Floyd's Science, the Sacred Science

[Guest guest]

The " Sacred Science " from R. J. Lifton, " Thought Reform and the

Psychology of Totalism: A Study of " Brainwashing " in China " copyright

1989. Used without permission.

The totalist milieu maintains an aura of sacredness around its basic

dogma, holding it out as an ultimate moreal vision for the ordering of

human existance. This sacredness is evident in the prohibition (whether

or not explicit) against the questioning of basic assumptions, and in

the reverence which is demanded for the originators of the Word, the

present bearers of the Word, and the Word itself. While thus

transcending ordinary concerns of logic, however, the milieu at the same

time makes an exaggerated claim of airtight logic, of absolute

" scientific " precision. Thus the ultimate moral vision becomes an

ultimate science; and the man who dares to criticize it, or to harbor

even unspoken alternative ideas, becomes not only immoral and

irreverent, but also " unscientific. " In this way, the philosopher kings

of modern ideological totalism reinforce their authority by claiming to

share in the rich and respected heritage of natural science.

The assumption here is not so much that man can be God, but rather that

man's _ideas_ can be God: that an absolute science of ideas (and

implicitly, an absolute science of man) exists, or is at least very

close to being attained; that this science can be combined with an

equally absolute body of moral principles; and that the resulting

doctrine is true for all men at all times. Although no ideology goes

quite this far in overt statement, such assumptions are implicit in

totalist practice.

At the level of the individual, the totalist sacred science can offer

much comfort and security. Its appeal lies in its seeming unification of

the mystical and the logical modes of experience (in psychoanalytic

terms, of the primary and secondary thought processes). For within the

framework of the sacred science there is room for both careful

step-by-step syllogism, and sweeping, non-rational " insights. " Since the

distinction between the logical and the mystical is, to begin with,

artificial and man-made, an opportunity for transcending it can create

an extremely intense feeling of truth. But the posture of the

unquestioning faith -- both rationally and nonrationally derived -- is

not easy to sustain, especially if one discovers that the world of

experience is not nearly as absolute as the sacred science claims it to

be.

Yet so strong a hold can the sacred science achieve over his mental

processes that if one begins to feel himself attracted to ideas which

either contradict or ignore it, he may become guilty and afraid. His

quest for knowledge is consequently hampered, since in the name of

science he is prevented from engaging in the receptive search for truth

which characterizes the genuinely scientific approach. And his position

is made even more difficult by the absence, in a totalist environment,

of any distinction between the sacred and the profane; there is no

thought or action which cannot be related to the sacred science. To be

sure, one can usually find areas of experience outside its immediate

authority; but during periods of maximum totalist activity, (like

thought reform) any such areas are cut off, and there is virtually no

escape from the milieu's ever-pressing edicts and demands. Whatever

combination of continued adherence, inner resistance or compromise

co-existence the individual person adopts toward this blend of

counterfeit science and back-door religion, it represents another

continuous pressure toward personal closure, toward avoiding, rather

than grappling with, the kinds of knowledge and experience necessary for

genuine self-expression and for creative development.

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