Report 2:
My Understanding of Theistic Psychology
By Thalia Stark
Instructions for this report are at:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy21/459-g21-report2.htm
Question
2:
What are the consequences for
society of "materialism" which excludes God from science? What are
"scientific revelations" and what motivates scientists to exclude
them? Discuss whether this motivation is justified and how theistic psychology
proposes to overcome this objection.
Section A: Summary of Selections
1.1.1 Level
1: Materialistic Science (Monism, Negative Bias)
(1) Materialism is about explaining the earth through our senses. We
explain things like science through observation and measurements. God is
excluded from explaining the happenings on earth. We can’t measure feelings and
thoughts so those become imaginary and what’s really going on in our brains is
just electrical and chemical phenomena.
(2) Theistic psychology helps to explain God, creation, and the
events after death; including the spiritual world, heavens, and hells.
6.0.5.4.1 The Ugliness of the Proprium or What Is Our Own
Materialism is what is taught in our school’s science
classrooms. Our younger generations are still learning with a negative bias.
When we continue to exclude God from every aspect of education and research we
will continue to focus on ourselves. This is self defeating because when our
thoughts are concentrated on our self we are not able to get ready for our eternal
consciousness in the spiritual world.
1.1.3
Level 3: Theistic Psychology
Scientific revelations from the Writings of
Swedenborg are not mystical but have a scientific system that is logical and
practical.
2.17
How Can You Do Research on God in Psychology?
(a) Theistic psychology begins
with the idea that God exists and is part of every aspect of every human’s life
here in the natural world and also when we become conscious in the spiritual
world. Theistic psychology is possible through “scientific revelations” by God.
(b) The Writings of Swedenborg
are scientific revelations when viewed in the positive bias in a scientific
manner.
Section B: My Commentary
i.
State the importance of the topic in the Question
to you and explain why.
My
entire educational career has been based on materialism. Before this psychology
course I believed in God as the creator of everything in the physical universe.
God created our land and oceans but I was convinced that my thoughts and
feelings were my own.
Materialism
only allows explanations through our senses. Our bodies and minds are based on
a monist perspective. However Swedenborg’s dualism made me change how I looked
at the grand scheme of the universe. When reading Swedenborg’s writings with a
positive bias I began to understand why we are dual citizens. We exist in the
natural world physically and our thoughts and feelings exist in the spiritual
world at the same time. We know this through Swedenborg’s scientific
revelations.
Materialism
gives no explanation of an afterlife. Through scientific revelations I learn
about the possibilities in the spiritual world, heavens, and hells. This gives
me something to prepare for while in the natural world.
ii.
Discuss how this perspective helps you understand
things about yourself and society.
Psychology
tries to explain our thoughts and feelings as chemical and electrical
phenomena. Thoughts and feelings can not be physically seen, touched, or
measured. However through theistic psychology research can be done on them when
we obtain information through Sacred Scripture.
Theistic
psychology is not based on materialism because it includes God. When making a
pizza there are many separate ingredients needed to make it. A pizza needs
dough to make a crust to hold all the delicious ingredients. The crust is the
foundation and without it there could be no pizza. This is the same with God
and education. God is our pizza crust and without it education is incomplete.
God may not need to be included when learning the alphabet but it is necessary
to include God when dealing with thoughts and feelings.
iii.
Discuss whether you agree or disagree with this
perspective and explain why.
Materialism
is a good place to begin to understand our natural world. However, with all the
knowledge obtained in our lifetime we still exclude God from valid
explanations. We are taught to have a negative bias when research is done.
Imagine if from the beginning of our educational careers we learned in the
positive bias. We would be more open to new rational ideas.
Scientific
revelations are these ideas that include God. God is not measurable and for
this reason scientists continue to exclude God from explaining concepts like
our thoughts and feelings. With a positive bias I am able to understand through
scientific revelations the origin and functions of my thoughts, feelings, and
sensations.
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: Summary of Selections
There are three levels of
thinking: naturalàspiritualàcelestial. The ideal is to reach the celestial
region and this is only possible through regeneration.
6.0.5.4.1 The
Ugliness of the Proprium or What Is Our Own
(1) We are born into our own evil which is an evil
proprium. In theistic psychology to have a heavenly proprium we must start
regeneration by self-witnessing.
