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Religious Identity, Pluralism and Fundamentalism These abstracts are posted at the request of Mario Aletti. I thank Professor Aletti for sharing this material here. You may purchase this book from the publisher, Centro Scientifico Editore Michael Nielsen PARTE 1 - Per una definizione dell questione IL FONDAMENTALISMO. POSIZIONI TEOLOGICHE O FILOSOFICHE E MOTIVAZIONI PSICOLOGICHE (p. 3) Fundamentalism. Theological or philosophical positions and psychological motivations Antoine Vergote "Fundamentalism" is a modern judgment of negative value on certain religious convictions, that on the support of varied convictions: "liberal", Christian or rationalist. In its hard forms, fundamentalism denies and is in conflict with freedom of the religious or philosophical thought. As a whole (historical-cultural and doctrinal) which complexes is fundamentalism, that carries this judgment can distinguish and examine the psychological motivations, largely unconscious, sometimes purely pathological. In this way, the study of fundamentalism belongs to the psychology of the religion and the religious non-belief. While guiding oneself on these analyses, one proposes, to conclude, the general characteristic of the no fundamentalist provision among believers, those who confess a liberal religious attitude or those who declare themselves without religion. Religious pluralism and fundamentalism (p. 17) Ermis Segatti In the first instance we will examine some aspects inside religious experience in general; from which we will be able to discover fundamentalist behavior and trends. We maintain that these aspects are similar in all major religions, even if these characteristics are different in each of them. In the second part we are shown particular conditions or the exceptional external facts that can facilitate the development and radicality of various forms of organized Fundamentalism. Between these conditions there is surely, even if it is not necessary, also the particular conditions of present day society, characterized, in fact, by religious pluralism. In the third part we will examine four specific manifestations of this fundamentalism, two belonging to the occident: Christianity and New Age; two belonging to the far east: Hinduism and Buddhism. In the fourth section we will consider which reactive factors inside these four religious experiences conflict with the arousal of fundamentalistic tendencies belonging specifically to their tradition to enter with them in the critical connections. Religious identity, pluralism, fundamentalism. Psychological perspectives (p. 25) Mario Aletti Psychologists are interested in understanding, in the plurality of fundamentalisms, the historical-cultural manifestations of a fundamentalist psychological attitude. The lack of psychological models in fundamentalism leads to a difficulty in defining that which pertains to "nonfundamentalism", for example in the structuring of religious identity and in the acceptance of pluralism. It seems obvious that we need genetic-structural psychological models that are sufficiently valid leading to intentionality (conscious an unconscious) of fundamentalist attitude relating to a comprehensive theory of the personality. As a mere example, we consider the psychodynamic model that, according to Winnicott, views religion as a transitional phenomenon and interprets fundamentalism as a deviation which could be either fetishist or autistic. From a psychosocial point of view, a non-critical self-referential model could be suggested. This is applicable both to a scriptural fundamentalism hold on textual-intra-textual dynamics (the sacred texts contain both revelation and interpretation) and to the absoluteness of experience as an intra-textual criterion for religious truth that characterizes the group one belongs to.
Franco Garelli Pluralism represents one of the figures of advanced modernity, which also invests the religious field. The situation appears to be in strong movement with religious phenomenon that reflect ambivalent tendencies and controversies no longer comprehensible with the utilization of the perspective of univocal analysis. Religion still remains a private domain for many individuals representing a last and second to last resource for solving problems. But this research today is very varied and differentiated from the point of view of the subject who expresses this with different intensity and sensitivity and who finds himself confronted with a wide range of signs. The problem of religious rules and symbols inside the church and historical confessions is clear and obvious, for example in the search for religious autonomy and eclecticism in many individuals and groups. At the same time, religion does not act so much in the individual sphere but is compelled by advanced modernity to represent a point of reference both ethical and social because of the lack of public identification. From this point of view, the new appearance of religion that solves the problems of integration encouraging collective movement, offers it's contribution faced with new problems of social rules (in world equilibrium, in the definition of