Course: Psychology 459, Fall 2006, Generation 25
Instructor: Dr. Leon James
Introduction to Theistic Psychology www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch1.htm
My Home Page: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/459f2006/takahashi/takahashi-home.htm
Class Home Page: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy25/classhome-g25.htm
Instructions for this Report: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy25/459-g25-weekly.htm
Divine Speech and Mental Layers
by Sean Takahashi
Report 4 for Section 1.1.4.3.2
to 1.5
Week 9
Divine Speech and Discrete
Correspondences
Week 9 – Question 1:
Explain how Divine Speech descends
through the three discrete degrees of our mind.
How do you react to this knowledge?
Week 9 – Answer 1:
The Seven Layers
The text actually refers to seven different layers that contribute to our mental body and the way it receives Divine Speech, including the source all the way down to the body the Divine Speech affects. The seven layers discussed are the Spiritual Sun, spiritual light and spiritual heat, celestial layer of our mental world, spiritual layer of our mental world, the rational layer of our mental world, the natural layer of our mental world and the physical layer, which is our body. These seven layers are listed in order from the layer that is closest to God all the way down the layer that is furthest from God. The Spiritual Sun, which is basically God, is the source of the next level, spiritual light and spiritual heat. Since everything in the spiritual world is made up of spiritual light and heat, the Spiritual Sun is the source of everything in the spiritual world, which also includes Divine Speech. Divine Speech then descends into the layers of the mind, celestial, spiritual, rational and natural. This is where I believe the three discrete layers of our mind are. Even though there are four different levels, there are three layers from these four levels, which are the celestial-rational layer, spiritual-rational layer and the natural-rational layer. Each layer is progressively further away from the Spiritual Sun in respect to the fact that Divine Speech must descend through the previous layer before it can reach each layer.
The Descent
The way that Divine Speech descends through the layers can be illustrated a chain reaction. Divine Speech does not necessarily flow through each layer, but the effect Divine Speech has on each layer causes and effect in the next layer. So as Divine Speech causes something in the celestial-rational layer, the spiritual-rational mind will react to the effect in the celestial-rational mind. The chain reaction continues through all the layers of the mind, each being affected by the previous layer, until it reaches our natural-rational layer. The natural-rational layer is the layer of the mental world that we are aware of now. The final step is the physical layer of our body, which is basically our entire physical world. This final layer will react to the affect Divine Speech has on the natural-rational mind and will result in a physical action.
My Reaction
For the most part, this concept was not very difficult for me to understand. While I am still trying to get used to all of these terms that Theistic Psychology puts forth, the basic idea of Divine Speech and how it works matches the way I believe God communicates to us. I believe that God is constantly communicating to us, but we may not always be listening. The more in tune we are to God, the more we will hear from Him, and the more accurate the message will be. To tie it in with these new ideas from Theistic Psychology, I think that the more we know about God and our mental body, the more accurate each reaction will be in each layer. Since each layer reacts to Divine Speech in a more accurate way, the message will reach our conscious layer in a stronger and more accurate signal.
Week 9 – Question 2:
Explain the hidden spiritual sense of
Commandments 1 through 5. Give examples
from you daily life how this may apply to you.
Week 9 – Answer 2:
The Ten Commandments are found in Exodus of the New Testament Sacred Scripture. According the Theistic Psychology, there is a hidden spiritual sense in the text. For each commandment, I will quote the commandment from the New Testament and then briefly explain what Swedenborg believes is meant by each one.
The First Commandment: “Thou shalt not make to thee other gods.” – This basically means that we are not to make anything else more important than God and as other translations word it “shall not have any gods before me (God).” Even though the text says that we shouldn’t put any other god before the true God, it does not necessarily mean a “god” because anything can be made into a god. People can either love themselves and this world, or they can love God and Heaven. What this commandment is saying is that we should love God and Heaven before anything else and not live for the physical things of the physical world.
The Second Commandment: “Thou shalt not profane the name of God.” – First, it is important to understand what is meant by the name of God. It does not just mean all the names that God is known by (i.e. Jehovah, Messiah, Redeemer, Savior, etc), but also everything that God stands for, namely good and truth. Since these are the substances of God, these things are also included in the name of God. And to say we shouldn’t profane the name of God means that we should respect and revere those things and not speak anything against those things.
The Third Commandment: “Thou shalt keep the Sabbath holy.” – Many people believe that we are to rest on the Sabbath day, which is the seventh day of the week, because God created the heavens and the earth in six days and rested on the seventh. According to Theistic Psychology and the hidden rational meaning, what is meant by this is that we are to take a time of peace and rest (the Sabbath day) after any trials or tribulations. The days of work are meant to represent the trials we go through, and when we are victorious over those trials, we need to take the time to rest in the peace of our victory.
