(January 29, 2016 at 9:30 pm)Jehanne Wrote:(January 29, 2016 at 1:28 pm)athrock Wrote: As you can see from the quote from Harris' book, he does believe that mental illness causes people to be attracted to religion.
And Harris was clearly referring to God as a psychopath in the debate.
Consequently, I don't think that WLC misrepresented Harris' position AT ALL.
It happened to me; I went through a period of depression and suicidal thoughts and I "got religion". It took me years before coming back to my senses. My "conversion" occurred over the period of a few minutes. I sunk into a state of utter despair, kind of almost a manic state and I was "born again". My detox, however, took over two years.
Sorry to hear that. When you're very depressed for the first time it is pretty overwhelming. I remember being desperate to get out of it. For me religion just wasn't something that felt at all hopeful or I'm sure I would have tried it.
For me mania had preceded the depression. So the contrast was all the more sharp. But that was nearly forty years ago. I believe my mania was drug and exercise induced. The depression was probably a rebound with lots of life circumstances contributing to pull me down deeper.
Do you feel like you've evened out now? I've never had another episode of either condition but I'd say both contributed something to who I've become. I hope you are feeling better now.