ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author examines "the mental labour of monotheism" describes the workings of a control system in which one's own concepts of reality are invested with authority to control mind and body. Competence and authority is a powerful combination. Everything being equal, the person or group might succeed best if authority is based on valid rather than invalid concepts of reality. Social rank or authority depends on the competence to influence others. In the military, a general officer has the most authority to organise and control other soldiers. The manner in which general, self-defining concepts work to regulate the body and mind of an individual is similar to how leaders regulate social systems. Validity in the context is measured by exactly the same criteria used in formal science: face, predictive, discriminant, and construct validity. The metatheory, including metapsychology, describes hypotheses imagined to be unamenable to scientific study.
