7.6 GOD AS AN ATTACHMENT FIGURE:

 

                 Psychoanalysis has a long history of conceptualizing religious belief in terms of relationship between the self and others. A religious believer’s perception that they have a relationship with a deity or God leaves open the question of whether such a relationship is an attachment relation.[i]

                    It is easy to draw analogies between beliefs about God and mental models of attachment figures, but it is a difficult distinction to make that God “really” can be an attachment figure. In addition, research has shown that adult attachments and attachment to God are fundamentally distinct phenomenon[ii].

                            Kirkpatrick( vide infra), suggests that for many people in many religions, the attachment system is fundamentally involved in their thinking, beliefs, and reasoning about God and their relationship to God. According to this theory our knowledge of how attachment processes work in non-religious relationships should prove useful in understanding the ways in which people see God and interact with God.

 Seeking and   maintaining proximity to God

                    One biological function of the attachment system, according to Bowlby, is to maintain proximity between a person and an attachment figure. Religions provide many ways that believers can maintain closeness to God.

                              Most theistic traditions describe God as being omnipresent, that is, is all places at all times, and while this is a key aspect of religion that creates closeness to God it is not the only way. Virtually all religions have a place or building in which believers come to worship and be closer to their deity or God.

                   Within these places of worship, as well as outside of them, there is an array of idols and symbols; such as artwork, jewelry, and images of crosses that serve to remind believers of God’s closeness. Granqvist and Kirkpatrick suggest that prayer is the most important way that believers maintain proximity to God.

God as haven of safety

                    

Another function of the attachment system, according to Bowlby, is the attachment figure serving as a haven of safety in times of danger or threat.

               Bowlby  also described three situations that activate the attachment behaviors:

 (1) frightening or alarming environmental events;

 (2)illness, injury or fatigue;

(3) and  separation or threat of separation from attachment figure.

God as secure base

                    A “secure base” provides security for exploration in one’s environment. By most definitions God is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient.

                       Bowlby described a secure base and its psychological effects as this, “When an individual is confident that an attachment figure will be available to him whenever he desires it, that person will be much less prone to either intense or chronic fear than will an individual who for any reason has no such confidence.”

                      It is easy to see how God would be the most secure of secure bases. In religious scripture God is often described as by one’s side, one’s rock and fortress, one’s strength, and many other terms that reflect an attachment relationship.

                      Research done  on the psychological outcomes associated with “attachment to God” (such as religious faith giving believers a sense of optimism and hope for the future) suggest that at least some forms of religiousness are associated with the kind of confident, self-assured approach to life that a secure base is thought to provide.

Responses to separation and loss

                      

The fourth and fifth defining criteria of attachment as concern responses to separation from, or loss of, the attachment figure per se: The threat of separation causes anxiety in the attached person, and loss of the attachment figure causes grief. Because of God’s perceived omnipresence, it is difficult to determine whether God meets these criteria. A believer does not lose a relationship with God as he or she loses a human relationship.

                          There are instances in religious life when believers are unable to experience God as they did at some point in their life. It is important to note that in most Christian belief systems, separation from God is the very essence of hell.

Perceiving God as stronger and wiser

Bowlby further described an “attachment relationship” as a weaker, less competent individual having another individual that he or she perceives as stronger and wiser, but this is now known to be wrong, as research has identified that adult attachments include friendships, romantic relationships and even pets in which the reciprocal partner, be it human or non-human, is not necessarily perceived as stronger or wiser.

Individual differences

Individual differences in attachment security often affect the output of the attachment system in human relationships. In the same way, they often modify the effects of attachment processes in the context of believers’ perceived relationships with God. Two general hypotheses have been suggested and are seen as describing two distinct developmental pathways in religion—the compensation hypothesis and the correspondence hypothesis.

Compensation pathway

                     

                           The compensation pathway is related to ‘the regulation of distress following experiences with insensitive caregivers’. This happens when an attachment figure is “not” sufficiently near, attentive, responsive, and approving.