life, in bioethical fields and in genetic engineering etc.) not forgetting as we well know the fundamental religious tendency of various natures among which the groups who tend to contest cultural relativism and others who interpret in political and ideological forms the religious factor. We can therefore underline a process of decomposition and recomposition in the religious image as an effect either of the imprinting of contemporary society, of organizational forms and symbols of the past, or in the affirmation of new religious production connected with the same experience of modernity. Fundamentalism and fundamentalisms: shadows of a light (Pg. 57) Massimo Introvigne Recent incidents of suicide terrorism in Israel, most of which have involved the fundamentalist movement Hamas, called for an explanation and an analysis of terrorism's ideological roots. They are religious, rather than merely political or economical. Their study requires an understanding of the history and divisions within the Islamic fundamentalist movement. Popular theories of brainwashing, the paper argues, only confuse the issue and do not help to understand suicide terrorism. These folk theories should carefully be distinguished from scholarly models of totalism and totalitarian influence. Masses, Fundamentalist Groups, and Psychology (p. 67) Manuela Barbarossa The author analyses some psychoanalytic concepts in order to establish dynamic relationship in the groups, in gangs and in the fundamentalist culture. Persecuted-persecutor relationship in the psychical dynamics of fundamentalism (Pg. 71) Marialfonsa Fontana Sartorio Fundamentalism nowadays shows itself as a culture of death: it appears as a negation of "humane". It may be considered part of persecutor/persecuted dynamics: it originates fro a divergence of human relationships - love's precept is: kill the other, in order to be divested of humanity. There is neither empathy nor the ability of feeling and lacking of perception of the other similar to me. In that context, killing the other means killing one's own interior humanity's voice. A positive contact has been lost with the body as vehicle of joy and pain, as bearer and medium of feelings' expression. As a consequence other's bodies loose value and significance, as well. We also inquire into the forgiving process, as an expression of justice and tie with others, the exact opposite of fundamentalism's dynamic as culture of death and broken relationships. Meditations on fundamentalism (Pg. 79) Luciano Frasconi This paper considers the actual antithesis between secularism and religious fundamentalism, with the help of reconstruction of particular theological origins of functional mentality. Notes on Fundamentalism (Pg. 87) Giovanni Sorge In my speech, which I divided in three parts, I start by highlighting the psychological perspective on submission to a creed or idea. The submission to an absolute rule and a undisputed hierarchy which represents it, the substitution of the free will in favour of a truth unrelated to individual approach and to any hermeneutics, the identification with that truth and, finally, the removal of the natural empathy with the other person describes, in my opinion, which I like to define, "syndrome of great plan". I am debtor in particular to the conceptions of authoritarian religion of Eric Fromm and of psychical inflation of Carl Gustav Jung, which emphasize the fundamental role of the conscience regarding the unconscious. Inflation and psychic epidemic. Jung's contribution to the psychological comprehension of a general phenomena (Pg. 95) Massimo Diana The paper is the result of a research into C.G. Jung's work about the elements which can help the understanding, from a psychic viewpoint, of the complex phenomenon of fundamentalisms. The basic thesis starts from the assumption that not only can analytic psychology help understand it, but it also suggests a concrete way to oppose that dangerous mental epidemic which forms its basis. It is also supported that it is not possible to respect and appreciate - on the political, social, and religious ground - someone who is different, if first of all we do not recognize, appreciate, and integrate our different self. The dialogue is possible only when the differences in ourselves have been recognized and accepted; consequently they will not be projected onto and demonized into the other any longer. Jung's theory suggests the so-called process of individuation, meant as the way towards the constitution of a personal identity which is complete and balanced, and which is gained through self-awareness and the knowledge of one's own interior world. That is to say, it is supported that it is necessary to clarify the psychological conditions of the dialogue, the psychic and unconscious presuppositions which make it possible. It is depth psychology which helps to pass from the conscious level to the one of unconscious determinants. Analytical psychology: between religion and religious fundamentalism (Pg. 105) Augusta Uccelli Beyond the clinical observation, which involves him sharing the major part of the Freudian contribution but not his general psychological plan, to understand Jung's