(2) With assistance from God we are able to want to get
rid of a certain negative emotion. But the only way to reject these emotions is
with the motive “for the sake of our own heaven.” This motive is the pinnacle
of all rational loves.
6.0.5.4 A
Spiritual Growth Method Based on Swedenborg and Gurdjieff.
(1) We need to work on ourselves because we are born
and begin life with hellish traits and loves. To reach the heavens in our mind
it is necessary to work on ourselves so that we choose heavenly traits and
loves. God doesn’t restrict us from heaven because of our hellish ties, it is
our choice to be willing to get rid of our hellish ties that we get from our
parents.
(2) We are born with hellish ties and these ties are in
the lower part of the natural mind. We have the choice to identify with our
hellish or heavenly ties. We continue to have hellish ties when we have
negative emotions and claim ownership of these emotions.
6.2 What
Determines Our Ultimate Fate in Eternity?
All of our memories and
experiences in the natural world go with us when we become conscious in the
spiritual world. A person is not sentenced to hell because they were a
murderer. It is our will along with our memories and experiences that
determines if we will reject our hellish loves and be in one of the heavens, or
vice versa.
6.0.5.4.1 The Ugliness of the Proprium or What Is Our Own
God is all love but God
doesn’t hold our hand and take the good people to the heavens. It is our
“willingness” to regenerate to a state of mind that “loves our own heaven.”
It is a necessity to love
our heaven or we don’t feel we have choices. It is our willingness for God’s
love that allows us to have a good time “in our immortality”. The willingness
allows us to gain the knowledge and skills to figure out how to have a good
time in our own heaven forever.
Divine Speech is the key to
gain the knowledge. Scientific revelations are from Divine Speech that gives us
correspondences of higher levels. The correspondences raise a natural mind to a
spiritual mind.
(a) We each have our own different and distinct mind which
is made of stuff from the Spiritual Sun.
(b) When we have gained all the knowledge that we are
supposed to in the natural world our body dies and we become conscious in our
spiritual world. In the spiritual world we are called either a spirit, angel,
or devil. Whatever was in our natural mind determines what we are.
(a) Feelings and thoughts can
be researched in theistic psychology because they go beyond chemical and
electrical events.
(b) There are two properties of
feelings. First, in the spiritual world our spiritual bodies see how
feelings are made of “real substances”. Second, feelings need the Spiritual Sun
to be active.
Section B: My Commentary
i.
State the importance of the topic in the Question
to you and explain why.
People
like my Mama and Mother Teresa inspire me to become a better person. Both
people are kind and live a life that helps others. Even after Mother Teresa’s
death her ideas and lifestyle still influence me to choose heavenly loves over
hellish loves.
I want
to be the best person I can while in the natural world. My “old will” was to
have a good time regardless of the affects on others. It was okay to be angry
and hateful as long as I wasn’t physically hurting anyone. Through theistic
psychology I learned that our thoughts and feelings are just as important as
our physical actions. The anger and hate are hellish traits and through
character reformation I am able to change my thoughts and feelings. So instead
of being angry I’ll be understanding and this change would be an example of
forming a “new will”.
ii.
Discuss how this perspective helps you understand
things about yourself and society.
We are
born evil and have the choice to identify with heavenly or hellish traits. When
we identify with heavenly traits, what is good, true, and rational, we begin to
build a “new will”.
When we
build a “new will” we regenerate so that our state of mind goes from naturalàspiritualàcelestial. I want to be in the heavens when I become
conscious in the spiritual world. To be in the heavens I need to choose what is
good, true, and rational. With the right education, like a theistic psychology
course, I will be better prepared to choose heavenly loves over hellish. Every
human has this same potential.
iii.
Discuss whether you agree or disagree with this
perspective and explain why.
When we
are young we don’t aspire to be a murderer. Most of us want to be good people
that affect others is a positive manner. We can become good people when we
change our character to change our evil “old will” to build a “new will”.
Through regeneration we are able to willingly choose heavenly traits over
hellish. Choosing heavenly loves will better prepare us for the choice we have
after we resuscitate to either go to our heavens or hells.