The Fourth Commandment: “Thou shalt honor thy parents.” – While it is important to honor our earthly parents, what is meant by this commandment of course has a more spiritual meaning. Respecting our father represents respecting our Heavenly Father in Heaven, or God. When we respect our mother, we are also spiritual representing our respect and honor for the church, who is the bride of the Lord, Jesus Christ. And the word “honor” also has more meaning than honor, but means the good of love that comes from the Spiritual Sun.
The Fifth Commandment: “Thou shalt not steal” – This commandment was a little confusing to me. It seemed to talk a lot about fighting our sins and temptations. The explanation equated stealing and thefts to the manifestation of sins that we need to fight. By fighting the manifestation of sin, we can go from being born of this world through our physical parents to being born again in the spiritual sense, with God and the church as our father and mother.
These commandments are not hard for me to accept because I have tried to live by these commandments for almost my entire life. For the most part, the hidden meanings do not seem very different from the interpretations I have formed in my own head about what these commandments mean. I never did think about the third commandment as taking a rest from our trials, but I do not see anything wrong with that interpretation. We are faced with trials everyday, and we need to have that time of rest and peace to rejuvenate ourselves.
Week 9 – Question 3:
Explain the hidden spiritual sense of
Commandments 5 through 10. Give examples
from you daily life how this may apply to you.
Week 9 – Answer 3:
The rest of the ten commandments do not talk about our direct relationship with God in the literal sense, but they are also very important. I will do the same as I did with the first five commandments.
The Sixth Commandment: “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” – The main point raised with this commandment is that the love of adultery is hell and that marriage is eternity with God. When we fall into adultery, we are falling deeper into hell. This point is also backed up by the fact that marriage is the result of conjugial love with your partner. To break that bond is to break something that is eternal and is of Heaven.
The Seventh Commandment: “Thou shalt not kill.” – There are two different senses in this commandment. The first more natural sense is the spiritual moral sense that says we should love our brother and neighbor and not do anything to hurt or embarrass them. To embarrass or slander them is to take away their reputation and honor, which is the source of their life. The second sense is the spiritual celestial sense which says that we should not take away the faith or love of God from another person.
The Eighth Commandment: “Thou shalt not bear false witness.” – What is meant by not bearing false witness is that we are not to make anything that is right or just seem wrong or make anything that is wrong or unjust seem right. This can be done using falsities and lies, but this commandment tells us not to do so. In a more specific sense, we are not to make anything of God, including love; truth and the Word of God seem false because of fallacies.
The Ninth Commandment: “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house.” – The coveting that the hidden sense is talking about is both love and lust. Love can be considered coveting when we are longing for something that is for the love of the world or for the love of ourselves. When we long for these things, we are breaking the will of God. Lust is when we continually long for something that is evil. We can long for things that are of good, which are desires and affections, but lust is a sin.
The Tenth Commandment: “Thou shalt not covet (or desire) thy neighbor’s wife, his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass.” – This commandment is a little more specific on the things we are not to covet after. These things are basically what our neighbor owns. Our neighbor’s wife represents the affection of spiritual truth and good, his manservant and maidservant represents the affection of rational good and truth, and the neighbor’s ox or ass represents affection for natural good and truth. The good and truth that we are not to covet are the good and truth that our neighbors have received from God.
Like the first five commandments, these are things that I have tried my entire life to live by. The spiritual senses of these commandments are much more different that I had expected, however. The idea of killing some being the same as being slanderous or untruthful about them did not really cross my mind in terms of that commandment before. I knew it was not good to do those things, but I didn’t relate it to the Seventh Commandment before. All of these commandments are things that I am faced with everyday. Even thinking a hurtful or slanderous thing about someone else is a sin, and I think everyone has those kinds of thoughts everyday.
Week 9 – Question 4:
Many people uncritically repeat the idea
that “God is energy.” Give a rational
proof that this belief is illogical. Then
compare the logic of the opposite idea that “God is a Person.” In your opinion, why is there so much
opposition to this view?
Week 9 – Answer 4:
Three Views of God
Within the positive bias, there are three general ways that people can view God. People can see God as energy, as person, or as truth from good. These three ways of viewing God come from the three levels of our mental mind, natural, spiritual, and celestial. When people say that God is energy, they are basically thinking through their natural mind. When people view God as a person, they are viewing God from their spiritual mind, and when they are able to view God as truth from good, they are finally thinking through their celestial mind. But what do people mean when they say that God is energy? When people are thinking with their natural mind, they are basically basing their thoughts on their physical experiences. They still believe that God is omnipresent, but in order for that to be possible, God must be the universe and space itself. These people basically believe that God is the energy that powers everything, but only holds the form of energy. It is true that God powers everything, but he provides the energy to power everything, he is not energy itself.
