Report 2:

Report 2:

My Understanding of Theistic Psychology

By Leticia Valle

Instructions for this report are at:

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy22/459-g22-report2.htm

I am answering Questions 1, 5, 6, 7, and 8

Contents:

I. Question 1

II. Question 5

III. Question 6

IV. Question 7

V. Question 8

VI. Section C: My Analysis of Prior Generations in the Generational Curriculum

VII. Section D: My Report on the Current Generation

IIX. Section E: My Advice to Future Generations

The Question I am answering is Question 1:

People sometimes refer to the negative aspects of religion—religious wars, persecutions, intolerance. How can theistic psychology reduce this negative aspect of religion? What makes theistic psychology different from religion? How do they compare in explaining the idea of "salvation"? Can theistic psychology be universal if it relies on Sacred Scripture of Western religions and traditions? What is "religious behaviorism?"

Section A: My Own Summary of the Selections

From selections: 1.13 Level 3: Theistic Psychology

1.1.2 Level2: Mystical Religion

Before answering the question above we need to learn the basic concepts of theistic psychology.

Theistic psychology is based exclusively on the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772). At the age of 57 Emanuel Swedenborg was assigned, by God, the task of scientific revelator to humankind. In the Writings, God reveals scientific facts about the creation and structure of the universe, the composition of the mind, and the afterlife. His writings present the observational evidence and the rational explanations that allow us to scientifically understand and map out the anatomy of the mind.

Theistic psychology differs from mainstream atheistic psychology because it uses God in a scientific manner as an explanatory concept in psychology. Theistic psychology examines the data and experiments found in the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. Emanuel Swedenborg was a well respected scientist, engineer, architect and inventor. He had a flawless reputation for honesty as a science publisher and inventor. Overall, Swedenborg was a prominent and influential social figure

The Writings of Swedenborg explain how God is omnipotent and omnipresent and therefore He is the cause of every natural event as well as all human behavior and the mental states associated with it. God must be incorporated in all explanations and events as well as the organization and methods by which God mediates and supervises the specifics of all events from beginning to end.

Substantive dualism or the Dualist Approach is a defining concept that underlines theistic psychology. The dualist approach in theistic psychology is based on the observational and experimental reports given by Swedenborg. Substantive dualism argues the fact that the mind is not made of the same substance that makes up our physical bodies. Dualism refers to the existence of two functionally interconnected worlds; The natural world made, up of physical matter, time, and space and the second world, the spiritual world is made up of our will, emotions, feelings, loves, thoughts, and ideas, all the things that are neither attached to space or time. Both heaven and hell are in our mind, our mind is located in the spiritual world. The spiritual world does not require of space or time and therefore is eternal.

While here on the natural world, tied to our physical bodies, we are unconscious of our dual citizenship but once our physical body wares off we become conscious of the spiritual world and it is there that we chose to live in either the heaven or hell of our minds. This decision is a choice driven by our loves and ways of life here in the physical world. The purpose of life here in the physical word is to prepare our character for the heavens after death through character reformation. Whichever choice we make it is important to realize and always keep in mind that it is our choice. In order to prepare for a higher heaven we need to spend time here on earth working on regenerating our character to be more rational and altruistic.

For more in-depth description of Theistic Psychology please refer to Psychology 459 Lecture Notes

Theistic Psychology offers a scientific approach that completes the religious perspective and makes it true and rational by explaining the reality of God. The incomplete perspective that religions preach are the cause negative aspects associated with religion. Theistic psychology completes and extracts the true meaning of Sacred Scripture by means of scientific revelations.

While theistic psychology consistently remains rational and scientific, religion is driven by blind faith and mysticism. Religion is dependent on the membership of the community and is based on the member’s willingness to believe the teachings of a particular prophet. It is only obvious that when mystical groups are formed on belief systems, the outcome will include a diversity of religions because different people acquire different beliefs while growing up.

The different beliefs are shown when different religions interpret and explain the same phenomena or events provided in sacred scripture in different ways with different contradictory meanings. Religions apply the literal meaning of the Bible and their membership is mostly based with associating God with history and culture. Theistic psychology is universal and when the true scientific meaning is extracted from the literal sentences through correspondence, the scripture becomes universal and useful for all mankind.

Theistic psychology derives the scientific explanation for the terms and concepts used in religion. This is possible through correspondences found in the terms used in religious practices. The correspondences help us “translate” the hidden revelations in the literal sentences of sacred scripture. The science of correspondences helps us decode the true rational meaning expressed in the Bible. Now that these correspondences are available to us we can understand what constitutes as sin, salvation, hell, heaven, omnipotence, prayer, etc. rather than believe the interpretations of these terms.

Dr. Leon James names the branch of theistic psychology that makes a scientific study of religious concepts and events such as God, devil, sin, prayer, heaven, and hell as Religious Behaviorism.

Religious behaviorism is applied to the Bible which can be wrongly labeled as Christian because it is restricted to the examination of Christian ideas and scripture. But anyone from any religion can benefit from the study of religious behaviorism because God remains the same throughout all religions and all Sacred Scripture; Plus the scientific study of Christian ideas about God and the spiritual world are true science and science is rational and universal. Religious Behaviorism will never contradict and is completely compatible with any religion when these universal principles and truths are studied.

A very popular and conflicting idea across religions is that of “salvation.” Salvation is the ultimate goal of religion and life. But many people are confused with the literal sentences of the Bible and believe that faith and loyalty to their religion will reward them with eternal life in heaven while those who disobey the church and writing of the Bible are punished for eternity in the fire of the hells.

Mystical religion claims that Divine revelation is provided for us in written scripture mediated by a prophet. The prophets are the “educated” revelators of the Word of God. The prophet teaches us that through prayer we can convince God that we regret committing sin and being evil so that he can provide us with our wants and desires.