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: Summary of Selections
6.0.5.4.1
The Ugliness of the Proprium or What Is Our Own
(1) There are many different
meanings of spiritual, however when regarding theistic psychology spiritual
motive is known as “the doctrine of the truth from Scared Scripture”. The Writings
of Swedenborg are Sacred Scripture that repeatedly mentions spiritual motive.
(2) Through theistic psychology we understand Divine
Speech from gathering “correspondential meaning” from Scared Scripture. When we
read and understand the Writings of Swedenborg, the New Testament, or the Old
Testament they give insight on the meaning of rational natural, spiritual, and
celestial correspondences.
1.1.3 Level 3: Theistic Psychology
We are dual citizens. We have a physical body in
the natural world and a mental body in the spiritual world. What the physical
body does determines what the mental body does according to the specific laws
of correspondences.
Regarding theistic psychology the laws of
correspondences are used to do research on the mind of the spiritual body. All
humans in the physical world are unconsciously in the spiritual world and
interact with those already in the spiritual world. This is the idea of a
vertical community.
6.0.5.3
Self-assessment Using the Ten Commandments Chart
Spiritual growth happens
when we choose to live a life guided by the Ten Commandments. The Commandments
tell us what actions we should not choose to do while in the physical world and
what thoughts and feelings we shouldn’t have. We need assistance with
techniques to have our body and mind follow the ideas from Sacred Scripture.
6.0.5.4.1
The Ugliness of the Proprium or What Is Our Own
“True humanity is the good, true, and rational” but we
are not born this way. We are born evil but this evil is not our own. We know
this through Sacred Scripture. Through knowledge in areas like science and
religion we are able to see the light. To see the light we must come out of the
“darkness” with knowledge to rationally understand dualism and with Sacred
Scripture we are able to raise our consciousness past materialism.
Section B: My Commentary
i.
State the importance of the topic in the Question
to you and explain why.
Sacred
Scripture gives us knowledge of God, creation, and afterlife. Scared Scripture
has significant information on how to prepare ourselves for consciousness in
the spiritual world.
The knowledge I gain from Scared Scripture will help me
through the steps of character reformation so I can build a “new will”. I am
preparing for my eternity in the heavens or hells. I’m aspiring to enter the
celestial heaven. To do so I need to gain knowledge from Scared Scripture and
from other educational outlets like science and philosophy. I also need to be
aware of my thoughts, feelings, and sensations so that I consciously choose
what is good, true, and rational.
ii.
Discuss how this perspective helps you understand
things about yourself and society.
Catholicism
was my first exposure to God. Religion built my foundation on my ideas of God
and the church. Catholicism bases its ideas on the Old Testament and the New
Testament. These Scared Scriptures help me understand the culture and religion
of those who came before me. The commandments also gave me a guideline to
follow concerning my physical actions.
Theistic psychology took those guidelines a step further.
The commandments are guidelines giving us instructions on what not to do
concerning our actions, thoughts, and feelings. We are dual citizens and
through Swedenborg’s writings and other Scared Scripture we are able to extract
information to prepare our minds for consciousness in the spiritual world.
iii.
Discuss whether you agree or disagree with this
perspective and explain why.
I always
thought the Testaments were great tales with moral lessons. I never associated
scientific meaning with them. Through theistic psychology the Testaments are
tools to understand our past and the correspondences through Divine Speech.
I agree that Scared Scripture gives us information about
being dual citizens. However I need to gain more knowledge so I rationally
understand the relationships between Divine Speech, correspondences, and Scared
Scripture. Swedenborg’s writings are clearly scientific revelations because
they are based on his direct observations. This is not so clear with the
Testaments.
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: Summary of Selections
11.0
Feminizing the Marriage Relationship: The Unity
Model
(1a) “Marriage
is a perfect creation because it leads to this perfect state of human life.”
Marriage is the perfection of eternity. This perfect marriage is a spiritual
concept. Natural marriages are external and not based on conjugial love.
A marriage of good and truth is a
spiritual marriage which is the beginning point of regeneration to get to the
perfection of eternity. A spiritual marriage is “most holy” because Divine Good
= Divine Love and Divine Truth = Divine Wisdom and all of this equals God.
(1b) The ideal for the human race is for unity at all
levels in life including couples and communities. “A marriage between a man and
a woman is the foundation for the universe and it’s endless future.” Because of
this, sex and marriage can not be boiled down to just a moral or religious
issue. However if we all understand the importance of sex in the whole scheme
of the universe there would be a decrease in one night stands. The same would
go for divorce rates between married couples.
