Abstract
Defense mechanisms and (religious) coping which are important concepts of modern psychology and religion psychology and theoretical and relational studies on the relationship between religious beliefs and practices are increasingly underway. However, it is necessary to determine whether religious beliefs and practices are used by believers as a sort of defense mechanism or as a (religious) coping strategy. Because, in the case of religious beliefs, the appropriateness of using these concepts in place of each other in terms of Religious Psychology, is important to prevent a possible confusion of concepts and to ensure that the work being done proceeds in the right direction. The aim of this article is to try to evaluate the situations in which people use the belief in fate, which is one of the important belief principles of Islam, as defense mechanism. The results obtained from the evaluations are used as a kind of defense mechanism and emotion-focused coping strategy when the belief in fate is not understood properly. In the case of correct God imagination and fate belief, it is used as a collaborative and self-sufficient religious coping strategy with a problem-solving coping strategy.
Summary
In recent years in the field of psychology of religious coping and religious coping with defense mechanisms and theoretical and relational screening studies on religious belief and practice continues to increase in Turkey. However, in these studies, fate is expressed as defense mechanism and the way of coping. These two concepts, though similar aspects, do not mean the same. In this respect, it is possible to express the main problem of research as follows: “Can fate be expressed as a religious basis that people should believe? Or is fate a kind of defense mechanism for dealing with difficulties or is it a function of religious coping?” It is important to answer this question. Because, it is necessary to determine where the concepts of religion psychology are located in religious beliefs. Thus, in this science, a possible confusion of the concept will be prevented and the studies on these issues will proceed in the right direction. Otherwise, the results of the studies will lead to wrong or incomplete orientation of the researchers and readers who are interested in the subject.
From this point of view, the main aim of this study is to show how religious people understand the belief of fate, which is one of the important faith principles of other religions and Islam. Then, our main objective is to try to name these uses in appropriate terms. Thus, both the similar and different aspects between the two concepts can be revealed and the subject will be further clarified to readers and researchers and a positive contribution will be made to the science of religion psychology.
The problem of the research consists of searching the empirical and theoretical resources related to the subject in accordance with the main idea and presenting the results obtained in a certain logic. In this context, firstly the basic concepts of the study are given as brief information about the concepts of “defense mechanisms“, “coping”, ”religious coping“ and "destiny". Then, similar and different aspects between "defense mechanisms" and "coping" and "religious coping" were tried to be put forward. Finally, the relationships between the goals and ways of using individuals' beliefs of fate and the concepts of “defense mechanisms” and “religious coping "were evaluated by taking into consideration some researches.
As a result of the investigations; it has been found that the belief of fate is used in two different ways by individuals. The first of these, believing individuals can sometimes use faith as a form of defense mechanism and emotion-focused coping. In these uses (especially in defense mechanisms) there is no specific effort and responsibility, and belief is used automatically. However, the Qur'an tells us that he is responsible for human behavior and that it is impossible for him to attribute evil to God. Nevertheless, faithful people use their faith as a kind of defense mechanism. For example, the school of Cebiyya claims that it cannot do anything to deal with the problems faced by human beings. Ash'ari, on the other hand, argues that there is not enough freedom of movement in the actions of human beings and directs people towards religious coping strategies with more emotion-focused coping strategies and tend to leave the decision to someone else as one of the ways of religious coping. As a matter of fact, religious individuals who have the views of these schools are trying to cope with difficult situations and to preserve their spiritual balance by using the belief of destiny as a kind of defense mechanism.
The second result set out in the study is the use of faith as a kind of religious coping path (such as a tendency to cooperate with God and self-rule). However, for the development of successful religious coping attitudes, people need to develop true Allah imaginations. Thus, the person who believes in fate finds realistic reasons for himself / herself that is not rational. In addition, a believer who believes in destiny knows that no man cannot be faultless, and he creates solutions by accepting them instead of suppression or legitimizing the reasons of their mistakes by using defense mechanisms. For instance, the fact that the Muayatezile school was thinking of the man's own actions and that Maturidiyye chose man's own actions by his own will has led people to use the problem-solving oriented coping method rather than the negative events they encountered. In terms of religious coping, it is not wrong to say that it leads to self-directed and cooperative tendencies. As a matter of fact, religious individuals who have the views of these schools are trying to cope with difficult situations and to preserve their spiritual balance by using the belief of destiny as a kind of religious coping path.
In summary, it can be said that fate can use the faith in two ways, depending on the religious education, the social environment and the personality traits of the believers. The first is the use of the belief of fate as a kind of defense mechanism and emotion-focused coping, which is not quite compatible with the preaching of the basic sources of religion, and is not considered as sustainable in terms of human mental health. The second is that there is a kind of (religious) coping path that is used more appropriately for basic resources besides being a religious responsibility, which is more sustainable for human mental health. In this respect, in psychology of religion, it is important to know the similar and different aspects of these concepts in order not to cause any confusion of concept and to contribute to the field, and to pay attention to where the concepts used in these studies will be used.
Öz
Modern psikoloji ile din psikolojisinin önemli kavramlarından olan savunma mekanizmaları ve (dini) başa çıkma ile dini inanç ve pratikler arasındaki ilişkilere yönelik teorik ve ilişkisel çalışmalar artarak devam etmektedir. Ancak dini inanç ve uygulamaların inanan bireyler nezdinde bir tür savunma mekanizması mı yoksa (dini) başa çıkma stratejisi mi olduğunun tespit edilmesi gerekmektedir. Çünkü dini inançlar söz konusu olduğunda adı geçen kavramların tanımları ve kapsamları dikkate alınmaksızın, bazı işlevsel benzerlikleri dolayısıyla, birbirlerinin yerine kullanılmalarının din psikolojisi bilimi çerçevesinde uygun olup olmayacağının belirlenmesinin olası bir kavram kargaşasının önlenmesi ve bu konularda yapılan çalışmaların doğru yönde ilerlemesi için önem arz ettiği düşünülmektedir. Bu makalede, İslam dininin önemli inanç esaslarından sayılan kader inancının bireyler tarafından ne şekilde kullanıldığında savunma mekanizması hangi şekilde ise dini başa çıkma yolu olduğu yapılan çalışmalar ışığında değerlendirilmeye çalışılmıştır. Yapılan değerlendirmelerin sonucunda, kader inancının aslına uygun anlaşılmadığında bir tür savunma mekanizması ve duygu odaklı başa çıkma stratejisi; doğru bir kader inancı geliştirilmesi halinde ise, problem çözmeye dayalı başa çıkma stratejisi ile işbirliğine dayalı ve kendi kendine yeten dini başa çıkma yolu olarak kullanıldığı tespit edilmiştir.
Primary Language | Turkish |
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Journal Section | Articles |
Authors | |
Publication Date | June 30, 2019 |
Published in Issue | Year 2019 Volume: 18 Issue: 35 |