How does Autism affect your perception of PPR subjects?

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Most of the folks here are, I assume, here because they have Asperger's syndrome or similar.

I don't think anyone would disagree with me when I say that Asperger's is a condition that can greatly impact upon how one relates to the world.

I see politics, philosophy and religion as largely about relationships with others, or at least having something to say about how we could or should go about relating to others

I would be interested to know if you have views on how you think having an autistical brain might have shaped certain of (y)our philosophical, political and religious opinions.

When I was studying philosophy I really liked Immanuel Kant. Now that I have a diagnosis and also know something about Kant's personality, I rather suspect that he was an Aspie and that part of my inclination towards his work was shaped by my "autistical brain".

In terms of religious views I tend towards the mystical. I can easily understand those ancient folk who fled into the desert, lived as hermits, and spent all their time gazing at the Infinite, unencumbered by lots of social interaction. I also like liturgical worship: I like structure and objectivity, not the highly emotional expressions of religion. A service with lots of hugging and so forth is outside my comfort zone.

I've tried this in the past Moog, it doesn't tend to go anywhere. Maintaining self awareness is the tough part, being able to look at your own thoughts and opinions somewhat objectively is a rare skill in most people, and in autistics more than most. I try and subject all my own posts to the "crazy test"; I read them several times with the preview button and decide if what I've written would sound nuts if I was reading it from a third party perspective. Most of the time I just have edit a bit, but there have been whole multipage posts I've tossed for not passing muster.

There's also the tricky business of sussing out the functional level of other posters, especially if they're coming off as threatening or belligerent. Assume too much functionality and you feel like you just clubbed a baby seal when you hammer them back, assume too little function and you look like an a**hole being condescending. It's quite a tightrope to walk.

Let's take a look at the correlation between Asperger's Syndrome and Atheism. Autstic Brains have an increased capacity for Logic and a decreased capacity for emotion. (As the main character in A Beautiful Mind states "I was born with two helpings of Brain and half a helping of Heart".) Religion is an emotional response to the unexplained, and from what I have seen of most religions, said response is illogical.

Yes, all of that!


Not in my own case, and I refer to "religion" very loosely there. My own decision to "turn to God" was the only logical option I could find remaining after discovering I was dying of chronic alcoholism and I had tried "everything else", so to speak, and then my "special interest" quickly became that of getting completely past mere "religion" and discovering for myself the actual reality of "God" as I have since come to know it.

I would argue that it's more likely we have a decreased capacity for expressing emotion, at least that's how I feel it is with me......well that and I seem to be more sensative to negitive emotions than positive emotions so I sometimes have trouble feeling positive emotions. Point is I guess I am not Religious and I am not exactly an Atheist....I've got some even better unusual ideas.

Why be an atheist when there are so many delightful heresies to choose from?

I know this is a failing of a lot of people on the spectrum (which is why I tend to be so cynical).

What heresies? Idol worship? Worship of the Devil? That is so damned silly.

ruveyn

Responses from other individuals to my neurological impairments might have shaped and reinforced my philosophical, political, and religious opinions and practices.

My particular set of "unusual patterns of social interaction" match both Asperger's Syndrome and Geschwind's Syndrome, with the "a posteriori" of temporal lobe epilepsy, and now, more signs and symptoms of Tuberous Sclerosis Syndrome.

The comorbidity of epilepsy and autism is large, and the comorbidity of both with tuberous sclerosis is larger. A "splatter approach" to the psychological perceptions involved is "The Temporolimbic Personality: A cross-national study" by Dinn, Dinn, & Caldwell-Harris (Eur. J. Psychiat. Vol. 22, N.° 4, (211-224), 2008), usually at (November 20, 2011): http://scielo.isciii.es/pdf/ejpen/v22n4/04.pdf

The psychological aspects of the intersection with tuberous sclerosis and autism is more restrictive, but still inclusive. Epilepsy is "wider" as: (Introduction, page 31) "William Osler once said of syphilis, 'I often tell my students that it is the only disease which they require to study thoroughly. Know syphilis in all its manifestations and reactions, and all things clinical will be added unto you.'1 For psychiatry, epilepsy may play a similar role because it could be the etiology for almost any symptom. Therefore, a review of all the psychiatric aspects of epilepsy becomes a review of the practice of psychiatry."
"The Psychiatric Perspectives of Epilepsy" by JOSEPH M. SCHWARTZ, M.D., LAURA MARSH, M.D (Psychosomatics 41:1, January-February 2000). http://psy.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/con ... ct/41/1/31