approach towards religion, we must keep in mind two points. He was a keen reader of Kant all his life. He also studied W. James and it is not difficult to trace the inspiration for his writing. The second point, typically psychological, concerns the circumstances shortly before his first approach (Psychology and pathology of so called occult phenomena) that the unconscious does not coincide with repression; even if the observable material, typically symbolic, is mixed with infantile elements of the subject, the significance is not infantile. Sacred symbolism to the truth, is seen as an unnatural human experience in which the pathology results from an identification of the "I" with the archetypal content, assimilated to psychotic thinking. Religious fundamentalism is, from this point of view, a pathological deviation of a deep and significant human experience. God is the first foreigner (Pg. 115) Alessandro Russova Fundamentalism is a form of psychological infantilism. The subject feels himself to be in unique rapport with God, from which one can make privileged interpretation, elimination the logic of separation from others. We recognize in God the first foreigner. Even the others in flesh and blood, become objects of intolerance because he is obliged to make an unbearable question about the connection with the absolute Other. Symbolism of the Cross, Fount of Knowledge and Inter-religious Experience in Its Intercultural and Psychological Significance (pg. 121) Lorenzo Bignamini Symbols are vehicles of knowledge that reveal a primitive side of reality in which this can be cultivated independent of every significance and every interpretation. The symbolic representation is a communicative vehicle of universal significance present in various cultures. We will analyze the significance of the symbolism of the cross whether or not it's meaning is connected with the culture and history of religion and it's psychological significance emerging from analytical relationships. Race psychology and "German Faith" in the first half of the twentieth century (Pg. 129) Ermanno Pavesi The search for a German national identity led to the emphasizing of racial theories and the idea of a Nordic Race. Any author, such as Herwegen or Algermissen, recognize a specific German religiosity which is nevertheless compatible with Christianity. For scholars such as Gunther and Clauss, religious ideas like revelation, redemption, original sin and grace are typical of the Near Eastern Race (Man of Redemption) and of the Desert Race (Man of Revelation), but are not usual for the creative Nordic people (Man of Performance). TheNordic sould requires a Nordic Christianity Purified from Mediterranean influences, or else a Nordic religion inspired by the traditional faith of the ancient Germans (Hauer's Movement of German Faith) and a Nordic church (Bergmann's German National Church). Fundamentalism between history and psychology (Pg. 135) Franco Gualdoni In the long religious conflict between Christianity and Islam there have emerged emblematic moments and along with them characteristic psychological behavior. Integralism and Fundamentalism are modern concepts that denote a mentality that is reluctant to affirm itself in the autonomy of the politics of religion and in the acceptance of the partiality of judgment of their equal values in the democratic game. In the religious field each "fundamentalism" represents a strong defense against that which is felt to be a motive for destroying traditional values and not admitting overcoming in a literal sense "truth" believed to have been disclosed. We will comment on some texts by an author of the first '500 (G.A. Flaminio). Identity and plurality. In centenary of The varieties of religious experience (1902) by W. James (Pg. 141) Oreste Aime If we re-read this "classic" of religious philosophy, the work of one of the fathers of experimental psychology, we will follow the train of thorught indicated by him: from The will to believe to The right to believe. This work still deserves attention because it attempts to articulate correctly at an epistemological level the complex connection between psychology philosophy, theology and religious experience. It is important not to mistake the scale of this attempt to pose the epistemological question which could be concretized today in the anthropology of belief. The work is also noted for having realized a true and valid interpretative criteria, and reaches over and above a simple descriptive level. A hundred years after the publication we must take into account relatively new phenomena not religion, not always of a positive nature. To elaborate the new interpretative and critical criteria the pragmatic examples of James can be reversed in hermeneutic phenomenology of contribution is valid even from the theological point of view as D. Tracy has shown. In the dialogue of others, it is possible to respect pluralism without losing and even reinforcing identity, and to follow the truth. Notes on the aumist religion (Pg. 151) PierLuigi Zoccatelli The Aumist religion was established at the end of the 1960s by Gilbert Bourdin (1923-1998), a French citizen born in Martinique, known to his