Contrasting Mystical vs. Rational Spirituality
by M. Heather Piper
Instructions for this report:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic-psychology.htm
1. Preface
In report 2, The Cognitive Organization of Rational Spirituality, the purpose was to make me examine my own views on spirituality and to find out what level of thinking I am at right now. There are three levels of thinking; level 1 is ritual faith, level 2 is mystical faith, and level 3 in rational faith. Also I think that this spirituality test allows you to identify the level you are at now and shows the path to the next level. You will have something to look forward at. There is a clear route to get to the next level. Another large portion of that paper had to do with examining the world around us and figuring out where people in the world are at with respect to spirituality. It was interesting to see what level our society seems to be at. It would be different in some societies. Different cultures are at different levels of spirituality. Our society is probably at level 2 thinking, mystical faith. The most interesting thing I saw with these observations in our day to day life was that in the school setting the level of spirituality would be level 1, ritual faith. But in the more day to day life the level of spirituality seemed to be at level 2, mystical faith.
I do not think that my views on God and science changed, but the biggest thing that report 2 did for me was to identify that I have some very real biases when it comes to God and the Christian people. Instead of seeking enlightenment myself, I have always thought that God should prove it to me. I have a very closed mind with this. If I do want to pursue my achievement to higher levels of thinking, than I am going to have to start with a clean "positive bias" (as Dr. James says). I have to wipe away all pre-conceived schemas that I have with regards to spirituality, God, the Bible, and Swedenborg. Keep an open mind and study more and more.
The purpose of this report (report 3) is to understand the differences between the rational approach of spirituality and the mystical approach of spirituality. In my comprehension of the differences, I will be able to see what approach seems to be better for my way of thinking. If I understand the differences and embrace the differences I will be able to move past my biases and start to begin my self regeneration and reformation. This paper will allow me to investigate the two approaches and strive for a more better future within myself. I will evaluate the class presentations and the lecture notes provided by Dr. James.
2. Introduction
As an introduction to Swedenborg, two books were chosen for this class. They are both very different. In this section I will be choosing passages from both books that were significant to me. The books are:
1. Testimony to the Invisible; Essays on Swedenborg, Edited by James F. Lawrence
2. Spirituality that makes Sense, by Douglas Taylor
Book 1:
Testimony to the Invisible; Essays on Swedenborg
Edited by James F. Lawrence
The first book that we read for this class was, Testimony to the Invisible; Essays on Swedenborg Edited by James F. Lawrence. As you have read, I am very skeptical of anything that has to do with God. So the first thing that I wanted to know when this class started was who was Swedenborg and his credentials. I wanted to know what other people believed and valued the Swedenborg writings. I wanted to know if this author was legitimate or if he had escaped from the schizophrenic mental institution. To my surprise, the very first page of the introduction by James F. Lawrence (no page numbers) gave me many of my answers. I had never heard of Swedenborg, but I have heard about many of his followers such as; William Blake, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Edgar Allen Poe, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Helen Keller, and Carl Jung. What an impressive list of names. Everyone in the USA knows at least one name on this list and this is just a few that are mentioned there on the first page. These are people from all areas of life. The chapters in the book are all written by different people. So the rest of the introduction establishes all the authors backgrounds and their credentials. If you are a skeptic like me this is a great place to start.
Also at the end of the book there is a section that is, "About the Contributors (page 187)." Again this gives you a little more background on the different chapter authors from the book. These people were not crazy. They were very intelligent prominent people in our society; Nobel prize nominees, PhD's, writers, philosophers.
"And all must love the human form,
In heathen, turk or jew;
Where Mercy, Love, & pity dwell
There God is dwelling too."
Testimony to the Invisible: Essays on Swedenborg, Kathleen Raine's The Human Face of God, page52 (last paragraph)
→This poem was written by William Blake
This was a very strong passage for me. I pride myself on not being discriminatory against different people. The first two lines of this poem is saying the exact same thing. We as humans need to love all people. It should not matter where we are from or that we have differences in appearance. We are all created equal. This principle is how I try to live my life. And the last two lines are just as powerful. I have never thought of God going through hard times with me or other people. I think the Christian faith makes you believe that all bad is from Satan and God does not dwell where Satan dwells. Blake is saying that God is within all people. Humans were made from God's form. We are like God. So whenever we are feeling bad or down God is still dwelling with us. That is a powerful statement. There is always someone else that goes through all good and bad times even when we feel incredibly alone → GOD!