The Rational Proof
From both the literal and rational meanings of Sacred Scripture, we are told that everything we have comes from God. Since God cannot give something that is not of Himself, everything we are must have come from what God is. That argument alone can take us to the conclusion that God is a person. God does have a spiritual body in the mental world just as all of us have, but even more glorious. He even chose to have a physical from when he came down to earth as Jesus. But God is also more than that. Since God is the source of everything, and everything in the spiritual world is made up of spiritual light and heat (which is also good and truth). Since God can only give what he has, God must be good and truth himself.
Why the Opposition?
I think that there is a lot of opposition to the view that God is more than energy because of the negative bias that society has been raised in. Even if they believe in God and would consider themselves in the positive bias, they are still influenced by the negative bias. People in general still want to see physical proof and have physical experiences before they feel confident that it is true. They want to explain God, but they can only explain God through what they have physically experienced. It is difficult to think beyond our physical experiences unless you make a conscious effort to do so. We have to work our way up to thinking through our spiritual and celestial minds, and since we are not trained to do so in everyday life, it is easy to think only through our natural mind, even if we believe that God is bigger than our physical experiences.
Week 9 – Question 5:
The highest idea of God is also the most
rational. What is this celestial view of
God in relation to the substances of good and truth? Can you imagine having this view?
Week 9 – Answer 5:
More Than a Person
When we are thinking in the spiritual-rational mind, we are able to see God as a person known as the Divine Human. While this is a step higher than thinking of God as simply energy, there is still a more rational way to view God. We are able to enter the third heaven of our mind when we can finally think in the celestial-rational mind and view God as more than a person, but even more importantly, the spiritual substances of good and truth. This does not mean that we can no longer view God as a person, since he is still a person, but in the celestial-rational mind, we can now view God even more clearly. We can now see clearly that God gives us truth from good. Some people may also say that God gives us truth from love, but since love is the spiritual substance of good, these two are the same statement.
Love Conditionally
What this means for us is that we can now see how God really wants us to love. Some people may say that we are to love our neighbors (as the Bible says), no matter what. The problem with this interpretation, according to Theistic Psychology, is that when we love our neighbors unconditionally (under all circumstances no matter what they do), we are also loving the evil in our neighbors. The hidden meaning in Writings Sacred Scripture is that we are to love the good and truth in our neighbors. This can only be accomplished when we can view God from the celestial-rational mind. By loving the good and truth in everyone, we can still show love to the person, but we are not allowing ourselves to be trapped by our inherited hellish traits. If we love the evil in our neighbors, we also love hellish traits, so we will not be able to let go of them when we become conscious in our spiritual mind.
Love the Sinner, Hate
the Sin
I think for the most part, I already have this view, or at least aspects of it. I always try to view my relationships with my friends and everyone that I meet with the motto “hate the sin, love the sinner.” This is actually a common view shared by many Christians that encourages us to acknowledge that there is sin in everyone’s life that we need to be cautious of, but that does not mean that we cannot show love to the person who is committing that particular sin. If we labeled everyone by the sin that they are practicing or trapped by, it would be an automatic judgment placed on everyone we meet, including ourselves. It would be impossible to show love to our neighbors if they are viewed as their sins. What we need to do is separate the sin from the person so that we can rebuke the sin, but still show love to the sinner. I think that is the same view Theistic Psychology holds in terms of loving the good and truth in everyone. Even the most hated people in the world have some good and truth in them. If we can focus on that good and truth aside from the sin and evil they may be known by, it becomes possible to love each and every one of our neighbors.
Week 9 – Question 6:
How does rational consciousness of God
differ from sensuous consciousness of God?
What is the role of Sacred Scripture?
How would you describe your consciousness of God? Contrast your consciousness of God with that
of a friend or two. How do they differ,
or how are they similar?
Week 9 – Answer 6:
Rational vs. Sensuous
The difference between thinking rationally about God and thinking sensuously about God can be compared to the difference between our spiritual mind and our physical mind. When we have a rational consciousness of God, we are thinking about God through a spiritual perspective that views God as something beyond the physical world. When we think about God with a sensuous consciousness, we are limited our image of God to the physical world. Even though God may allow us to see and experience things that are a result of what God does in the physical world, it does not mean that the things we are experiencing are purely physical. Everything that happens in the physical world has a corresponding action in the spiritual world. What that means is that everything that happens in the physical world has transcended through the various layers that exists between our sensuous mind and God. God emits good and truth, which triggers corresponding events in the subsequent layers of our mind until there is finally a corresponding event in the physical world that we can consciously experience. So even though we experienced an event that was from God, that does not mean that God exists physically. To think that means that you are thinking with sensuous consciousness as opposed to rational consciousness.
