Patterns of Spirituality

Effects on Religion of Mind Swings

An idea that is central to my understanding of issues is that the mind likes to swing between opposites. So when there are two sides to an issue, the mind usually swings between each side. The most disturbing aspect of this phenomenon is when the mind swings on moral and ethical issues: we may like to feel the good side of a moral issue, but will not like to feel the bad side of it. The bad side usually induces guilt and remorse in us. Hence the swings often bring a lot of distress to us. The one virtue of such swings is that we only really understand any issue when we have seen both sides of it.

For example, in Britain in the early part of the 20th century, the working classes had a very rough time economically. As a result, when the socialist party gained power in the elections after world war 2, it created a socialist state to provide free basic social and medical services. The ethos was that the worker should be looked after from cradle to grave. In this we saw the good side of English socialism. But by the time of the 21st century, the socialist government of the time was introducing semi-totalitarian laws under the guise of anti-terrorism. Hence the socialist party first orientated on the good side of socialism but had eventually swung round to the bad side of it.

Similarly, we can view the progress of liberal economics in the same light. In the beginning, the free market seemed to offer good alternatives to the aristocratic rule of western countries. But since the 20th century we often see the bad side of it. The introduction of free market economics to Mexico, Argentina, and Russia was a disaster for those countries. And in Britain the extension of free market economies almost turned Britain into a disaster zone as well - only the discovery of offshore oil around Britain prevented this happening. The lessons we have to learn from this swing from good to bad is that we have to develop discrimination in our social, political and economic models. Under particular conditions, socialism is good, whilst under different conditions it is bad. Similarly for free market economics.

This understanding can be applied to religions. In the first three centuries AD, the middle east was an amazing theatre of eclectic spirituality. Then the emperor Constantine gave political power to one particular sect, which became the Catholic religion. This state-sponsored sect proceeded to eliminate its rivals, in exactly the same way that early 20th century Russian communism preferred to eliminate its socialist rivals (rather than confront western liberalism). So those early times saw the bad side of Catholicism. In the middle ages, the newly-founded Dominican and Benedictine orders provided good service ; they were just what the times needed. But eventually they were used as the instruments of repression during the various inquisitions.

These good and bad effects that any organisation generates are produced by the changes in societies and nations. As new issues arise, so in the long run the mind swings between the good and bad sides of every issue. A long-standing organisation like the Catholic church will see many issues arise over the course of its life, and so regularly there are times when the church seems good and times when it seems bad.

Mind swings can produce long-term historical consequences. For example, the Byzantine empire (the eastern half of the old Roman empire) provided the first example of a "brain drain". In the period leading up to the Renaissance of the 15th century, many Byzantine intellectuals who were disgusted by the excesses of the ruling elites were offered teaching posts in the emerging Islamic empire in the middle east. This helped to broaden the cultural basis of that empire.
(In Britain of the last half of the 20th century, the brain drain was the name given to the phenomenon of British scientists emigrating to the USA).

The philosophical analysis of mind swings produces the concept of "dialectics", or the dialectical nature of the mind.

Copyright © 2002 Ian Heath
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