In theistic psychology the idea of “salvation” is the actual regeneration process that we undergo by literally modifying and improving our feelings, thoughts, and actions. These three behaviors are introduced in theistic psychology as the Threefold Self. The threefold self is made up of three behaviors that every individual incorporates to all situations in everyday life.

The Threefold Self is made up of three interacting domains of each individual. These levels are the affective self, cognitive self, and the sensorimotor self. The affective self operates our feelings and motivations; it is made up of our wills and desires. The cognitive self operates our thoughts and reasoning, it is our thought processing. The sensorimotor self operates the sensations, perceptions, and actual physical/motor acts we perform; this includes overt behavior such as talk, facial expressions, and appearance. These three domains work together in a cycle beginning with the affective, which are our motivations that drive our thinking towards goals, and finally the physical acts we perform derived from our will and thoughts. Our physical actions cannot occur unless they are first desired, thought out, and finally acted on.

Being conscious of our threefold self is extremely useful in understanding and regenerating our character. Having this understanding makes it easier for an individual to trace the source of their feeling as they correspond to their thoughts and actions. Examining the origin of our actions is the first step in helping ourselves become positive and more productive individuals.

AFFECTIVE---->COGNITIVE----->SENSORIMOTOR
Love	Wisdom	Use
Good	Truth	Appearance
Will	Understanding	Action
Intention	Plan	Execution
Source	Cause	Effect
Desire	Belief	Conduct
Spiritual	Intellectual	Sensual
Feeling	Thinking	Sensing

For more in-depth information on the Threefold Self please click here

For more in-depth information on the three levels of behavior please click here

I do not want to get across the idea that religion is bad but it is true that religion refers itself to the literal language of Sacred Scripture which is historical and descriptive.  Religion can be built on this sense because their are enough parts of the literal language that describe God’s characteristics of Omnipotence and Omnipresence, as well as the Commandments and practices that must be kept by those who are sworn in to that religion.  Individuals who lead a life in accord with their insight of this literal meaning, have a conscience by which they are lead by God to make the right choices that will build in them the personality that can live in heaven in eternal happiness.  As a result religion is essential and sufficient for regeneration and adequate preparation for a heavenly life.  Therefore, the literal basic teachings of Sacred Scripture are satisfactory for salvation and regeneration or our character, only when that person lives by the teachings of Sacred Scripture.  When following the teachings of Sacred Scripture we have to keep in mind a quote by Paul: “We must live ‘by the spirit of the Word’ not the Letter of the Word.” We have to be careful not to practice the literal and external Pharisaic religion of sectarianism and cruelty, but live according to the “spirit of the Word.”  The “spirit of the Word” is the internal truth and good in Sacred Scripture not the public two-faced, idol worship.  We need to have good intentions and motivation in the salvations process for our acts to be valid as true.

The differences in religion and theistic psychology are obvious and it is crucial that they are understood so that people understand that theistic psychology is truth and its purpose is not to persuade anyone into believing anything simply understand it rationally. Below I have provided a brief table that shows the differences between religion and theistic psychology:

RELIGION vs. THEISTIC PSYCHOLOGY

mystical scientific

blind faith rational

subjective universal

persuasive understanding

In brief, the foundation of religion is derived from the literal meaning of Sacred Scripture while theistic psychology is founded on the universal correspondential meaning of Sacred Scripture. Anyone who is motivated to rationally understand God’s total control as the cause of all things can do so by studying the Writings of Swedenborg. The Writings do not contradict themselves and are easy to follow if the motivation applied.

Section B: My Commentary

(i) The Importance of the Topic in Question 1 and Why:

The differences in religion and theistic psychology are obvious and it is crucial and extremely important to me that those differences are very clear so that people understand that theistic psychology is truth and that its purpose is not to persuade anyone into believing but rather its goal is to rationally understand how God is the cause of every natural experience and all human behavior, including the cycle of thoughts and feelings we carry. Being aware of this will enable us to change our bad habits and modify our character so that we can elevate our minds and become “heavenly” and ultimately happy in the afterlife, for eternity. Being aware that God is the cause of all experiences allows us to understand that we allow God to work through us in either an evil or heavenly manner. Knowing that God works through us helps us eliminate the idea of “as of self” and we can reject evil loves easier by discrediting them as our own. We become closer to the Lord if we chose to let him act out the goodness and rationality that is necessary for us to live in the higher heavens--closer to Him.

(ii) Understanding about Myself and Society:

This perspective helps me understand why there are so many differences in all religions throughout the world and learning about theistic psychology has helped me realize that religion is grounded on culture. Knowing this has helped me come at ease with the battles I have been putting up when I found so many inconsistencies within the sermons of the priests in my church.

I realized that because there is no scientific method of decoding Sacred Scripture, every prophet preached the Word through their own personal biases. This inconsistency was very frustrating for me and many times I felt lost when trying to find salvation. Now that I can understand that religion is more of a culture rather than an understanding of God and rules for seeking heaven, I can practice my religion as a family and community event and take that time to truly enjoy my family and my culture most of all because I know that my questions about God can always be answered scientifically and I can rationally understand my relationship to God and the preparation process for the afterlife.

It can be very hard to let go of bad habits passed down to us as societal norms. Having this new perspective has helped me realize that the ideas I have acquired while growing up are simply other people’s beliefs. Now I can step back and analyze my inherited belief systems and examine the rationality behind them. This will help me determine if I will either adopt those bad habits or shed those old habits and acquire a new will. Once we gain a new will we can begin to value different, more helpful and rational loves that will help prepare us for an eternity in the heavens of our mind.

