Why won't their gods reveal themselves to the rest of us so we can understand? Because we don't believe. How do they know they are not mistaken? Because they feel the presence so strongly. They know the words in their bible are true because they feel the presence of at least one of their gods. They make claims about the natural world, justify these claims on the basis of religious dogma, and then attempt to validate the dogma through personal revelation. When religious believers say that their belief is based on personal revelation, they are treading on similar ground. Scientific expertise is based on scholarly research and familiarity with the process of science, not on authoritarian pronouncements and personal experience. In fact, personal experience is typically considered alongside authority and appeals to tradition in texts on critical thinking as examples of what to avoid. For this reason, it is rarely considered a valid form of knowledge in the pursuit of science. While personal experience is often relevant, it is widely recognized throughout the sciences that personal experience is deeply flawed (e.g., biases, cognitive errors). There are too many ways to shatter the personal experience myth to consider them all, so I'll limit myself to one. Not surprisingly, research has documented a relationship between this style of thinking and religious fundamentalism. If you have children, you are an expert on parenting. The astute reader may recognize this as an example of "dichotomous" or "black-and-white" thinking. You could pick any parent at random, and this individual would know far more about appropriate parenting than we could.
#If you havent done time dont talk like you have professional#
It doesn't matter whether we've conducted scientific research on parenting practices, attended professional trainings on family law, parenting skills, or related topics. None of our opinions should be considered valid. It doesn't matter how much scientific literature we've digested. Those of us who are not parents, have no credibility when it comes to parenting. Much like the person suffering from a substance-related disorder challenging the competence their therapist, some people encountering material on parenting will ask, "Are you are parent? If not, what gives you the right to say anything about parenting?" The implication is clear. Consider the concept of personal revelation as one dramatic example. And of course, it has a number of fascinating implications for understanding the religious mind.
It will surface whenever someone who is married speaks about marriage, whenever someone without children writes about parenting, and so on. The erroneous claim that personal experience is a prerequisite for competence extends well beyond this scenario and is by no means limited to something like mental health treatment. Fortunately, most helping professionals have developed effective empathy despite not having personally experienced every problem for which they provide treatment.
Have you ever been an alcoholic? If not, you cannot understand what I am going through and will never be able to help me.īut is it really true that a well-trained helping professional is powerless to treat any problem they have not personally experienced? Of course not! While one's own experience with a problem may offer some benefits, most of these benefits would happen through the enhanced empathy a professional with similar experiences might have for their client. One of the most common challenges heard by members of the helping profession who treat people for substance-related problems is those who have not personally experienced these problems having nothing of value to offer.