"There is a paradox involved in the basic quality of human experience. Our hands touch solid objects, our eyes see shapes and colors, our everyday horizons are narrow; yet there are times when the soul seems to stand on hilltops and to glimpse immense vistas of meaning. This feeling is not confined to saints or poets or philosophers - we all have it at certain moments of happiness and relaxation. It seems somehow realer than the trivialities of everyday existence. And this is the paradox. For surely reality means this world of solid objects that surround us and the things they tell us about on television news."
Testimony to the Invisible: Essays on Swedenborg, Colin Wilson's The Reality of the Visionary World, page 89
This seems to be exactly how I feel. In science, which is how we are educated, reality means what is in this world to see, touch, smell, and hear → tangible things. But there have been times when I felt that there is more out there. There is a spiritual world. Maybe not in the religious definition, but I do think there are spirits around us, guiding us. That maybe there is a purpose for my life. There may be something I should be doing in this life to prepare for the afterlife, to prepare for the spiritual afterlife. This is the concept that is so contradictory, inconsistent, conflicting, ambiguous → paradoxical for me. How could this be real if it is not in this physical world? I just can not get past this. But I know that my soul has felt things that can not be explained in this real world. This is why I continue to search.
"Trying to study the life of the soul itself from an intellectual and analytical approach, Swedenborg first made attempts through chemistry, physiology, and human anatomy, to which he devoted all his extraordinary genius so that he might somehow unravel the mystery of the soul. In his heart, however, he was still not satisfied. As a result of this concentrated study, his inner sight gradually opened, and he was equipped with a mysterious power to enter the spiritual world on his own."
Testimony to the Invisible: Essays on Swedenborg, D.T. Suzuki's Suzuki on Swedenborg, page 180 (3rd paragraph)
This hit me right in the heart. This is exactly what I have been trying to do. I want empirical evidence of God. I want to see something or hear something. I want to be able to touch something. I am a scientist. I want to dedicate my life to science in the medical profession. I need physical proof. I am trying to prove something that is out of the realm of physical science. This passage made me stop and think that maybe I am approaching this all wrong. I am approaching this like I have to have tangible proof that God exists. Maybe I should be trying to prove that God does not exist. Maybe work backwards. Maybe I just need to have "concentrated study" to "gradually open" my closed mind.
"The spirituality of his later life did not come accidentally; it came gradually, step by step, as if a tree sprouted, put forth leaves, blossomed, and produced fruit. Of course, the result might have looked quite different from what had been expected, but that does not negate its natural maturation."
Testimony to the Invisible: Essays on Swedenborg, D.T. Suzuki's Suzuki on Swedenborg, page 181 (1st paragraph)
When we started to learn about Swedenborg, I assumed that he was already a religious person. But for the first half of his life he was an incredible scientist. He dedicated his life to science. This is kind of like me. All semester I have wanted to be "enlightened". This means rapidly. If it took Swedenborg "gradually, step by step" then why would I think I would be different. I am definitely not extraordinary and special like Swedenborg, although I want to be enlightened faster and easier. I have to keep reminding myself that if I want to be enlightened, then it takes a lot of time and a lot of my energy. I will have to study and study some more.
Book 2:
Spirituality that makes Sense
by Douglas Taylor
"Can anyone think of an idea that is higher or more important than the idea of God? Surely, there is no loftier idea possible for the human mind to grasp. The idea of God is not just an academic matter-an idea intended only for theologians and for dry-as-dust theorizing. Our idea of God governs and controls all our wishing and thinking, whether we realize it or not. Even atheists' ideas of God as a nonentity enter into all of their thoughts and influence their feelings and their lives-much more than they realize."