6.8 Sexuality: Love of the Sex vs. Love of One of the
Sex
There
is the natural level of marriage which is external and is based on the love of
sex. We want to aspire to have a spiritual marriage. We start with a natural
love of sex which is at a level of corporeal animal love. This corporeal animal
love has no boundaries and is based on self love. For example a man that has
sex with his wife but fantasizes that she is someone else. We have the choice
to elevate our consciousness from natural marriage to a spiritual marriage that
has conjugial love. Conjugial love allows us to go from naturalàspiritualàcelestial state of mind.
11.0 Feminizing
the Marriage Relationship: The Unity Model
(2) A wife’s heaven is where both she and her husband are
in the state of mind of conjugial love. They also will be together in the
heavens and be mentally united. To be mentally united their minds work together
like the heart and lungs in the human body. The heart and lungs are separate
organs like a wife and husband is separate. The heart and lungs are united when
they work together and this should be the relationship between a wife and
husband. They all exist separately but when they work together to make one this
becomes the ideal state of mind.
(3a) Marriage has three models which begin with the phase
of male dominanceàphase of equityàphase of unity. Almost all marriages start at the phase of male
dominance where the husband and wife are influenced by religion and culture.
This is a natural marriage that is external.
(3b) To go from one model to the next a marriage needs to
progress from external to internal. For both the husband and wife in a marriage
that is internal, the marriage involves spiritual loves that stay with them
forever. These spiritual loves elevate a marriage from the male dominance model
and onto the equity model. To get to the unity model a husband and wife must
completely disregard the male dominance model. If a couple gets to the unity
model before their bodies die in the natural world they will have a true
internal marriage. This true internal marriage means the couple will be with
each other in heaven to become closer to the perfection of eternity.
Section B: My Commentary
i.
State the importance of the topic in the Question
to you and explain why.
Marriage
is in a strange state at the moment. I thought I would never get married
because I would never want a divorce. Also, marriage had too many religious
ties and because I wasn’t religious it would not be necessary for me.
After learning about marriage, regarding theistic
psychology, the importance of marriage was redeemed. Swedenborg described a
marriage based on love and wisdom which seems to be a wonderful thing. Marriage
is an idea and not a ceremony. I think many couples forget this. For this
reason so many marriages are natural and not spiritual.
ii.
Discuss how this perspective helps you understand
things about yourself and society.
Marriage
is about the bond between a man and a woman. There are too many people who get
married and are not prepared to mentally be united with the other person. Too
many of us get married for the love of sex which is an external and natural
marriage.
With knowledge gained from theistic psychology these
couples can work on themselves to evolve to an internal spiritual marriage.
There is too much divorce because couples don’t evolve from the natural state
of mind. If we learn to love the one of the sex then there would be less
divorce and more spiritual connections that could potentially last an eternity.
iii.
Discuss whether you agree or disagree with this
perspective and explain why.
I agree
with the perspective of marriage in theistic psychology because at one time
marriage was a loving bond between a man and a woman. Time and lack of
education has changed marriage to be mainly about sex. With knowledge from
Scared Scripture we will begin to choose the good, true, and rational so that
when married a couple can evolve from a male dominance modelàequity modelàunity model.
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: Summary of Selections
2.16 Spiritual Psychology
There’s the mental world which is consciousness in
the natural world. This is the same as our rational thoughts which is our feelings
and thoughts. Our consciousness in the natural world is happening at the same
time as our thoughts and feelings are operating from the spiritual world. When
we understand that our natural world and spiritual world exist simultaneously
we begin to understand dualism. A dualism that means we are dual citizens in
the natural world and spiritual world.
6.1 What
Determines Our Ultimate Fate in Eternity?
Regarding theistic
psychology dualism is defined as “the mental world equal to the spiritual
world”. Our thoughts and feelings happen is our mental world which is our
spiritual world.
6.0.5.4.1 The Ugliness of the Proprium or What Is Our Own
Let’s say a person was to think, “I’m so great
because I’m so cool. I am definitely better and smarter than everyone else.