(iii) My Opinion:

I now understand that theistic psychology is scientific and rational. I understand that if Sacred Scripture is not corrupted religion becomes the stepping stone to understanding theistic psychology. It is unavoidable for me to distinguish that the knowledge of theistic psychology, religion can become complete and true. I know that we need to examine and change our bad habits in order to be happy in the spiritual world forever. I believe that we are not completely free until we become good and rational. Until then we are slaves to societal norms mostly because we are afraid of being rejected when we chose to regenerate our characters and become more positive rational people.

I agree that religion is based the literal sentences of the Bible and that many people get caught up in those literal sentences and misinterpret God’s Word. I understand theistic psychology as rational and scientific, in this way theistic psychology is universal and applies to all mankind.

The Question I am answering is Question 5:

Why is the topic of "regeneration" so basic in theistic psychology? What are the "character reformation" steps of building a "new will"? What is the difference between the "old will" and the new will? What are "heavenly" vs. "hellish" traits? How does this relate to personality theory in psychology as you know it?

Section A: My Own Summary of the Selections

From selections: 5.3.2 Theistic Psychologists and Good vs. Evil

From selections: 12.0.8 Three Degrees of Regeneration by Temptation

The idea of regeneration or character reformation is essential in theistic psychology. The main objective of theistic psychology consists of regenerating the evil tendencies that we inherit from our ancestors, as well as new temptations, and unhealthy social schemas that society expects us to fulfill.

These evil tendencies and bad habits are known to us as selfishness, cruelty, and revolt against very important morals, rage, depression, resentment, laziness, insensitivity, carelessness, irrationality, and many other negative and harmful characteristics not obvious to us because we accept them as “normal.”

The importance of process of regeneration is apparent when we learn that the Writings of Swedenborg are actually scientific correspondences to Sacred Scripture--the Bible. It becomes obvious when we gain knowledge that the writings of Sacred Scripture the six phases of mental development in man correspond to the six days of the creation of the universe in the book of Genesis. Everything in Sacred Scripture is correspondential with the anatomy of the mind, which in the end is responsible for our unique personality and characteristics.

In mainstream science today we are taught that the only traits passed on from our ancestors include physical characteristics such as eye, hair, and skin color, facial and body structures, biochemical characteristics such as allergies and blood type, and so on. While this idea is very predominant in sciences today they have failed to discover the transmission of mental, affective traits to offspring which are responsible for the make up of each character--the most important part of the study of psychology! This is because mainstream science is atheistic and fails to incorporate God as the manager and cause of all things, including mental characteristics that make up our own unique personalities.

As we can recall from the concept of the threefold self, our natural mind contains feelings, thoughts, and sensations. These behaviors are unregenerate at birth so that we have inclinations and biases that challenge the Divine revelations of substantive dualism; these inherited evil behaviors are known as our “old will”. Once we acknowledge the “old will” as evil loves we can begin to form a “new will” through character reformation.

Character reformation is described as the willingness to resist the temptations provided by God to let us be free in our decision making. God or the Divine Psychologist continues to provide us with temptation so we can practice making the choice of rejecting temptation. The character reformation steps of acquiring a new will include obeying our conscience and saying NO to temptation, the first step is always rejecting the evil tendencies presented to us every moment of every day.

Overcoming temptation is the method by which we grow and reform our character. In order to acquire a “new, heavenly will” we need to shun evils as sins; we need to change our “hellish traits” into “heavenly traits.” The two basic steps to forming a “new will” made up of “heavenly traits” is to 1) Say NO to temptation, reject is at evil, and 2) Do good, be altruistic and rational. Let us not forget that there is NO entrance into heaven without temptations and there is NO regeneration without temptations.

Regenerating our “old will” which is made up of inherited “hellish traits” is a very difficult process that takes a life time to accomplish. These negative habits are so dominant in most cultures and societies that they cannot help but be carried down through upcoming generations. We conform to social scripts (schemas) of our communities not knowing any different while growing up. If we are never educated about other ways of dealing with anger and/or depression a community as a whole reacts in similar, if not identical manners. Most of our beliefs, ways of life, and particular habits are a socialization process in accordance to our cultural norms. We go along practicing these habits day in and day out without questioning if they actually are healthy ways of living for us. I believe that this is why most people have such a hard time regenerating their characters.

It is obvious that change is difficult but as I have personally experienced, it is well worth the change, and the effects are apparent if the right approach is taken. As once explained in a social psychology course that I took, altruism can easily be ruined when simply one person becomes selfish. In a world full of selfish people it is hard to survive when there are so many people willing to take without giving but I believe that if we work on regenerating our character to be less selfish, that will eventually trigger other people to learn about a different, happier, more rational way to live.

The biggest distinction in theistic psychology and mainstream atheistic psychology is that in atheistic psychology there is no scientific foundation for good and evil, while theistic psychology presents actual definitions of good and evil in the correspondences of Sacred Scripture, Divine Speech.

This is because followers of atheistic psychology take a physical-natural approach concerning moral issues of what is right or wrong, and regarding spiritual matters of what is good and evil. Theistic psychology is very distinguished in its concentration of what right behavior is and what consists of good and evil as basic issues people face in the lifelong battle of character reformation, which establishes each person’s eternal life in the spiritual world.

This topic is extremely important to me because I realize that taking the time to study and understand theistic psychology gives people the facts on the process that mental habits acquired throughout life control our most practiced mental behaviors into and for all of eternity in the afterlife. These popular mental habits we adopt throughout life in the natural world set the pace for our happiness and prosperity, or lack of, in the afterlife. It is imperative that we understand how our choice I practicing certain mental habits determines our eternal life in the spiritual world. Once we realize this it is easy to see that that Theistic psychology is primarily focused on regeneration and control over our mental habits, that work their way through and project them self as physical actions, so that we can be prosperous and happy in the spiritual world, for all of eternity!

Ultimately everything is a choice and we need to practice in understanding and making the right choice because it is rational and driven by altruism.