Spirituality that makes Sense, by Douglas Taylor, chapter 1, page 4, The Idea of God (1st paragraph)
Being only the second page of this book, I was surprised about how much this paragraph made sense to me. There is no "loftier idea" than God. This is the most difficult and trying subject in my life. I have tremendous trouble just having faith about God. This is a subject that everyone has an opinion about. That means that it is in our minds much more than we are conscious of. God is in every culture or society of people. The "idea of God governs and controls all wishing and thinking" is hard for me to grasp. But just the other day, my mother told me to pray for someone and then she corrected herself because she knows I do not pray to God like her. But I do kind of pray if you want to call it that. It is more of meditation for me. Praying to me is putting all my thoughts and mental energy toward a certain person or certain situation. Sometimes I even look up into the sky and speak aloud. I have never thought of this as praying. And I consider myself an atheist. But this sure does sound very similar to praying. I just do not pray to an entity called God. So I guess this passage is correct. It plays a part of my life much more than I realize and much more than I want to admit.
"The Lord from eternity who is Jehovah, came into the world to subjugate the hells and to glorify His Human; and without this no mortal could have been saved; and those are saved who believe in Him."
Spirituality that makes Sense, by Douglas Taylor, chapter 1, page 7 (4th paragraph)
It is not just this passage that drew my curiosity but the explanation after the passage. The first time I read it, it sounded just like the bible passages that were read when I was a kid in the Christian church. But reading a little further in the book explained the differences. This statement is different than what the Christian church believes about the trinity. It says "Jehovah" rather than his earthly name of Jesus Christ. It is interesting because Christians say Jesus came to this earth separating Jesus' identity from Jehovah or God and the Holy Spirit.. The trinity is a difficult concept to grasp in Christianity. Here Swedenborg is not separating them. He is saying it is the same entity. The most interesting part of this passage is that Swedenborg says "His Human." Instead of confusing people and referring to God as three parts (Father, Son, and the Holy spirit) Swedenborg worded it so there would be no confusion. "His Human" is referring to God in human form - Jesus who was born from a virgin and was crucified on the cross for the sinners of this world. I think is just simplified the Christian version so it is understandable and more believable. I always thought I was being scammed or tricked when studying Christianity because of all the little inconsistencies like the trinity. Saying it this way is much easier to comprehend.
"Those who are in doubt before they affirm are those who incline to a life of good"
Emanuel Swedenborg, Arcana Coelestia 2568:6
Spirituality that makes Sense, by Douglas Taylor, chapter 7, page 85, Some Objections Answered (quote)
This is fantastic statement. I truly believe this and try to live by this. You can apply this to politics and what is happening in the world today. There are too many people out there that just accept things without investigating both sides of an issue. How many people just vote democratic or republican without seeking the position of the candidate? There are too many college students that I hear in my classes that hear something from a parent or a teacher or on TV and automatically believe it without testing it or seeking both sides and then making a choice of their educated view on something. We need to think as individuals. Too many Christians just blindly have faith. This to me is a follower. They do not know why they believe they just do. I think Swedenborg is telling us to take a proactive position. We need to search and study and find out what makes sense to us. If we find out what and why we believe, I think that we will have more answers and live a fuller life. Explore all other religions or beliefs systems. Have doubt. Ask why. Study and learn until it is logical to you. You will be much more fulfilled and life will have meaning for you - not anyone else.
"Swedenborg deepens our ideas of the neighbor to be loved by showing that the goodness received from the Lord is the neighbor; he also widens our view, extending the neighbor beyond the good received by one individual to include the goodness in:
-a group of individuals
-one's country
-the whole human race
-the church
-the Lord's kingdom, including the heavens
-supremely, the Lord Himself"
Spirituality that makes Sense, by Douglas Taylor, chapter 11, page 159, Levels of the Neighbor (1st paragraph)
When we think of our neighbor, we think of who live next to us or a few doors down. This is not what Swedenborg is meaning when he says "neighbor." We need to think more globally when we say "neighbor." There is a reason why I wrote them in ascending order. The book refers to it like rungs on a ladder. The top of the ladder is the "Lord Himself." This is the neighbor we should all be considering. If the "Lord Himself" is the neighbor on the ladder that we want to affect, all the other neighbors will also be affected that are below. Our good deeds and charities should affect many other "neighbors" other than the one's on our street. I think of my parents church that they go to now, New Hope. It is much different than the churches I grew up with. Most of the churches I grew up with were mainly concerned with the people in the church and the community the church was located in. New Hope has gone international. They are thinking communitally, nationally, and globally. They are concerned with societies around the world not just the Hawaiian society. And because of this way of thinking they are tremendously successful in just about anything.