followers as His Holiness the Lord Hamsah Manarah. Devotees regard Aumism as the universal religion for the New Age, the "Universal Religion of the Faces of God". Hamsah Manarah left 22 "holy books", which serve as the basis for Aumist doctrine. Key themes include: The "hexamid", a symbol of the unity of world's religions; the Light Column and reincarnation; the doctrine of the Messiah; and the importance of the statue of the Cosmo-Planetary Messiah (i.e. Manarah himself). "Fringe Catholic" movements in Italy: from Basilio Roncaccia to Luigia Paprelli's divine mission (Pg. 161) Raffaela Di Marzio "Fringe Catholic" movments exist quit apart from the Roman Catholic Church, either because of their peculiar doctrines or activities. A number of competing "fringe Catholic" movements find their origins in the activities of Basilio Roncaccia (1876-1959). Within the Roncaccia tradition, the largest contemporary group, with some 10,000 members, is the Divine Mission ("La Missione Divine -Luigia Paparelli"), established by Luigia Paparelli (1907-1984). Luigia's teaching and alleged supernatural phenomena attracted a large number of followers. According to some witnesses the Master, before her death, "Called" Rina Menichetti Frizza (1928-2002). Those Brothers of the Mission recognized Menichetti as Paparelli's spiritual heir, until her death, on October 6, 2002. The "quasi-religion of reiki (Pg. 169) Andrea Menegotto Reiki is a technique of Japanese origin for reducing stress and increasing the degree of physical and moral well-being. It's based on the idea that universal (rei) energy (ki) flows in all the universe and in all the living beings. Is reiki a religion or is it only a technique? The study of its origins, its characteristics and among the various schools (with particular attention to the Italian scene) tends to think that it's correct to apply to reiki the category, coined by American specialists of "quasi-religion". Psychology and religion in "A Course in Miracles", a New Age spiritual school (Pg. 177) Gianni F. Trapletti A Course in Miracles (ACIM) is often presented as a borderline phenomenon between religious experience and psychotherapy. After tracing a short history of the Course, this report argues that it is a religious movement with neognostic peculiarities inside a New Age trend. ACIM cannot be considered as a scientific theory about the psyche on the basis of its doctrines and practices. Therefore ACIM isn't a way to harmonize spirituality and psychology, but it is a system in which the religious perspective absorbs the psychological datum. Personal identity and mediumistic inventiveness of Vincenzo Muccioli (Pg. 183) Armando Pavese The mediumistic possession is a dissociation of personality with characteristic aspects that recall the multiple personality but with some significant distinctions. We analyse the story of Vincenzo Muccioli (known for his battle against drugs) who was also a medium. Muccioli in trance created "mediumistic dreams" and during them three "psychic shadows" acted: they were the souls of Pasteur, Saint Francis and Christ. Analysing the communication of the dissociated parts of Muccioli's personality we can reconstruct his personal identity. This is part of the model with which the author creates a discipline that the named "psychology of the occult."
PART 4 Fundamentalism and psychosis. A psychoanalytic contribution (Pg. 189)Piergiorgio Moreiro Starting with Freud and Lacan thinking about psychosis, particularly on paranoia, the author analyzes the connections from fundamentalist though and that type of psychopathology, trying to underline the presence of freedom. Working with psychoanalytic psychodrama; some reflections on the social representation of groups of images leading to faith and diverse religious beliefs (pg. 195) Lorenzo Bignamini e Sabrina Dolcini Psychoanalytic psychodrama is an efficient therapy with patients with severe psychiatric disorders. In a Mental Health Department, the group therapy with expressive approach is effective and useful. The fantasies emerging during the session are often in relation to religious images that can make primitive defense mechanisms disappear: during the acting this previous image changes into more adaptive behavior and transforms the psychotic split in a more integrated awareness. Relational virtues, corrective emotional experiences, petrified memories (Pg. 201) Marcello Pedretti The identity is connected to psychological birth. The fundamentalism can be referred either to conscience's troubles related to emotive unconscious, or to neurotic and psychotic defenses, connected to the psychodynamic unconscious. Call these troublers and defenses with the name "petrified memories". Pluralism is not connected to a movement of growth, but of opening. It's fruit and origin of corrective emotional experiences, with at the center the relational virtues: faith, hope, charity. The basic trust, necessary to open oneself to others and to the holy area, is a gift that feeds on self donation. Sacred imprinting. Beginnings for a clinic for religious fundamentalism. (Pg. 207) Franco Maiullari Fundamentalism is the disease of individualism, i.e. the absolute, uncontainable