Sacred Scripture
Sacred Scripture is a prime example of events or things occurring in the physical world that are from God and the spiritual world. God used Sacred Scripture as a way to communicate his Divine Speech to us in the physical world. Sacred Scripture was written in a way that we can understand physically. It has meaning if we read it with a sensuous consciousness, but that does not mean that is what God intended for us to get out of Sacred Scripture. We understand it only with our physical mind. What we need to understand to fully appreciate what God is telling us through Sacred Scripture is to think beyond the physical appearance and think through rational consciousness. This is when we are able to see the hidden meaning in Sacred Scripture and understand that Divine Speech has transcended from someplace beyond the physical world.
My Own Consciousness
I’m not sure if I understand the idea of rational consciousness the way Theistic Psychology would like me to. I understand that what is physical is only surface value and there is probably a deeper meaning that we need to try to see. It sounds like Theistic Psychology would say that every action and event in the physical world has a spiritual correspondence, but I don’t think I can see things that way yet. Theistic Psychology may say that if my friend drops a pen, it means that there is some important correspondence in the spiritual world, but I would probably still view that is simply a friend dropping a pen. As far as the Bible and Sacred Scripture, I completely agree that there is more to understand than the face value that we get when we simply read the words on the page. We need to meditate on those words and try to see what God wants us to get out of those words. The interpretation I get may not be the same that Theistic Psychology would call rational thought, but it is definitely beyond what is written in physical words.
Week 9 – Question 7:
Explain who is Swedenborg. Contrast the rational perspective on
Swedenborg with the mystical perspective that some people have. How do you relate to both of these
perspectives?
Week 9 – Answer 7:
More Swedenborg
As we have been studying all semester, Emanuel Swedenborg was a Swedish scientist that God chose to show the spiritual world before he died in the physical world. God made it possible for Swedenborg to be conscious in both the physical world and the mental world at the same time. While conscious in the spiritual world, Swedenborg talked to the people who were already conscious in the spiritual world (meaning they had already passed on from the physical world) and performed various experiments to learn more about this new world he was experiencing. He recorded his studies and findings in the Swedenborg Reports that Theistic Psychology now considers Sacred Scripture.
Rational and
Scientific
There are many different opinions about who Swedenborg was and exactly what he had experienced. All of these different opinions can be classified under two main groups, non-substantive dualism (which is mystical and sensuous) and substantive dualism (which is rational and scientific). Substantive dualism is probably the opinion most, if not all, Theistic Psychology advocates hold. They believe that Swedenborg was a “revelator” who has recorded “scientific reports.” He was able to do this through his dual citizenship and ability to do rational and empirical interviews and studies while in the spiritual world. They believe that his writings are very clear and easy to understand and that its validity is proven through the “correspondences” found in the hidden meaning of the bible. Basically, those who share the opinion of substantive dualism think that Swedenborg is one hundred percent credible and that his reports are rational and true.
Mystical and Sensuous
On the other side of the opinion spectrum is the non-substantive dualism. People who have formed this opinion do not necessarily believe that Swedenborg made up all of his reports out of nothing, but don’t think that Swedenborg is as credible as substantive dualists believe. They believe that he had visions about the spiritual world, but did not spend time conscious in the mental world. He was able to search deeper into his sub-conscious than the average person, but nothing more. They would consider Swedenborg a pioneer explorer, visionary, and even a genius, but some would consider him on the verge of insanity. They still think through the positive bias, but they are much more physical in the perception of Swedenborg, not holding the mental world very highly.
Where I Stand
In general, I would consider myself to side with the non-substantive dualists. I still have not been convinced that Swedenborg actually did spend time in the mental world and was able to perform scientific experiments. Part of the reason is that I have not fully accepted the idea of dual citizenship, so I don’t even know if there really is a mental world that we are able to be conscious in. I think God can show people visions about the spiritual realm, but that is not what substantive dualists believe Swedenborg was limited to. I have respect for the fact that Swedenborg was able to record such detailed reports that seem to have a strong continuity and rationality, but I still don’t accept it as truth yet.
Week 9 – Question 8:
Google the concept of “substantive
dualism” and the concept “theism and science.”
Summarize your assessment of this literature indicating how it relates to
theistic psychology.
Week 9 – Answer 8:
Substantive Dualism
When I googled the phrase “substantive dualism,” I was interested to see that almost all of the first sites that visited were either written by Dr. Leon James (the instructor for this course) or by Nancy Fraser, who does not talk about Theistic Psychology, but rather social structures and cultural differences. I think that just goes to show how little known the concept of substantive dualism is in terms of the general public. I think a big reason for this lack of knowledge in the public is that, especially under this title, the concept of substantive dualism is limited to the field of Theistic Psychology, which is also a fairly new field of study with little public exposure. The reason that I mentioned that the title plays a role in the use of this concept is that the same idea probably exists in many different fields under different names. The idea would probably make easy ties with different religions, but they would probably not use the term “substantive dualism” to describe their ideas and beliefs. As I continued to look at more sites, I was also interested to find that very few of the sites mentioned the study of Theistic Psychology, even when they described substantive dualism in similar ways to Theistic Psychology. Obviously, the idea of substantive dualism is out there, even beyond Theistic Psychology, which is again probably due to the fact that Theistic Psychology itself is still relatively unknown to the public.