"The Lord, being the source of the goodness that is the neighbor on all these levels, is supremely the neighbor to be loved.
Spirituality that makes Sense, by Douglas Taylor, chapter 11, page 160, Levels of the Neighbor (2nd paragraph)
Your motives must be in the right place. If you do a good deed to get higher up in the church, this is not for the Lord. Your motives are for yourself and not the Lord. Make sure you understand what your motives are behind your charities. It should be done for "supremely, the Lord Himself."
"The ascending levels of the neighbor are a great guide in decision making, imparting much-needed clarity."
Spirituality that makes Sense, by Douglas Taylor, chapter 11, page 160, Levels of the Neighbor (3rd paragraph)
Both of the books are very different. Testimony to the Invisible I thought was a very difficult read. Each chapter is written by different authors who wrote on something completely different material. None of the chapters seemed to co-relate to each other. It is considered the mystical approach spirituality. This mystical approach finds a more deep meaning in the words of Swedenborg and the bible. In other words, there is more depth than the words themselves. There is meaning behind the literal translation. The stories are seen as life lessons, a parable rather than actually believing that Swedenborg had consciousness in the spiritual world. The mystical approach also thinks that they can have oneness with God. "Sensuous Consciousness of the Divine" (Dr. James lecture notes) is what a mystic believes. Humans are not equal to the Divine - God. This is seen as "non-duality" (Dr. James lecture notes) because the belief is that God and humans can become one "form". This is an arrogant point of view, thinking that the mind of a human can combine with the mind of the Divine - God.
To me this book showed how the Swedenborgian view has been around for years and has influenced people we all have studied about. It showed how the concepts of Swedenborg influenced important people in history. We all have been introduced to some of the concepts of Swedenborg but have not been aware of it. Most of the authors talked about someone else in history that had followed Swedenborg and adapted to the mystical approach. As an introduction to the Swedenborg concepts, I do not think this book is a good choice. I wanted to know what Swedenborg wrote not what and how other people in history were influenced by him.
In the first chapter, Jorge Luis Borges starts out by talking about Ralph Waldo Emerson.
"In his famous lecture of 1845, Ralph Waldo Emerson cited Emanuel Swedenborg as a classic example of the mystic." (page 3)
In the second chapter, Czeslaw Milosz talks about Dostoevsky Crime and Punishment.
"Swedenborgian Elemnts in Crime and Punishment" (page 26)
In the third chapter, Kathleen Raine starts out with another famous man, William Blake.
"The poem by William Blake entitled "The Devine Image" comes from Songs of Innocence..." (page 51)
The second book we read was Spirituality that makes Sense. This book was much easier to read and to understand. With the background of the majority of students being Catholic or Christian, this book was much easier to read and make sense. This book is considered the rational approach to spirituality. The rational approach uses the writings of Swedenborg as it is literally written. There are no hidden messages with this approach. This rational approach believes that Swedenborg did have a special consciousness that allowed him to visit and learn from the spiritual world. The stories are believed to be true and that Swedenborg experienced them himself, empirically. In the rational approach, it is understood that the human mind and God's mind are not on the same level. There is a "duality" (Dr. James lecture notes) between humans and the Divine. Humans are finite and God is infinite. These two can not be united together in oneness. Although all of our influx comes from the Divine, there must be a distinction between to two. If there is not a distinction made it will eventually cause "corruption of the mind" (Dr. James lecture notes).