Everyone and everything is insignificant to me.” These comments are examples of
a person who would be identifying with evil self love. But this evil self love
is not really about that person. “This is what provides an exit from our
inherited loves.” This means we have a choice to identify with heavenly or
hellish loves. When we choose heavenly loves we choose the “good, true, and
rational”. For humans the good, true, and rational are the ideal.
There are obstacles with choosing the
good, true, and rational because people still choose to not gain the knowledge
to realize these hellish loves are not ours. We can gain this knowledge through
Scared Scripture. The knowledge is vital to gaining the skills to be able to
choose the good, true, and rational. The knowledge is also learned through
subjects like philosophy and theology. When we learn and understand rationally
the Scared Scripture and the concept of dualism we are closer to choosing
heavenly loves.
2.16 Spiritual
Psychology
We
know that our thoughts and feelings are immortal because they are part of the
spiritual world. Our natural world is temporary. Everything that exists in the
natural world is made of physical matter that has a life span. God created the
natural world to have these specific characteristics. However our thoughts and
feelings consist of substances from the Spiritual Sun. For example if I had a
dog that I loved in the natural world the idea of the dog could still exist
when I become conscious in the spiritual world. The thought of my dog is
immortal and if I still have thoughts and feelings about the dog once in the
spiritual world the dog would be with me there.
We create a spiritual
synapse when we think and feel. These spiritual synapses are constructed of
substances from the Spiritual Sun and therefore are immortal. Because our
thoughts, feelings, and sensations are immortal they can not be destroyed. This
means every single last thought and feeling we have in the natural world will
contribute to the choice we make after resuscitation.
6.0.5.4.1 The Ugliness of
the Proprium or What Is Our Own
Swedenborg observed many
times where people died in the natural world, were resuscitated, and then
conscious in the spiritual world. Our number one love determines whether we
become a devil or an angel for eternity.
5.4.1.3
We Are Never Alone—The Vertical Community
Our thoughts and feelings
operate in the spiritual world. Every human’s thoughts and feelings in the
natural world are operating in the spiritual world and are made of substances
from the same Spiritual Sun. The spirits, angel, and devils are also operating
in this same spiritual world.
The natural world has “interactive exchanges with
spirits”. Our heavenly or hellish loves in the natural world determine which
spirits interact in our thinking and feeling. These specific spirits that
interact with those in the natural world are part of certain spiritual
societies. These societies determine which vertical community we belong to.
If my love is chicken farming this would dictate the
spiritual society that interacts with my thoughts and feelings. The society
would be others that share the similar love of chicken farming. If I love
chicken farming because of negative emotions like that it will make me rich and
powerful then these thoughts are from the devils in the hells. If I love
chicken farming because I think it will provide food and income for my family
and community then these thoughts are from the angels in the heavens.
We
can change our spiritual society when we change our thoughts and feelings. A
good tool to determine if our thoughts and feelings are in communication with
the heavens or hells is self-witnessing. At any time we are able to determine
if our thoughts and feelings are positive or negative. Through self-witnessing
if our thoughts are negative we can be consciously aware of our state of mind
and change it. We want to be in communication with the heavens so we must work
to choose positive thoughts.
7.3 The Role of the Sensorimotor Mind
There are many
spirits from many varying spiritual societies that are involved in many of our
thoughts and feelings in the natural world at the same time. The spiritual
society that has a love of surfing has spirits that are in communication with
me and others in the natural world with this similar surfing thoughts and
feelings.
My thoughts and
feelings determine which spirits, from the heavens or hells, I interact with.
Those thoughts and feelings I have originate from the spiritual world and every
spirit in the spiritual world and human in the natural world have access to
them. This is a vertical community which means “we are never alone in our
thoughts and feelings”.
Section B: My Commentary
i.
State the importance of the topic in the Question
to you and explain why.
When my
body dies in the natural world I don’t want to just “poof” and disappear. In
theistic psychology because of dualism our physical body dies in the natural
world but our thoughts and feelings are immortal. This gives me hope and less
fear for death in the natural world because I will become conscious in the
spiritual world. This means that my Mama and I will possibly be together mentally
in the spiritual world and this makes me very happy.
ii.
Discuss how this perspective helps you understand
things about yourself and society.