This situation activates attachment behaviors to restore an adequate degree of proximity.  “Whenever the natural object of attachment behavior is unavailable, the behavior can become directed towards some substitute object”.

                             The substitute object even though it is inanimate, such an object frequently appears capable of filling the role of an important, though subsidiary, attachment ‘figure.’ Like the principal attachment figure, the inanimate substitute is sought especially when a child is tired, ill or distressed” .

                           Researchers on the god attachment like Granqvist and others

( discussed later) suggest that people should also be able to turn to God as a substitute attachment-like figure under such conditions[iii]. The compensation pathway’s focus is on the degree to which experiences with insensitive caregivers and/or attachment insecurities are associated with use of God and religion to regulate attachment-related distress.

                                  Studies have found that childhood insecure attachment to a mother were strongly related to holding positive beliefs about astrology, the occult, parapsychology and extra terrestrials.

                            Sudden excessive attachments people who had to religion had a past history of  parental insensitivity but also outscored individuals who had experienced a more gradual increase in religiousness. People who suddenly deconverted from a religion, such as agnostics and atheists, also scored higher in childhood insecure attachments to a mother or father.   Similarly to insecure parental attachment, insecure romantic attachments, predict sudden religious conversions and deconversions.

          Research  has also found that individuals who are insecurely attached to their caregivers are also more likely to enter into short term  relationships, and sudden breakups, therefore sudden religious conversion and deconversions in insecurely attached individuals could be a reflection of their underlying fickleness and emotional instability, rather than an attempt to compensate for insecure childhood parental attachments through religion.

            

Correspondence pathway

                              Bowlby suggests attachment patterns continue across time partly because the way a person sees themselves and others-internal working model-(IWM) guides behavioral, emotional, and cognitive responses in social interactions over the life span. The correspondence hypothesis suggests individual differences in religious beliefs and experience should correspond with individual differences in the internal working models and attachment patterns.

                           This theory suggests a “secure” IWM of self and others predicts viewing God as supporting. A person with a preoccupied or anxious attachment may be expected to have a deeply emotional, grasping relationship with God, while a person with an avoidant attachment would be expected to view God as remote or inaccessible.

                          The correspondence hypothesis suggests securely attached people would be expected to reflect the religious standards while insecurely attached people would not be expected to reflect their attachment figure’s religious standards. People who report being more cared for by parents score higher on measures of religiousness, but only if their parents also displayed high levels of religiosity.

                    Likelihood of “converting to a religion and  change in the faith” also can be seen in the context of attachment with god. When the appropriate help arrives in the correspondence with god the individual displays a reciprocal love towards the god of the faith or religion. When help arrives in a different mode of religion the shift in faith also can be observed.

   

 In the life of “st.Appar”   we can see such a shift from Jainism to saivism. He suffered from a mysterious stomach ailment and prayed to jain priests. When her sister took him to Thiru-adhigai -a saivite temple and prayed his illness got cured. This episode is described in “ periya   puranam” in detail[iv].

"Thus graced by the adorable and merciful Lord 

        Arasu has hither come, that the way of Jains 

        Who pluck their hair (as practitioners of religion) 

        May perish and the world flourish." So spake the servitor 

        Gathering everywhere; Tiruvatikai, full of such devotees 

        With the music of drum, tampatta, tudi, 

        Matthala, yazh, kilai, tuntupi and mani 

        And with rows of resounding conches, roared like a sea.              (1341) 

        Having quit the confounding path, Vakeesar felt 

        Marked by delight great; to render service divine 

        With body, mind and word, he wore the marks 

        Of Saivism; godly consciousness pervaded him; 

        Endless holy hymns streamed from his lips; 

        Uzhavaram decked his hand; thus he stood 

        Poised in manual service with a melting heart.                       (1342) 

In appar life as described in his history in periapuranam he had early parental loss and subsequent loss of his sister’s husband also.  He had an insecureearly life. He turned to Jainism on his own only later to be changed to saivsm with increased vigour and zealousness.

