Friday, March 18, 2011

When Despair Comes Calling





When Despair Comes Calling

"The battle went hard against Saul, and the archers overtook him; and he was greatly distressed by reason of the archers."
I Samuel 31:3

Dennis Diehl - EzineArticles Expert AuthorI always read this scripture and elaborated on its implications when doing the funeral of a Church Member who had taken their own lives.  

This business of the "battle going hard" is one worth discussing.  Sometimes that's just how life feels and rarely, but on occasion, some of those disillusioned by their experience with the Bible, the Church and all the failed promises or misguided perspectives humans allow themselves to adopt can take a final toll.

 4 Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and run me through and abuse me.”
   But his armor-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it. 5 When the armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died with him. 6 So Saul and his three sons and his armor-bearer and all his men died together that same day. 


Suicide is a very difficult topic to address when it involves those who had such hope gone badly with regards to religion.  It truly is a permanent solution to temporary problem, but it sure does not seem that way at the time.


As a former pastor, I knew the real truth of some of the deaths in the congregations around me.  I've known of both minister and member who outwardly died suddenly of this or that thing, but really ended their own lives.  It is unspeakable and very difficult to face for those who survive.  If the one who ended their life could see what carnage they leave behind with family and friends, they might rethink it.  However, thinking is not one's strong point when despair overtakes them.


The battle just got overwhelming and despair set down its roots leaving the person with nothing.


Suicide is always seen as a quick thing. It happens in seconds and minutes.  I have known good men, who in the despair of ongoing church drama and endless scandal drank themselves to death.  That takes a bit longer.  In our culture one is allowed to kill themselves slowly by confusing sugar, caffeine, alcohol and nicotine as the four food groups.  It's ok to kill yourself slowly.  But it is not ok to take your life quickly.  You can abuse yourself willingly years and die knowing life styles and addictions are taking their toll, but you can't turn on a lethal drip of something to choose the time of your death.


 We might wonder if Jesus, in the story, did not commit suicide.  Overturning tables in the Temple with the Romans already waiting to crush any trouble around the Temple during Passover might be considered suicidal.  It worked for Jesus.  Stephen seems to have committed suicide by flapping his mouth against those that could hurt him.  His deaconship was rather short lived.  He may have done better had he explained his position or discussed it. But just ramming it down their throats was definitely suicide.
In the Bible, some seem to see proof that "God" hates abortion and those that end the life of a child in the womb are murderers.  However, if you have any sense of the Bible stories, it is not difficult to conclude that all bets are off once the child is actually born.


  "God" is real big in the OT on scraping the children of the enemy off the face of the earth, and in ways that would leave most of us with life long nightmares if we saw how it was done.  Go watch the stoning of a woman on Youtube.  It still happens.  Actually don't.  You'll be sorry that clip now plays in your head.  Strange and horrific rules and laws from the mind of the God who became Love. 


But let's talk about the fast form and the form that arises when despair in the heart of the person has reached it's maximum. I realize this is an almost unspeakable topic. Let's talk about it. 


Recently I noticed that in my town all the radio preachers were talking about suicide.  It seemed odd.  All of them were warning against it or equating it to letting Satan get in and work his magic etc.  I found out that in the month just before and after Xmas, several local pastors had ended their lives.  Now the programs made sense, but the act of a minister killing himself did not of course and they felt they all had to talk about it.  I only recall them addressing it as a no no for the yet living congregants and Satan getting all the credit, but one never found out what the despair in the heart of the victim really was. 




Why do deeply religious people sometimes end their lives?  The killer is despair. Why despair?  Because in religion one is supposed to find the answers and the hope and the meaning of it all.  In our experience with WCG, the Wonderful World Tomorrow became the Horrible World Today again with a heavy dose of anger, skepticism and despair over "what it's all about."  Idealists and those who can't suffer drama well are perhaps the most vulnerable.


Our religious beliefs are supposed to relieve the drama, anxiety and fear we experience in life.  It's why when others attack your faith or beliefs we fight back. If you take away my truth or if you show me wrong in a way that leaves nothing encouraging, one loses courage and the trinity of drama, anxiety and fear return putting us back where we first began when we thought we had the truth that held it at bay.  We're all afraid of death. Religion is what humans adopt to reduce that fear and the anxiety that sits just below the surface whispering "it's all for nothing."  The last sermon I ever gave was entitled, "Nothing is for Nothing."  It was the only topic I could come up with to wrap up the previous 30 years.  I still believe it so we'll see.