Our
thoughts and feelings are immortal. Everything we think and feel in the natural
world will continue on when we become conscious in the spiritual world. This
means we need to be conscious of our thoughts and feelings in the natural world
so that we can choose the good, true, and rational over the negative and evil.
We all want to spend eternity in our heavens. To do so we need to understand
dualism and gain new knowledge from Scared Scripture. This prepares our minds
in the natural world for the choice we need to make when we become conscious in
the spiritual world.
iii.
Discuss whether you agree or disagree with this
perspective and explain why.
Everything
we think and feel in the natural world affects who communicates with us from
the spiritual world. If we willingly choose our heavenly loves and reject our
hellish loves we are in communication with the angels in the heavens. When we
choose heavenly loves we choose what is good, true, and rational. Theistic
psychology can be the beginning to prepare our minds for God and eternity.
Theistic psychology gives us the tools to gain the knowledge to get our minds
ready for our heavenly or hellish propriums.
Section C: Prior Generations
Can Theistic
Psychology Exist in Science?
i.
Discuss how they felt
Nakamura felt that the Writings of Swedenborg helped
him understand himself and his belief more clearly. Theistic psychology
introduced new ideas that complimented the views he already had.
ii.
What they thought
Nakamura was raised with Buddhists influences. God was
a new concept for him. Theistic psychology was able to introduce God in a
scientific manner that wasn’t clouded by religious culture and influence. With
a positive bias he was able to look at Swedenborg’s observations in a
scientific manner and apply those ideas to his own perspective of the universe.
iii.
What they concluded
He concluded that all psychology majors should enroll
in a theistic psychology
course. The information learned can apply to the study of thoughts and feelings
which are usually excluded in other psychology courses.
iv.
How their insights apply to you
Nakamura’s report helped me better understand dualism.
He explained how the monist views the mind and body as being created out of the
same substances. While dualists see the mind as being made of substances from
the Spiritual Sun which is the spiritual world. The body is physical matter
from the natural world.
The Cognitive Organization of Rational Spirituality
i.
Discuss how they felt
Castro feels that we need God and science, but before
theistic psychology she thought they were supposed to be separate concepts.
ii.
What they thought
Science and God don’t belong in the same sentence. Religion
is controversial when there are opposing views. God can’t be measured, so God
is excluded from science. However theistic psychology made the association between
God and science rational.
iii.
What they concluded
In regards to theistic psychology science and God go
together. However she sees the conflict of those not being able to separate
them because of their religious views and scientific views.
iv.
How their insights apply to you
Castro wrote about the three domains of behavior:
sensorimotor, cognitive, and affective. These domains help explain our
thoughts. The sensorimotor is what our bodies do when we have a thought. The
cognitive is our actual thought process and the affective is the intentions and
feelings of the thought. Her explanation helped me understand the concept of
thoughts, feelings, and sensations.
Contrasting Mystical vs. Rational Spirituality
i.
Discuss how they felt
Jones feels that she originally had a mystical view of
God due to her blind faith. She believes in God so she could “feel his
presence”.
ii.
What they thought
Jones thinks that regardless of what religion a person
is, Swedenborg’s writings are universal and can be incorporated in every
person’s life.
iii.
What they concluded
She wants to take a rational approach to her
spirituality. She will gain a better understanding of God through obtaining
more knowledge. She will continue to read Swedenborg’s writings as a way to
find the information she is searching for.
iv.
How their insights apply to you
I think most of us on the first couple of weeks of
this course were confused to how psychology can take a scientific approach
regarding God and our thoughts and feelings. We come into the class with a long
history of learning through materialism. Theistic psychology broke the mold and
put us in a situation where we had to have a positive bias to learn and
understand the concepts involved. The course took us out of our comfort level
and created an environment of critical thinking. Thank you Dr. James.
Section D: Current Generation
Oral Presentations
·
Speaker: Mario
Villegas
Date:
Summary:
Villegas presented on “Theistic Psychology” by Dr.
Leon James, section 1.6.3-1.6.5. His presentation was about Swedenborg’s
dualism. We exist in the natural world and the spiritual world at the same
time. The natural world is where we are born and we only become conscious in
the spiritual world after our body dies.
When our body dies we resuscitate and
then become conscious in a spiritual world. The thoughts and feelings that we
have in the natural world follow us to the spiritual world. These thoughts and
feelings contribute to the heavens or hells that we will be in for eternity.
