Report 2:
My
Understanding of Theistic Psychology
By
Jennifer Jones
Instructions
for this report are at:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/459-g24-report2.htm
I am answering questions 1, 3, 4, 5, 6
Note:
All summaries are from selections that I pulled from Textbook of Theistic
Psychology by Dr. Leon James.
Textbook
of Theistic Psychology: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic
Section A: My Own Summary of the Selections
Summary for Question 1:
6.0.5.1 The Role of Divine Speech in Building Up the
New Will
(a.)
Celestial race did not have any distinction between their affective and
cognitive organs. Today's race, the
split-brain race does not have this ability, and only through understanding of
Sacred Scripture will be able to go through regeneration. Our conscious or our inner voice is the way
Divine Speech speaks to an individual.
The outer voice is Sacred Scripture that we study, read and listen
to. After the celestial race, our
direction connection with Divine Truth was cut off. However, according to Sacred Scriptures such as the Old and New
Testament, a few people including Swedenborg has encountered direct connection
of the spiritual world.
There would be no spiritual freedom if we have direct connection
with God. But the only way to salvation
is through rational consciousness.
Swedenborg calls these concepts as the evolution of consciousness.
6.3.1.1.1
(VIII) Divine Speech Descends Through the Discrete Degrees of Every Mind, and
Forms Them
(b.)
The concept of discrete degrees can be found in the Sacred Scriptures of
Emmanuel Swedenborg. Every level that
is higher than the ones below is within them.
For example, God is at the top, where everything below him from man,
environment to the animals is controlled and within God. God's omnipresent is reflexed by controlling
everything by being within it.
(X) Character Reformation and the Psychology
of Cooperation- Part C
(c.)
The word God is defined as omnipotent, powerful, good, the creator and takes on
a symbolic interpretation as a person. The
difference between man and animal is that man has dual citizenship and animals
do not. The law of correspondence then
explains that dual citizenship is our physical body and out mental body grows
together and is connected by interdependent action. When we are born we are born in two worlds, the physical (that is
temporary) and born within the mental world (which is our eternal body).
(d.) Our mental operations control our physical
movements such as blinking an eye and arm and leg movements. Our mental operations tell our physical body
what to do and how to act. When we die
and when we are resurrected, we abandon our physical mind and live in our
spiritual mind. We then encounter other
spirits in eternity and speak to them, not through language with our voice but
a thought language. There are three
levels of thinking within our mental biology.
Level one is when a person has not established positive or negative bias
towards Theistic Psychology.
One is only learning new concepts and
studying them mostly based on scientific and academic conditions. This is the level that some students were at
on the first week of this course. Level
two is when one adopts the concepts of affective and cognitive organs, that
there is a God, heaven and hell but not yet a full scientific positive
bias. The third level is positive bias. This is when they are able to see a diagram
such as Diagram A in Swedenborg's writings, and see it in a natural-rational
way. This is the only level that contains the Theistic Psychology way of
thinking.
6.0.5.1 The Role of Divine Speech in Building Up the
New Will
(e.)
Right now, the human race is at its adult state of evolution. Now we can finally scientifically and
empirically shift through concepts of "Why are we here?" "Who created the universe and
why?" We have Divine Speech to
thank for the adult state of thinking.
Divine Speech is connected to our mental biology because we have two
organs, the affective and cognitive organs, which receive Spiritual heat from
the Spiritual sun and when these two organs work together, one's rational
increases.
Section B: My Answers to the Five Questions: Question 1:
(a) Explain in your own words how you understand
the phrase "mental biology" in theistic psychology. What makes
theistic psychology "mental" and what makes it "biological"?
You will need to include several related concepts to give an adequate
explanation: e.g., evolution of consciousness, discrete degrees, and
substantive dualism. You will need to explain these related terms as well
before the whole is comprehensible. Is it important for a theory in psychology
to be biological?
In my opinion, mental biology is an
individual's true self. It is one's
mind out side time and space, where as our physical body, exists only in time
and space. The spiritual sun, radiates
Spiritual light into the different levels of our mental biology, but the
physical sun that exists in time and space, only radiates within the physical world. This sun does not last forever, but the spiritual sun lasts for
eternity. Our relationship that we have
or may not have with the Divine Truth is part of our mental biology. I see our mental biology with in the terms
of Theistic Psychology as an individuals life support.
It is our mental biology is what more
important than our physical biology and it is also our mental biology that
creates our physical biology. Without
the mental world, or in other words if someone were to shut off our life
support system, we would not be able to live.
However, if we were to die in the physical world, we continue on to live
within the spiritual world. Qualities
in our mind that we think, feel, and eventually act out within the physical
world. This world and the physical
world work together called symbosis. We
both live in the physical world and the mental world simultaneously.
Swedenborg describes our mental world as
a reflection within our physical world and calls this the law of
correspondence. The law of correspondences, by creation, dictates that
spiritual events are the instrumental cause in the creation of natural
events. For example, if one were to
live within their hells of their mind (as describe later in the report) by
being selfish, lustful, and prideful, these qualities within the mental world
will be reflected by "evil" actions such as rape, theft and revenge
in the physical world. The spiritual
law of correspondences is a mental law because the objective spiritual world
equals the objective mental world because they overlap.
To understand this more clearly you have
to understand related concepts. For
example substantive dualism, which lays a distinction between matter and
substance. Substance is from the Spiritual Sun, where matter is from the
physical sun. Matter from the physical
world is the effect, while substances or our mental biology or spirit is the
cause. Another concept that is important is discrete degrees. Swedenborg explains that God manages all
events through a downward series of discrete degrees that correspond with one
another; that the universe is ordered in degrees.
For
example,
First Level: Divine Speech descending
creates the celestial-rational level of the human mind called "the Third
heaven"
Second
Level: Divine Speech descending creates
the spiritual-rational level of the human mind called "the Second
heaven."
Third
Level: Divine Speech descending creates
the spiritual-natural level of the human mind called "the First
heaven."
Fourth
Level: Divine Speech descending creates
the natural-sensuous level of the human mind called "the natural
mind"
Fifth
Level: Divine Speech descending creates
the natural-corporeal level of the human mind called "the animal
mind"
Sixth
Level: Divine Speech descending creates
the physical level of the universe of time, space, and material substances.
These orders show the steps that God
manages Divine speech through one's mental mind. These sequences in development can be seen throughout the
existences of the physical world. The
first level dates back to the first race or the celestial race. This race held a great relationship with God
and knew no evil or irrational thoughts.
After they were wiped out, the split-brain race came into play. Each level of the discrete degree
corresponds with mental biology because you can see how Divine truth and the
Divine sun trickle down into the minds of the human. You can see by the levels above that each level cannot mix into
one.
One is distinct of each other. For example with in the Sixth level, dirt
and the trees can not go up into the first level of celestial-rational. These substances do not contain thoughts,
feelings or rational. At the fifth level animals contain sensations, thoughts
and feelings, however they can not go upward into the fourth level of
natural-sensuous mind and participate in things that distinguish men from animals.
i.e. technology, rational, art, democracy.
These degrees coincide with over all concept of mental biology because
Divine Speech that enters our mental mind, also descends into the physical
world and creates and governments the physical and biological world.
As mentioned earlier, the occurrences
with our spiritual world affect the physical and biological world. This is what makes Theistic psychology
mental, the fact that Divine Speech trickles down to even the most material
substances within the Sixth level, to our biological selves, on to the heavens
of the spiritual world. Many scientific
theories deny the relationship between God and biology, however Swedenborg
explains that there is a relationship between the two. Everyone is born with heavenly and hellish
traits within their biological mind.
Eventually one has to decide on which to follow, our old self or the
path of regeneration.
Swedenborg also describes that the
unconscious spiritual mind is an organ that is right above the natural conscious
mind. When we die and are resuscitated a few hours later, we awaken consciously
in the spiritual mind that was unconscious before death. Theistic Psychology is
considered biological because we have organs in the mental world and in our
physical world. Divine speech descends
into each of our mental organ, which motivates us in the physical world. To
understand what mental biology within Theistic Psychology is, and that it is
biological, you really have to approach these concepts with a positive bias.
Positive bias means that you approach
these concepts in a rational manner and do not impose your worldly way of
thinking on these concepts. One thing
an individual has to know when reading Sacred Scripture is that everyone has
grown up in a world dominated with the separation of religion and science. This ideology has to be set-aside in order
for one to fully understand the concepts of Theistic Psychology. Lastly, it is
very important for Theistic psychology or any theory for that matter to be
biological because Psychology requires psychologist today to have a substantial
amount of background within the biological field.
(b)
Diagram A in Section 6.3.1.1.1 is a portrayal of mental biology. Explain what
elements of the diagram are useful for you, bringing out new aspects you
haven't thought of yet. And what elements are problematic for you and why: Is
the idea too vague? Does it contradict something you believe?
One
concept that I found useful is that Diagram A incorporated science, religion,
our own individual personality and our culture as a influence on our
rational. Many religion do not take
into consideration of science, each individual's personality and surroundings
as an affect on our relationship with God and I really appreciated that Swedenborg
was able to do so. However, to me this
diagram is too complex. If I was an
individual outside of a Theistic Psychology course, I would think this is a
biological diagram of some sort of scientific diagram. (Which in a way is it).
But in viewing it with a mind that has no
background in Theistic Psychology, I can understand if someone were to be
overwhelmed with the diagram. In
addition to this, Swedenborg talks in his writing on how we are all scientists
applying this rational to Sacred Scripture.
However this may be really hard for people who have grow up in a world
where science and religion are polar opposites. They will have an extreme hard time seeing religious concepts in
Diagram A interpreted in a scientific fashion.
Also, coming from a background that is familiar with Christianity, the
diagram diverts the attention away from the relationship of God and man.
For example, a Christian church will tell
you that God hears your every cry and everything you say getting a sense that
God is right next to you walking beside you in your time of need. From this you
get a sense that there is a direct relationship between man and God. There is no organ or Spiritual sun getting
in the way of you and the Lords conversation.
However, this idea does not contradict something I believe in, but the
diagram to me can be overwhelming and complex. This doesn't mean that the
Diagram has to change, but what we have to change is the way we teach humans
today. We should be able to teach
religion and science in the same classroom, which will hopefully relieve the
stress of religion, and science being polar opposites of each other.
The Question that I am answering is Question 3
Section A: My Summary of Selections
6.0.10 The State of Reformation Begins Regeneration
(a.)
The only way man can reach the heavens of our mind is through
regeneration. When one reaches the ages
of 21 (or around that age) one has finally reached the point in their life
where their adulthood can begin and are capable of understanding rational
thoughts and scripture. We can reach
regeneration when we love and understand Sacred Scripture such as the Old and
New Testament and the writings of Emmanuel Swedenborg. Our mission in life is to turn away from our
evil enjoyments and by this we take enjoyment with heavenly thoughts and
actions. During regenerations we go
through some hard times.
We are constantly tempted and when this
happens our evil desires are stirred up.
This is usually the most vulnerable moment for certain people and after
surviving temptations by turning to Divine Speech and the Divine Psychologist,
we are stronger and the understanding of Divine Speech is greater.
6.0.5 Spiritual Growth: How the New Will is formed
(b.)
We can go through the steps of regeneration by turning away from our "old
will" and adopt a "new will."
This means that we turn away from our genetically inherited evils. Will = our intensions, goals, and desires
within our affective organ. Character
= What things we place importance over
others. To fully experience something
is to choose it on our own and experience it on our own. When we die, only our inner self stays the
same, and the worldly things such as reputation, status, personality and
appearance disappears. Our inner loves eventually are what are left of us and
determines if we continue to live in the heavens of our mind or the hells of
our mind.
This
is why it is important for one to give up their "old will" because if
they don't, they will end up living in the hells of their mind for
eternity.
6.0.5 Spiritual Growth: How the New Will is formed
(c.)
Our true self is called "old will."
We are naturally born to love evil things and the old will tries to make
us stay in that level. This is hard to
give up but through reading Sacred Scripture, the Divine Speech that comes from
the Sacred Sun, will shine into the levels of our mind and help us turn away
from our "old will" and then adopt the "new will."
6.0.1 The Conscious Self and the Development of
the As-of Self
(d.)
We will reach a point in our lives where we have to either choose to live and
practice heavenly traits or hellish traits.
We are born with both and with our free will that God gives us, are able
to choose on our own which life to live.
If we choose to live in an old unregenerate proprium, we will choose to
live in the hells of our mind after we die and are resuscitated. In the days of Adam and Eve, they lived
rationally and in and sane and healthy proprium. By loving God they knew how to live rational lives. However, when they started to love and
follow things that were not the wants of God, they turned truth into
falsity.
This then led them to live in the hell of
their mind and created "the fall of the race." Religion = culture and
history where as Theistic Psychology is universal and only possible when you
read Sacred Scripture rationally. By
reading Sacred Scripture, you will understand and experience what Emanuel Swedenborg
experience when he had dual citizen ship.
(a)
Why is the topic of "regeneration" so basic in theistic psychology?
Regeneration is crucial for Theistic
Psychology. The bottom line is, with no
regeneration, there is eternal hell, with regeneration, and there is
heaven. We are not born immortal but
born with heavenly and hellish traits that are passed down through past
generations. When we are faced with
temptations and trials within our lives, our hellish traits and desires work
against us. We are faced with only despair and anguish when we face these
temptations due to the fact that we have no power to oppose hell. They keep trying to take one down until the
individual stops resisting.
Swedenborg says that it is only with Gods
love and power that we can only conquer these trials. By letting in the Spiritual sun of our own volition, we can
slowly incorporate Gods rational into our minds and by doing so, develop a
deeper relationship with the Divine Spirit.
But when we resist God, we end up living in the our own hell. Regeneration is so basic because it is a
concept where we either choose not to ward off temptations, or by the grace of
God, choose the right path and try to live heavenly. This choice will affect our future decision at the moment when we
die and resuscitated into the mental world where we make a decision to live in
the heavens of our mind or the hells of our mind.
(b)
What are the "character reformation" steps of building a "new
will"?
When one reaches "new will",
one gladly gives up their old will with no hesitation. (I.e. give up characteristics such as
selfishness, pride, lust, envy, materialistic, etc.) We have to cooperate with
the Divine Psychologist in order to reach new will. In order for character reformation to occur we have to have the
desire to reach new will. We do this by
thinking through the rational understanding of Theistic Psychology, and understand
that without the Divine Psychologist we cannot reach that level. The first step in character reformation is
to consciously reject the "old will." Your old worldly desire and habits.
We can accomplish this by
self-witnessing, by examining what our intentions are and our thoughts and
feelings through out the day, minute by minute. This process is co-management between God and us and allows one
to acknowledge certain characteristics that one was not aware of. The individual can take in the Spiritual
truth from the Spiritual sun and can apply that to later temptations that they
will face in the future. Character
reformation can only happen if we only do what the Divine order has prescribed
and not change based on our own way of thinking or what is right or wrong.
We can eliminate this by studying Sacred
Scripture and maintaining a one on one relationship with God. The more and more we go through
regeneration, the more we see spiritual truths and understand Sacred Scripture of
Theistic Psychology. Some have asked
"Why do bad things happen to good people?" Swedenborg then tells us that the Divine Psychologist put us in
certain situations and allows us to face temptations in order for us to grow
and to see what level we are at in character reformation so he can then help us
in our reformation. Because we have free will, we have to self-modify and
choose to change, God alone does not make us change.
That would be unfair to him. In other
words, we first get our understanding through Sacred Scripture, then we slowly
regenerate through the daily choices we make according to the Divine
Speech. This "new will" will
lead us to a heavenly proprium. With
hardships come a stronger new will and relationship with God.
(c)
What is the difference between the "old will" and the new will?
"Old
will" can only be described as falling into the hells of your own
mind. Our "old will" is
something we are born with, that we inherit from generations past. This does not mean that we are put on this
earth to go to hell, but that we have to decide on our own if our "old
will" is something we want to live in eternity with. However, through character reformation and
free will God gives is a way out.
"New will" is when we realize that our old will is not what we
want and turn away from them. We first
have to think in the positive bias when reading the Divine Speech in order to
do this.
Opening our minds first, to learn what
our hellish traits are, and then turn away from them. In other words, we have to understand and take notice our
"old will" first in order to start the process of reaching our
"new will."
(d)
What are "heavenly" vs. "hellish" traits?
We are both born with hellish and
heavenly traits. Heavenly traits that a
child inherits are called "remains."
This is why some children are more willing to obey parents because some
maintain that specific heavenly trait. When we practice heavenly traits we are
creating a bond with other people who are practicing heavenly traits. Heavenly traits also include living in the
positive bias, being selfless, generous, and living the life according to the
Divine Psychologist. Practicing
heavenly traits in the physical world allows us to prepare for living in the
heavens of our mind in the spiritual world.
Hellish traits are the opposite.
They are our lustful desires, and
anything that the Divine Psychologist entails.
Practicing these traits ultimately leads us into the heavens or hells of
our mind.
(e)
How does this relate to personality theory in psychology as you know it.
I had no real grasp on Psychology's
Personality Theory so I looked up on the internet and I got this.
"inferred that psychology as a science was an attempt to set in order the
facts of human experience so that the psychologist could make good predictions
about what people will do when confronted by new situations. He explicitly
stated that each individual's psychological task is to put in order the facts
of his or her own experience. Then each of us, like the scientist, is to test
the accuracy of that constructed knowledge by performing those actions the
constructs suggest.
If the results of our actions are in line
with what the knowledge predicted then we have done a good job of finding the
order in our personal experience. If not, then we must be willing to change
something: our interpretations or our predictions or both. This method of
discovering and correcting our constructs is simply the scientific method used
by all modern sciences to discover the truths about the universe we live
in." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_constructs_theory] This relates to Theistic Psychology because
this is what one does during character reformation.
When we read Divine Speech and participate
in self-monitoring, we learn rational facts and orders so that when we are
confronted with a new situation or temptation, we can use our past experiences
and the information that we learned from Divine Scripture to construct our
actions. In both theories, the
individual is like a scientist hypothesizing and testing each action. Personality theory in Theistic Psychology
says that everyone is born with a unique spiritual mind and physical body. Swedenborg
makes up the mind of substances from the Spiritual sun that was witness for
over 27 years.
What the mind is made up of and the
substance of what makes up the Spiritual Sun is the same and everything on the
planet is made up from its star.
Feelings and thoughts of the mind are what create the environment of the
spiritual world. The spiritual world is
rational and mental at the same time.
Without Divine Speech, there will be no character reformation, no chance
to reach our heavenly proprium, and we will continue to live in the hells of
our mind. We get our rational skills and our heavenly personalities are only
accomplished through Divine Speech.
The Question that I am answering is Question 4
Section A: My
Summary of Selections
2.1. What’s the difference between religion and
theistic psychology?
(a.) Theistic Psychology = Divine Scientific
Revelations. Emmanuel Swedenborg has
done this when he was able to attain dual citizen ship of this world and the
spiritual world. God granted him the
ability to think in the "third heaven" of the human mind. Sacred Scripture consists of the Old and New
Testaments and the Sacred writings of Emmanuel Swedenborg. Without these writing we would not have the ability
to reach the rational consciousness of our mind. The writings of Swedenborg and his encounters allowed him to take
a look at the original Divine Speech, and took away the literal sense and
interpreted the rational sense.
These rational concepts are hidden with
in the Divine Speech by the Laws of Extraction due to the fact that Sacred
Scripture is science. There is no
contradiction when you add religious and scientific together. Through history, Sacred Scripture has gone
through phases of rational interpretation.
The first phase, natural-corporeal was from the Old Testament where it
reflects the thought process of that time where Divine Speech entered through
the minds of the prophets and was written down. The second phase is
natural-sensuous is a universal level of the human mind less ethnic and
sectarian.
It is not a nations religion, but starts
to take form of a personal relationship between man and God. The third phase is the highest level or the
natural-rational level. Extracting
layers of correspondence from Sacred Scripture is what allows one to strip away
the discrimination, cruelty, and sexist ideas that were written and find the
rational meaning behind it.
Section B: My Answers to
the Five Questions 4
(a)
What does the perspective of theistic psychology provide on Sacred Scripture?
In order to understand the perspective of
Theistic Psychology on sacred scripture, you have to understand what does
Theistic Psychology consider Sacred Scripture.
There are three sacred scriptures in Theistic Psychology, the Old
Testament, the New Testament, and the writings of Emmanuel Swedenborg
approximately 18 volumes in total.
Without these writings, the human race would not be able to participate
in regeneration, and will end up living in the hells of their mind for
eternity. The perspective of Theistic
Psychology on these Sacred Scriptures is proof that there is direct connection
between the spiritual mind and the physical mind.
Sacred Scripture was written by scholars
and followers that were thinking rationally setting an example that through the
Divine Sun, we are able to able to grow through Divine Speech into
natural-rational thinking. Sacred Scripture is evidence and accounts of God’s
power and omnipotence and proof that God controls everything in this world by
love and truth. By the free will that
we are given by God, we eventually decide on whether or not we continue to live
within the hells or heavens of our mind.
(b)
How is it related to Divine Speech?
Divine Speech radiates from the Spiritual
Sun within the Spiritual world. Without
Divine Speech, our minds would not know how to function and our lives would be
non-existent. This is how Emanuel
Swedenborg was able to maintain dual citizenship and during this time, was able
to translate Sacred Scripture into a rational scientific context. Sacred Scripture is an out come of Divine
Speech shining through each level of scholar’s minds. Divine Speech radiates through every single person’s mind, and
with out this capability of hearing and interpreting Divine Speech we would be
animals.
(c)
What are correspondences in Sacred Scripture?
One
correspondence within Sacred Scripture is the cause-effect relationship. If an occurrence in the natural world
corresponds to an occurrences within the spiritual world, than one may
rationally conclude that the occurrence within the spiritual world causes the
occurrence within the natural world.
Another correspondence is the love that the Divine Psychologist sends
through the Spiritual sun that goes through the affective organ, and goes into
the cognitive mind of the individual.
Unless we are willing to love and understand what the Divine
Psychologist provides for us, we will not grow mentally. The Divine Psychologists love alone will not
allow us to grow. We need to learn and
grow from it. This is a correspondence
between the Divine Psychologist and the human affective organ.
(d) Give some illustrations
of Sacred Scripture and show how they are to be interpreted from the
perspective of theistic psychology.
One famous example of how Theistic
Psychology interprets Sacred Scripture is “There was a famine in the land.”
Many scholars will take that literally, however through Divine Speech we
interpret it differently. First, “There
was a famine…” may not literally mean people were starving and had no food or
water, but a famine meaning that people were dieing because God’s Divine
presence was no where to be found. Also, “in the land,” may not refer to a city
or town hundreds of years ago, but to a group of people. So in other words “There was a famine in the
land,” through Theistic Psychology means, there existed a group of people that
had no presence of God within them.
By doing this, Theistic Psychology has
many synonyms for certain words within Sacred Scripture. For example, the word church may mean
regenerated mind and the word marriage may be replaced by conjunction. So in other words, a sentence such as “A
marriage of good and truth in a person is the church within him,” may take on
the rational meaning of “A conjunction of good and truth in a person is the
regenerating mind with in him.” Many
scholars miss these simple messages from the Divine Speech and interpret them
irrationally. However, thanks to
Swedenborg we can now rationally 100% fully understand Sacred Scripture without
any misunderstanding.
The Question that I am Answering is Question 5:
Section A: Summary for Question 5:
6.3 The Vertical Community of Minds
(a.)We are never alone due to the
vertical community. Our cognitive,
sensory-motor and affective organ all work together in the spiritual word. What we look like in the spiritual word,
according to the accounts of Swedenborg, is that we look like clothed beings
shaped like a human. The only reason
why our physical body has a shape is because it is a replica of the spiritual
body. When our physical body is
“damaged” i.e. break bones, scars, injuries, our spiritual body is undamaged
and cannot be damaged. Our spiritual
mind is located in the human heaven, while we are living on earth, this mind is
not conscious just yet only the natural mind.
Our affective and cognitive organs can no function without the
relationship between the spiritual mind and the natural mind.
(a) What is the relation between mind and the spiritual
world?
Our natural mind is governed by our
spiritual mind. Everything that occurs
within the spiritual world affects things that are happening on this
earth. There are theories out there
that think we have tabula rasa, however the Divine Psychologist allows us to be
born with heavenly traits along with hellish traits that we inherit. Once our natural mind dies within this
world, our spiritual mind is activated and whatever traits we practiced on the
physical world, we continue to live within the spiritual world (unless we
decide to change). You can only understand this relationship if one is living with
a positive bias and not a negative bias.
(b) How does theistic
psychology show their relation?
(c) How can the human mind
be immortal?
Because our mind is within the Spiritual
world and the spiritual world is immortal.
Although our physical minds die our spiritual mind never dies.
(d) Why should people be
concerned about the afterlife?
People should be concerned about the
afterlife because it DOES exist. People
today carry on their lives living within the negative bias, thinking that there
is no heaven or hell and ridiculing Sacred Scripture such as Emanuel
Swedenborg’s writings. The Divine
Psychologist was generous enough to give us Sacred Scripture, heavenly traits
and free will. Without these things,
regeneration cannot take place. In
other words, a relationship with the Divine Psychologist would be
non-existent. This life with in the
physical world prepares our mental biology for what is to come after we are
resuscitated.
We have to choose what traits we want to
live, heavenly or hellish? Through
temptations and trials through our physical lives we can only build a stronger
understanding of the Divine Truth and a closer relationship with the Divine
Psychologist.
(e) What is the
"vertical community" and why should people focus on their "dual
citizenship"?
We have bodies similar to our physical
bodies in the spiritual world. The
vertical community is where we can communicate with each other by our thoughts
and feelings, and since our thoughts and feelings are always expressed, that
means we are never alone. If people do
not concentrate on their dual citizenship, i.e. their thoughts and feelings
within the mind, then when they are resuscitated, they will continue to live
within the hells of their mind. Only
those who open their eternal-natural organ within the physical world, can
reject hellish love within the spiritual world after they are
resuscitated.
The Question that I am answering is Question 6
Section A: My Summary of Selections
6.0.1 The Conscious Self and the Development of
the As-of Self
(a.) There are going to be moments where
man follows lustful and selfish acts that go against the Divine Speech from the
Spiritual sun. This is creating a hell
within our minds. We do this by
choosing to guide our own self through life and not use Gods assistance. This makes us opposite from God, unlike the
celestial race before us. People
accomplished this because they stuck to God’s will and lived a life of healthy
proprium. They lived their life
As-of-self as long as they were living within the means of what God wanted for
them. Over time, this changed. They started to turn to their own will and
desires and their as-of-self (proprium) turned away from God.
They turned true to false thoughts and
lead to the “fall of the race.”
As-of-self effort however, is when we trust God’s power to change our
old ways into the rational characteristics of the Divine Truth.
2.7 Theoretical Implications of God's
Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Omnipresence
(b.) Everything is controlled by God,
there is no one thing that controls itself.
To the wind from the tiniest particle on earth, God controls it.
(a.) Discuss the concept of
the "as-of self."
As-of-self is one way we can build a
stronger relationship with the Divine Psychologist. We do this by following what God says to do and not what our
lustful and worldly desires want. Even
through temptation we should turn to God and give our as-of-self to him. You can see through the evolution of man
that the as-of-self is getting weaker and weaker.
(b) Why is it difficult for
people to accept his idea?
It is hard for people to give up control within their lives. Especially to a being they have never seen before, and especially a God that has incorporated scientific and religious themes together. Those who cannot accept this idea are living in the negative bias. They cannot accept the concept that we can still grow spiritually and mentally without having control of our lives and giving it to God. The concept of God also may derail many of accepting this concept as well.
(c) Does the concept of
as-of self imply that we don't really have true freedom as human beings?
No, we do have freedom. God gave us free will to choose whether or
not we should live as-of-self or follow our own way of thinking. We have this freedom whether or not we want
to live within the hells of our mind or the heavens of our mind. However, some people do not realize this
until it is too late where they are too buried within their hells that they
cannot get out.
(d) Is human freedom
compatible with the concept of God's omnipotence?
Yes. The reason why he gives us this freedom is
because he wants us to follow and love him with our own free will. That is the highest love one can have, one
that is on its own volition. There
would be no point if God choose whether or not we would go to hell or heaven.
(e) How do you react to
this concept? Can you accept it? Does it make a difference whether you accept
it or not?
I personally accept this concept. I feel that the reason why we are here is to
develop a relationship with a higher being and to develop it on our own, not
because our parents said so or because God said so. I think it makes a difference for myself if I accept this concept
or not because it is I in the end who is going to live within the heavens or
the hells of my mind. One can only
regenerate and grow through letting go of their own way of thinking and giving
their as-of-self to God.
Section C: My Analysis of Prior Generations in the Generational Curriculum
Generation
20: Lee
Ann Jones
1.