Section B: My Commentary

(i) The Importance of the Topic in Question 5 and Why:

(ii) Understanding about Myself and Society:

The idea of regeneration has been the most important concept I have learned in school. This is because it has truly helped me realize my purpose in life. I now know that I am here to work at becoming more altruistic and rational so that I can be prosperous and truly happy in the afterlife, which lasts for ever!

I have learned that it is possible to apply all the teachings and ideas put forth from theistic psychology to my everyday life and behaviors.

(iii) My Opinion:

I agree that it takes a lot of hard work to change our inherited evil loves but it is possible. We need to realize that after all, the situations we are confronted with daily in life are a choice. The choices we make now will remain part of us forever, but I believe that the hard work that we can put in to regenerating our character will pay off so that the good loves we learn and practice here on the natural world will continue to flourish for eternity in the afterlife.

The Question I am answering is Question 6:

What is the perspective of theistic psychology provides on Sacred Scripture? How is it related to Divine Speech? What are correspondences in Sacred Scripture? Give some illustrations of Sacred Scripture and show how they are to be interpreted from the perspective of theistic psychology.

Section A: My Own Summary of the Selections

Theistic psychology consistently remains rational and scientific. Religions apply the literal meaning of the Bible and their membership is mostly based with associating God with history and culture. Theistic psychology is universal when the true scientific meaning is extracted from the literal sentences through correspondences, known as Divine Speech, the scripture becomes universal and useful for all mankind.

Divine Speech bonds diverse things into a consistent whole. Genuine rational faith unifies all varieties of Sacred Scripture into one general doctrine that approves genuine truth and can live with genuine good. The purpose of all rational faiths, religions, is to guide people to the good and prosperity of heaven after death. Reaching the heavens of the spiritual world always entails a transformation of character and a new way of acting on our thoughts and emotions. This is the truth of all religions that are based on genuine rational faith obtained from Sacred Scripture. Rational faith always prepares us for love, truth, altruism, and peace. It is not possible for rage, aggression, depression, and disrespect tot be connected with rational spirituality. Rational spirituality is the only true spirituality. It is based on Divine Speech or Divine Truth communicated through Sacred Scripture.

Through Divine Speech we learn that every event that occurs in the natural world is directly related and caused by an event taken place in the spiritual world. The spiritual is the cause of the entire natural. This idea also relates to the idea of correspondences within Divine Speech. Rational consciousness of God never depends on direct sensuous experience but only on the understanding of scientific revelations with in Sacred Scripture as Divine Speech.

The secret of how to extract the higher-order cognitions was not known by anyone until the method of correspondence was revealed in the Writings of Swedenborg. Hidden in this simple-minded literal meaning is the ranking of correspondences, the knowledge we gain from this lawful extraction process is called theistic psychology.

The words and sentences of Sacred Scripture reveal Divine truths of reality, but at various levels of rationality. The lowest or most external level is the literal meaning of Sacred Scripture. This tends to be historical, cultural, religious, mystical, visionary, and poetic in style. These are the natural correspondences of Divine meanings. But anyone can think more deeply about the sentences of Sacred Scripture. This attempt remained limited and people came up with all sorts of contradictory explanations and interpretations of the spiritual meaning that lies hidden in Sacred Scripture (see Section xx). The Writings of Swedenborg now provide a full revelation and explanation of how to extract correspondences from Sacred Scripture. Theistic psychology is based on this knowledge.

Some examples of correspondential meaning of Sacred Scripture as follows:

BIBLE CORRESPONDENCES

Water = Cognitive Organ

The Number 4 = Temptations/Many

The Number 10 = Remains: Heavenly Traits Acquired and Saved for us Since Birth

Domestic Animals = Heavenly States

Wild Animals = Hellish Traits

Turtle-dove = Natural Truth & Faith

She-goat = Spiritual Good & Love

Young pigeon = Spiritual Truth & Faith

Lord’s Human = Good Celestial Things

Section B: My Commentary

(i) The Importance of the Topic in Question 6 and Why:

This topic helps me realize that through the extraordinary revelation provided to us as Divine Speech, we allow ourselves to draw near and closer in our unification with God as we acquire and practice new rational ideas and knowledge of Him through Sacred Scripture as Divine Speech. The more we allow God to take us closer in conjunction with Him, the more we can get pleasure from rationality and harmony forever in our immortality.

(ii) Understanding about Myself and Society:

While studying the ideas behind Devine Speech and Sacred Scripture I came to the realization that all cultures from all times have had an idea of religion, God, or another ruling force that causes natural events. Religion is the basic wheel that spreads the message of God to humans. It is obvious that the easiest way to interpret Sacred Scripture is to do so in a literal sense because most of our societies consist of time, space, mathematics, and materialism. Different loves expressed by different types of people cause different interpretations of the Bible resulting in a huge diversity of religions.

Acquiring the knowledge of Divine Speech through correspondences is extremely beneficial in understanding the reason for the existence of so many differences in all religions throughout the world. Learning about theistic psychology has helped me realize that religion is grounded on culture. Knowing this has helped me come at ease with the battles I have been putting up when I found so many inconsistencies within the sermons of the priests in my church.

I realized that because religion offers no scientific method of decoding Sacred Scripture, every prophet preaches the Word through their own personal biases. This inconsistency was very frustrating for me and many times I felt lost when trying to find salvation. Now that I can understand that religion is more of a culture rather than an understanding of God and rules for seeking heaven, I can practice my religion as a family and community event and take that time to truly enjoy my family and my culture most of all because I know that my questions regarding Sacred Scripture about God, heaven, hell, good, and evil can always be answered scientifically through correspondences. This way I can rationally understand the management and cause of all natural events by God by applying the methods of correspondence revealing Divine Speech.

