolution of constructive thought and emergence
of universal ideas. His hypothesis, which has become the foundational theory of re-evaluation
counseling, supports the theory that the process of ritual recognition holds just as much merit and
justification as enquiry and evaluation during the process of cultivating faith and trust in one’s
core beliefs. In the Christian church there are portrayals of Jesus applying both intuitive and
empathetic methods to reaffirm the transformation in context of deed and thought that
revolutionized his significance during that time. Both Jackins and Crawford were able to use this
same manner of thinking when developing their empirical insights to recreate models of
inclusion that can be accepted as representative of both secular and Christian ideals.
Peck, in his assessment of cognitive variance in Christian practices attributes this journey of
Christian transformation toward the development of spirituality in four stages. Similar to
cognitive processing, Peck describes the first stage of development, the chaotic stage, as an
underdeveloped and undisciplined perspective of spirituality that reflects West’s destructive
nihilism. During this stage, individuals use nothing but their own will and ambition to govern
their cognitive sense of ethics in order to acquire material acquisitions at the risk of alienating
others or the expense of their cognitive capacity to empathize with others that manifests itself in
a destruction of the ethical self (Peck, 189).
Linda Woodhead, in her book, Christianity asserts that “We know that there were many groups
in the first centuries of the Christian era who were inspired by what they heard about Jesus and
were happy to admit that he had brought the sacred into the midst of life (Woodhead, 18).
During a time of religious diversification, political wars and upheaval and corruption displayed
through persecution by officials of the expanding Roman Empire, there became a growing social
need for spiritual seekers of the first and second centuries to make sense of social conventions
that had begun to become more oppressive than instill a sense of hope. Early Christians, forced
to hide their practices in the home, due to the fear of religious persecution of corrupt, Roman
officials, used their faith in order to establish a sense of order and to understand much of the
human suffering that existed in their daily lives, in Rome. Paul, one of the most noted analysts
of Jesus’s suffering and teachings, played an important role in redefining the context of
understanding Jesus’s ability to redeem and to reconnect Christians with their sense of dignity
and redemption through the divine; thus establishing the early foundations of Christian views.
The Pauline view presents human beings not only with the challenge of realizing their
own divinity by going within, but with the duty of looking toward the ‘Lord’ who alone
can save them from their destiny of sin and death. Such salvation can only come about if
creatures are prepared to renounce their own judgment, will and desire in order to be
possessed by the Spirit of Christ. For although human beings have no natural ability to
become a ‘Son of God’ like Christ, by supernatural grace they may be transformed into
new beings ‘sons by adoption’ in Paul’s terms. Human beings are not saved by their own
 power or potential, but by being ruled by Christ and living in, through, and rather for him
rather than for themselves (Woodhead, 20).
Peck describes the second stage of development as an institutional conversion. This conversion
often takes place, through rudimentary recognitions and rote associations made through the effort
to liberate one’s self from the circumstance of spiritual and emotional chaos, even if it means
submitting to an institution for governance instead of exercising free will (Peck, 189).
Consequently, Woodhead makes the assessment that “It is quite possible the Jesus envisaged a
fully egalitarian society whose members share table fellowship, teach and minister to one
another, and refuse knowledge to any authority except the God of Love (Woodhead, 42).”
Woodhead addresses the formation of the apostolic leadership roles in the context of organizing
the structure of the emerging church to secure the unification of Christian understandings and its
teachings. It was through Emperor Constantine’s establishment of ordered authority and
institutional hierarchy that an authoritative rubric of Christian teachings was established. While
many critics such as Woodhead believe this was done to gain political backing and Imperial
control of the many Christian factions, there was the advantage used during this process of
structural formalization that allowed the formal church and state to clarify which interpretations
of Christian teachings would be used in order to instill the best (or at least accepted) teachings to
those unsure of which Christian practices to follow. The most significant opportunity in
Christian history to develop an authoritative understanding and clarification of Christian ideals
was the ideals were developed by the Nicean Council in 325 ce when it adopted the Nicean
Creed (Woodhead, 55).
Further attempts were made to structure and institutionalize Christian practices through the
development of sacraments, codify a list of authoritative canons, and the development of ritual
monasticism. And for some, having a clear and authoritative understanding of Christian
ideologies and rituals made it easier to participate in the regimented practices. This is because
for those who may not know where they are going spiritually or cognitively, it is much easier to
approach Christianity from a sense of familiarity before they are able to begin shifting the
context of Christian interpretations on their own. The ordination of the Christian clerics was
supposed to facilitate the spiritual leadership of baptized Christians, and keep them on the
spiritual path to God. The belief in these practices came with the expectation, that through the
ritualization of Christian teachings, followers would be able to reform their own conduct and
shift toward a more assimilated pattern of behavior that was consistent with what Christian
teachers believed was necessary to bring the followers of Christ closer to God. In this manner
the formal church was able to use rote association and ritual practices in order to instill the
messages of the teachings of Christ, the importance of redemption in Christian identity and
create a structure of unification within the church.
