Chapter 5: A practical application for the General Theory of Religion: Curing Mental Illness throughout the World by means of a Collaboration between Science and Religion.

Here is the outline of an open collaboration between brilliant System Dynamicists, who have been studying my system dynamics-based General Theory of Religion (GTR), and the talented and versatile scientists now working in the field of Genomics at The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard:

1. The Broad Institute believes the application of the most advanced genomic tools will solve the problem of what is causing mental illnesses, like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression. Once the genomic cause is known for each illness, the Broad Institute believes conceiving and developing novel, more effective treatments for such illnesses can finally be accomplished. The Broad Institute is now involved in a 10 year, $500 million project along these lines.
2. The GTR's scientific position is that most mental illnesses begin their development at the moment when the abreaction or release of a trauma has led to panic and a nervous breakdown. When the panic and nervous breakdown occur the abreaction process or the release of the trauma ceases, usually during the unsuccessful releasing process of the first set of cramped, antagonistic heart muscles. However - and this is very important - if there is no panic and nervous breakdown during the abreaction of the trauma, the entire release of the trauma will be successfully completed and mental illness will not develop. The GTR's position is that the primary purpose of a religion is to religiously prepare children of that particular religion, in case those children are traumatized in the future. Specifically, the GTR's position is that the aim of a religion is to prepare those children so they will be able to deal with the beginning signs of panic that will be present when the trauma is eventually beginning to be released. In short, the primary purpose of a religion is to avoid the panic and the nervous breakdown, associated with the eventual release or abreaction of a trauma. If the children's religious preparedness has been done effectively, no panic and nervous breakdown will occur. As a result, there will be no mental illness among the devotees of that religion. Therefore, if a study of a person's genomics shows a tendency toward - for example - schizophrenia, this form of mental illness will only begin to develop in that person after panic and a nervous breakdown occurs. Note carefully: the GTR's position is that a religiously prepared child will eventually be prepared to deal with the release of a trauma later in his or her life: He or she will be able to keep the panic and nervous breakdown from occurring. This has been carefully described in Key #1 of the Introduction to the GTR, where I reveal how I was able to avoid panic and a nervous breakdown at the age of 30 during the abreaction or release of my childhood trauma. That childhood trauma occurred when I was a child of 9 or 10 years old. I was religiously prepared, mainly by my mother and father and by Rabbi Minda overseeing his Sunday school. The critical years were between the ages of about 5 through 15 years old. Therefore, I believe a careful study of religious preparedness is the most important and the most central phenomenon for psychiatrists, scientists, and religious leaders to study. Collaborating scientists conducting such a study would include the talented and versatile scientists at the Broad Institute, system dynamicists who are now studying and becoming interested in my internet presentation of my General Theory of Religion analysis, religious scholars, etc. The main idea here is that if the panic and nervous breakdown do occur during the abreaction, then - and only then - will the results of the Broad Institute's genomics approach - described above - come into play. Here is another important point: the GTR is finding that the primary purpose of a religion is very similar for most of the religions existing throughout the world (see Key #2 and Key #3 just below). Therefore, the results of the collaboration between system dynamicists, who are studying, analyzing, and publishing about a great variety of complex systems, and the versatile scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, who are focused on the use of Genomics to cure mental illness, could begin a very interesting and productive long term project: A project that may eventually wipe out mental illness throughout the world, but only in conjunction with the local religions existing throughout the world.

In the modern era, it is so critical that leaders of the government, the industrial community, the business community, the scientific community, the pharmaceutical industry, the universities, the psychiatric community, and the religious communities learn to work together. I believe such cultural teamwork would bring about healthy, vibrant societies throughout the world: Societies as free as possible from those mental illnesses that result from the panic and nervous breakdown associated with the release or abreaction of a trauma.

Key #2: A Brief Introduction to the General Theory of Religion.

Table I, below, gives the 14 stages of my 53 month religious crisis. The details of Table I give the reader a brief and concise base for understanding the similarities of religions and for understanding the deep concept of a general theory of religion.

Please notice that Purgation is listed at Stage 11 and Mystical Union is listed at Stage 12 of the Judeo-Christian terminology. The Hindu terminology uses the term Overcoming Samskaras for the experience of Purgation and uses the term Samadhi for the experience of Mystical Union, etc.

Key #3: Why a Culture Cannot Survive without Religion.

(Why has religious belief survived throughout the whole history of mankind?)

