(December 5, 2012 at 1:35 am)jonb Wrote:(December 5, 2012 at 1:20 am)Vincenzo "Vinny" G. Wrote: It's anecdotal, but I have a feeling there is a higher rate of mental illness in the atheist community than other communities.
Horror! for once I may agree with you, as it does not surprise me either, as there seems to be far more openness in this forum than I would have expected. Also there must de an element of dissatisfaction to drive one to new ways of thinking, and the smug self-satisfied types that sit on the sidelines and carp very rarely are up to any sort of self examination, or inventive thought as such they tend to adhere to very dubious traditional ways of thinking.
It's not just openness. Although that's certainly a factor.
It's that human beings work best when they feel an innate purpose, a drive that they can latch onto even through the difficult times.
It's said in the behavioral sciences and marketing that the consumer can actually become stressed out if provided too many choices or too much freedom. Removing freedom is often more helpful to cognitive thought than taking it away.
And to make a choice as to what your purpose in life is, now that you've decided you don't really have one, and that "God hasn't give you one" is profoundly difficult.
