ABSTRACT
This chapter describes that the reason for the universality of way of explaining the world is seen to be human's need to reduce their sense of insignificance, to have some ultimately dependable figure, to give meaning to existence and to make sense of the irrational and unpredictable elements of the world. There is, however, no evidence at all, within this new framework for truth, of the existence of a spirit and to continue to believe that there is one is seen as perpetuating an unhealthy dependence on externals which detracts from personal growth. Psychoanalytic theories provide ample scope for understanding how unconscious needs and anxieties can easily be projected and given an objective reality by the psyche. The 'oscillation processes' Bruce Reed describes are between 'intra-dependence' and 'extra-dependence'. Religion is a way of managing, or 'regulating', in a social context, so that regression to extra dependence never becomes too extreme.
