Spirituality Requires Emotion and Thought

A simple seeker was overwhelmed with what she was reading on a website she had connected to via a Twitter tweet. She could not pull herself away to wind down.

“So now you’ve discovered depth psychology?”

“You know that I studied that many years ago. But this goes far beyond a simple review.”

“Jung as a spiritual teacher was not part of your formal studies?”

“As far as I can remember, spiritualaity and thinking were not even considered ….”

“Compatible?”

“Something like that.”

“What’s your take on this new ethics?”

“It isn’t new in that it would replace the old.”

“Then how can it be considered as new?”

“You’re setting me up, again.”

“Yes.”

“Then please explain how the two can merge, and why they must, now.”

“They’ve never been separate.”

“As in the letter and the spirit of the Law?”

“Yes.”

“Then the old and the new ethics of spiritual depth psychologoy refers to developing an inner awareness of the purpose of outer forms of ethical conduct and social expectations, and why these serve us well?”

“Yes, and more.”

“What more?”

“The process of increasing awareness requires and stimulates intellectual development.”

“And emotional development?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“When we each start to develop an inner perspective of how and why to express compassion toward ourselves and others, then our emotional development will be the stimulus to intellectual awareness.”

“They develop separately?”

“Yes and no.”

“How is that possible?”

“We each are usually more mature in either thought or emotion, but each is continually, even if very slowly, developing and influencing the other.”

“Then emotion and thought are as yin and yang?”

“Yes.”

………..

A simple seeker’s note to herself

Emotion and thought as contained within spirituality?

“As yin and yang within the Tao.”

“Wow!”

“Why does this surprise you?”

“It brings yin and yang into so many other seeming dualities within our so-called Western culture.”

“Yes.”

“As within – so without.”

“Again, from the East.”

“Yes, but we’ve brought that concept into everyday life.”

“How so?”

“Via psychology and logic.”

“Yes. Correspondences exist in all possible fields of thought.”

“What about emotion?”

“What about it?”

“Do correspondences exist within emotions?”

“No.”

“Why within thought and not within emotion?”

“One is form and the other is force, or moving energy.”

“Emotions are potentially too variable to support correspondences?”

“Yes.”

…………

Published by jeanw5

A Journal of a journey, with Spirit as my guide, using the wisdom of I Ching, an ancient explanation of change as a necessary part of life, to understand Life, and where, how, and why my life has developed as it has, and where do I go from here, and how, and why. My mission, purpose, or desire is to share my struggle toward and passion for enlightenment, without having a clear idea of what it will look like when I find it, and I intend to find it, sooner or later. Meanwhile I seem to be struggling toward enlightenment without a clear road map, unless Spirit, my constant companion (did He invite himself along, for laughs, perhaps?) is hiding it from me, for whatever reason. Vancouver, BC Canada is the only place I care to live, in this world. Perhaps it's not entirely by choice. My name is carved into a nearby sidewalk, as if to remind me where I belong. I am blessed to have Spirit as a teacher. Just ask him.

Leave a comment