Spiritual psychology, what is that? It is a helping profession dedicated to relief of human emotional suffering, grounded in the idea that all persons begin life as shining lights of holistic integrity, seeking to guide clients back to that awareness of wholeness; long the realm of the shaman. Spiritual psychology is like the old joke quoting Gandhi as saying about Western Civilization, “It would be a good idea.”
Spirituality - that misty field of esoteric somewhat unknowables. Psychology - awash in neurochemistry, still desperate to be thought of as a real science. Can it be that we are perhaps on the way to a blending of the two, without fear of one swallowing the other – of psychology drowning in a sea of superstition or spirituality disappearing under the weight of materialism? Humanist and transpersonal branches of psychology have initiated dialogue with the psychologies of emotional healing and actualization from other cultures; Sufi, Zen Buddhist and Yoga come to mind. A rich world of indigenous practices await our acceptance. From the perspective of Religious Science, all this cross-fertilization of ideas and practices, including the development of psychology itself, is the expansive creativity of God manifesting Itself into form. Awareness or consciousness is a property innate to all matter; one of its qualities is increasing order amid expanding complexity. I believe that out of the wealth and breadth of theories and practices blending in the West, from psychoanalysis to the Science of Mind to Sufi practices that open the heart, humans are cooking up the consciousness to advance to the next step, the marriage of psychology and an intercultural spirituality which can utilize the insights from all the world’s wisdom traditions. This spiritual psychology will effectively address the stresses of the modern world. It will celebrate people’s yearning toward the transcendent and see the whole person. It will honor all paths to wholeness and readmit the idea of the sacred into the search for emotional health. Spiritual psychology will help us remember we are Divine beings when we forget, as the yogis teach; will encourage us to detach from our yearnings and judgments in order to find relief from suffering, as the Buddha taught; and will playfully dance and chant us into love and peace the Sufi way. And, in mixing together the powerful and peaceful practices of the world, spiritual psychology will develop a global heart tank (rather than think tank), a United Nations of spirituality.
Spirituality - that misty field of esoteric somewhat unknowables. Psychology - awash in neurochemistry, still desperate to be thought of as a real science. Can it be that we are perhaps on the way to a blending of the two, without fear of one swallowing the other – of psychology drowning in a sea of superstition or spirituality disappearing under the weight of materialism? Humanist and transpersonal branches of psychology have initiated dialogue with the psychologies of emotional healing and actualization from other cultures; Sufi, Zen Buddhist and Yoga come to mind. A rich world of indigenous practices await our acceptance. From the perspective of Religious Science, all this cross-fertilization of ideas and practices, including the development of psychology itself, is the expansive creativity of God manifesting Itself into form. Awareness or consciousness is a property innate to all matter; one of its qualities is increasing order amid expanding complexity. I believe that out of the wealth and breadth of theories and practices blending in the West, from psychoanalysis to the Science of Mind to Sufi practices that open the heart, humans are cooking up the consciousness to advance to the next step, the marriage of psychology and an intercultural spirituality which can utilize the insights from all the world’s wisdom traditions. This spiritual psychology will effectively address the stresses of the modern world. It will celebrate people’s yearning toward the transcendent and see the whole person. It will honor all paths to wholeness and readmit the idea of the sacred into the search for emotional health. Spiritual psychology will help us remember we are Divine beings when we forget, as the yogis teach; will encourage us to detach from our yearnings and judgments in order to find relief from suffering, as the Buddha taught; and will playfully dance and chant us into love and peace the Sufi way. And, in mixing together the powerful and peaceful practices of the world, spiritual psychology will develop a global heart tank (rather than think tank), a United Nations of spirituality.
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