All three - phobias, taboos, and perversions - exist in society. Phobias, certainly, are created by an anger/aggression response in a particular zone in our brain. It triggers powerful hormone production such as adrenaline, to get us ready for fight-or-flight. Once we've developed a phobia, we are hard-wired to run from it. Now, some fears are justified. It pays to run - quickly - from a hungry sabre-tooth tiger. It seems, though, as our society becomes safer, our phobias become sillier. It's as if our fight-or-flight response is begging for some usefulness.
Now, I think some religions, especially over-controlling religions, set up phobias in order to control their congregations. I think the Watchtower society for instance, has set up phobias around Christmas and other social gatherings, associating informally with non-JW's, and sex. Why would the society do that? Well, in the phobia against "worldly" social gatherings, it pays to isolate and control the congregation member so they are not exposed to very many contrary ideas. You keep them longer. Fear is a highly motivating force, and can paralyse a person to inaction for a lifetime.
Taboos are interesting. All societies have them. I think people are similarly hard-wired to create them. In his book, "The Language Instinct", Stephen Pinker implies that our hunter-gatherer forebears use this taboo response in order to avoid poisonous plants, for instance. Parent teaches child, "You may eat this, do not eat that." Taboos kept us safe. Again, as we get farther and farther from our hunter-gatherer origins, taboos make less and less sense. And the taboos get sillier and sillier. My daughter has formed a family taboo against aspartame, convinced it kills people by cancer. There are religious groups with taboos against pork, chocolate, and alcohol.
What is the harm in taboo? I think an imposed taboo also gives rise to cravings for what we cannot have, and associated bingeing. I speak from experience, being in the middle of a strict diet regime. Who knew food could overwhelm my daily thoughts? Something that should be natural, say, savoring a piece of chocolate, becomes a perverted obsession. It's no longer a bit of chocolate to be savored, it's a mountain to be devoured!
Hence extreme behavior, and even violence, as the craving is obsessively satisifed.
So how does this relate to the Witness experience? I watch my hubby struggle every Christmas season. Who he should associate with. What he should avoid. The more he obsesses about it, the more extreme he gets in his thoughts. Events that regular people would view as harmless, he begins to see as being literal threats to his spiritual health and well-being. How do we break a friend out of such a destructive cycle? Cognitive-behavioral therapy suggests we first make the person aware of the cycle of anxiety and avoidance, then help them come to terms that the cycle, rather than the object to be avoided, is harmful, and finally, teach them to consciously break out of the cycle.
It's not easy to overcome, that is to be sure. I welcome your thoughts.
