I have heard about theory of mind some time ago. I find it interesting though what is written about religion. It is thought and information is out there that some autistics will struggle with religion/faith because of theory of mind. It has been written in the past that they may struggle with having a faith because of a need for evidence and therefore not being able to believe in anything without seeing. I find it interesting that work arounds shall we say exist for this to. Some new articles touch on this how autistics may be more graced with other gifts to circumvent this weakness.
"Religiosity is possibly expressed differently in ASD with unique spiritual experiences and beliefs (“gifted, visionary, and truth-seeker”). In some circumstances, .
Hi RachelO Thanks for your post and the links - The open access document on religion and autism had a nice summary of research et al on the topic of theory of mind.
A couple of bits that jumped out to me being:
1 Patients close to neurotypical individuals on the ToM continuum are aware of higher-order mental states at the metacognitive level (thoughts about thoughts).
and
2 According to this model, ASD is characterized by a deficit of mental conflict monitoring instead of a missing mental representation ability (“mindblindness”)
for
1 links with the neurology in as much as "defecits" in emotional awareness may plausibly be overcome by cognitive processing - religious practices that encourage meditation or contemplation are by their nature encouraging metacognition perhaps... this also fits with my personal experience of being able to "think" my way thro; some of the problems that are inherent with having a "defect" in one' theory of mind
2 religious teachings are often pretty strong on the "right" versus "wrong". I concur with the analysis of difficulty in monitoring mental conflict. In so far as having a set of rules which one follows and importantly a society that also follows them there is present I suspect increased potential for a more comfortable existence for an autistic person.
In the Youtube videos I picked up on " Connection with the deeper self and the divine".
I am drawn to conjecture that "the deeper self" may well be a description of getting in contact with one's own theory of mind - this being a necessary precursor for the metacognitive benefits previously mentioned.
I am happy that you find support from faith :-)
One wonders also how many seers and prophets have come from a sense of otherness...
For myself I've been travelling a journey that traditionally goes: warrior, healer, priest. For myself the deeper sense of moral and ethical behaviour that is encompassed in "true" faith and the sense of purpose that makes sense of our existence is strong. Apart from certain parts of the physical existence that I would find impossible to pass up the monastic life style has much appeal to the autistic me - order, routine, purpose, community, good food (and beer :-) ) Hehe maybe in the next life... All the best :-)
Phased your post I found very interesting and insightful. Although I have heard about theory of mind and autism and theory of mind and autism and religion. I understand it but felt may be that I hadn't fully understood it as I would have liked to myself on ToM and religion so thank you for your thoughts. I have heard about mindblindless before as well. I looked at Hugo Ross's blog as someone in this thread mentioned their work. I looked and saw that what was written in the 3rd blog article was that with autism and religion autistics often have the need for a logical explaination...This seems to be another thing about theory of mind. Their third post addresses about a need for logical explaniations and they mention to about intuitive thinkers verses reflective thinkers. I cannot say I understood the latter part, but it sounds very interesting.
I used to attend the spirituality group run by David Derbyshire last year on the neurodiverse and spirituality. That was really good for me to attend on Zoom. Unfortunetly they had to step back. Perhaps I'm nominating you lol with all your knowledge to do something similiar lol. It would be a good thing but don't take that too seriously at all.
This is not about faith itself, but I did share my own journey on here early last year.. With your history if you have something written do share perhaps if needed in another post.
