From the MAD board, our friend Wade Englund has an interesting idea:
I am wondering if attention deficit disorder (ADD), which I believe we all experience to one degree or another and in various walks of life, may have some correlative or causal relation to lose of LDS faith?
...To me, this lack of attention is because our minds may get distracted, and even hyper-focused on, matters which, in the moment, we may find to be of great interest/importance, but which may not be all that productive and edifying within the whole scheme of things. (For examples of the kind of distractions I have in mind, simply scan the many topics on this and other LDS related boards, particularly those boards that predominate with former members.)
Thanks, -Wade Englund-
What was I saying? Oh yeah, what are your thoughts about this, (if you can pay attention long enough)?
moksha wrote:From the MAD board, our friend Wade Englund has an interesting idea:
I am wondering if attention deficit disorder (ADD), which I believe we all experience to one degree or another and in various walks of life, may have some correlative or causal relation to lose of LDS faith?
...To me, this lack of attention is because our minds may get distracted, and even hyper-focused on, matters which, in the moment, we may find to be of great interest/importance, but which may not be all that productive and edifying within the whole scheme of things. (For examples of the kind of distractions I have in mind, simply scan the many topics on this and other LDS related boards, particularly those boards that predominate with former members.)
Thanks, -Wade Englund-
What was I saying? Oh yeah, what are your thoughts about this, (if you can pay attention long enough)?
God has the right to create and to destroy, to make like and to kill. He can delegate this authority if he wishes to. I know that can be scary. Deal with it. Nehor.. Nov 08, 2010
I recall a discussion similar to this on another board, after we discovered a number of us were, or were parents of kids with, Autism or Asperger's (my son has low-functioning (LF) autism, I'm an HF Aspie). ADD and ADHD traits do correlate with Autistic spectrum traits (which run in families - other members may have some, subclinical, traits)) and there is a line of research looking at ADD as related to the spectrum.
Autistic spectrum thinking is very concrete and fact based. There is very little tolerance for incongruity. Things are very literal, and it took me decades to really understand communication with 'double meanings', unwritten rules and the like. I know for me that discrepancies in a 'puzzle', visual or information based, just sort of leap out at me. Information that is not consistant with existing knowledge is intolerable and very hard to ignore (unlike the normal neurotypical approach, which is to ignore or downplay information that does not conform with existing beliefs). I guess it could be described as a magnification of cognitive dissonance. And when I get 'distracted', yes - nothing will prevent me from solving the puzzle. Drives my husband crazy when I go off on one of my tangents.
To illustrate, I started getting into trouble as soon as I got to seminary at 14yrs (I went to CCNZ, it was part of the curriculum, with a professional teacher). The poor teacher got bombarded from the start with stuff like: "if the descendants of Canaan could not hold the priesthood, and Egyptus carried the line into Egypt, and Joseph married a priest of Egypt, then shouldn't the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh not be able to have the priesthood either? (No need to respond to this, I am now aware of the Hyksos). This was pre-internet days, so I never got any answers at all back then. The result was that after a year at a church school (boarding school at that) attending seminary daily, I had reached the point where I was unable to complete an assignment to write out my testimony.
Anyway, there is no evidence whatsoever for any real phenomenon underlying the coincidence of so many ASD related people on the board at that time. But I do think that being an Aspie directly contributed to my having studied my way out so early. So maybe there could be something to what Wade Englund is saying - except that there is nothing wrong with having a different way of thinking. As Temple Grandin says, if everyone were neurotypical, you guys would still be sitting around in caves gossiping.
moksha wrote:From the MAD board, our friend Wade Englund has an interesting idea:
I am wondering if attention deficit disorder (ADD), which I believe we all experience to one degree or another and in various walks of life, may have some correlative or causal relation to lose of LDS faith?
...To me, this lack of attention is because our minds may get distracted, and even hyper-focused on, matters which, in the moment, we may find to be of great interest/importance, but which may not be all that productive and edifying within the whole scheme of things. (For examples of the kind of distractions I have in mind, simply scan the many topics on this and other LDS related boards, particularly those boards that predominate with former members.)
Thanks, -Wade Englund-
What was I saying? Oh yeah, what are your thoughts about this, (if you can pay attention long enough)?
Here, the bit where I would disagree with Wade Englund is "but which may not be all that productive and edifying within the whole scheme of things". I would replace that with "and which may be overlooked by the less inquisitive". His assessment of whether something is "productive and edifying' is a purely subjective opinion he undoubtedly shares with the brethren. I am guessing that he would include the fine arts and most of the sciences on his list of stuff "which may not be all that productive and edifying within the whole scheme of things".
I wonder if Wade thinks ADHD is also part of the process of disbelief for those who leave the Church of Scientology, the Ralians, the FLDS, JWs, Catholicism, Church of Yahweh, or any other religion, cult, or faith tradition.
;-)
~td~
"The search for reality is the most dangerous of all undertakings for it destroys the world in which you live." Nisargadatta Maharaj