---

[i]  http://lakirk.people.wm.edu/CV.pdf;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3545685

[ii] V - FIFTH SUTRA .,ON THE RELATION OF GOD, SOUL AND BODY.,Sivagnana Botham of Meykandar with English Translation,By J M Nallaswami Pillai

The senses while perceiving the object cannot perceive themselves or the soul; and they are perceived by soul. Similarly, the soul while perceiving cannot perceive itself (while thinking cannot think thought) and God. It is moved by the Arul Sakti of God, as the magnet moves the iron, while Himself remains immoveable or unchangeable.
This Sutra points out the essential limitation of all human senses, faculties, and the soul. The power of each is limited to knowing or perceiving the lower one and it cannot perceive itself or the higher faculty, and one faculty cannot perform the functions of another. The external and internal senses and the soul are therefore placed in an ascending order. Of these the highest, the soul can only perceive and know what is subordinate to itself. It cannot know itself nor know God. It is on this analogy and for this reason that God is imperceivable by the human senses and inconceivable by the human mind or soul; and it will be seen further that the soul cannot see God at any time by its own powers and that even the Yogi sees nothing but a figment of his own brain.
Not only are these human powers limited in their nature but there exists an interdependence of the lower over the higher. In the last sutra, it was shown that the soul does not become conscious till the Andakarana are evolved from matter; and it is here shown that the Andakarana themselves will not act unless the soul influences them and act together; and that the Andakarana have no independent action. And it is further seen that the higher consciousness exists or even predominates when the lower ones cease. That which stands therefore to the soul as the soul stands towards mind, is God, 'முற்றறிவன்', Perfect Intelligence பேரறிவன் ‘Supreme intelligence’ or as described in the next sutra ‘Siva Sat’ or ‘Chit Sat.’ And herein consists the most important distinction between God and man, and which entitles this school of philosophers to call themselves Asthika and all the rest (theistic and atheistic) Nasthika. In the latter theistic schools, their ideal of God is a purely personal or human one i.e., man raised to a God, or as in the idealistic school, God is brought down to the level of man, in either of which cases, the conception of God does not soar higher than that of man and the true ideal of God is never reached. Coming to the distinction noted above God and man do not differ in mere place or quantity or quality or in degree of power, strength or intelligence. It is not the same order of being differing merely in the amount of strength and intelligence. Man is not a particle of God, so that the requisite number of particles of human souls will make up one God. Put thus, the idea is absurd enough, yet one finds thousands of people believing in the theory. The real difference is that God and man belong each to a different order or plane or existence. Just as we ascend from the plane of objective consciousness to the plane of subject or mental consciousness and just as we ascend from the latter to the consciousness of true subject or soul, so also do we ascend from the latter consciousness to True Sat or God. The base of the lower rests upon the higher but not as effect and cause. Such expressions as உயிருக்குயிர் (Life of life) அறிவுக்கறிவு (Intelligence of Intelligences) express the relation clearly and yet we find these expressions freely used by Idealistic philosophers without any meaning. According to the latter school, God will be an அறிவு (Intelligence) and not an அறிவுக்கறிவு (Intelligence of Intelligences). When Siddhanthis use the expression "எல்லாம் சிவன்செயல்" “All actions are God’s actions,” they are also misunderstood often times, and the expression simply means that God is He who sustains our very being and actions as He vivifies our intelligence. Though there is dependence of the soul on God in respect of its Itcha (will) Gnana (Intelligence) and Kriya (action) yet the souls self action and responsibility is not destroyed. For instance when I move my arm, not only is my volition and energy (Itcha and Kriya Sakti) brought into play but the same action is sustained by and is possible only in the presence of the supreme energy (Kriya Sakti) of God. When I think also, Gnana Sakti of God is also brought into play. Only when God works, He does not work as we do. As the 1st illustration to the second argument points out, His presence produces these effects (சந்நிதிக்கே ஐந்து தொழிலாம்). And even then, He does not suffer any change as pointed out in the Sutra. Analogous are these. All the actions of the human body are supported and aided in the end by the Force of Gravity which is one and uniform, and yet in ordinary language we do not recognize its power, though a scientic account of all the causes must include it as well. Similarly, all our visual perceptions are aided by the Sun’s Light which is one and uniform. Yet I say merely ‘I see.’ Accordingly the ignorant do not recognize and feel the Power of the Lord, but the wise recognizing this Power, try to realize and feel it by withdrawing more and more from themselves and bringing themselves more and more into contact or rapport with Him, aided thereto by His Arul Sakti. And the last illustration appropriately discusses the nature of this Arul Sakti. The approximation of man to God results in the end in adwaitha relation as described in the 2nd illustration. In day light, the light of the star is completely lost to all sight and yet not lost. The light of the star blends with and becomes indistinguishable from the light of the Sun. Its identity is lost and not itself. There is no annihilation of the soul but its individuality or Egoism is lost, its Karma having been eaten. This is Moksha or Nirvana, according to the Saiva Siddhanti. Then and then alone will its action, if it has any, be in reality that of the Lord. The subject is further discussed in the next Sutra.
The limitation of the human intelligence is thus described in Sivagnana Siddhi, “The soul understands with the aid of theSupreme Intelligence as it understands through some sense or other, forgets what it has learnt, learns from others, is not conscious of itself, does not understand of itself.”
On the other hand God is described as ‘Swa Para Prakasam’ ‘He who is self luminous and illumines others.’ On this subject the same authority raises several other questions and gives beautiful replies.
If God illumines all souls, He must illumine all of them equally well. If each one’s intelligence follows his own Karma, then no God is required. The answer is that Karma itself acts through God, though God cannot change Karma. And the analogies of the earth which yields according to the labour of the peasant, and the sun who can only ripen those fruits that are matured, are pointed out.
The theory that the soul is self luminous or self intelligent is refuted by the fact that the soul is only conscious when in union with the senses; and the opponent is compared to a man who would say that a man, with the full power of eye sight, finds out objects by feeling with his hands.
Man’s intelligence is in fact analogous with his eyesight. He is not blind (non-intelligent) nor is his sight such as to make him see in the dark and dispense with the aid of the sun’s light (God’s grace.)