Theism and Science
When I googled the entire phrase “theism and science,” there were not very many sites listed (only 201, which is extremely small relative the amount of hits you get with an average google search). Even of those sites listed, many of them were references to different books or sources that talked about the topic, but there was not much information on the site itself. I then decided to google theism and science together, but not as a phrase. I had many more hits, but it led me to the same conclusion that people in general want to believe that science and theism don’t mix. Many of the sites I visited compared theism to science (as well as atheism in a few cases), but not very many discussed them as similar concepts, or even concepts that could be mixed. People are trying to prove the differences and trying to sway its readers to their bias (whichever side it may be). Theistic Psychology and a few others may be confident the combination of God and science, but the fact still remains that the general public disagrees.
Week 10
Mental Substances and Benefits of
Theistic Psychology
Week 10 – Question 1:
Explain the concept of “discrete layers
of substances” in the mental world. What
is the role of correspondences?
Week 10 – Answer 1:
Different Layers
When theistic psychology talks about discrete layers of substances, they are referring to the layers that contain the substances that make up everything in both the mental and physical world. The substances of the physical world are the natural substances bound by time and space and the substances of the mental world are the substances of thoughts and feelings. There is also the innermost layer of substances, which are the substances of God, good and truth. These three classifications of substances are arranged in a way that can be compared to an onion in the sense that each layer that holds these different substances is concentric about each other. The innermost layer is the substances of God, which are good and truth. The substances influence the substances of the mental world, which are our thoughts and feelings. Those substances in turn influence the substances of the physical world, which is what we physically experience here on earth.
Discrete Layers
The way that these substances influence each other is described by the “discrete layers” aspect of this concept. By discrete, it means that these layers are discontinuous and only connected through correspondence. Substances that exist in the mental layer cannot transfer over to the physical layer to interact with physical substances. If you were to ask any theistic psychologist, they would probably stand firm in the fact that the mental world and physical world cannot directly interact. So the idea of people seeing ghosts and spirits (or things that no longer exist in the physical world, but are in the spiritual world) is impossible. People on earth on conscious in their physical mind and interact with physical substances, but ghosts and spirits are no longer made of physical substances, but rather of substances of the mental world, so they cannot interact. People who support theistic psychology would probably say that people who claim to see ghosts and spirits are having hallucinations and are not really seeing what they think they are seeing.
Correspondences
So who does each discrete layer affect and influence the next layer? This is where the role of correspondence comes into play. The innermost layer, which contains the substances of good and truth, will be emitted from God. When the substances are emitted, the substances of the mental layer can then react to the substances of good and truth. Whatever action takes place because of the substances of good and truth in the innermost layer will cause a reaction in the next layer. The mental substances in the next layer will then have a different action based on its reaction to the previous layer. This action will then cause a corresponding reaction in the physical layer. So the substances never interact, but rather correspond to each other.
Week 10 – Question 2:
Explain the meaning of “space” in the
mental world of eternity. What is there
in your own experience that gives you a sense of space in the mental
world? What creates this appearance of space
where there is none?
Week 10 – Answer 2:
What is Space?
In terms of the mental world of eternity, the word “space” has no real meaning. When we think of space in terms of our physical body, we can easily see that anything in the physical world takes up some space. From the huge blue whale to the tiniest of microorganisms, we all take up some measure of space since we all exist in the physical world, which is bound by time and space. Since the physical mind is what we currently conscious in and we have been raised in the physical world, it is easy to understand that idea. We have become so comfortable in that mode of thinking, in fact, that we have a hard time grasping anything that is not bound by time and space. Even though we can’t see an electron with the naked eye and many people may not know exactly what an electron does, it still takes up some measure of space, so it is a concept that many people can accept. The challenge is to start thinking of the idea of space from the mental perspective.
God
in Space?
Anything in the mental world is not made of physical substances, but rather the spiritual substances of good and truth. This means that things in the mental world are not bound by time and space. Our thoughts and feelings are in the mental world, and even though we are constantly aware of them, they don’t have physical properties and don’t take up any “space.” When we think about the omnipresence of God, it is easy to think of it from the physical perspective that God fills all space since He is omnipresent, but that is not necessarily true because God is not bound by time and space. He doesn’t fill space in the physical world, but is everywhere in the spiritual world. I can’t think of any experiences in my life that has allowed me to get a sense of space in the mental world except for the understanding that I have built of God. I know that God does not take up physical space even when I can sense Him. I know that there are angels and demons all over the place, fighting over my soul, but they do not take up physical space. Even though they exist, they do not take up any physical space. This must mean that there is another sense of space in the mental world that God and the angels fill.