According to Psychology Today...


In general, people try to kill themselves for six reasons:


  1. They're depressed. This is without question the most common reason people commit suicide. Severe depression is always accompanied by a pervasive sense of suffering as well as the belief that escape from it is hopeless. The pain of existence often becomes too much for severely depressed people to bear. The state of depression warps their thinking, allowing ideas like "Everyone would all be better off without me" to make rational sense. They shouldn't be blamed for falling prey to such distorted thoughts any more than a heart patient should be blamed for experiencing chest pain: it's simply the nature of their disease. Because depression, as we all know, is almost always treatable, we should all seek to recognize its presence in our close friends and loved ones. Often people suffer with it silently, planning suicide without anyone ever knowing. Despite making both parties uncomfortable, inquiring directly about suicidal thoughts in my experience almost always yields an honest response. 
  2. They're psychotic. Malevolent inner voices often command self-destruction for unintelligible reasons. Psychosis is much harder to mask than depression-and arguably even more tragic. The worldwide incidence of schizophrenia is 1% and often strikes otherwise healthy, high-performing individuals, whose lives, though manageable with medication, never fulfill their original promise.
  3. They're impulsive. Often related to drugs and alcohol, some people become maudlin and impulsively attempt to end their own lives. Once sobered and calmed, these people usually feel emphatically ashamed. The remorse is usually genuine, and whether or not they'll ever attempt suicide again is unpredictable. They may try it again the very next time they become drunk or high, or never again in their lifetime.
  4. They're crying out for help, and don't know how else to get it. These people don't usually want to die but do want to alert those around them that something is seriously wrong. They often don't believe they will die, frequently choosing methods they don't think can kill them in order to strike out at someone who's hurt them-but are sometimes tragically misinformed.
  5. They have a philosophical desire to die. The decision to commit suicide for some is based on a reasoned decision often motivated by the presence of a painful terminal illness from which little to no hope of reprieve exists. These people aren't depressed, psychotic, maudlin, or crying out for help. They're trying to take control of their destiny and alleviate their own suffering, which usually can only be done in death.
  6. They've made a mistake. This is a recent, tragic phenomenon in which typically young people flirt with oxygen deprivation for the high it brings and simply go too far. The only defense against this, it seems to me, is education.
  7.  
Everyone I have ever asked, "Have you ever considered suicide," said..."yes of course. We all have those times when the thought crosses one's mind."  And then they forget about it. 

Sometimes those who find no reason to go on, and more commonly today than ever, feel the need to take others with them. Our collective experience with Milwaukee and the WCG is a case in point. I always felt that somewhere, sometime this event would come to WCG or at least one of the splinters. I felt it would happen a bit higher up the chain but the Saturday morning when I heard that there was a Saturday morning rampage in a church in a hotel setting, I said to myself, "It has happened."  And it had. That's what despair can do. 
What to look for.

WARNING SIGNS

Conditions associated with increased risk of suicide
  • Death or terminal illness of relative or friend. 
  •  
  • Divorce, separation, broken relationship, stress on family. 
  •  
  • Loss of health (real or imaginary). 
  •  
  • Loss of job, home, money, status, self-esteem, personal security. 
  •  
  • Alcohol or drug abuse. 
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  • Depression. In the young depression may be masked by hyperactivity or acting out behavior. In the elderly it may be incorrectly attributed to the natural effects of aging. Depression that seems to quickly disappear for no apparent reason is cause for concern. The early stages of recovery from depression can be a high risk period. Recent studies have associated anxiety disorders with increased risk for attempted suicide. 
  •  
Emotional and behavioral changes associated with suicide

  • Overwhelming Pain: pain that threatens to exceed the person's pain coping capacities. Suicidal feelings are often the result of longstanding problems that have been exacerbated by recent precipitating events. The precipitating factors may be new pain or the loss of pain coping resources.
  • Hopelessness: the feeling that the pain will continue or get worse; things will never get better.
  • Powerlessness: the feeling that one's resources for reducing pain are exhausted.
  • Feelings of worthlessness, shame, guilt, self-hatred, no one cares. Fears of losing control, harming self or others.
  • Personality becomes sad, withdrawn, tired, apathetic, anxious, irritable, or prone to angry outbursts.
  • Declining performance in school, work, or other activities. (Occasionally the reverse: someone who volunteers for extra duties because they need to fill up their time.)
  • Social isolation; or association with a group that has different moral standards than those of the family.
  • Declining interest in sex, friends, or activities previously enjoyed.
  • Neglect of personal welfare, deteriorating physical appearance.
  • Alterations in either direction in sleeping or eating habits.
  • (Particularly in the elderly) Self-starvation, dietary mismanagement, disobeying medical instructions.
  • Difficult times: holidays, anniversaries, and the first week after discharge from a hospital; just before and after diagnosis of a major illness; just before and during disciplinary proceedings. Undocumented status adds to the stress of a crisis. 
  •  
Suicidal Behavior
 
  • Previous suicide attempts, mini-attempts.
  • Explicit statements of suicidal ideation or feelings.
  • Development of suicidal plan, acquiring the means, rehearsal behavior, setting a time for the attempt.
  • Self-inflicted injuries, such as cuts, burns, or head banging.
  • Reckless behavior. (Besides suicide, other leading causes of death among young people in New York City are homicide, accidents, drug overdose, and AIDS.) Unexplained accidents among children and the elderly.
  • Making out a will or giving away favorite possessions.
  • Inappropriately saying goodbye.
  • Verbal behavior that is ambiguous or indirect: I'm going away on a real long trip., You won't have to worry about me anymore., I want to go to sleep and never wake up., I'm so depressed, I just can't go on., Does God punish suicides?, Voices are telling me to do bad things., requests for euthanasia information, inappropriate joking, stories or essays on morbid themes.  


How to Help

  1. Take it seriously.
  2. Myth: The people who talk about it don't do it. Studies have found that more than 75% of all completed suicides did things in the few weeks or months prior to their deaths to indicate to others that they were in deep despair. Anyone expressing suicidal feelings needs immediate attention. 
    Myth: Anyone who tries to kill himself has got to be crazy. Perhaps 10% of all suicidal people are psychotic or have delusional beliefs about reality. Most suicidal people suffer from the recognized mental illness of depression; but many depressed people adequately manage their daily affairs. The absence of craziness does not mean the absence of suicide risk.
    Those problems weren't enough to commit suicide over, is often said by people who knew a completed suicide. You cannot assume that because you feel something is not worth being suicidal about, that the person you are with feels the same way. It is not how bad the problem is, but how badly it's hurting the person who has it. 

  3. Remember: suicidal behavior is a cry for help.
  4. Myth: If a someone is going to kill himself, nothing can stop him. The fact that a person is still alive is sufficient proof that part of him wants to remain alive. The suicidal person is ambivalent -- part of him wants to live and part of him wants not so much death as he wants the pain to end. It is the part that wants to live that tells another I feel suicidal. If a suicidal person turns to you it is likely that he believes that you are more caring, more informed about coping with misfortune, and more willing to protect his confidentiality. No matter how negative the manner and content of his talk, he is doing a positive thing and has a positive view of you. 

  5. Be willing to give and get help sooner rather than later.
  6. Suicide prevention is not a last minute activity. All textbooks on depression say it should be reached as soon as possible. Unfortunately, suicidal people are afraid that trying to get help may bring them more pain: being told they are stupid, foolish, sinful, or manipulative; rejection; punishment; suspension from school or job; written records of their condition; or involuntary commitment. You need to do everything you can to reduce pain, rather than increase or prolong it. Constructively involving yourself on the side of life as early as possible will reduce the risk of suicide. 

  7. Listen.
  8. Give the person every opportunity to unburden his troubles and ventilate his feelings. You don't need to say much and there are no magic words. If you are concerned, your voice and manner will show it. Give him relief from being alone with his pain; let him know you are glad he turned to you. Patience, sympathy, acceptance. Avoid arguments and advice giving. 

  9. ASK: Are you having thoughts of suicide?
  10. Myth: Talking about it may give someone the idea. People already have the idea; suicide is constantly in the news media. If you ask a despairing person this question you are doing a good thing for them: you are showing him that you care about him, that you take him seriously, and that you are willing to let him share his pain with you. You are giving him further opportunity to discharge pent up and painful feelings. If the person is having thoughts of suicide, find out how far along his ideation has progressed.

  11. If the person is acutely suicidal, do not leave him alone.
  12. If the means are present, try to get rid of them. Detoxify the home. 