Villegas talked about the movie “What
Dreams May Come”. His analogy between our experience from the natural world to
the spiritual world and the movie made the concept of an afterlife clearer. We
paint our own picture of our heaven or hell after death of our bodies.
·
Speaker: Quyen
Nguyen
Date:
Summary:
Nguyen presented on “Theistic Psychology” by Dr. Leon
James, sections 6.3.1.1-6.8. The three concepts that she presented were good
and evil loves, forms of sexuality, and interior and exterior perceptions of
love.
The first concept discussed that evil
self love is when a person run’s for governor for personal benefit. A good love
is when a person runs for mayor to benefit others. Nguyen states that this
concept could improve moral behavior. This makes sense to teach others to
choose good loves over evil loves. This could help people get along more
peacefully.
The second concept was heavenly and
hellish sex. Heavenly sex involves “the love of one of the sex” and hellish sex
involves “the love of sex”. The third concept was how women possess an interior
perception of love and men have an exterior perception of love. These ideas are
further explained in Swedenborg’s writings on marriage. Nguyen was correct when
she explained that men may commonly identify with hellish sex but they have the
capacity to choose new thoughts and feelings to have an interior perception of
love.
·
Speaker: Maria
Ellora Cabbat
Date:
Summary:
Cabbat presented on “Theistic Psychology” by Dr. Leon
James, sections 5.4.1.1-5.4.1.3. Her presentation is about dualism and
self-witnessing.
Cabbat’s first concept discussed
vertical and horizontal communities. The vertical community is spiritual while
the horizontal community is natural. Because of the vertical communities “we
are never alone in our minds”. This means when in the natural world we may not
be conscious in the spiritual world but our thoughts and feelings originate
there. These thoughts and feelings are made of substances from the Spiritual
Sun. So every human and spirit’s thoughts and feelings originate from a single
place, the Spiritual Sun. This is the reason we are never alone in our thoughts
because our mind is interactive with every other mind in the spiritual world.
Self-witnessing is an important tool
in character reformation. Cabbat explains self-witnessing as a method of
looking at ourselves, our thoughts and feelings, through our horizontal and
vertical communities. Self-witnessing can help us to choose heavenly loves over
hellish loves. This is an important step in regeneration to elevate our state
of mind from naturalàspiritualàcelestial heavens.
Section E: Advice to
Future Generations
I can’t believe I finished Report 2. A lot of work went
into completing this report. I actually feel more knowledgeable after finishing
everything. Reading the instructions many times helped keep me organized.
Reading all the assigned readings following the class schedule, plus independently
reading will make the task easier and less time consuming when the due date
rolls around. If you don’t have a computer with internet access then having
access to the lab and maybe three other computers of close friends is very
useful. The work load of this report will take weeks to complete and not having
a computer will force you to have excellent time management skills. Good Luck! Reading
over prior generations reports will help clarify any concepts that are unclear.
Finally, ask Dr. James and others in the class every question that comes to
mind. Explanations on minor concepts will make the more complicated concepts
easier to understand.
This course has forced me to learn about theistic
psychology, computer skills, and how my thoughts and feelings affect how I
learn those things. It also gave insight to how I can scientifically look at
God and every other natural and spiritual aspect of the universe. Through my
many computer difficulties I was able to learn useful skills on how to make uploading
easier. Unfortunately, I am such a novice when it comes to computer skills that
I am unable to explain the process in words. Every obstacle and mistake was an
opportunity to learn. I know for the next course that involves uploading
information onto the internet I will have a much easier time. Practice really
does make perfect if you are willing to endure the stress and frustration. Because of the stress and frustration the
course served to make us think critically about ourselves and those around us. I
realized that my thoughts and feelings affected the outcome of my job
performance. Through self-witnessing I was able to see my stressful behavior
work against me. When I relaxed and thought about the task at hand I was able
to finish with ease.
After this course is completed I will leave with excellent
skills to improve my life through being more aware of my thoughts and feelings.
I will continue to read Dr. James’ Theistic Psychology Lecture Notes online. I
want to gain more knowledge in areas that will improve the way I live.
Hopefully I will be able to introduce Swedenborg’s ideas to those who have
questioned God, creation, and the afterlife.