Week 10 – Question 3:
Define sensations, thoughts, and
feelings in terms of spiritual substances.
Explain this concept to a friend or two.
What difficulty do they run into as they try to comprehend this new
idea? What is your conclusion?
Week 10 – Answer 3:
Spiritual Substances
Whenever I talk to my friends about the things we have been learning about in Theistic Psychology, the results are pretty much always the same. They are usually open to what I have to tell them and they can appreciate some of the concepts that I mention, but for the most part, they find it hard to believe and not very willing to accept the new information as truth. This talk wasn’t very different. I told them how sensations, thoughts and feelings are the results of the activity in the three mental organs. Sensations come from our sensorimotor organ, thoughts come from our cognitive organ and feelings come from our affective organ. These three organs do not have any physical substance, but exist it our mental world made up of spiritual substances, good and truth. When I first mentioned that these organs are found in the mind and not the brain, I had to explain the difference between the mind and the brain. I told them how the brain exists in the physical world and that it is bound by time and space. The mind, on the other hand, exists in the mental world and is not bound by time and space. Since our mind is not bound by time and space, and this is where our sensations, thoughts and feelings exist, our sensations, thoughts and feelings are also not bound by time.
My Friend’s Thoughts
They were interested to hear that our sensations, thoughts and feelings were not bound by time, even though that is something that they generally believed in already. I think it was interesting for them to hear that idea coming from a scientific perspective. They were educated in the public school system too, so they were influenced by the negative bias for many years too. These particular friends are also Christians, so they had many of the same difficulties that I had when I first started to study Theistic Psychology. I tried to explain the idea of dual citizenship (in order to clarify the difference between the mental world and the physical world), but I think that is one of the more difficult concepts to explain to other people, especially for me. I was able to tell them all the concepts, but whenever they raised questions doubting the concept, I had the same doubts, so I could not present the material as complete truth.
My Conclusion
In general, my friends did appreciate the fact that our sensations, thoughts and feelings are not bound by time and space, but the idea of the mental body and mental organs was hard for them to grasp. Like me, they could relate the mental body to the soul, but it didn’t seem like it was an exact fit. When the viewed the mental body as the soul, they were able to get a little clearer understanding of the idea since they are familiar with the idea of the soul, but I don’t think it was anything that they completely accepted yet. I think that people have to go into a much deeper study of Theistic Psychology before they can even have a chance of accepting the ideas presented in the material.
Week 10 – Question 4:
What is your idea of a vacuum as you
learned it from science classes?
Describe the encounter between Swedenborg and
Week 10 – Answer 4:
I honestly don’t remember much about what a vacuum is from my science classes. As far I can remember, a vacuum is when there is a space that is completely void of any matter. Since there is absolutely no matter in that space, it sucks in matter from everything around it so it can fill its void. As far as how to create a vacuum, I can’t remember what I was taught (if I was taught that at all), but I think that is what I was taught in my science classes.
A
Vacuum?
The
discussion that occurred between Swedenborg and
Again, this was a discussion that I did not completely understand. There may be parts of this discussion that I did not explain correctly or understand correctly, but after reading the conversation, this is the most complete and logical explanation that I could develop in my own mind.
Week 10 – Question 5:
Explain the difference between the
concept “God as He is in Himself” vs. the concept of “God as He is outside of
Himself.” What’s the importance of
making this distinction?
Week 10 – Answer 5:
God
In or Out?
There are two different concepts used in Theistic Psychology “God as He is in Himself” and “God as He is outside of Himself.” These two concepts may seem very similar, especially since they differ in just one word, but it is important to make the distinction between the two concepts. The first concept, “God as He is in Himself,” refers to the idea that most people probably hold about God. To those who study religion, this concept refers to God through the Divine Names of Allah, Jehovah, Creator of the Universe, or the Divine Name that I have studied through my development of Christianity, God the Father. When Theistic Psychology talks about “God as He is outside of Himself,” people may be a little more confused about who they are referring to. “God as He is outside of Himself” refers to any aspect of God that is extended to us as humans to interact with. In Christianity, this would refer to God the Son (or Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit. As the Holy Trinity that is studied in Christianity and other religions, God the Father is the entity of God that created the universe, which include the heavens, the earth, and everything that exists in those realms. The other two entities of the Holy Trinity, God the Son and the Holy Spirit, have a more direct role in our relationship with God than does God the Father. Jesus Christ (or God the Son) is the human form of God that came down to earth and died on the cross for our sins. He became man made of physical substances, so that we could have a direct relationship with God, so that would make him “God as He is outside of Himself.” The Holy Spirit is the entity of God that dwells in each of us as we create a relationship with God. That is what makes the Holy Spirit “God as He is outside Himself” as well. In terms of Theistic Psychology, what is meant by “God as He is outside of Himself” are the ideas of the Divine Psychologist, Divine Providence, Incarnated God (analogous to God the Son), and good and truth.