(iii) My Opinion:

I love the idea that there is a scientific correspondential meaning to all of sacred scripture. I look forward to the day that theistic psychology becomes standard teaching in all schools, throughout the entire world so that people can become more rational, altruistic, and united.

I feel that we need to understand and apply the method of correspondences in order to develop higher genes of rational consciousness that enable us to elevate to our rational heavens in afterlife – for eternity.

The Question I am answering is Question 7:

Describe the perspective that theistic psychology provides on the marriage relationship. How does it describe the relationship between husband and wife? What are some of its methods, models, and findings? Contrast this approach with what you know of this topic in psychology.

Section A: My Own Summary of the Selections

From selections: 11.3.1 Three Levels of Unity in the Marriage Relationship

Theistic psychology provides a marriage relationship derived from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg that is made up of the unification of husband and wife. Swedenborg calls this marriage relationship the Unity model of Marriage.

This model of marriage is not familiar to most couples in today’s society. There are a total of three models of marriage; the Dominance Model; the Equity Model, and the Unity Model of marriage. I will describe and compare all three models in the following passages.

The Dominance Model:

In brief, the Dominance model of marriage is a relationship driven by culture and society that places the man as head of the relationship. This model is referred to as dominant because men are born with natural tendencies to love evil and retain independence from his wife by dominating all aspects of the relationship. The dominance model allows for husbands to continue practicing these evil tendencies in their relationship. The wife obeys her husband’s decisions and tries to match his views, or suppresses her own, out of tradition or fear of retaliation. At this level the woman are not truly happy or satisfied with their marriage.

The Equity Model:

The Equity model of marriage is made up of a relationship where duties and ideas are negotiated and partners strive to have equal parts in the decision-making process of the relationship. We could say that partners in this level strive to provide a 50/50 percent input into their relationship. This relationship is influenced by society in the fight for equality between the sexes. Women are much happier at this level of marriage rather than the Dominance model of marriage but still strive for more.

The Unity Model:

The Unity model of marriage is a model derived from writings by Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772). This model is very different from both the dominance and equity models. In the Unity model of marriage the couple leaves behind any cultural and psychological traits and habits that interfere with successful long term marriage relationships.

In the Unity model the partners are a “conjoint self.” They can only be conjoined when the husband and wife have achieved unity at all three levels of the threefold self, that is the sensorimotor self (physical actions), cognitive self (thought processing), and the affective self (motives and will). The couple grows together in reciprocity.

The marriage increases through differentiation and reciprocity of behavior in the threefold self of the two partners, these differences are reciprocal and complement the couple to make both partners a single whole. Here is an example of how differentiation is needed for a perfect whole: In a physical level, we can think of when a couple is dancing, each partner much take reciprocal steps, the same steps cannot be made by both partners, or else the couple would step on each other and/or step away from each other. It is the differentiation that makes the unity out of reciprocity. The unity out of reciprocity is made because of differences in each partner, therefore the perfection of unity increases with the differentiation of each person’s characteristics.

This model provides that the couple understands that each are made different in such a way that man represents wisdom while woman represents love. In this model the husband voluntarily allows for his wife to lead his outward intelligence through her inner wisdom. In this way it is up to the husband to be willing to change his naturally inherited tendencies to be independent and subordinate their own outward intelligence to his wife’s inner wisdom. The Unity model of marriage differs from the dominance and equity models, in that the unity model is a relationship that is eternal, meaning that it continues into the afterlife of heaven, making their union a spiritual union. This is very difficult model to reach but the man will be spiritually enlightened when he understands that the relationship with his wife is one that will last forever into the afterlife.

Reaching the Unity model of marriage takes a lot of hard work because relationships must begin at either the dominant or equity model and go against social norms that come with the idea of marriage. The husband has to reject his inherited tendencies to manipulate and remain separate from his wife. Each partner in this model is required to provide 100 percent-- not 50/50. When the wife and husband reach this spiritual state of unity they will be in eternal conjugial happiness that will continue in heaven.

For more in-depth description of these models of marriage and the threefold self refer to the Psychology 409b Lecture Notes

The levels of the threefold self correspond to the levels of gender relationships. For a visual understanding of the correspondence of models of unity with the threefold self I have included this chart of the Three Models in Gender Relations:

LEVEL OF UNITY	NAME OF MODEL	THREEFOLD SELF INVOLVED IN THE RELATIONSHIP
3	UNITY	AFFECTIVE (inmost)
2	EQUITY	COGNITIVE (internal)
1	DOMINANCE	SENSORIMOTOR (external)

For a better understanding of some of the methods and differences behind the Unity Model of Marriage, I have created a chart in which I give examples of ideas or behaviors that indicate one’s relationship. I also included YES/NO specifications for the three views from each model of marriage.

Behavioral Indicators of One's Relationship Model	1 Dominance Model	2 Equity Model	3 Unity Model
The idea that husbands deserve sex in return for financially supporting the family	Yes	No	No
Each person needs to provide 50/50 percent effort to make the relationship work	No	Yes	No
The woman makes all final decisions in the relationship	No	No	Yes
The man makes all final decisions in the relationship	Yes	No	No
Negotiation between the couple determines who makes the final decision	No	Yes	No
Partners take turns deciding where to eat out	No	Yes	No
Family members and friends are placed before their partner	Yes	Yes	No
Partners have girls or guys only night	Yes	Yes	No
If a wife denies her husband sex, she is forcing him to cheat on her	Yes	No	No
etc. (add your own examples here)

Men who operate at the dominance level of marriage demand that women should have sex with their husbands and accuse women of being bad wives if they don’t pleasure their husbands constantly. What they fail to realized is that sex becomes voluntary when the husband does all he can to understand and love his wife and all the things that make her happy. Those people don’t stop to examine what contributions the man is making for the wife’s reaction to not want to have sex with him. So the examples in the chart above show that the dominance model doesn’t care about the wife’s feelings but simply show that it is a wife’s duty to have sex with her husband whenever he pleases. The elements that display the dominance model of marriage disturb me very much because they are irrational and prevent the happiness of both partners in the relationship.