need of truth and certainty to construct the deeper sense of identity. In this case the identity is like a tree's luxuriant leaves, expanding too much over the trunk, erroneously believing to be founded on sacred and immortal roots. Identity, family and religious narcissism. A psychoanalytic interpretation of the film "L'ora di religione" by Marco Bellocchio (Pg. 215) Piera Brustia Rutto and Stefano Ramella Benna A reflection about relationships between personal identity building, family dynamics and religious narcissism, through a psychoanalytic interpretation of Marco Bellocchio's "L'ora di Religione" (Italy 2002, 102') The movie suggests a critical interpretation of the relationship with religion during the developmental age, and therefore during the building of personality, offering an interesting starting point about conscious and unconscious dimensions of religion and the connected narcissistic dynamics, in contemporary age. Particular attention is paid to instrumentalized participation and respect of precepts, frequently remarkable in those religious behaviors, which are not based on authenticity of faith, but part of a narcissistic environment, seen by a psychological and sociological point of view. Search for identity and search for faith. A dynamic transference/countertransference reading. (Pg. 221) Georgina Falco and Mauro Lichino This paper explores the meaning that a patient's conversion to another religious faith had on him while on psychotherapy. We shall examine his transference-countertransference dynamics. Clinical evidence as well as the therapist's response combined to allow it to evaluate hos wthe shifting of the patient's religious object is due to an interplay of illusion and feelings of disappointment, rather than to qualitative transformation of his religious feelings. He tries to make his own identity an oversized one by identifying himself with an ideal object that may e represented, under the circumstances, by a god, a superhero, or his psychotherapist. In this way he can escape any awareness of possessing but a poor identity that would otherwise face failure as well as his own contempt and the contempt of others... The omnipotent object mentioned above, which is worth worshipping and identifying with, changes according to how he feels he can accept his own identity or reject it. Hypothesis on (Shelomoh) Sig(is)mund. Search for identity and religious pluralism at the origin of psychoanalysis. (Pg. 227) Giovanni Foresti, Mauro Pasqua and Paolo Ambrosi This contribution begins with the claim that Freud made, with the word narcissism (Narzisismus/Narzissisum) the same work (subtraction of the syllable IS) that had been submitted the previous year under his own name. (Sig-is-mund) The authors claim that this coincidence went back to the problem of circumcision (bris in Yiddish) and to a complex series of themes - auto-analysis, relationship with father, Hebraism, political institutional reflections, etc. These are indispensable for fully understanding Freudian thought and his personal history, the social and family context that contributed to the formation of his character. The monument and the dancer. A reflection about construction and reconstruction of identity in the Freudian Moses (Pg. 237) Mauro Pasqua e Giovanni Foresti Twice in his life Freud faced political pressures recalling his own Hebraic identity and reelaborating it. This is reflected in the two works written about Moses. The Moses of Michelangelo (1914) is an essay which feels the effects of the internal disputes in psychoanalytic movement. In Moses and Monotheism (1934-38) he deals with the question of being Jewish, during the anti-Semitic barbarity. The contribution suggests, through the comparison of the two works, to consider in Freud's autoanalytic work the theme of his Hebraic roots; it refers to the theme of identity and differences and the possibilities offered by psychoanalysis in situations of contraposition and pressure for the struggle between different systems of thinking.
Parte 5 Religious and spiritual phenomena: a proposal for a methodology to study conscious amplification experiences in the group process (Pg. 247) Celia Carvalho de Moraes The present piece of research work aims to propose a methodology to study the religious, spiritual and consciousness amplification experiences. The research was developed in two stages: on the first stage 49 people who were self=referred following an advertisement in the local media in the city of Brasilia were phenomenologically interviewed about their experiences. On the second stage 26 of the previous 49 subjects participated on 11 group-exercises, described in the literature and by the subjects themselves as having high potential to amplify the consciousness. Participants were assigned to four groups conducted by a facilitator, a co-facilitator and an observer on non-verbal communication. At the end of all the sessions we conducted another phenomenological interview for evaluation and all cases were discussed by the team, and a report synthesis of each participant's whole course in the research was offered for his/her acceptance or rejection. As research outcomes we found that (1) the phenomenological interview was found a facilitator for finding the meaning of the transcendent experiences; (2) several cure mechanisms according to Gestalt-Therapy Approach occurred in the group situation; and (3) we were able to phenomenologically describe and discuss experiences of five participants before and during group situation according to the bibliography introduced. The proposed methodology was found to be a valuable instrument for the evaluation and facilitation of experiences of consciousness amplification. Autobiography an narrative identity. A research. (Pg. 253) Erica Gianone, Chiara Pugnetti e Clara Capello In the trend of research about psychological functions of writing (Capello, 2001), the type of autobiography has been privileged to focus on the question of the narrative identity (Ricoeur, 1990). A report of the very first results of the on-going research into samples of texts written both by adult and elderly people about their identity as believers during their lifetime will be presented here. The narrative schemes used to tell about the religious experience and to work out the believers' identity will be stressed. At the same time, the words used to "talk about God" will be stressed, seeking to show how the tale of the opening to the "wholly other" develops. Personal identity and religion among immigrants of the ethnic churches of Milan (Pg. 259) Mario Aletti e Chiara Gandiani Taken from the ethno-psychiatric perspective in which there is the necessity to include psychic disorders, their symptomatology and diagnostic description inside a precise historical-cultural and relational context, we sought to indicate the influence of religion on the structure and maintenance of immigrant identity in Italy. As part of our study we have interviewed catholic counselors of the ethnic churches of Milan; taking into consideration the fact that Catholicism is the major religion of the country. The specific case of immigrants belonging to the major religion of the adopted country does not appear to have facilitated relations connected with the organization of the immigrant community, either in connection with religion or the process of integration. Research has shown that immigrants need to form an ethnic and cultural group in order to maintain their original identity. The ethnic churches can achieve this objective religion faith and the material support which it provides for its participants. African immigrated in Italy: experience quality and religious practice (Pg. 267) Antonella Delle Fave e Marta Immigration bring about radical changes in everyday life and in the process of identity building. This study, carried out on 35 African Muslim immigrants in Italy, analyzes the quality of experience associated with daily activities, among which is religious practice. Participants were administered Flow Questionnaire and Life Theme Questionnaire, instruments that investigate the quality of daily experience and the individual life history. Results showed that maintaining rituals and religious activities belonging to the native culture stands out as a factor of continuity and stability for individual identity in the process of integrative in the new culture. Religiosity and myelolesion pathology (Pg. 277) Giovanni Luca Arescaldino e Claudio Longobardi This work presents results of research into the existing connection between religious belief and a particular traumatic event. In other words if we want to indicate on one hand the influence that a trauma of the mallow lesion which involves paraplegia and tetraplegia can influence the religious identity of the subject and on the other hand if it can b shown that a solid religious identity can or not be a form of support for these patients. The example involved 25 male subjects with an average age of 40 (ranging from 18-25) suffering from complete mallow lesion caused either by trauma or viruses. Methodology: Schedule of psychological valuation (SVP) and "multifocal" clinical interviews. Religious identity and sense of community (Pg. 283) Chiara Abbá e Claudio Longobardi The aim of this research is to evaluate the existence of a different perception of life in people who share a belief in God compared to people who reject any idea of transcendence. The experiment involved two groups of subjects: the first made up of people who claim to be believers (932) and the second made up of people who declare themselves to be atheists (644). What the church is: an explorative study among children and adolescents (Pg. 289) Tiziana Magro This research aims to show the representation of a church "system" in a sample of 160 children between the ages of 5 and 13, using the clinical Piagetian interview. We hypothesized that the development of a social awareness, particularly in connection with the church, is influenced by the maturing process of the subject and whatever is brought to it by the outside world and that the development of understanding in this institution reveals the difference in the ways and times of acquisition of any single aspect of this social reality. The results seem to confirm the hypothesis of this research. |
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