  13. Urge professional help.
  14. Persistence and patience may be needed to seek, engage and continue with as many options as possible. In any referral situation, let the person know you care and want to maintain contact. 

  15. No secrets.
  16. It is the part of the person that is afraid of more pain that says Don't tell anyone. It is the part that wants to stay alive that tells you about it. Respond to that part of the person and persistently seek out a mature and compassionate person with whom you can review the situation. (You can get outside help and still protect the person from pain causing breaches of privacy.) Do not try to go it alone. Get help for the person and for yourself. Distributing the anxieties and responsibilities of suicide prevention makes it easier and much more effective. 

  17. From crisis to recovery.
  18. Most people have suicidal thoughts or feelings at some point in their lives; yet less than 2% of all deaths are suicides. Nearly all suicidal people suffer from conditions that will pass with time or with the assistance of a recovery program. There are hundreds of modest steps we can take to improve our response to the suicidal and to make it easier for them to seek help. Taking these modest steps can save many lives and reduce a great deal of human suffering.
Sometimes the battle goes hard against us.  But ending one's life is a permanent solution to a temporary problem and leaves a lifetime of anger, guilt and shame for those left behind.  




"How do you know you are supposed to having the experience in life you are having?  Because you are having it."
Eckhart Tolle


"Experience is not only the best teacher, it is the only one.  Everything else is merely hearsay."
Me


I hope this is a helpful and balanced view.  Those you never hear about in the saga and drama of the WCG are those we need to remember and encourage. Tens of thousands associated with WCG have simply faded away to wonder what that was all about.  Most will keep searching for their truth and continue their journey. Some will give up or be tempted to give in to the despair that theological upheaval inflicted on the many by the few can cause.  Those who have hijacked the hopes of others, perpetuate their own views and do very very well at it will be fine.  They are empty clouds but doing well.
And finally in answer to the thought that went through your minds while reading this...the answer is no.  I am fine.  I have been here as have many.  But I am fine.



14 comments:

Anonymous said...

According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), 90% of all suicides are a result of depression -- which is in turn mostly caused by mental illness, which, in turn, is rooted in genetic predisposition, usually unleashed by extreme trauma causing a psychotic break.

The most effective way to prevent all this is brain healthy activities: Exercise, losing weight, balanced diet, treating sleep apnia, getting sufficient sleep and having positive mental activity. People who do not take care of their brains by engaging in brain healthy activities are not just subjected to depression and the risk of suicide, but the risk of developing senile dementia -- Altzheimer's Disease -- is 65% higher than those with healthy brain habits.

I am planning to focus on the Brain Healthy aspect for DNArefutesBI.com section on escaping British Israelism. Being trapped within the confines of the psychosis of believing British Israelism is not brain healthy. We've all seen the results of the chaos and confusion it brings to Armstrongists, which in turn, leads to a series of mental disorders resulting in life threatening behavior, not the least is suicide. To be brief, Armstrongism is a threat to your well being. Period. Thinking psychotic thoughts proliferated by deterioration from delusional influences, such as say, The Good News, what with the gunman pointing a gun at you from the front cover, months of coverage of high school shooting and speculative depressive prognostications are downright unhealthy. A mental health professional friend of mine in United confided in me that he was depressed. I told him to stop reading The Good News. That solved his problem.

It doesn't seem to occur to Armstrongists that their whole venue is rife with UBO (Unidentified Bright Objects) causing rubbish, threatening their membership with mental drivel to rob them of their sanity. The list is endless. Believing all those false prophets with their failed prophecies is destructive: Ron Weinland, Gerald Flurry, Wade Cox and a whole panopoly of others should be rounded up and... something done to them for their depraved indifference to creating life threatening stresses.

It is unfortunate that belief systems have created a culture of self-destruction. I remember well the suicide of Don Weininger in Spokane, as he stood outside his wife's lawyer's office in the hall, trying to convince his wife not to divorce him. He shot her to death and then turned the gun on himself and committed suicide. I still have vivid memories of David Register opening the Feast of Tabernacles in Canada with a story of suicide of a young woman AC graduate working at the college who committed suicide. He gave no explanation of why she committed suicide. It was depressing, particularly to open the Feast of Tabernacles. I had a few words with him the next day. He was not receptive to my correction. After all, he had all the power and I was a nothing who had just lost my job. (And there is a certain satisfaction that "Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord" that he has been fired from being Regional Pastor in the UCG. Do you believe in Karma?)