The elements that portray the equity model make women happier than the dominance model but require that the wife constantly has to justify her thoughts and negotiate decisions with her husband. This is a big step from the dominance model which allows no negotiation but a wife is not truly happy until she reaches unity.

Many times men might think that it is irrational for women to make the final decisions, like the examples that the unity model agrees with in the chart above. These examples will never seem rational unless the man makes the effort to understand that women are driven by inner love, and only want unity within the relationship so that they can together, be one single person.

Here is another table that shows some contrastive elements that differentiates the three phases of growth in marriage.

My Table:

My List of Behavioral Indicators of One's Relationship Model	1 Dominance Model	2 Equity Model	3 Unity Model
Partners always consider each other before acting on a thought	No	No	Yes
Purposely try to make each other jealous with other of the opposite sex	Yes	Yes	No
While arguing, partners bring up unresolved occurrences from the past	Yes	Yes	No
Partners know each others likes and dislikes	No	Yes	Yes
Partners always respect each others likes and dislikes	No	No	Yes
Partners believe that they will be together “until death does them part”	Yes	Yes	No
Partners keep certain things from each other to avoid making each other “feel bad”	Yes	Yes	No
When they discussing an issue, they raise their voice in a disrespectful manner	Yes	Yes	No
Partners become less excited to get to know their partner as years go by	Yes	Yes	No
Partners allow each other to have different ideas about the afterlife	Yes	Yes	No
Partners are not concerned about the others level of pleasure during sex	Yes	No	No
Partners feel maximum pleasure from pleasuring their partner	No	No	Yes
The man strives to understand his wife’s motives	No	No	Yes
The woman accepts that “boys will be boys”	Yes	Yes	No
The man understands that his wife’s motives toward their relationship are good	No	No	Yes
When a conflict can’t be negotiated, divorce is always an option	Yes	Yes	Yes
Partners are together as often as possible	No	No	Yes
Partners need time to get away from each other	Yes	Yes	No
Partners put family members before their partner	Yes	Yes	No
The man deserves sex for bringing home the paycheck	Yes	Yes	No
Partners accept each others cultural differences	Yes	Yes	Yes
Partners don’t feel the need to agree on everything	Yes	Yes	No
Partners have the idea that fighting/arguing is part of being in a relationship	Yes	Yes	No
Each partner’s reciprocal differences help create a better person/whole	No	No	Yes
etc. (add your own examples here)

This chart shows that the dominance model had only an 8% overlap with that of the unity model. The dominance model had a 92% overlap with the equity model. The equity model had a 16% overlap with the unity model. These results are very obvious in showing that the unity model is the most different of the three models, making it the hardest model to reach. The results in percent overlap between the dominance and equity models were extremely high. I was surprised in seeing that both models contain similar relationship behaviors. I believe they have such a high percentage overlap because the equity model is mostly based around negotiation and I believe that negotiation might come after fighting or arguing about a certain topic in the relationship in this way they are very similar to the dominance model. The biggest difference in the dominance and equity model is that after the fighting and arguing the couple in the equity model can reach a point of negotiation under what they feel is “fair” for the couple but there is no negotiation in the dominance model even after fighting and arguing the man still retains his power to make the final decision and get his way.

I believe that going over a chart like this with one’s partner can help the couple understand at what model they operate. This chart provides specific examples of behaviors often portrayed in relationships and makes a clear distinction as to which model they fall under. If couples are not aware of specific behaviors they practice in their relationship then they can’t work on recognizing them as belonging to any one of the three models. A couple together can set goals as to what model they would like to reach and us a chart like this as a guideline as to which characteristics need to be regenerated.

Section B: My Commentary

(i) The Importance of the Topic in Question 7 and Why:

Theistic psychology introduced me to the idea of the unity model of marriage and I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to encounter all of these very important concepts. The Writings helped me rationally understand why it is that I felt certain ways about men’s behavior. It has helped me set higher goals than simply settling for a relationship in the equity model. Before being exposed to this idea I thought that the equity model was the highest level possible in a relationship but even thought I though it was as good as it gets, I am not truly happy in it, and now I know it is because a perfect unity between a marriage is possible.

(ii) Understanding about Myself and Society:

These three views are very influential to me but in very distinct ways.

The equity model has helped me understand and become aware of the traditional and cultural differences in how genders communicate. This is very useful in modifying speaking and listening skills in order to communicate more efficiently. It is a good start to try and be aware of these differences so that we can approach different people from different perspectives.

The dominance model of marriage has helped me realize how horrible and destructive this model can be. This model makes women very unhappy and the behaviors and methods of this model are completely irrational and insensitive, but it helps me strive for something better.

(iii) My Opinion:

Many times I feel that women feel that they have accomplished so much by simply reaching the equity model and they don’t ask for more from their husband when they are comfortable with the opportunity to negotiate ideas in their relationship, but many times these women are still not happy. This is because they haven’t encountered ideas that explain that it is rational for women to strive for more, and it is rational and correct for women to assume that they should make all final decisions in a relationship.

Now that these Writings provide the unity model it can become easier for women to express this concern and act on it without feeling like other might think they are simply trying to be possessive of their husbands. This is still my biggest problem; trying to explain these concepts to men without them feeling like I am an extreme feminist. I understand that a woman’s desire in life is to find that loving partner that makes her complete. I believe that this is so important for women because either consciously or subconsciously we know that a united relationship will last forever, into the afterlife.

The Question I am answering is Question 8:

What is the relation between mind and the spiritual world? How does theistic psychology show their relation? How can the human mind be immortal? Why should people be concerned about the afterlife? What is the "vertical community" and why should people focus on their "dual citizenship"?