In the third stage, usually characterized by skepticism, or atheist and agnostic perceptions of
Christianity, there is a recognition made, often by those raised in homes structured around
fundamentalist ideologies that cause individuals to begin to question the customs and practices of
their fundamental beliefs. Through the process of soul searching, building self awareness and
spiritual seeking, people in this stage to begin to internalize the rigidity and unimaginative
customs of their upbringing and reject the information that does not correlate with what they can
sensually perceive. As Zohar pointed out, these skeptics who want to challenge the theological
constructs they fear have been designed to deceive them into submission to an oppressive and
archaic system, often begin to rely on enquiry based, and evidence backed methodologies to
reaffirm their quest to redefine their sense of value through the justifications of scientific or
philosophical reasoning.
Archaeology, sciences, philosophical contemplation has been used by both Christians and
skeptics to understand the meaning and the purpose of the universe mankind and creative
evolution. It is through this cognitive process, of empirical reasoning, that humans have been
able to clarify the reasons for their existence. They have also been able to further identify the
role each individual should be playing for the future development and service to mankind. In the
Christian context, Essenic Studies reports that
It is the task of biblical criticism to collect and study various writings in which a text has
been preserved, determine the changes that have occurred in the wording and
arrangement of the text, assess the significance of such changes, and restore, if possible,
the original wording, teachings or form of the text. If this is not possible, one must
decide on the best or most reliable wording and try to account for the historical process
through which the text has been changed. In every case, textual criticism seeks to
establish a reliable text that can serve as the basis for serious study and reflection
(Textual).
Textual analysis and interpretation of the life of Jesus shows that even Jesus found some
cognitive benefits of questioning the religious structure of the temple based rabbis, the
Sadducees. Indeed many conflicts arose between the aristocratic Sadducees and the Pharasidic
leaders of his faith. The Bible Knowledge accelerator describes the Sadducees as “the
privileged, conservative, traditional elite of Judaism (Bible).” The Sadducees, who held most of
the political power within Hellenist Culture, lived by ideals that were in direct opposition of the
Pharasidic order of Jewish rabbis. They Pharisees represented a more progressive view of
Jewish culture that represented the common man. “The Pharisees openly challenged the
privileged status of the Sadducees and criticized their easy tolerance of foreign rule. For the most
part, the Pharisees opposed Roman rule, refused to take the oath of allegiance to the emperor and
more than once participated in short revolts against Rome. In 66 AD they led the nation in the
great rebellion against Roman rule.”
During this time of political and social turmoil, Jesus begins to question the role of the Jewish
religious leadership and the role within his ministry. As he wrestled with these thoughts and
began through the process of questioning in hopes of clarification, he retreated into the desert
and emerged as the most noted ascetic of his time. He used this time of internalization to
reinterpret and reevaluate his teachings to better reflect his views to represent and reach the
common man. Education and contemplation of spiritual guidelines was once instrumental in the
codification of Christian biblical texts. The process of spiritual enquiry is also responsible for
expanding the understandings of Christian faith and practices through a methodic approach to
Christianity’s various interpretations.
Stage four of spiritual and cognitive development, denotes the emergence of the process of
integration of the various understandings of Christian and empirical principles and identity. This
intuitive process is then used to piece together experiences with lingering questions of the
unknown in order to cognitively establish a sense of unification with what is experienced upon
this journey. Then a mature re-evaluation is made of what has been learned and adopted as a
model to be used within the world. Those who have achieved the fourth stage of intuitive and
cognitive development, often coined as contemplatives, mystics and prophets, use this newfound
sense of communion and their discoveries of the interconnected overlap of their understandings
of those subjective truths. For mystics, this is an opportunity clarify the origin and meaning of
these relationships in order to eradicate any attachment one might have to preconceived ideas
and bias. These prejudices hinder the mystics’ ability to consciously and routinely shift the
context of their understanding to higher levels of critical thinking. The significance of these
relationships parallel the creative evolution of the many ideas, growth, and processes needed to
develop and deconstruct these congruent contexts for developing understanding, cognition and
elucidation.
Woodhead shares that “An increasingly common response on the part of those who wished to
pursue spiritual perfection without distraction was literally to walk out on society in order to
enter an uninhabited, unsocialized place, the desert (Woodhead, 76).” By engaging through the
process of cultivating his cognitive and spiritual understanding, Jesus was able to redevelop his
role as teacher in order to find better ways to communicate his teachings, through his ministry,
the services he performed for the community. His contribution toward the identification of inner
turmoil and human suffering illustrates a cognitive shift of the application of the wisdom that he
gained from this experience. More importantly, the application of his newfound principles used
to ease the suffering of human beings have withstood the tests of time.
