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gypsygrl -> RE: Good Lord (1/18/2007 1:09:05 PM)
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The way I learned the distinction between delusion and illusion is that a delusion cannot, under any conditions, be true, and an illusion is improbable, but could, under specific conditions, be true. (I associate this view with Freud, but I don't know if I'm correct here) The distinction has to do with the rationality of the false beliefs. Delusions are irrational and could never be true, illusions are wrong, but kind of make sense. Illusions are often explainable and some are systematically produced in various situations (Marx's concept of ideology, or Chomsky's notions of necessary illusions.) For the most part, the distinction between whats rational and whats not rational is cultually determined, and depends on social context.
So, given our culture which is, for the most part, either secular, or monotheistic, there isn't a whole lot of tolerance for people who declare themselves to be God. Its simply not a viable option.
So, to turn to your example of the Dom who believed himself to be God...I'm fully secular, and would find it off putting, to say the least, if someone had internalized a belief in themselves as being a God. Its not so much that they had a mistaken belief about theirself, but that they had such an inflated belief about theirself given that to claim that one is a God is also to claim that one is some kind of ultimate being. That is beyond the realm of the probable. If their belief in theirself to be a God was accompanied by the auxilliary belief in a pantheistic system where Gods wander around the earth and they recognized the existence of other Gods, I'd be probably be ok with it and think about it in terms of an alternative belief system that I didn't identify with but could respect.
Turning to the example of the sub who believes her Dom is a God. That seems to me to have more to do with a perception which is influenced by the complex interaction between herself and her dominant. Even though I'm secular, and assume a naturalistic explanation for things, I have strong worshippy tendencies, so her belief makes sense to me. I know from experience that under some conditions that a Dominant can feel like a God and, so long as those conditions persist, he might as well be a God. In those moments, I not only believe in the existence of God, but I also believe the Dominant in question is a God. And all this is well and good, and really cool, so long as he doesn't start believing he's really a God because that'd be delusional. :)
I think I've wound up in a tautology.
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