Currently Reading #4 (cont)
Sep. 19th, 2013 10:48 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
littlerdog.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
thelittledogI'm a little surprised that Tomalin and Hall waited until they were some two hundred pages into writing the strange voyage of Donald Crowhurst before mentioning that Crowhurst's mother was a Jehovah's Witness. It doesn't seem to have occurred to them that this might be highly relevant to his state of mind.
*boggles*
If you're trying to understand someone's tendency to magical thinking, a religious upbringing might just hold some clues.
Not that we're not all prone to magical thinking. But imo religion tends to foster it, as otherwise reality and belief are intellectually difficult to reconcile. And there's no doubt that Crowhurst had a strong intellect, as well as an enquiring mind. He also had, apparently--and ironically--a well-formed conscience. Only magical thinking could reconcile such a man to a concerted campaign of deceit. And religion supports magical thinking: if you believe something hard enough, it will be true.
Poor guy.
*boggles*
If you're trying to understand someone's tendency to magical thinking, a religious upbringing might just hold some clues.
Not that we're not all prone to magical thinking. But imo religion tends to foster it, as otherwise reality and belief are intellectually difficult to reconcile. And there's no doubt that Crowhurst had a strong intellect, as well as an enquiring mind. He also had, apparently--and ironically--a well-formed conscience. Only magical thinking could reconcile such a man to a concerted campaign of deceit. And religion supports magical thinking: if you believe something hard enough, it will be true.
Poor guy.
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Date: 2013-09-19 11:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-20 08:40 am (UTC)