Section A: My Own Summary of the Selections

From selections: 6.3.1 Human Consciousness and Mediated Divine Influx

The anatomy of the mind is equal to the geography of the spiritual world! Heaven is actually in our mind. In the spiritual world there are three levels of heaven. These Heavens are not places that we go to, they are states of mind. Therefore, it only makes sense that just like there are three levels of heaven, we have three levels of our mind.

This relationship between the mind and the spiritual world is true because just like the spiritual world, our minds are immortal. Our mind is not fixed in time or space. It is true that our brain operates physical actions that our mind feels and thinks, but the brain does so by electrical operations, those are not immortal. Once we understand that our mind is not our brain, but rather our personality and character that we carry since birth and for eternity, we realize that once we are detached from our physical bodies, we will reside in the spiritual world forever.

Diagram:

Oval: 3rd Heaven
Celestial Heaven Oval: 3rd Level ofMind
Celestial Mind Truths & Good

ç==è Thoughts of Love & Affection

Cities of Similars

Thoughts of Causes

by means of Truth

Thoughts of Effects

of Natural things Caused by

Spiritual and Celestial Origins

Our mind is born and located in the spiritual world, with the rest of everyone else’s mind. Our spiritual body or our mind also is made up of the threefold self. Many times it might be difficult to picture what our mind looks like in the spiritual world if is not physical like here in the natural world. Swedenborg confirmed the fact that spirits look like regular, solid, clothed, humans. Our mind has maintained the shape that we embody in the natural world at birth. There is no death or change in the spiritual body when the physical body wears out. Nothing in the mind can die because nothing mental subsides in the physical body that dies. Since birth our mind has been made up of our feelings and thoughts, not our brain or anything physical but only spiritual.

The only thing that is different in the mind and the physical body is that our mind is not limited by physical disabilities or damages. Our minds remain flawless in their shape, there is no damage or blemish on the spiritual body and it cannot be damaged ever because our mind, spiritual body, is made up of eternal substance.

While living in the spiritual world we surround ourselves in a social world that mirrors our feelings, thoughts, and sensations, this social community is called the vertical community. This is very different from the social world we are immersed in while here on the natural world. Our vertical community depends on each individual personality and characteristic. Our vertical community is made up of objects, animals, and clues as to what we are feeling and thinking. Through laws of correspondence, our feelings and thoughts appear as what we feel and think. In the natural world we are able to mask our true emotions and surround ourselves from people who are very distinct from us, but this is not so in the spiritual world. Our mind looks like what we feel and the thoughts we have at any moment.

As feelings or moods change in an individual there is an instantaneous effect on the spiritual world. Swedenborg reported that bad moods create the appearance of a dark and stormy weather filled with screeching owls and black birds and scorpions. Good feelings create beautiful gardens and paradises filled with gentle animals and luscious fruit. I really like the idea that in the spiritual world, when you think about someone with the desire to interact, the person and you suddenly are in each other's presence. Same thing happens when you argue or fight with a companion, that person disappears from your presence.

By gaining knowledge about how our mind directly reflects us visually in the spiritual world without being able to hide behind our physical bogies should make us focus on being aware of our dual citizenship. Our personality in the natural world directly correlates with our mind or spiritual body because of our dual citizenship.

I wanted to include this chart below for a better understanding of the make up and geography of the spiritual world, our mind.

6.3.1 Human Consciousness and Mediated Divine Influx

Section B: My Commentary

(i) The Importance of the Topic in Question 8 and Why:

It is extremely important for us to realize that the home of our minds is the spiritual world that we can change the location of our mind in the spiritual world by regenerating our mind, which is our character and personality.

We determine our location in the spiritual world by regenerating our minds here on the natural world. Because if you think about it, unless we study and learn about the higher degrees of heaven and the characteristics that angles who live in their highest heavens acquire and practice, then we cannot relate to them, making it impossible to live in those heavens.

Now we can practice being more rational people so that we are not strangers the heavens in the afterlife and we can live in harmony forever.

(ii) Understanding about Myself and Society:

Knowing that each person’s mental anatomy is directly correlated with the heavens and hells of the afterlife makes us face the reality that ultimately we are the ones who choose our hell or heaven I the afterlife. This can be comforting when we think about how religion portrays hell as a place we are condemned to without choice.

This also makes sense in the fact that everyone’s idea of heaven is different because we are all driven by different loves. I was very happy to learn that I have the capability to be happy and very productive in the heavens of the spiritual world. I really enjoy the fact that I can actually visualize the make-up of the afterlife.

(iii) My Opinion:

In order to regenerate our character and elevating our mind which will eventually determine our heaven or hell in the afterlife, we need to be aware of and know the process that takes place in our mind into developing a rational mind.

Character reformation requires making FREE choices in our actions. These choices are affected by our loves. First we love evil things; we are in our Natural Mind, equal to Natural Heaven. Some examples of the behaviors we associate with the natural mind are: selfishness, cruelty, and anger.

Second, we make a decision on a temptation, which is also determined by our loves.

If we change our behavior we elevate our minds into a different vertical community where we are presented with different temptations.

Section C: My Analysis of Prior Generations in the Generational Curriculum

Report 3: Title:, by Josh Cooper

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/459s2004/cooper/report3.htm

(i) Discussion on His Feelings:

Josh Cooper found insight in the class lecture notes. Reading the material provided by Dr. James allowed him to understand the rationality of theistic psychology. He first approached the idea of Swedenborg’s records with the negative bias, but reading the lecture notes and discussion in class meetings allowed for him to understand and accept the Writings of Swedenborg as rational and scientific.

(ii) His Thoughts:

His doubts and concerns regarding Swedenborg’s data collection were regenerated into understanding and confidence in the importance of understanding theistic psychology, God, the spiritual world, evil, and good as scientific.