• During the time when primitive tribes were spreading throughout the world, the quality and effectiveness of the religions of those primitive tribes were forced to develop. That was because of the competitive nature of that migration. The competition between tribes during that expansion or migration caused religions to develop or evolve to the point where a religious scenario, such as the scenario described in Section D of Key #1 when I had to 'walk the plank', enabled tribesmen to survive the abreaction or release of a tribesman's past battlefield trauma. Because of the competition, religion was gradually forced to develop or evolve to the point where tribal culture had the ability to teach religious preparedness to tribal children and youth. Later this religious preparedness was available to adult warriors. As children, they had learned to use prayer, religious belief, and imagination. This kept battlefield traumatized tribesman safe from the panic that could come at any time during the abreaction or release of a past battlefield trauma. This kind of religion was able to instill religious preparedness and the feeling of closeness to the Divine during the childhood period of the future warrior. Eventually, religious preparedness is what was needed in order for the tribal warrior to walk the plank during the abreaction or release of a past battlefield trauma.
• I base the above conjecture on my particular case of not panicking during my purgation experience. My experience of successfully walking the plank indicated to me that my religious preparedness saved me from panic, from a nervous breakdown, and - eventually - from some form of psychosis, like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression. In my case, my experience of successfully walking the plank revealed to me that - without the blessed Lord to save me - a nervous breakdown and psychosis would have followed the panic during the, very dangerous, spontaneous abreaction or release of my childhood trauma.
• Therefore, the above example of successfully walking the plank illustrates the reason why religious preparedness deepened in tribes to become central to tribal culture: Religious preparedness and religious belief became critical for the survival of a primitive tribe. A primitive tribe could not survive or come out the winner in competition with neighboring tribes, if too many of its tribesmen had become mentally ill after panicking during a non-religious abreaction of a previous battlefield trauma. Recall that my experience of walking the plank indicates that when a person's trauma starts to be abreacted or released without religious preparedness on the part of the traumatized person, panic and a nervous breakdown are likely. Imagine a rich primitive tribe with a religion whose spiritual power had slowly become lax or weakened or undermined. Such a tribe would eventually have many mentally ill tribesmen idly hanging around the tribal village accompanied by their caretakers. Then, a starving desperate, but religious, neighboring tribe - sneeking around the bushes and watching such a tribe - will get enough courage to attack and destroy that tribe and take over its territory.
• As time went by, religious story-telling, religious scenarios, and other techniques were used by those migrating religions. Eventually, religious preparedness grew more and more effective in some of the tribes. Only those tribes eventually survived. Those surviving tribes were the seeds of the surviving religions now existing around the world.
• Summary: Religious belief, prayer, and imagination can be used to enable the warrior to survive the abreaction or release of a past battlefield trauma. (Note: A few of the former traumatized warriors may be conditioned by the successful abreaction or release of trauma to emerge from the abreaction, spiritually charged and ready to fight at an inspired level.)
• It is very important for the reader to penetrate toward the insight that using religious preparedness, religious belief, prayer, and imagination can save the traumatized warrior or traumatized tribesman from panic, a nervous breakdown, and mental illness, while that abreaction or release of his trauma is going on. As a result, the warrior will come through the release of the trauma in one piece. Please note that religion's most recent competitor or rival - the combined community of psychiatrists, psychologists, and pharmaceutical manufacturing companies - has no way of stopping panic and a nervous breakdown from occuring during the abreaction of a trauma.
• Now, going beyond my conjectures on the value of religious preparedness for the survival of a primitive tribe, I will state that I believe religious preparedness, religious belief, prayer, and imagination are critical for the survival of a modern culture or a modern civilization. Because of my scientific analysis of my religious experience, I hold the position that the above ideas carry over into the modern era, making prayer, imagination, and religious belief a very effective way to avoid panic, a nervous breakdown, and possible psychosis resulting from the abreaction of trauma.
• At this point I need to state that the psychiatric community in its present form, and the pharmaceutical industry associated with it, make a lot of money dealing with mental illnesses that result from a trauma that has been unsuccessfully abreacted in a non-religious way. It appears that eliminating religion would be very good for the financial condition of psychiatrists and for the profits of corporations in the pharmaceutical industry. For example, purchases of antidepressant drugs and antipsychotic drugs are the third and fourth highest category of pharmaceuticals sold in the USA. Their total sales were $20.7 billion in 2004 (Wall Street Journal, 7/27/05, D1) and growing. If there were to be a revival of the legendary skills of religion in a culture, it would eventually reduce the demand for psychiatrists and, perhaps, cause the psychiatrist's income to drop sharply. It would also reduce the profits of the pharmaceutical industry.

Arlen Wolpert
August 7,2009
http://world.std.com/~awolpert/gtr590.html
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