With my background in Christianity, this book was much easier to follow and it quoted the bible and gave Swedenborg's explanation of the passages. This book also talked about things that are important in life and discusses questions that we all have about spirituality like: the idea of God, the virgin birth, heaven, being saved, faith, evils, and charities. This book also showed that Swedenborg's writings are easier to understand than the bible. It is almost like a translation for the bible. At least for me, I understand Swedenborg's words more than the bible. This book shows the differences between the bible and the writings of Swedenborg. The writings seem to be much more straight forward and does not use flowery language as the bible does. It seems to not leave the translation of what is being said up to man to distinguish as happens in many Christian and Catholic churches.
Chapter 2: The Creator as the Redeemer (page 9)
"True Christian Religion 2: The lord from eternity, who is Jehovah, came into the world." Swedenborg
"Isaiah 9:6 says: For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is Given; and the government will be upon His shoulder." Bible
Chapter 2: The Creator as the Redeemer (page 15)
"Apocalypse Explained 635:2: It is always the Divine that bears witness concerning the Divine, and not man form himself" Swedenborg
"Matthew 16:17 says: As the Lord on earth said to Simon Peter after he had declared His Divinity, Flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but My Father who is in Heaven." Bible
Chapter 8: What is "Saving" Faith? (page 97-98)
"True Christian Religion 3:2: Saving faith is to believe in Him." Swedenborg
"Psalm 111:10: A good understanding have all those who do His commandments." Bible
3. Class Discussions
Feb. 19, 2004 - Elisabeth Malsey's presentation on "Spiritual Psychology" by Dr. Leon James
In the beginning of this presentation, I like how Elisabeth used the example: "cause is to effect as spiritual world is to natural world." She does explain that we can change what happens in the spiritual world by our degree of openness. Meaning if you are more open God will allow more spiritual influx that he sends to us. This explains how the natural world is effected by the spiritual world. I really liked the idea of the two concepts given to every human; liberty and rationality. The liberty to love whatever one chooses and rationality which leads to understanding. If one has no conscience than that person is not rational = evil. We must be conscious of our choices and know where that choice is coming from, good or evil. I thought it was interesting to think of an internal and external mind. The external mind is here in the natural world which is mostly evil because they are unable to see light from the heavens. The internal mind, kind of like our conscious, can rationalize both in the spiritual world and the natural world making everything rational.
I did not like the ideas about a natural person and their degree of openness, not yet open, and completely closed. I think that we are all born with a closed spirituality and we must grow from there based on teaching and experiences we have. This idea just is too categorizing for me. I also did not like that truths are given from God and not discovered. Again God could be showing favoritism with certain humans, like Swedenborg being given the ability to communicate in both worlds. If I was given this amazing ability I would believe in God also.
Feb. 19, 2004 - Michelle Le's presentation on "The Nature of Spirit" by Chauncey Giles
In the first part of this presentation, Michelle explains What is spirit by defining matter, substance, and form. By defining all three parts, an explanation of spirit is quite simple. Matter is not spirit and spirit is not matter, but both are substances one in the natural world and one in the spiritual world and both have form. I also liked her explanation of what is the spiritual world. She used the example of dreams. The spiritual world is similar to our "dream world" which looks like the natural world only better. The appearance is the same but the quality of the spiritual world is much better. Better than we can imagine. There is no hurt, pain, arrogance, anger or ego's. It is only good.
I did not like the explanation of where the spiritual world is. It is hard to grasp that the spiritual world is here; everywhere around and within the material universe. I think it is easier to understand the spiritual world as we perceive heaven up above this world. It's hard to think that all this bad is around the good spiritual world or the spiritual world is around all the evil in this world. The section about people are essentially spiritual beings is a little confusing. It says a person is a spirit. But people are made of matter. And a spirit is not matter as we learned in the first section of the presentation. So how can a person which is matter be a spirit if it is not matter? Maybe I am not understanding the point, but it seems to be contradicting itself. I still am not too sure about this section.
