"Our own life is the instrument with which we experiment with Truth." -- Thich Nhat Hanh

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Drowning in Dogma

Welcome to “Beyond Dogma.” I’m writing this blog to experiment with ideas that cross ideological and dogmatic boundaries in science, spirituality, politics, and culture. I’m worried about dogma, and the stultifying effects it has on creative thought. I think dogmatic influences have been growing in many fields, limiting our option for new and transformative solutions to pressing problems. While I don’t have the solutions to the problems, I have ideas that I would like to share, debate, discuss, and refine. I hope you will join the conversation. What do I mean by dogma? According to the Oxford American Dictionary, dogma is “a principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true.” It’s the incontrovertible part that bugs me. Dogma is a type of fundamentalism that goes beyond text. The 20th century theologian Paul Tillich talks about the “demonic traits” of fundamentalism, which arise because “It elevates something finite and transitory to infinite and eternal validity” [Systematic Theology, vol. 1]. When I talk about dogma, I’m talking about claiming absolute and permanent validity for ideas that cannot possibly be permanently valid in a rapidly changing world. I’m talking about received wisdom, a lack of imagination, and closed minds. We’re up to our ears (literally drowning) in this kind of thought. This upsets me and I want to find a way to make the flood waters recede. All of this is pretty abstract, but it is only an introduction to my concerns. Keep reading, and I think you’ll see the kind of day-to-day issues that keep me up at night.

3 comments:

Steve Wilson said...

I wrote my Masters thesis on attitude change theory. Authoritarian personality theory offered me a useful framework for thinking about why some people are more likely to subscribe to dogmatic principals. It also gave me a way that I could be compassionate towards them as people while still disagreeing with them. Some people find the world a confusing place and need the security of being told what to think. The problem with asking a dogmatic thinker to consider another way of thinking on any one issue is that it may cause them to have to challenge the validity of a great number of things in their world view. That could be a extremely painful psychological process and requires considerable cognitive dissonance to set that process in motion. I think it's an interesting discussion that Clay has opened. How can we show dogmatic thinkers that there is some value to them in considering other options?

Sarah Siegel said...

Clay,

Welcome to the blogosphere. I'm adding you to my blogroll as soon as blogrolling.com's back up.

I think the answer is for more people to be catmatic, rather than dogmatic (written by a proud cat parent).

Cats are extremely focused on one thing...and then another...and another. The are not dogged for long. They are not like "a dog with a bone...," i.e., not like fundamentalists.

People need to learn to be more cat-like.

Will said...

Great to see this blog starting! I'll be following it with huge interest.