[iii] http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:161469/FULLTEXT01.pdf

[iv] Periyapuranam-appar’s story of conversion to saivism from Jainism as potrayed by sekkizhar.

        Swerved from the path of righteous tapas; 

        Pat it burnt fierce into his bowels.                          

        The fierce ache that invaded the bowels 

        Of Dharmasena who companied with the ungodly, 

        Had the combined effect 

        The Rider of the Bull appeared in the dream 

        Of the tapaswini and said: "Let your sorrow cease; 

        Your brother, of yore a saint, had wrought 

        Tapas to attain Me; I would now claim him 

        Afflicting him with a dire stomach-ache.                      

        The Lord whose forehead doth an eye display 

        Through a stomach-ache had willed, to redeem him, 

        Who in his previous birth, had a little 

        Of Vatava, the ever-burning ocean-flame, 

        Curst venom, diamond sharp and all things 

                     Of like nature; as it coursed furrowing

        Through the intestines, pain and fear seized him, 

        And down he fell in his cloistered room.                      

        When he tried to conquer it by mantra, 

        Medicine and the like he had mastered him sore, 

        The pain but increased and grieved him sore, 

        Aye, more and more, till he swooned as though 

        His brain-cells had burst owing to a snake-bite.              

        The Jains who do fettering deeds and call it tapas 

        Finding him in such plight, gathered round him 

        And exclaimed thus: "He ails from an unheard of ache, 

        Fierce and venomous; what can we do at all?" 

        They felt utterly undone.                                     

        The obdurate Jains with sore-ridden pates 

        Were perplexed; they chanted incantations 

        Over their jugs and made him drink the water thereof, 

        All in vain; him they caressed from head to foot 

        Softly with the pea-cock feathers; the ache alas 

        Only got exacerbated.                                         

        Finding the illness of Dharmasena 

        Of spotless fame, not a whit abating, 

        They cried: "What can we do alas? Cure this 

        We cannot." They but moved away bewildered.                   