There are other activities of the ministers and administration of the Armstrongists which is very unhealthy, not to mention, immoral, unethical and illegal. Promoting and protecting stalking and fondling come to mind. If you think that promoting and protecting stalking is confined to one incident, think again. There is also the story of a young single professional woman who had a stalker claim her as his wife on a life insurance policy -- and once again, the now President of United was behind it. Violating the very core of decency has its long term affects.

People in Armstrongism are left feeling helpless when they are oppressed because no one will help them and the very leadership is against them.

The best I can do is to point out that the entire venue is rubbish and the most mentally healthy thing to do is leave it.

Your life may depend upon it.

And that's not just hyperbole.

Anonymous said...

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) claims that 90% of all suicides are a result of depression, generally from a genetically biased predisposition to mental illness, triggered by stresses resulting in a psychotic break.

One of the most effective ways to prevent such instabilities is to maintain good health, particularly for a healthy brain.

Such common sense things as exercise, proper nutrition and adequate sleep go a long way for prevention.

Traumas -- unexpected life events of major proportions -- cannot be avoided, but support from various sources can do a lot to mitigate the feelings of isolation and helplessness.

Unfortunately, Armstrongism is contraindicated, since its psychotic delusions are particularly destructive to mental health. Avoiding it is the solution to maintain healthy brain functions.

Allen C. Dexter said...

Good summary of the situation, and, yes, I've been there too. When your whole life seems to blow up in your face and all you put faith in crumbles, it gets pretty overwhelming.

It is sad that life can get so seemingly hopeless that people turn to such an extreme. But, it does, and those who condemn such people to damnation by their imaginary god are again using fear to solve human problems which should be solved through competent couseling and caring and perhaps medication.

Can't say I would never again contemplate such a solution. If my health completely flamed out or I lost my wife and was facing financial oblivion as a result, it might rear its head again. Being a helpless victim of circumstances has never appealed to me anymore than it appealed to Saul. Self-reliant people like me don't take well to helplessness.

Anonymous said...

Very good insights Douglas, Thanks!

The demands of religion, such as "become ye there perfect (and even if it means 'mature') as your father in heaven is perfect," can leave one feeling helpless as others fake it better than they do.

Religion demands you get it exactly right yet provides hundreds if not thousands of right ways to be, only one of which is really right. Stupid.

Be yourself goes a long way to overcoming depression as well it seems. Of course, most religions and churches endeavor to tell you that you are a "worm" and your heart is deceitful above all things, so being oneself is exactly what church is designed to destroy for conformity. Crazy

Steve said...

Wow! Love the comments. If I didn't feel like killing myself before...I do now!

Byker Bob said...

Actually, there are two types of suicide. One is physical, and the other is spiritual. I believe that being philosophically well rooted is an effective antidote to either kind.

A friend recently introduced me to a short book by Hermann Hesse, called Sidhartha. The action takes place in a Buddhist setting, however the lessons are also consistent with Christianity. The topic is enlightenment and the deep peace and joy which accompany this. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone. It's a short read, but really packs a whallop!

BB

Anonymous said...

Consider that faith can overcome great obstacles.

It does not need to be faith in God, although it should be evident that a lack of faith in God is a root case of suicide amongst "Christian" Ministers.

No, it is appropriate to have faith in the Universe, because it is consistent. Physics works (else we couldn't have blogs). Do the right things under the right circumstances as specified by the Universe and you will get the right results, minus a tithe in entropy.

In talking with a certified mental health professional today who works as a psychologist at a clinic, I was told by her that a great proportion of suicides are committed in anger as a form of revenge. Have the faith that after all is said and done, the vengeance means nothing and people finally pick up and move on without the person committing the act. Have faith that you don't really make that much difference one way or another in the scheme of things and that sometimes just making a point is rather useless.

It should be clear that if a person has sufficient faith in the right things, they can have the hope to be positive and not have issues with commiting suicide -- at least faith is an effective mitigation in many cases.

Faith can also not just prevent bad and evil things, it is also a force for good which can overcome seemingly overwhelming obstacles.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm. Speaking of faith, I seem to be having some difficulties with posting to this blog and getting signed in with Google and Yahoo.