(iii) His Conclusion:

He concluded that knowledge of theistic psychology is essential for the regeneration process as well as an understanding of God as the cause of all things, in both the spiritual and natural world. Josh will continue to study theistic psychology, for he found a rational understanding of God and the afterlife.

(iv) How His Insights Apply to Me:

Unlike Cooper, I was able to approach the concept of theistic psychology with a positive bias from the begging of class and throughout the semester. It does help me to further understand and accept theistic psychology as rational and scientific when theistic psychology it is constantly attacked without success.

Cooper helps us realize that studying the concepts and writings of Swedenborg will insure our understanding of God as the scientific cause of all events. After spending time examining the Writings of Swedenborg I also feel more confident in the rationality contained through the experiments conducted by Swedenborg.

Report 2: My Understanding of Theistic Psychology, by Andrew Sansaver

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/459f2004/sansaver/459-g21-report2.doc..htm

(i) Discussion on His Feelings:

Andrew Sansaver has a hard time accepting religion as rational because there are no explanations to the reasons why certain religions practice different rituals, even when they are using the same sacred source, the Bible.

He feels hat religion is like having a personal escort to guide us through life. He feels that the blind faith that ties people to God and religion is doing nothing for them to understand God as rational and scientific. He understands that religion needs revelation, found in the Writings of Swedenborg. He agrees that the concepts that lie within the Writings of Swedenborg religion would be universal in its idea of prosperity in the spiritual world.

(ii) His Thoughts:

His thoughts on religion and societal norms have been unchained from the idea of God. Sansaver does not claim a religion because his previous experiences with blind faith have been successful in discouraging him from seeking knowledge about God.

(iii) His Conclusion:

Sansaver is now more open and accepting to the idea of God as a rational and scientific idea. This is possible from him discovering the differences between religion and theistic psychology.

(iv) How His Insights Apply to Me:

I completely agree with Sansaver that it is necessary to distinguish religion from theistic psychology. The negative aspect associated with religion has been very successful in influencing a rejection of God’s existence from our lives.

I understand that Swedenborg’s writings are a necessity in order to rationally understand God as the cause of all events in both the natural and spiritual world.

Section D: My Report of the Current Generation

First Oral Presentation: Acquiring Our Heavenly Proprium, by Laina Beard

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/459s2005/beard/home459.htm

On February 23, 2005, Laina Beard presented her second oral presentation on acquiring our heavenly proprium on section 6.0.5.4.1 of Dr. James online book entitled Theistic Psychology.

The human proprium consists of everything evil and false that is motivated by selfishness or love of the self and the world. We feel as if we create these evil loves, but this idea is not true. In other word the evil feelings and thoughts are not our own, but rather we inherit them from our ancestors as inherited psychological traits. We are born with these innate evil tendencies to be selfish, cruel, and irrational.

We inherit a hellish and condemned proprium through the many generations of man that adopt habits directly influenced by the hells. This proprium is extremely harmful when it is not acknowledge because we see God’s creations as in their opposites. For example, what we experience as good is actually evil and our truths are actually false.

We can regenerate our human proprium by studying and applying the concepts in Sacred Scripture in a manner that we can rise above selfishness and cruelty. We understand good and truth through correspondences, only when we understand that God or the Divine Psychologist is the cause of all events and he is the one who constantly presents us with the choices and circumstances that allow us to reform or character.

For us to realize that God is the cause of all events we first have to realize that the proprium is not our own and reject temptation. Once we do this we are given a new proprium. This new proprium is the Divine Human Proprium that is made of heavenly loves and truth. We accept this new proprium when we are motivated to regenerate our character and ranking heavenly loves above all other loves, making them dominant over temptation. So even thought we are born with these innate evil tendencies it is possible to acquire a heavenly proprium that will allow us to live in the heavens of our mind.

Beard shared with us that she felt horrible when she learned that through inherited evil tendencies we see the world with a warped and false view but she felt comfort in knowing that we have a choice and we can regenerate our character so that we can be altruistic people and reach the highest heavens of our mind.

I shared Beard’s ideas of discontent when I learned that the human proprium in itself is hellish and condemned but I understand that it is the process of regenerating this hellish proprium that will allow us to live happily in the heavens of our mind. We can all earn a place in heaven if we are motivated to do so.

Second Oral Presentation: The Mind, by Franklin Whang

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/459s2005/whang/home.htm

Third Oral Presentation: Heaven’s Freedom, by Patrick Greer

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/459s2005/greer/home.htm

Section E: My Advice to Future Generations

The advice I have to future generations is to please have an open mind and positive bias when exploring the concepts mentioned throughout this report as well as the entire course. You can get so much out of this course, and the other courses Dr. James teaches if you are open to understanding them and exploring them outside of class. The best way to understand these concepts, besides attending class, is to actually read the assigned readings; this will be extremely helpful in discussions in class and in simply understanding the ideas and the importance of theistic psychology when it comes to God, character reformation, the threefold self, loves, relationships, religion, and the afterlife.

The exposure you will encounter from lecture notes and the previous generational reports will most likely be completely new and different ideas to you, ideas that are not commonly portrayed through culture, tradition, biology, atheistic psychology, science, and the media. You will succeed in this course if you try to understand the concepts and apply them outside of class into our everyday lives and behaviors. The readings provide many examples and exercises that we can apply outside of class that can help with our understanding of Sacred Scripture.

Lastly, don’t procrastinate and don’t be afraid to ask for help in either uploading your report or on the explanation of any confusion about the concepts, Dr. Leon James is a great resource and always willing to help. You honestly have nothing to loose and an eternal life of productivity and happiness to gain!

My Home Page: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/459s2005/valle/home.htm

Class Home Page: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy22/classhome-g22.htm

HavE fUn aNd LeArN LotS!