The Inner Journey: Psychology And/Or Spirituality

In talking about the inner journey it is helpful to draw on the perspectives of both psychology and spirituality. Keeping both perspectives in play gives us a kind of ‘binocular vision’ on the journey. Looked at in one way, it is a psychological journey of personal growth. Looked at in the other way it is a journey into greater spiritual depth. Because it is both of these things, we miss out if we adopt just one perspective and not the other.

In our present situation is doubly important to use both languages. Neither the language of psychology, nor the language of spirituality works for everyone. We live in a fragmented society in which different people look at things from different perspectives; we can no longer rely on a single way of understanding things and expect everyone to understand.

Read the article in full on my website.

The Christian significance of psychology

I am currently preparing to lead a workshop on ‘The Christian Significance of Psychology’ for the British Association of Christians in Psychology. As I explain in a blog on the BACIP website, the original interest was in what difference being a Christian makes in psychology. However, I thought I needed to come at that through the more basic question of the Christian significance of psychology itself.

https://www.bacip.org.uk/blog

My starting point is the belief that Christ made a significant difference to the direction of human evolution, especially to how human consciousness and experience have developed. In the first part of the morning I will try to set out that view, leaning heavily on Owen Barfield and others influenced by Rudolf Steiner (though Barfield is best known as close friend of C S Lewis). I propose that Christ changed the direction of human evolution. Had it not been for that, humanity would hardly have been in a position to develop psychology, or at least it would have looked very different.

In the second half of the morning I will turn to the significance of the development of something explicitly called ‘psychology’. Various strands contributed to that, including the implicit cognitivism of Enlightenment philosophy, the Protestant concern with self-examination, and the scientism of Auguste Comte and others. From a Christian point of view it is a somewhat mixed inheritance.

I will try to locate it within the Christocentric view of the evolution of consciousness that I will set out in the first session. I will take as a particular case study how the development of psychology affected our understanding of  emotion, following the work of Professor Thomas Dixon, my former PhD student, who directs the Centre for the History of the Emotions at Queen Mary in the University of London.

http://www.history.qmul.ac.uk/staff/profile/4525-dr-thomas-dixon

After lunch I will explore whether, and in what sense, psychology is a quasi-religion, and the range of attitudes to psychology to be found among religious commentators. I will steer a path between those who are strongly pro and anti psychology, suggesting that psychology can go either way when interpreted from the perspective of the purposes of God.

However, on balance, I am more enthusiastic about the potential of psychology than I am anxious about it becoming misdirected. I hope that will yield a Christian evaluation of psychology, which will have pointers for how Christians would want to steer psychology. Roger Bretherton will lead a workshop in the final part of the day to explore that further.

This BACIP day will be held in Sutton Coldfield on Saturday 18th November. Everyone is welcome. For both information and to book see

https://www.bacip.org.uk/events

I look forward to seeing a number of old friend there and to meeting new ones.

What Christians can contribute to Mental Health

Mental Health has been much in the news recently, partly as a result of the initiative of the young Royals. This raises the question of what contribution Churches and other religious organisations can make to mental health.

Theos, the admirable think tank on Church and Society, recently published a report on Christianity and Mental Health, written by Ben Ryan.

I recently contributed a blog myself on the Theos site, on spiritual aspects of depression. While I would never wish depression on anyone, I suggest that a spiritual perspective is better able to see that, despite the misery, depression can have some value. It can give people more honesty, depth and resilience. This is what Christianity is typically about. It never welcomes adversity, but it is committed to bringing good out of it, and has resources to help to do that.

Read the full article on my website.

Fraser Watts on the big questions of life… ‘How do I want to be remembered?’

As winter draws in I’ve been thinking about Ebenezer Scrooge’s experience in the tale ‘A Christmas Carol’. Do you remember it?  

The Ghost of Christmas Future gave Ebenezer a glimpse of his destiny – and he saw how people remembered him and talked about him. He had an insight so that he could see how his legacy was shaping up, and had the power to change it if he wanted to.

Have you thought about what your legacy would look like? How would people remember you and talk about you?

No matter your religion or faith there’s an important life lesson in the story of Ebenezer.

Read the full article on my blog.

Coming to Terms with Loss

Loss runs through human life, and it is one of the hardest things to cope with. At the very beginning of life there are times when we feel cared for by one or both of our parents, but then they go away and leave us alone. At first we have no understanding of why that happens, and no ability to do anything about it. Bewilderment and helplessness are intertwined with our experience of loss from the outset.

We have to cope with so many losses through life, and they are very varied. People who were important to us move away or lose interest in us; or their circumstances change in some fundamental way, so that they don’t seem the same people who we once depended on. Marriage may give some stability for a time, but partners can change over time, just like anyone else, and eventually they die (unless we die first).

Read the full article on my website.

Fraser Watts discusses his new book – a 21st Century debate on Science and Religion.

The topic of science and/or religion is one that is debated the world over. From my point of view, and indeed that of my co-authors, this question is central to the search for truth, and the proper relationship between science and religion.

As Alfred Pritz puts in his opening foreword, the search for truth is interpersonal and personal, because we exchange our views and knowledge on what we call truth, but find that it lies in the personal, subjective world.

Read the full article on my blog.

Darkness and Light in the Story of Jesus

One of the biggest puzzles is how so many things in our lives are neither wholly good nor wholly bad, but some confusing mixture of the two. It is difficult to hold onto this complexity and there is a strong tendency to simplify things and to see only the good or only the bad. That is what some psychologists call ‘splitting’.

These issues arise in religion as well as in our personal lives, and I can illustrate this from the story of Jesus’ life, and how that is celebrated through the Christian year. When you look carefully, all the key stories are a complex mixture of light and darkness, though there is a tendency to simplify them and to see only one side of the picture.

Read the full article on my website.