Fourth stage thinking allows contemplatives to embrace the value of both of these processes as a
necessary cycle for building and shaping the many contexts individuals can use to interpret and
reevaluate patterns of thought. The challenge becomes, how can non-Christian contemplatives
use fourth stage developmental processing to build constructive relationships with second stage
Christian followers? Would they be able to see the benefit of using cognitive and enquiry based
reasoning to facilitate their spiritual evolution and creative growth? There have been attempts to
clarify the role of the varying levels of development and interpretation even in the Christian
Church. The role of Christian clerics is performed under the assumption that those seeking
salvation through the example of Jesus are expected, through the sacraments and teachings of the
church and its writings. The monastic writings of the contemporary ascetic, Thomas Merton,
illustrated this transformation as an eclectic model of how the cognitive and spiritual journey
could be used to re-clarify the context of human existence, the promise of redemption, and his
assessment of the pathway to the divine.
Thomas Merton used his inner conflict to probe into the nature of many of his own cognition.
Merton used the and ascetic rituals and repetitive practices of Christian monastic life to help him
redefine his understanding of his purpose and clarify his values so that they could be used to
cultivate meaning and inspiration in other people’s lives. Merton’s monastic writings have been
celebrated for their universal and mystical undertones even though they question and
methodically investigate the teachings of the church and the context in which they are used.
Early on, Merton believed it odd that ‘we think of the gift of contemplation, Infused
contemplation, (and) mystical prayer
, as something essentially strange and esoteric (as being) reserved for a small class of
almost unnatural beings and prohibited to everyone else?’ Instead, Merton was
convinced that, ‘These gifts are part of the normal equipment of Christian sanctity. They
are given to us at Baptism, and if they are given it is presumably because God wants them
to be developed (Essortment).’
Merton chose to dedicate his life to Catholic monasticism and committed himself to monastic
and ritual practice under the Trappist Order of contemplative religion at Our Lady of
Gethsemane monastery in Kentucky. It was Thomas Merton who argued in his book, New Seeds
of Contemplation that
Contemplation is no pain killer. What a holocaust takes place in this steady burning to
ashes of old worn out words, clichés, slogans and rationalizations! The worst of it is that
even apparently holy conceptions are consumed along with the rest. It is a terrible
breaking and burning of idols, a purification of the sanctuary, so that no graven thing may
occupy the place that God has commanded to be left empty: the center, the existential
alter which simply ‘is’. In the end, the contemplative suffers the anguish of knowing that
he no longer knows what God is. He may or may not mercifully realize that, after all,
this is a great gain, because ‘God is not a what’, not a ‘thing’. That is precisely one of the
essential characteristics of the contemplative experience (Merton, 13).
Merton’s word illustrate that the cognitive process and spiritual upheaval that derives from
challenging spiritual beliefs can be devastating, even when it is self initiated. Christian skeptics
often fail to realize the cognitive and psychological damage or emotional resistance they cause to
Christians who are not ready to experience this kind of crisis of faith. By taking more
consideration of how cognitive processes that are used to deconstruct learned behavior and
ideologies, may be deeply rooted within another person’s sense of identity, perhaps non
Christians can learn to reevaluate their methods of questioning and criticism of the Christian
faith. This will help to foster a relationship with Christian followers that will allow them to
integrate empirical findings and clarify the new relationship this information has in defining their
faith. Perhaps those who rely on cognitive reasoning can use this knowledge to further “the
development of compassion and understanding for others” that can better pave the way to
transition toward creating a sense of tranquility and acceptance. Because as defined through
Christianity and many other universal perspectives, by treating the cultures adopted by other
human beings with respect we can bring us all closer to finding the happiness and support we
need and giving others their freedom to practice and seek.
By understanding how cognitive processing works and using it to cultivate conscious learning
skeptics can detach from the need to constantly challenge the authority of Christian practices and
instead shift their own focus toward evolving their compassion for other human beings. Perhaps
then they will be more equipped to relate to the Christian community or get Christians to want to
embrace the process of cognitive spiritual development. This way they can meet the
transformational needs of Christians’ cognitive growth without threatening the Christian identity
or ideals. But how do non Christians embark upon learning how to coexist with the Christian
community and their perception of fundamental truths? Perhaps through the practice of building
more affirmative cognitive associations with the Christian community, when addressing
conflicting ideals, both Christian followers and skeptics can practice cognitive tolerance,
acceptance and inclusion. This acceptance will provide better opportunities for building a
symbiotic relationship between faith-based and enquiry-based representations that celebrates and
embraces these differences rather than alienates communities through arrogance, ignorance and
exclusion. Jesus was able to figure it out; and he wasn’t even Christian.
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