Big Questions Lead To Big Answers #3- All Up In Your Head The dangers of religious(legalistic) thinking

All up in your head – the danger of religious(legalistic) thinking


    There is a real danger at a certain level of thinking, and that is the trap of legalistic thinking. This is the kind of thinking that really is not thinking at all, but mere adherence to a determined standard. It's the kind of thinking that makes a person think that they know all that they need to know. Their mind is made up. The subject is closed. It is the stance of the person involved at the level of the Denominational Handbook, Book of the Prayers of the Church, or the Company Policy Manual. "This is how our ancestors have done it, and it's how we're all supposed to do it. Period!" This happens in corporations and families, churches and symphony orchestras.
    This kind of thought breeds a sort of subtle inhumanity toward your fellow man by judging him and putting rules and regulations on him and expectations of perfect adherence to be allowed into the "in group." Cult groups of many kinds use this kind of mindset to effect total control over people and to enslave them under a kind of intellectual totalitarianism. 
    In my experience there are two types of people out there; grace people and law people. Grace people understand that we are all in this together and that we all need a little room to be human in the midst of our struggles. Law people judge others as weak or not following the rules rightly. Grace people understand the point of the rules and respect them, but don't use them to control others. Law people are all about control through the only word they know, which is "no." Grace people see the good in others and trust them, and law people assume the worst from the first. Grace people help you clean up after a mess or failure, but law people look to see who to blame for the mess, and always it's someone else. Be a grace person, and you will go a long way in this journey, and quickly.
    So while we are on a search for something more powerful and enriching than mere intellectual exercise, there is still the need to be human, to be real, to be kind and compassionate. Pure intellectualism is what has caused a great many abuses and even genocide in the not too distant past. A philosophy that is all heart is sappy, vapid and at worst superstitious. But a philosophy that is merely intellectual is cold, calculated, and cruel. Is there a higher way? Is there a true north for us to guide us to a greater overarching narrative?