Posts Tagged ‘Wikipedia’
Human rights refers to “the basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled, people sometimes take advantage of these, often held to include the right to life and liberty, freedom of thought and expression, and equality before the law.”[1] The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”[2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights
Autism is a genetic condition, so those with an autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) have no control over it. Part of the way an autistic mind works is an inability to comprehend things which are outside one’s direct experience. This broadly relates to autistic theory of mind. This means that when an autistic person is witnessed to, it is unlikely approaching impossible that ‘the word’ can be understood. Even if this person is ‘pricked by the spirit’ it would not be possible to relate this to god, being an external and abstract concept.
Now I’m not saying it’s impossible for a person with an ASD to become a christian – certainly for a time I was, and I have Asperger’s Syndrome – although perhaps the assertion that I was never a ‘true christian’ is valid. In my experience of knowing 30 individuals with an ASD, not one of them was a christian. I understand that a sample of 30 is not neccessarily representative.
Given this ‘disability’ to believe, do people with ASD get a free pass ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_mind#Autism_and_theory_of_mind
full gospel shirley: Actually I do not think I am capable. I tried for 15 years to be a christian and follow god. I always thought there was something missing, something I just did not ‘get’. Eventually I came to the conclusion that there was no god. If I am incapable of understanding and experiencing god, it follows that my ‘fall from grace’ was inevitable. I am left with this conundrum:
Is it that god does not exist or is it that I am unable of detecting and responding to his reality?
From my perspective they look exactly the same. Can you understand that?
I do, in fact, have a theory of mind. It was hard won and one of my greatest victories. I was 12 years old before I began to understand that other people were not a figment of my imagination. I was 26 years old before I was able to think in ’shades of grey’. It took 14 years to develop theory of mind, so I think it fair to say that I am not an easy quitter. Intelligence, articulation and perseverance were not enough.
spitchus & JP: Lots of people with ASD do indeed consider themselves ’spiritual’. I think it may be a simple human reaching out to something – anything. However making a connection is a different story.
Aahotep: I’d forgotten how little the thief had to do to be accepted. I had done that much myself, so perhaps I was saved. The thing is, without the spirit (or awareness of the spirit) there was no way for me to stay faithful in what appeared to me as a sterile, empty belief.
Through reiki and chakras I do now have a spiritual awareness and an understanding of the mechanism of prayer / meditation / energy. So things are not now as they once were for me. It is possible that I *do* now have the ability to detect and respond to god/spirit (if it exists). At some point in the very near future I will attempt to contact god again and see what happens.
My empiricism is being put to the test.