        Him the base abandoned; as the ache grew 

        Shaper and sharper, all forlorn, his mind 

        Dwelt on helpful kin; it struck him that his sister 

        Tilakavatiyar could succour him; he dispatched 

        His cook to inform her of his plight.                         

        He reached Tiruvatikai and espied without 

        The fragrant garden the saintly matron; 

        He worshipped her and exclaimed: "I am here 

        By the hest of your brother." Hearing this 

        She asked: "Has aught of evil him befallen?"                  

        He replied: "An ache in stomach twisting 

        His intestines, is killing him without ending him; 

        He is beyond cure; they have all, aye abandoned Him; 

        He desires this to be conveyed to your good self; 

        He seeks redemptive message from you, and has 

        Bidden me to come back to him under cover of night."          

        When he spake thus, she said: "Never would I 

        Go forth with you to the assembly of Jains 

        That knows nought of godness; go, tell him so." 

        Thus told, he returned and reported to him 

        What Tilakavatiyar said, verbatim.                            

        When he heard the report, he cried: "What am I 

        To do for this?" Now came the time when grace of God 

        Was to visit him; he said: "To end this endless misery 

        I'll give up this base religion and hold fast 

        To the feet of Tilakavatiyar poised in the pious way."               (1324) 

        When thus the redemptive thought rose up in him 

        He chose to implement it; bewilderment then quit him; 

        He threw away his garment of mat, sling-borne jug 

        And the bunch of peacock-feathers; up he rose and moved away.        (1325) 

        To quit the false Jains for good and to reach 

        The goodly path of Him of Truth absolute, 

        He wound himself with a cloak of pure white, 

        And leaning on them that would help him walk, 

        Left for Tiruvatikai, the city of saints, by night unseen.   (1326) 

        With the burning ache wheeling its singeing course 

        In his stomach, led on by a welling-up desire great, 

        Plodding his weary way he reached the divine matam 

        Of Tilakavatiyar, that stood fronting 

        The rock-like fort-wall of Tiruvatikai.                              (1327) 

        The very moment he came there, down he fell 

        At the feet of Tilakavatiyar and spake thus: 

        "You are the crown of our clan's askesis! 

        The inexorable ache hath driven me to you; 

        Pray, bless me with the word that will end my bewilderment 

        And help me reach the shore of salvation."                    

        Looking at the grieving brother who lay 

        At her feet, her thought alighted on God's grace; 

        With folded hands she adored Him and said: 

        "You did sure wallow in the alien pit 

        Of vile irreligion, suffering much; RISE!"                    

        Marulneekiyar who heard the blessed word, 

        Rose up in fear, still in the grip of the vile ache 

        And adored her; the great tapaswini said: 

        "Know this to be of the grace of the Lord of matted hair; 

        He cuts the bonds of those who attain His feet; 

        Adore Him and render service." Thus she bade him.             

        Meekly did he submit to her command 

        And adored her; the tapaswini invoked 

        The grace great of the immaculate Lord 

        To make him fit to enter Tiruveerattam; 

        She chanted the Panchakshara and gave him 

        The holy ash of the Lord of Mount Kailas.                    

        Tilakavatiyar graced him with the holy ash 

        Of the Lord, the Grantor of eternal life; 

        The great one bowed low and received it, convinced 

        That magna vita was hereafter his; he applied it 

        On his person as ordained, and followed her, his redeemer.   (1332) 

        At the hour of pre-dawn divine which did away 

        With the inner murk of his who wore the sacred ash 

        And the inky darkness of the night, 

        The humble tapaswini with broom, cow-dung and pot, 

        All holy --, entered the temple of the Lord -- 

        The Wearer of coursing river in His crown --, 

        Leading him that sought in her the palladium.                 