I apologize for duplicate or similar postings today. Some of them seem to have disappeared mysteriously, only to reappear after I rebooted my PC.

Maybe my PC is attempting suicide.

I keep hoping it will get better.

Anonymous said...

"Actually, there are two types of suicide. One is physical, and the other is spiritual."

Define "spiritual."


Paul Ray

Anonymous said...

Define "spiritual."

OK, Paul, I'll give it a go.

See, the root of "spiritual" is "spirit". Spirit is well known as strong alcoholic drink.

Strong alcoholic drink is to be found at the Armstrongist Feast of Tabernacles. The non Armstrongist churches of God which keeps the Feast do not generally drink alcoholic beverages. Anyway, since "spiritual" could sort of, if you look at it from a certain point of view, be framed as drinking at the Feast of Tabernacles, "spiritual suicide" would be "killing" the "spirit", which would be drinking too much of the stuff.

Now, just in case you think this is just fun stuff, think again. At the last Feast of Tabernacles in Montana, Art Braidic asked me how I would convince the Church of God Seventh Day to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. As a result, I asked the minister in the Church of God Seventh Day why the CoG7 doesn't support (but does allow) their churches keeping the Feast of Tabernacles.

His answer was that, personally, the WCG set such a bad example of drunkeness at the Feast of Tabernacles that it discouraged them from even considering it. A bad example goes a long way. I told him the story about me and my brother attending the Feast in 1964 and how that there were so many liquor bottles on the bureau bolted on the wall that when we came back from services, the bureau had fallen off the wall from the weight of the alcohol and there was booze all over the carpet.

Anyway, there are other issues, not the least of which is British Israelism, which the CoG7 loathes for obvious reasons. They aren't happy about the heretic in their midst who tried to take over either.

The truth is that I myself will never convince the CoG7 to keep the Feasts and I'm not sure that I would try. Those who have faith in such things would say that God will do it, but it isn't clear that would be necessary.

So there you have it. "Spiritual suicide". Drinking too much at the Feast of Tabernacles. Killing the spirits, so to speak.

-end satire-

Anonymous said...

Put down that Good News.

Now back away from it slowly....

Anonymous said...

Douglas, your explanation is probably much better than the answer I would have gotten from Bob, satire or no.

Paul Ray

Byker Bob said...

Paul,

There is a very small minority of the human race which is either incapable of grasping the spiritual, or rejects it. Attempting to define the term "spiritual" to members of that minority is not unlike trying to describe via sign language Led Zeppelin and the effects of their music to someone who was born with no sense of hearing. Undoubtedly, they'd miscue and perhaps come up with a mocking sonic version of Leprechauns or the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

BB

Anonymous said...

"....incapable of grasping the spiritual, or rejects it. Attempting to define the term "spiritual" to members of that minority...."


So you either are "receptive" to understanding this term, or you aren't. And if you aren't, then there is no point in the concept being explained to you?

That's mighty interesting. I am hard pressed to imagine any subject that is so hard to explain to another human being- in fact, a subject that depends not on the ability of the teacher, or the intelligence of the questioner, but on some ill defined ability to "grasp" the subject.

Granted, some things may be hard to understand for some, such as physics (I find the mechanical details incomprehensible) , but you can still explain the fundamentals, the overall concept. Or at least try. There exists no human beings who will either "grasp" physics, or not at all, and in the latter case, you may as well not even attempt to teach them.

Except for Bob's religious beliefs. Yes, in this case, I suppose some people cannot grasp what Bob isn't willing to explain, because Bob himself has no idea how to explain it. Nor is there anyone else who can, or at least point to a demonstration to aid someone in understanding. Unlike physics. Hell- even the concept of emotions can be explained and demonstrated. The process of thinking. Evolution. Brewing coffee. Etc.

I'm used to the special circumstances surrounding belief in imaginary beings- evidence suddenly does not apply- rationality and logic are hinderances; but this is the first that I've heard that the concept can't even be taught to some people (though the criteria is also mysterious) because they won't be able to grasp it. No matter what.

Allow me to translate Bob's New Un-Teaching:

"People, like Paul, who don't believe in imaginary beings won't accept my vague and evasive attempts at defining an equally imaginary quasi-ghost that lives in each and every one of us, so I'll just refuse outright to define it and chalk it up as an equally vague and evasive special knowledge."

Bravo, Bob. You have a knack for demonstrating the insanity of belief.

Paul Ray