The Importance
It is very important to understand
the difference between these two concepts so we can have a better understanding
of our relationship with God. Once we
understand who “God as He is outside of Himself” is, as opposed to the general
idea of God most of us probably have, we can have a deeper understanding of the
conjunction we have with God. Because
God is able and allows himself to be “outside of Himself,” we are able to have
a conscious and unconscious relationship with God. No matter what our beliefs or biases, we are
conjoined to God through our mental organs.
This relationship on the unconscious level makes our thoughts and
feelings immortal, so they will remain with us even after we have died in the
physical world. When we have formed the
conscious relationship with God, we can then make our thoughts and feelings
heavenly.
Week 10 – Question 6:
Explain the concept “being consciously
in the Presence of God.” Select a
convenient day to practice being consciously in the presence of the Divine
Psychologist. You can do this in various
ways, as you see fit, but it should involve talking to God in your mind,
expressing your appreciation for what you have and enjoy as coming from Him,
and expressing regret to Him when you think or do something that is not
heavenly.
Week 10 – Answer 6:
The Divine
Psychologist
The concept of “being consciously in the Presence of God” is something that we can use to form a closer relationship with God and use His guidance to help us in our everyday actions. This is where the Divine Psychologist can come into play. As we go through our everyday lives, we are constantly making both good and bad decision to act either heavenly or hellish. When we are “consciously in the Presence of God,” we are interacting with the Divine Psychologist, telling him what we are thinking and in a sense, looking to him for advice on how to handle our situations. Since he is the Divine Psychologist, he will always give advice on how to act heavenly. Whether we listen to that advice is up to us.
My Day With Him
The day I chose to practice “being consciously in the Presence of God” was a typical Monday. This was a good day for me to choose because it included almost all of the major activities of my life, which sadly consists of studying, classes, and work. Since I usually don’t have much time on the weekend, I tend to use Monday morning to get a lot of my homework done. Since I’m not much of a morning person, this is usually a challenge, trying to get myself to focus on homework instead of going back to sleep. I would much rather go back to sleep, but I know what I should do and what is beneficial to me, so I am always reminded and pushed in the back of my mind to do my homework. This particular morning, I was able to listen to the Divine Psychologist and I was able to get everything I needed done. When the time comes, I finally get ready for school and begin my drive. Of course, I was running a little late on this day, so it was very easy to get frustrated with slow drivers in front of me. Instead of getting frustrated, I paused and thought what I should do, so I just turned my music a little louder and tried to enjoy the drive. Once I got to class, I realized that I didn’t miss much, so I was able to sit down and took a few seconds to thank God that I was lucky.
Once class started to roll, I found myself distracted and not paying attention to the material. Every time my mind drifted though, I was being told that I needed to pay attention. I tried to listen to those instructions, but I honestly didn’t always start to focus again. When class ended, I definitely thanked God that my day of school was done, but I had to rush home, change my clothes and head off to work. This is where I really had to focus on the Divine Psychologist. Since my job requires a lot of customer interaction, it is easy to get frustrated, especially with those slower customers or unreasonable ones. There were many times I had to smile through my teeth because I knew that is what I needed to do. Since I was trying to be consciously in the Presence of God, I sometimes went to the back room so I could try to refocus myself on the Divine Psychologist. It actually helped me stay in a better mood even though I didn’t always listen to him.
Week 10 – Question 7:
Explain the benefits of studying
theistic psychology. For each item you
mention, explain also how you relate to that particular benefit. Are you planning to continue studying
theistic psychology on your own? Explain
your thinking.
Week 10 – Answer 7:
Peace of Mind
The first benefit of studying Theistic Psychology is just to have a peace of mind that we have eternal life to look forward to after we die in the physical world. If the claims of Theistic Psychology are true, then we are immortal beings that can choose to spend eternity in heaven by doing the right thing and fighting our hellish traits here on earth. With that confidence, we can lessen our fear of dieing and eventually eliminate it because we have no fear of what happens when we die. I personally have this confidence, but not for the exact same reasons put forth by Theistic Psychology. Even though there are parts of me that do not want to die yet, I know that I will spend eternity in Heaven when my time comes because I have put my trust in Jesus Christ as my Savior.