I searched WrongPlanet for "Rapamycin", but I didn't get any direct results (but plenty of ads). I'm wondering about Rapamycin because of "Rapamycin for treating Tuberous sclerosis and Autism spectrum disorders." by Ehninger D, Silva AJ. (Trends Mol Med. 2011 Feb;17(2):78-87. Epub 2010 Nov 4.).
Abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21115397
Text: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3075964/
pdf: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article ... 251709.pdf

Tadzio

Most religions emphasize social interaction. AKA Sunday worship. This is often unhelpful to one with a social dysfunction.

Having a religion increases emotional stability. Because one has formed an emotional bond with a being that can never reject you, you have one perfectly stable relationship in your life.

Having a high IQ often leads one to question the foundational beliefs of a religion. The foundation is not logically sound, which leads a person away from religion.

In conclusion, a logical person with Asperbergs is more likely to be non-religious or atheist because this is the more logical position to have.

For me, the intricacies of Politics, Philosophy, and Religion are analogous to the rules of various role-playing games. You have your roles, your classes, your skills and talents ... and then you are expected to apply all of this within the rules of a particular "game"...

Priests & Pedophiles - Your goal is to determine not only who may be good or evil, but what defines a good or evil act. Lies, secrets, and conspiracies abound!

Perks & Politicians - Your goal is to amass as much wealth and influence as possible, without getting being exposed as a crook. While the concepts of Good and Evil are addressed (see compatibility rules for Priests & Pedophiles, Appendix D), the conflict of Chaos versus Law is much more significant.

Philosophy - (A Palladium Game) Unfortunately, the rules are so detailed and convoluted that it is impossible to determine what the goals may be. Most of the in-game activity seems to involve character generation and development.

I have AS. Talking with total strangers is very difficult for me... let alone going to their home, knocking and talking about the bible. God's spirit is stronger than any thing in the universe. It can motivate someone with AS to want to go out and share the good news with total strangers. I've seen this happen. I come home from a morning of service and think "there's no way I would've been able to do that on my own." Only Jehovah's spirit makes it possible. Is it emotional? Of course it is. Galatians 5:22-23 lists the fruits of God's spirit as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-control.

I highly doubt it has anything to do with AS. I prefer to live and let live rather than tell people how to live their lives or what to think. Crusading is a waste of time and energy to me since people tend to resist changing their deeply ingrained worldviews. I'm no different when it comes to that, it's just human nature.

Anyways, as for how AS affects my perspective on PPR subjects, I doubt it has anything to do with me being some sort of super logical cyborg. I'm very detail oriented and think in a systematic manner so this makes me focus on the sum of things rather than the whole. Because of this, I take things piece by piece and it allows me to really be aware of the little interactions between things. I understand things better by isolating its parts but I also understand that it's the interaction between these parts that put them into context not the parts themselves. Because of this I try not to be too anal about detail but to be honest it's better to be bogged down by too much detail than to have a blind spot from too little detail.

The bible would disagree with you.

"For the word of God is alive and exerts power and is sharper than any two-edged sword and pierces even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and of joints and [their] marrow, and [is] able to discern thoughts and intentions of [the] heart." (Hebrews 4:12)

"For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful by God for overturning strongly entrenched things." (1 Corinthians 10:4)

You'd be surprised how Bible truths transform people.

Well it has nothing to do with tolerance to me. I just think telling people how to live their lives and what to think is simply a waste of time and energy that can be spent more on making my own life better. I'm not the most open minded person person but I definitely try to avoid being arrogant. I might think I'm more right on a certain topic but that doesn't somehow make me worth more as a person. It doesn't mean that I'm right on all topics either, it just means I spent more time and energy on a certain topic.

But yeah, people do like to pretend they are more tolerant and logical than they actually are. It especially gets on my nerves when people think they're super logical as if personal experiencse, paradigms, prejudices and ideals have absolutely nothing to do with how their views formed. I'm an atheist but the fact that I don't feel God's presence or can attribute any of my personal experiences to a higher being has a lot more to do with me being convinced he doesn't exist than logic itself. Logic is more of an after the fact thing. We aren't rational beings as much as we are rationalizing beings.