Thu Oct 16, 2008 2:51 am by chuckbeatty77
Roy Wallis, “The Road to Total Freedom”, page 70, Columbia Univ Press, 1977.
“As, through the early twentieth century, medical practice became more competent to deal with physical illness, expectations of health and well-being became increasingly centered on the psychological domain and the difficulties of interpersonal relations. Movements like Christian Science [see Wikipedia article] and New Thought [see Wikipedia article] which had claimed efficacy in handling physical illness lost ground, while others arose offering psychological well-being; release of mental and emotional tensions for psychosomatic and neurotic illness; techniques for releasing hidden inner abilities; and means of ‘making friends and influencing people’. In such areas science has yet achieved little concrete progress, and the market remains open to cultic groups offering knowledge and techniques produced by more mystical, occult, or pseudo-scientific means. Whatever the source of such knowledge the prestige of science has become such as to require that almost every new movement entering this field claim scientific legitimacy and authority, if by no other means than that of incorporating ‘science’ in its title.”
Roy Wallis, 1977
Chuck Beatty 412-260-1170, Pittsburgh