        Adoring the great temple of Veerattam 

        On the bank of the billowy Gedilam, wherein is 

        Enshrined the Lord whose bow is the Mount Meru, 

        He circumambulated it; when in adoration deep 

        He fell prostrate, he was blessed 

        With an easy valiancy to weave garlands of psalms 

        Fit for the Lord.                                             

        With his body smeared with the holy ash 

        And his God-loving mind filled with increasing devotion, 

        To have his disease and delusion destroyed, he hymned 

        The Lord-Brahmin who burnt the triple cities of foes; 

        His divine decad of hymns oped thus: 

        "You haven't destroyed the death-like (disease so far)." 

        This flawless decad sublime, he sang fronting the Lord 

        That the sorrows of all the seven worlds might get wiped out.        (1335) 

        When he completed the deathless decad 

        The cruel ache kind that grieved him sore 

        Instantaneously quit him for good. 

        The ache he thought, in truth, did confer on him 

        Life and Grace; blessed now with the grace of the Lord 

        That hath his dwelling in the righteous heart, 

        He stood immersed in the sea of God's mercy 

        With the clear wisdom of blissful beatitude.                  

        All the hair on his body stood erect in thrill great; 

        Tears of joy from his eyes poured down; 

        He rolled on earth ecstatically and cried: 

        _Self-willed I sinned and fell down but the flood 

        Of Your grace bore me aloft and conveyed me 

        To safety, otherwise inaccessible to poor me; 

        Do I merit this?" Thoughts as these welled up 

        In him and flowed out as prayers.                             

        "I wallowed in the alien fold of Jainism 

        Which breeds falsehoods disguised as truth; 

        Long did I lie immersed in the horrible pit 

        Companying with the intolerant Jains 

        Doing deeds of perdition; how can I ever hope 

        To discharge my debt of gratitude 

        To the ache of stomach which set me 

        On the path leading to the Lord's feet 

        Whose consort, of perfumed locks, is the daughter 

        Of great Himavant?" Thus he hailed it.                                

        At this fitting hour, by the glorious grace of the Lord 

        Of Veerattam, an unbodied voice from the cloudy sky, 

        To the hearing of all that stood marveling, spake thus: 

        "As you have in tuneful harmony of Tamil's majesty,sung 

        The ambrosial decad, a rich wreath of word-blossoms, 

        Your goodly name will in all the seven worlds be 

        Endearing known as "Navukkarasu."                             

        As it thus happened to him, the lord of language 

        Thought: "Do I merit this great beatitude? 

        Even I, who for long was by an evil mind possessed?" 

        He then thought of the Lord's great grace of Ravana 

        Who like him, not witting the glory of God 

        Blasphemed Him and sinned: as he was by the Lord 

        In a like manner blessed, he resolved to praise that very grace 

        And ever hail it in humble worship.                           

        "Thus graced by the adorable and merciful Lord 

        Arasu has hither come, that the way of Jains 

        Who pluck their hair (as practitioners of religion) 

        May perish and the world flourish." So spake the servitor 

        Gathering everywhere; Tiruvatikai, full of such devotees 

        With the music of drum, tampatta, tudi, 

        Matthala, yazh, kilai, tuntupi and mani 

        And with rows of resounding conches, roared like a sea.              (1341) 

        Having quit the confounding path, Vakeesar felt 

        Marked by delight great; to render service divine 

        With body, mind and word, he wore the marks 

        Of Saivism; godly consciousness pervaded him; 

        Endless holy hymns streamed from his lips; 

        Uzhavaram decked his hand; thus he stood 

        Poised in manual service with a melting heart.                       (1342) 

        By reason of her love to render true service to the peerless Lord 

        Of the celestials, her longing for the Lord's ankleted feet 

        Met with fruition; he tapaswini of that hallowed town 

        Was granted the boon she sought; she hailed the Lord thus: 

        'Who was ever blessed with the loving-kindness like unto that 

        With which the Lord had blessed us? He deemed even me 

        As worthy, and cured my brother at once 

        Of his 

false religion and malady."