Inventing God

Psychology of Belief and the Rise of Secular Spirituality

Nonfiction, Health & Well Being, Psychology, Psychoanalysis, Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Religious, Mental Health
Cover of the book Inventing God by Jon Mills, Taylor and Francis
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Jon Mills ISBN: 9781317218432
Publisher: Taylor and Francis Publication: July 22, 2016
Imprint: Routledge Language: English
Author: Jon Mills
ISBN: 9781317218432
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Publication: July 22, 2016
Imprint: Routledge
Language: English

In this controversial book, philosopher and psychoanalyst Jon Mills argues that God does not exist; and more provocatively, that God cannot exist as anything but an idea. Put concisely, God is a psychological creation signifying ultimate ideality. Mills argues that the idea or conception of God is the manifestation of humanity’s denial and response to natural deprivation; a self-relation to an internalized idealized object, the idealization of imagined value.

After demonstrating the lack of any empirical evidence and the logical impossibility of God, Mills explains the psychological motivations underlying humanity’s need to invent a supreme being. In a highly nuanced analysis of unconscious processes informing the psychology of belief and institutionalized social ideology, he concludes that belief in God is the failure to accept our impending death and mourn natural absence for the delusion of divine presence. As an alternative to theistic faith, he offers a secular spirituality that emphasizes the quality of lived experience, the primacy of feeling and value inquiry, ethical self-consciousness, aesthetic and ecological sensibility, and authentic relationality toward self, other, and world as the pursuit of a beautiful soul in search of the numinous.

Inventing God will be of interest to academics, scholars, lay audiences and students of religious studies, the humanities, philosophy, and psychoanalysis, among other disciplines. It will also appeal to psychotherapists, psychoanalysts and mental health professionals focusing on the integration of humanities and psychoanalysis.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In this controversial book, philosopher and psychoanalyst Jon Mills argues that God does not exist; and more provocatively, that God cannot exist as anything but an idea. Put concisely, God is a psychological creation signifying ultimate ideality. Mills argues that the idea or conception of God is the manifestation of humanity’s denial and response to natural deprivation; a self-relation to an internalized idealized object, the idealization of imagined value.

After demonstrating the lack of any empirical evidence and the logical impossibility of God, Mills explains the psychological motivations underlying humanity’s need to invent a supreme being. In a highly nuanced analysis of unconscious processes informing the psychology of belief and institutionalized social ideology, he concludes that belief in God is the failure to accept our impending death and mourn natural absence for the delusion of divine presence. As an alternative to theistic faith, he offers a secular spirituality that emphasizes the quality of lived experience, the primacy of feeling and value inquiry, ethical self-consciousness, aesthetic and ecological sensibility, and authentic relationality toward self, other, and world as the pursuit of a beautiful soul in search of the numinous.

Inventing God will be of interest to academics, scholars, lay audiences and students of religious studies, the humanities, philosophy, and psychoanalysis, among other disciplines. It will also appeal to psychotherapists, psychoanalysts and mental health professionals focusing on the integration of humanities and psychoanalysis.

More books from Taylor and Francis

Cover of the book Probationary Americans by Jon Mills
Cover of the book Rethinking Law as Process by Jon Mills
Cover of the book Reality and Fiction in Modern Japanese Literature by Jon Mills
Cover of the book Peter the Great by Jon Mills
Cover of the book Methodology for a New Microeconomics (Routledge Revivals) by Jon Mills
Cover of the book The Piratization of Russia by Jon Mills
Cover of the book Think Tanks and Civil Societies by Jon Mills
Cover of the book Conservatism in the Black Community by Jon Mills
Cover of the book Teaching Philosophy by Jon Mills
Cover of the book Supernatural as Natural by Jon Mills
Cover of the book Localizing Governance in India by Jon Mills
Cover of the book Global Ideologies and Urban Landscapes by Jon Mills
Cover of the book Grant and Temperley's Europe in the Twentieth Century 1905-1970 by Jon Mills
Cover of the book Caliphs and their Non-Muslim Subjects by Jon Mills
Cover of the book The Skills of Primary School Management by Jon Mills
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy