Course: Psychology 459, Spring 2007, Generation 26
Instructor: Dr. Leon James
Introduction to Theistic Psychology at http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch1.htm
Class Home Page: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy26/classhome-g26.htm
Course: Psychology 459, Spring 2007, Generation 26
My Home Page: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/459s2007/shea/Nicole%20Shea%20Homepage.htm
Instructions for this Report: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy26/409a-g26-report1.htm
Report 4 - Understanding God Rationally For
Section 1.1.4.3.2
to 1.3.1
I am answering questions 9.4, 9.6,
9.7, 9.9, 10.2, 10.5, 10.7,& 10.9
Question 9.4
(a)
Many people uncritically repeat the idea that "God is energy." Give a
rational proof that this belief is illogical.
(b) Then compare the logic of
the opposite idea that "God is a Person."
(c) In your opinion, why is
there opposition to the view that God is a Person?
Answer 9.4
(a)
Many people uncritically repeat the idea that "God is energy." Give a
rational proof that this belief is illogical.
God is Not Energy
(a) The idea that God is energy is illogical and I will provide a rational proof to debunk this idea. First of all, to think of God as energy is a “natural” idea. The idea is neither rational nor spiritual. This does not make sense because the ideas that are natural exist only in a physical environment and within the constraints of physical time and space. God has to exist outside of time and space because he created it. The readings gives several example of this, such as an engineer cannot be part of a building that he designs, he himself doesn’t make up part of the building. Because the engineer is a separate being, he is able to create the building, this directly relates to God because He is outside time and space and is our creator. Therefore to label God as energy is illogical and false.
b)
Then compare the logic of the opposite idea that "God is a Person."
God is a Person (A Divine Person)
(b)
God is a Person because he is the Divine Human which comes from the literal
sense of sacred Scripture. It means that God as He is Outside of Himself, is a
Spirit or Divine Human Person in eternity, who has feelings, thoughts, and
sensations. We are told many times that humans are created in the
"likeness and image of God." The reason that we are human is that God
is Human, that is, God is a Divine Human Person. To think of God as the Divine
Human, requires a higher level of rational thinking and reasoning than the
natural level which thinks of God as energy, the universe, or nature.
It is also proven several times that God is a person in Sacred Scripture. (1) God has revealed in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture that He is a Divine Person from eternity. (2) God has confirmed in the New Testament Sacred Scripture that He is a Divine Human Person from eternity, and has revealed that he has acquired a Divine Natural Mind and Body in time and space, which He Glorified or made Divine substantial, expelling the inherited human corporeal through death and resurrection. (3) God has confirmed in the Writings Sacred Scripture that He is a Divine Human Person from eternity and has also revealed the correspondential sense of all Sacred Scripture, making it possible for us to extract scientific knowledge from Divine Speech.
(c) In your opinion, why is there opposition to the view that God is a Person?
People Just Don’t Understand
(c) In my personal opinion I think there is opposition to the idea that God is a Person is because most people don’t understand God rationally. By having only a mystical understanding of God, it prohibits a person from thinking of God a person because that would mean that God was similar to them because they are also human. I think some people prefer to think of God as energy rather than a Divine Human because it give them an excuse for not understanding and studying God because they hold on to the belief that God is impossible to understand because he is so mystical and different from humans. When people actually understand that God is very similar to the rest of us, it demystifies Him and we grow closer to God because of understanding of Him. I believe that many people fear that type of understanding of God and therefore sell themselves short by believing it is not possible to understand God because he is energy.
Question 9.6
(a)
How does rational consciousness of God differ from sensuous consciousness of
God?
(b) How would you describe
your consciousness of God?
(c) Contrast your
consciousness of God with that of a friend or two. How do they differ, or how
are they similar?
Answer 9.6
(a)
How does rational consciousness of God differ from sensuous consciousness of
God?
Rational vs. Sensuous Consciousness
(a)The sensuous consciousness of the Divine is often called by its followers as "sensing oneness with God" and other references to "the experience of God." This means that these people are sensing and experiencing God through the corporeal-sensuous portion of the mind, this part of the mind is very closely aligned with the physical body, but it does not exist in the rational portion of the mind. Swedenborg reports that people who claim to have direct experience of God is therefore are experiencing "corporeal spirituality" or a sensuous spirituality grounded in non-rational experience. For example, God is sometimes conceptualized as a "spirit" as if He is someone or something that floats around the room, or is like the wind, or a field of energy or power. Some people claim to sense His energy field, or even to use it as "spiritual" power objects to heal a friend or kill an enemy, or just o experience ecstasy and out of body experiences. This the essence in a sensuous consciousness of God.
Rational spirituality greatly differs from sensuous spirituality and is based on a rational consciousness of God as a Divine Human or Person. The anatomy of the human mind reveals that the rational portion of the organic mind lies above the corporeal-sensuous portion. We gain all of our meaningful knowledge from the corporeal-sensuous world around us, this meaning constructed by the rational portion which is capable of more complex cognitive and affective operations. For example, one of the ways of obtaining a rational consciousness of God is something that is obtained through studying Sacred Scripture rationally through its correspondential meanings.
(b)
How would you describe your consciousness of God?
My Consciousness
(b) I would describe my consciousness as a developing rational. I am beginning to understand God rationally through the study of Theistic Psychology. I am realizing that it is important for me to understand God rationally because He endows humans with the ability to rationalize and He ultimately hopes for us to accept him in the most rational sense possible. I am slowly being able to back away from the idea that I can take everything on faith. I am able to seek answers through my own study and through maturing my mental ability for thinking in the positive bias of science.
(c)
Contrast your consciousness of God with that of a friend or two. How do they
differ, or how are they similar?
There is No Comparison
(c) When comparing my consciousness of God compared to my friend’s I realized that we were in very opposite positions. My friend considers herself “spiritual” but she believes that it is her choice to pick what works for her spiritually and them she meshes a whole bunch of different religions and spiritual ideas and just picks what she likes, then she makes it into her own religion. For me, this is totally not rational because she is only guessing what is spiritual and also she only picks what she likes about things. This gives her an excuse to continue living in her vices and she is unable to see her consciousness rationally. We differ very much in that sense.
We Are similar in the sense that we both want to have a pleasant afterlife and we both feel it is important to include God in all areas of our life, bit we differ greatly in our methods of including God.
Question 9.7
(a)
Explain who is Swedenborg.
(b) Contrast the rational
perspective on Swedenborg with the mystical perspective that some people have.
(c) How do you relate to both
of these perspectives?
Answer
9.7
(a)
Explain who is Swedenborg.
Swedenborg and his Discoveries
(a) Swedenborg discovered at the
age of 57 that he was suddenly awakened into what he explained as the spiritual
world while he was still alive in the physical world. While he was working as a
mining engineer, he was awakened in his spiritual mind by God and he was given
Divine revelations to report to the world. He was able to visit the mental
world many times and to speak to people there. He was also was given the
opportunity to see the heavens and the hells that belonged to people in the
mental world. He was even given a chance to converse with peoples from other
planets.
No other person has ever been
given the opportunity by God to be conscious in their spiritual mind while
still being alive here on earth. He discovered the concepts of dual citizenship
and also that human are born immortal. He was the only person given the message
by God that later turned into his volumes on theistic psychology.
(b) Contrast the rational
perspective on Swedenborg with the mystical perspective that some people have. Rational Understanding
(b) The rational perspective on
Swedenborg is that God endowed him with His message and that we must take a
scientific and rational perspective to understanding God by accepting Him in
the positive bias of science and that we must also exam His work through the
correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture. This view of Swedenborg contrasts
with the mystical perspective of Swedenborg’s work because those people who
approach Swedenborg from a mystical view do not view his work as scientific.
They do not realize the benefits or sometimes simply unwilling to accept the
positive bias in science. Many of those people follow Swedenborg’s wok, but
they simply view it as religious instead of seeing it as rational and
scientific.
I Know How it Feels
(c) How do you relate to both of these
perspectives?
(c) I relate to both views of Swedenborg
because I have experienced both side of the rationale. Before learning about
spiritual psychology I was in a mind set of viewing religion as mystical and
not at all rational or scientific. Now that I am aware of the teachings of
Swedenborg, and I can rationalize in the positive bias of science, I have
advanced significantly in my consciousness about God. I also remember the
mystical perspective that I was taught growing up as a child. I was told that
all things that you cannot understand are based on faith. I remember feeling
like I did not have control to rationally understand God’s working in my life.
Now, I have the tools through Theistic Psychology to be able to take charge of
my own spirituality and belief system through study and through rationality.
Question 9.9
(a)
Discuss the book or movie Matrix in
relation to theistic psychology. See for example:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrix_movie
or www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/
Alternately, you can choose
the movie What Dreams May Come.
See for example:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Dreams_May_Come
or www.imdb.com/title/tt0120889/
If you prefer another choice,
email the instructor or discuss it in class.
Answer 9.9
It’s a Beautiful Life (In the Mental
World)
(a) In my answer I will be discussing the movie What Dreams My Come. I found this movie very interesting because it relates in several ways to theistic psychology. First of all, the characters in heaven are able to personify the image that they want to look like. This means that your mental characteristics show through in a physical way because our mental and physical bodies are connected. Also people personify their characteristic. For example, a person who feels very strong mentally might appear physically stronger in the mental world.
The next point that is interesting is that everyone’s personal heaven is exactly how they picture it. In the movie Robin William’s character has a beautiful house on a mountain side with flowers blooming everywhere of every beautiful color. He and his wife are in a conjugial marriage and they live together in their heaven. Also when he thinks of his dog, he appears and anything else that he wants or can think of is his if he just imagines it. No physical time passes by and the possibilities of what they can do in their heavens are almost infinite. This relate to the concepts that Swedenborg talks about when he writes of his accounts of jeweled castles and food of the best quality suddenly appearing when it is desired.
Also they movie portrays people who are in their hells as well. People were in hell but actually had no idea where they were because they were stuck in performing their hellish traits. There is a very interesting in the movie where there is a sea of heads and everyone is floating around and asking for help because no one knows where they are or how to get out. This typically happens to people who end up in hell. This relate to the accounts of the people that Swedenborg observed in hell. He tells us that they were unable to be rational, they continued to live in their vices, and desperately wanted to return to earth. They had no interest in entering heaven.
Also the movie the Matrix is very interesting because it is more metaphorical for the themes of theistic psychology. For example the character Neo is presented with a choice as to whether he wants to continue living as he does or he could take a pill a wake up in the real world. This is a metaphor for studying theistic psychology because once you wake up to the positive bias you are able to see God through a new rational understanding. Also the “computer” or the matrix can be a metaphor for the negative bias, it is all around us and permeates through our lives, but it is not the truth.
Question 10.2
(a)
Explain the meaning of "space" in the mental world of eternity.
(b) What is there in your own
experience that gives you a sense of space in the mental world?
(c) What creates this
appearance of space where there is none?
Answer 10.2
(a) Explain the meaning of
"space" in the mental world of eternity.
Space Different than You
Think
(a)In the mental world, space doesn’t exactly exist. Space
in a consequence of a physical time-space world. We are given the illusion of
space in the mental world but it doesn’t really exist. For example, in the
physical world, locations always are concrete. Place don’t shift around and you
can’t just imagine yourself in the place that you want to be. However, this is
exactly how space is in the mental world (or the lack of it.) I means that
where ever a person wants to go, all they have to do is imagine it and the
location appears in front of them. This doesn’t happen here on earth. Is that
happened here on earth I could close my eyes and then open them and be in
(b) What is there in your own experience that gives you a sense of space in the mental world?
My Experience (b) I have to be honest that it is hard for me to conceptualize the idea of space in the mental world. But, what gives me a sense of the idea of space is the mental world is what I know from living here in the physical world. I believe that the representations of physical things would stay the same, the difference would be that those representations wouldn’t be concrete or permanent. In this respect, we could change our sense of space whenever we desired based on the manifestations of our thoughts.
(c) What creates this appearance of space where there is none?
There Really is None
(c) There is an appearance of space in the mental world because it is a manifestation of human thought in the physical world. People are so used to seeing space represented in the physical world that they sort of need it in order to orient themselves in the mental world. Although space does not actually exist in the mental world it is helpful for the inhabitants of the mental world to think that space does exist because they are used to seeing it constantly in their environment in the physical world. Therefore it exists to aid humans in the mental world in adjusting to their environment.
Question 10.5
(a)
Explain the difference between the concept "God as He is in Himself"
vs. the concept "God as He is outside of Himself." What's the importance of making this distinction?
(b) How does this increase or
change your understanding of God?
Answer 10.5
God Outside of Himself
(a)
Explain the difference between the concept "God as He is in Himself"
vs. the concept "God as He is outside of Himself." What's the importance of making this distinction?
(a)The concept that "God as He is outside of Himself" signifies that God is a part of everything that He has created and He has a relationship with it. This perspective is the total opposite of having "God as He is in Himself". The concept of "God as He is in Himself" is that He is made of good and truth and that those substances are literally inside of everything that He has created. It is important to make this distinction because the essence of human that God created includes good and truth. God Himself exudes good and truth and therefore he is a part of what he has created and it is very important that we understand the distinction between the two concepts.
My Increase in Understanding
(b) How does this increase or
change your understanding of God?
I believe that this increases my knowledge about God because it is important for me to understand that he is omnipotent and omnipresent. This means that God is always everywhere at once. This increase my knowledge of God’s infinite love and also power. It changes my understanding of God a little bit also because sometimes I forget that he is involved in every intricate detail of my life. I forget that God is there every single step of the way in every decision that I make in my life.
I also think that this concept increases my understanding of God because I can rationalize why it is important for me to make the right decisions in my life. God created all of us and gave all of us the freewill to accept him rationally. Once we know that he is so importantly involved in our lives, it give rational purpose to justify why we make the decisions that we make. It is exciting to know that God put that much detail and care into the creation of every person that ever lived.
Question 10.7
(a)
Explain the benefits of studying theistic psychology. For each item you
mention, explain also how you relate to that particular benefit.
(b) Are you planning to
continue studying theistic psychology on your own? Explain your thinking about
it.
Answer
10.7
a) Explain the benefits of studying theistic psychology. For each item you mention, explain also how you relate to that particular benefit.
Obvious Benefits
(a) Obviously, there are many benefits to studying Theistic Psychology. First there is the benefit of understanding God rationally. What defines humans is that we are rational. Unlike animals, humans were given by the Divine Psychologist the ability to reason. Rationality in terms of theistic psychology is to understand God rationally through the eyes of the positive bias. By being rational in the positive bias, it allows you to understand God scientifically. This is beneficial for me because I believe myself to be a rational being and it is much more to understand God rationally as opposed to a mystical understanding God. Rational understanding is much more substantial to me because it is logical and it can be proved.
The second benefit is that we can study God scientifically. When you understand God scientifically it allows for an opportunity to stop doing evil and start living in your heavenly traits instead of your hellish traits. Becoming spiritually enlightened is one of the benefits of Rational Spirituality. Enlightenment refers to the elevations of operation in the cognitive organ of the mind. The source of enlightenment comes from the doctrine of truth from sacred scripture. We can achieve spiritual enlightenment from Sacred Scripture by translating the literal sense into the universal correspondential sense. By doing this, we begin to accumulate knowledge in theistic psychology. The rational understanding of this knowledge constitutes spiritual enlightenment. Spiritual Enlightenment is the elevation of consciousness to the level of operation in our mind called heaven. Consciousness is the perception of truth which forms reality. The one reality and truth that exists is God. This is beneficial to me because a scientific understanding of God arms you with the knowledge to study him scientifically which he gave humans the ability to do.
The third benefit to studying theistic psychology is becoming spiritually enlightened. When you are spiritually enlightened you began to see that you have an eternal future based on your relationship with God. We begin to see more clearly from conscience as to what is right and what is wrong. We begin to form in our understanding the doctrine of truth from Sacred Scripture. All these things begin to constitute the reality that we identify with and we want. We recognize the supervisory role of God in our mental life. We begin to love it and trust God. This is beneficial to me because I am seeking spiritual enlightenment. Using theistic psychology as a tool to become enlightened is very beneficial to me because it is what God intended for all humans.
The final benefit is being born a dual citizen. Being born into eternity means that all humans when they are born are immortal. What I mean by immortal is that every humans mental body is immortal and exists in the mental world. When a human being is born a physical body is attached to the mental body. This physical body exists here on earth in the natural world when your mental body exists in the spiritual world. Every human being’s mental world is in the one common mental world of humanity Our mental and physical bodies are tied together by the laws of correspondence so that all of our operations are simultaneous in both worlds.
This relates to God because he is the one who gave decided that human beings would be immortal and have eternal life in the mental world. Everything relates to God because he is the creator of all of us and he gave human begins free will to be able to live the kind of life they want and then when you die you will be able to live the way you want to in the after life as well. This relates to the afterlife because human beings are born as dual citizens and are therefore guaranteed that they will have a place in the afterlife. This is very beneficial for me because it helps eliminate the fear of dying. For me I am afraid if dying but it helps to know that when you die in the physical world, it is only the beginning of your afterlife in the spiritual world. Being born into eternity means that we will go on living forever long after we die here in the physical world. We permanently exist in the mental world and the time spent here in the physical world is temporary. This also has everything to do with God because he is the one who endowed us with this great gift.
(b)
Are you planning to continue studying theistic psychology on your own? Explain
your thinking about it.
My Future Plans
(b) I am unsure of my plans for the future but I believe that I will continue to read and study Swedenborg, especially when I am done with graduate school and I will be able to read for pleasure once more.
Question 10.9
(a) Google Swedenborg. What is your
impression of the activity around his name. Give examples.
Answer 10.9
After Googling Swedenborg I am actually very surprised at
the results. There are thousands of websites dedicated to Emmanuel Swedenborg
and to the work that he did it different areas. First of all, I did not realize
that there was an entire established church dedicated to following the writings
and teachings of Swedenborg. The church exists not only here in the United
States, but I also found a website for a church in Australia. There were also many biographies of Swedenborg, such as
the ones at wikipedia or www.kirjasto.sci.fi/sweden.html. These are more historical accounts of what he
did and what he wrote. There are also many institutions dedicated to spreading
the news about Swedenborg. There is the
Swedenborg Society in
I found in fact that the majority
of the website consisted of biographies of Swedenborg. All of those biographies
that I encountered coined him as a brilliant and important individual of his
time. None of them however, mentioned that he discovered hoe to rationally and
scientifically understand God. In fact, most of the results of biographies were
historical accounts of his experiences and writings.
I believe that even though many
people recognize the importance of Swedenborg’s work, they are lacking the
rational understanding that it is necessary to have to really conceptualize
Swedenborg’s message that was bestowed upon him by God. It is also impossible
to understand his discoveries that he made of the correspondential sense of
Sacred Scripture without learning about the positive bias in science.
Dr. James’ website however, was
the only scientific website dedicated
the scientific study of Emmanuel Swedenborg. This is the beginnings of the
rational and scientific understanding about God. From what I get from my
impression of the google search, people are stuck in the mystical view of
Emmanuel Swedenborg which is a shame because his discoveries go much deeper.
But, one must have a rational understanding of God in order to truly appreciate
his work.