Patterns of Spirituality

Tapping into our Higher Self

There is an issue here that has been overlooked in traditional teachings. For example, consider the issue of the mind and the obstacles that it can produce for the spiritual seeker. Why did Freud have the impact that he had ?  Because he and his followers created a technical vocabulary for charting some forms of consciousness. Using terms like projection, sublimation, transference, Oedipus complex, etc, a person can begin to understand how his/her mind works. More especially, he/she can begin to discover how the mind both helps and hinders spiritual beliefs.

A technical vocabulary acts like a series of signposts in the dark maze of the mind. Before this  vocabulary existed, people floundered in confusion and speculation over their psychological issues.

By analogy, if we tap into the higher self but lack an adequate spiritual /technical vocabulary, we won't really understand any insights that we may get. Hence we will be sure to mis-interpret them and end up chasing spiritual will-of-the-wisps.

For example, an adequate technical vocabulary exists for anyone who wants to develop psychic abilities in eastern meditation. Whereas, for someone with abilities in psychic healing (also called spiritual healing), the technical vocabulary is inadequate : and so healing is poorly understood.

If we don't understand our spiritual abilities, we can still be effective in intuitive ways, but we won't be able to explain clearly to others how we achieve the successes that we do achieve (and we won't be able to explain why we sometimes fail ). Understanding always requires the study of whatever issues really absorb us, together with empirical exploration of our abilities.

Copyright © 2002 Ian Heath
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