March 11, 2004 - Lee Ann Jones' presentation on "Children in Heaven" by Chauncey Giles
Ms. Jones explains that losing a child in this world is not a bad thing. I like that when we are trying to deal with the loss of a child, we should not be sad for that is selfish, but rather we should be happy that that child was never exposed to most of the horrible evils in this world. And to know that ALL children go to heaven has some comforting abilities. I also liked the discussion about dress in heaven. In our world clothing can bring on hellish traits like envy, pride and vanity, but in heaven the clothing for children is the "embodiment and expression of their ideas." It says that is does not minister to any evil passion. This is hard for many children in the natural world. If your family is not wealthy and can not buy name brand clothes, the child is often made fun of. It is nice to think of a place where this does not happen. I also liked what it says about the heavenly language having no negatives. If there are no negatives then there are only positive things to say to one another. This would be so wonderful growing up in an environment like this. I can not imagine this type of world.
One thing I did not like was the idea the children can accept what is being taught and adults reject much of what is being taught. I do not think that I all out reject what is being taught, but rather I am skeptical of teachings. I would rather get all sides see all perspectives and then make my decision whether I reject it or not. The trials and tribulations of growing up makes one question why and how rather than blindly accepting something. I also did not like the quotation to the sorrowing mother of a lost child. Yes, she may understand that her child is better off in heaven, but that does not help the feeling of losing a child here in the natural world. The emotions are too strong here. We are supposed to die before our children. We are not supposed to have to bury our children. This may help in the long run of grieving, but to me it does not help with the raw grief itself.
3. Lecture Notes prepared by Dr. James
The first idea that I think is very important when beginning to study theistic science is to understand the negative and positive bias which is explained in Dr. James' lecture notes. The negative bias is obviously rejecting the existence of God because there is no empirical evidence of God. This is where I am at. I have an extremely inability to except things there is not evidence for. I have more evidence of ghosts than God in my personal experience. That is why I believe in ghosts and not in God. Ghosts have made their presence known to me through various ways and I do not think God has made his presence known to me. On the other hand, a positive bias is an approach that does not require the impossible which is empirical evidence of God's existence. God's existence is just accepted. But what made me think was that God's existence can neither be proved or disproved. So even by my own admission, I should be trying to experience both sides and then decide what I want to believe. I guess the idea is just to keep an open mind. Do not be closed off to all options.
Another idea that I thought was interesting was the fact that heaven and hell are within our mind. Heaven and hell are not specific locations that are above (heaven) and below (hell) our world now. The impression that heaven is this wonderful place in the clouds at the highest place in the universe and hell is this horrible fire pit at the bottom of the universe has always seemed a little unbelievable to me. The way Dr. James explains it in the lecture notes is a lot easier to understand. Instead of having physical locations as most of us think about heaven and hell, Dr. James explains it more as states of the mind. When we are at the lowest part of our mind, this is our personal hell. Our thoughts and attitudes are selfish, hatred, irrational, aggressive, cruel, depressed, discriminatory, fearful, have envy, and are just plain bad and evil. Being in our hell is living with these kind of thoughts and attitudes. On the brighter side, when we are in the highest part of our mind, this is our personal heaven. Our thoughts are not selfish, but are rational, compassionate, respectful, supportive, loving, peaceful, honest, heartfelt, and full of knowledge. All the types of feelings and attitudes that we as human beings and neighbors of each other should encompass and embrace. Even if you do not believe in God, we should all being trying to live in the heaven of our minds.
Is theistic psychology really a science? Dr. James says that it meets all three requirements of science. First, all of the research that was done by Swedenborg can be researched by independent scientists like Dr. James. Dr. James has spent much time evaluating Swedenborg's work scientifically and anyone else who wants to can. The Swedenborg writings are all available on the internet. So criteria one has been met. The second criteria is that Swedenborg must have used empirical methods for gaining his research data. All of his data came from experiments, observations, and interviews with people living in the spiritual world. Criteria two has been met. And the third criteria is "systematic application of revealed principles to the description of events and behavior" (Dr. James' lecture notes, question 3 part c). Instead of scientists inventing their own theories, scientists must draw all theories from the scientific revelations that Swedenborg has written about. Scientists must substantiate the theories theoretically and predictively. Swedenborg's writings meet all three criteria's, therefore theistic psychology is a science.