Discuss how they felt
She felt that although Swedenborg was totally credible, that his
scientific validation is based on his own accounts. Lee Ann found it hard to accept it based on his own eyes and no one else’s. However, she
wanted to do some more research on Swedenborg’s writings in order to see if his
writings and methods were valid.
2.
What they thought
Her initial thought about this course is that
it was not what she expected. She thought it would be more along the lines of
how religion influences a person’s mental state. She seemed to accept Swedenborg’ interpretation of Sacred
Scripture. She was glad to have had a
student who grew up in a “Swedenborgian environment,” as she called it. This helped her with understanding the readings
and lectures.
3. What they concluded
This course really helped her in evaluating her religious beliefs. She now takes time to read religious
articles and write down thoughts on God and the past situations she has
experienced. She now has a new view on
science as well. By considering
different types of theories even though in the beginning it may seem unreal, contemplating
these things may help one to reform ones character. She has confidence in Theistic Psychology and the impact it will
have within the Psychological field.
4.
How their insights apply to you.
Well for me, from what little information
there was on their thoughts and feelings, I would have to agree with Lee
Ann. She seems to me a very intelligent
woman and values validation within science yet has a open heart for God. This concept is really important to me when
reading Swedenborg’s scriptures.
Generation 21: Emmy
Zukowski
1.
How they felt:
Emmy believes in the afterlife and tries to live her live the best she
can so she can live her afterlife within heaven. She tries to steer clear away from materialistic traits because
these are hellish traits. She feels
that scientists should view Sacred Scripture within a scientific concept. Without understanding Theistic Psychology,
these scientists will continue to live within the hells of their mind.
2.
What they thought:
In order to gain heavenly traits we have to acknowledge our hellish ones. Without acknowledging these traits, change
cannot be made. Emmy totally agreed with Doctor Leon James with the fact that
studying Swedenborg’s writings is essential.
In order to grow mentally, we have to interpret the word of God
rationally like Swedenborg did.
3.
What they concluded
Taking this class was a good idea in approaching science and religion
in a new light. Without this course she
could not have imagined incorporating religion with science. She is glad that she took this class and is
going to do further research on Theistic Psychology in the future.
4.
How their insights apply to you:
It seems to me that Emmy approached this class with a more positive
bias than I did. Maybe this is why she
understood many more of the concepts that I did. Her positive bias allowed her to take in Divine Speech and incorporate
it within her life. She also came with
a religious background, however this did not hold her back with this course.
Generation
22: Sabrina
Favors
1.
How they felt:
At first Sabrina was not sure if an after
life existed.
2.
What they thought:
It was very hard to know what this person
was thinking because she did not have anything down. Only summaries and actions
for her Report 1. This told me that
they did not take this assignment seriously.
To me Theistic Psychology has stirred up many things within me, my
religion, my family practices, my interactions between my friends and
boyfriend. I all take these personal
aspects when studying Theistic Psychology.
This is why it is so easy for me to write so freely about personal
opinions. However, this person seem to
only to do the bare minimum and did not take it to the next level which is
including your own experience.
3.
What they
concluded
Yet again, there is no information on her
conclusion of her experience with Theistic Psychology.
4.
How their
insights apply to you:
This report tells me how important and
influential one’s experience and heart has on Theistic Psychology. Seeing someone who does not share the same
emotional level as I do, allows me to see how important my emotions and heart
can be and this allows me to incorporate this with my personal
experiences.
Section D: My Advice to Future Generations
My advice to future generations is to read each assignment clearly and go over it many times. If your unsure about certain things, don’t be ashamed to ask Doctor Leon. (trust me, you’ll have a greater understanding of the subject and what he wants if you ask him questions) My next advice is to give yourself at least a two-week period for your reports. This will allow you to do good research. If you think you’ll be able to push a 15 page report in 2 days, your wrong. Also, keep up with your readings because they will definitely help you with your reports.
The information, if you understand it and have read all the readings, will flow from your finger tips when your writing your report. And lastly, take your time. All of these concepts and vocabulary are all new, so you will definitely need time to absorb and learn everything. Do not rush or get frustrated if you do not understand a concept. You can always ask Doctor Leon or search the web for other articles. Good luck to you all!
My
Home Page:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/459s2006/jones/jones-home.htm
G24
Class Home Page: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/classhome-g24.htm