For the Good
Another benefit to studying Theistic Psychology is knowing that everything that happens in our life happens for a good purpose. Even though we will go through trials and hard times, Theistic Psychology encourages us by telling us that God works everything out for the ultimate good of a person. If we live our lives with eternity in mind, we can have the encouragement that anything negative that happens to us physically is not significant since we are being built up spiritually and that our spiritual self is being strengthened. This is also an encouragement that I have gained from my background in Christianity. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Romans 8:28 (New Testament Sacred Scripture) that says “For we know that God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”
Truth vs. Lies
The third benefit discussed in the text is that we can have a strong ability to discern truth from fallacies. As we study Theistic Psychology more and get more familiar with Sacred Scripture and form a stronger relationship with God, we will know when people are telling us lies about God and wont fall victim to those lies. There are so many people that have formed cults and different beliefs (sometimes based on the same text as Theistic Psychology), that will tell you different things about God that are absolutely not true. If we fall into these lies, we fall further from God. That is why it is important to study Theistic Psychology. Since I am new to the idea of Theistic Psychology, I can only see this benefit through my background in Christianity. There is still a lot I don’t know about the Bible and I think that there are some things that I may be wrongly convinced of, but that is why I think it is very important to study the Bible and will hopefully be completely confident in my ability to discern truth from lies.
Prepared for Eternity
There are
many more advantages to studying Theistic Psychology that are discussed from
being better prepared for eternity to being able to better help those here on
earth. I think that they are all very
good benefits, and for the most part, I think I have gained at least a little
of all of these benefits from Christianity.
I guess that goes to show that Theistic Psychology does have a lot in
common with my current faith and beliefs.
I probably will not study Theistic Psychology once this class is over
however. I think that Theistic
Psychology has a lot to offer and there are things I have gained from what I
have studied so far, but I am still confident that studying the Bible and
listening for God’s voice (similar to Theistic Psychology, but without the
scientific terms and explanations of exactly what I am doing) is the most
important to my spiritual life and will continue in that life style. I will keep an open mind as I hear new
things, but I probably won’t actively pursue information from Theistic
Psychology.
Week 10 – Question 8:
Identify five revelations found in the
literal meaning of the Writings of Swedenborg.
Describe each and indicate your thoughts on it. How does it relate to anything else you know
about these subjects?
Week 10 – Answer 8:
Hidden Meanings
One of the revelations found in the literal meaning of the Writings of Swedenborg was the idea of the spiritual meaning found in the Bible. Anybody can read the Bible, but not everyone will get the same thing out of the Bible. Some people may just be reading words while others will be able to see past the words into what God intended to say through those words. And even among those people, some may be encouraged by it and other may be convicted. I believe it depends on how the Holy Spirit moves in our hearts. If we are able to tune ourselves into the words being spoken and listen for the Divine Speech coming from God, we are able to get so much more out of the Bible than just words, which is so important in our spiritual development, and ultimately, our preparation for heaven.
Mortal Animals
Another revelation found in the literal meaning of the Writings of Swedenborg is the idea that animals are not immortal like humans are. The reason for this is that animals are not created with a rational mind. The rational mind in humans is what allows us to be immortal and conjoin with God. In terms of Theistic Psychology, they say that when we think about animals, we can see them, but they disappear as soon as they leave our thoughts. Animals not being in heaven are something that I already believed from my studies as a Christian. The way that I have been able to accept that is because the Bible never says that animals have souls. The Bible says that humans are created in the image of God, but it does not say that animals were created the same way. For a lot of people, this is a sad realization, but the way I see it is that we will be in Heaven with God so we won’t miss our pets at all.
Re-awakening
A revelation that we have discussed a few times in class is the description of our resuscitation after we die in our physical body. Swedenborg reported that our resuscitation occurred about 30 hours after our physical death. That is when we become conscious in our mental body and when we are made aware of what eternity will be like. I personally don’t have much of an opinion on this matter. It is weird to think that the spiritual world is not bound by time, but there is still a time period that we are not yet resuscitated. I’m not sure why that time period is important, but it was interesting to hear that this time period may exist when we die.
Levels of Rationality
One of the revelations that I have a hard time grasping is the idea of humans have three levels in our rational mind, the natural, spiritual and celestial. These three regions in our mind (natural-rational, spiritual-rational, and celestial-rational) represent different levels of closeness to God. Of course some people are going to have a deeper understanding of God than others and may be “closer” to God than others, but I have never thought of that relationship in terms of different regions of our mind. I think the idea is the same, but putting an anatomy on our relationship with God is a new concept to me, one that I have not completely grasped yet.
Regeneration
The
revelation that seemed the most difficult for me to accept was the revelation
that describes the methods of regeneration needed to get into heaven. I completely agree with the idea of being
consciously in the presence of God, listening for His guidance and trying to do
the moral thing in every situation.
Theistic Psychology describes it as fighting our hellish traits and
living in the heavens of our mind. The
part that I have a real problem with is the part of the revelation that says
that people with good character will automatically get into heaven. There are many ideas in Theistic Psychology
that lines up with the beliefs I already held, but the idea of getting into
heaven just because we are good people is totally contradictory to my
beliefs. I think it is impossible to
earn our way to heaven by doing good deeds on earth, but we need Jesus Christ
as our Savior in order to have the privilege of living in heaven.