4. Conclusion
Making a distinction between the rational and mystical approaches to spirituality has helped to "enlighten" (I say this loosely) my thinking. I would have to say that I understand the rational approach rather than the mystical approach because if God leaves it up to humans to translate a meaning from a "parable", the human will always choose the meaning that is better for him/her. We as humans are too self centered for God to think that we could "translate" the meanings behind Swedenborg's writings. This is why it is much easier to believe and to comprehend Swedenborg's personal experiences as actually happenings, the rational approach.
I would say that this assignment has helped me identify my views on spirituality. I do like the fact that there is a message behind many of the scriptures in the bible. I have never thought that the bible meant everything it said literally. If you were to take the bible literally many of the stories do not make sense. This is one of the area's that has disturbed me for years. One church will say that this scripture means this and another church will interpret the same scripture in a whole different approach. I have always thought that was crazy for God to do, leave it to man to twist God's words around to benefit himself. I never understood this. Human tendency is to make something be the way it works best for them (not God or our neighbors) or in the direction that they want to go.
I will always remember going to church with my mother on mother's day a few years ago and the preacher's sermon was on how a woman should submit to her husband, which is in the bible. I could not believe that this male chauvinist preacher could turn mother's day around to benefit the male-"head of the household." This holiday should be embracing mothers and celebrating the woman and all she does in a family and as a mother. This is the hypocrisy I have been talking about that I have witnessed in the Christian church. What I learned from doing these reports is, I should not base my spirituality on the hypocrisy of humans. I have learned to examine my motives deeply. Ask why I am doing this? Am I doing this to benefit me or my neighbors? Is this going to make me a better person? How will this affect my neighbors?
I do not think that I am ready to believe in God. But I am more interested in building up my character. I want to be much more unselfish. To think of others more. To not be influenced negatively by the evils other humans do. Try to make a positive difference in the world. Start to think more globally. To try to recognize the negative ways of thinking and re-train my mind to think in a more rational positive method. I am ready to start to think about the three layers within my mind; the physical & social level, the spiritual level, and the inmost level. If there are three levels of the mind; natural mind, spiritual mind, and celestial mind: therefore there are three levels of goods and evils; the physical & social level, the spiritual level, and the inmost level. It is important to make this distinction because so that we can identify our true motives behind our acts. And ultimately base all my decisions on these types of criteria. And just maybe when I have conquered my way up to the spiritual level within my mind I will be able to take the next baby step toward the inmost level of my mind.
At the beginning of the semester I did not really understand the difference between the mystical and rational approaches to spirituality. Having to do this report has forced me to read more and more which has actually improved my understanding. I know that I am not 100% ready to believe all of this yet. But it has greatly opened up my heart to build a better quality of life. In the next few years, I predict that I will have a deeper understanding and that my spirituality will have grown tremendously. My eyes have been opened to new possibilities. This is what I believe Dr. James has trying to accomplish this semester. He wanted to expand our consciousness and has definitely done that for me this semester.
5. Future Generational Advice
Once again I am going to say - DO NOT GET DISCOURAGED! I almost gave up many times during this semester. Dr. James told me to keep on reading and studying. That is exactly what you need to do. ASK QUESTIONS! During the class time ask all of your questions. I found out that many of the students in my class have felt confused and have had the same questions that I did. Do not be afraid to ask questions. There are no stupid questions. Keep reading the lecture notes. Over and over if you have to. Make sure that during the class presentations you take notes. These notes will be very useful when writing this paper. There is much information on the internet about Swedenborg. Use it! The writings can also be found on the internet. Go and explore the world of Swedenborg. Dive all the way in. This can not hurt you but only make you a better person if that is what you are striving for. Even if you are not ready to believe in God like me, there are plenty of life lessons that can be learned. If all people would follow the morals, values, and ethics that are explained within the writings, the earth would be a much happier place. If anything - it will do good for humanity. Do your part!
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