© 2011 Meredith J. Sprunger
© 2011 Association Francophone des Lecteurs du Livre d'Urantia
Human consciousness is oriented by the frame of reference of the reality in which it lives. We think and act in accordance with the reality and value of the parameters of the world as we perceive and conceive it. Psychology always operates within a metaphysical context. Our conscious and unconscious understanding of Ultimate Reality conditions all our thinking and all our action. This ontological or intuitive frame of reference is a conviction of faith. It is the universal philosophical terrain of the human mind.
The theological or religious term that our culture uses to symbolize this first source, the center of all things and all creatures, is “God.” The principles of spiritual psychology are determined by the nature of God and by the nature and quality of our mind. Each person has more or less different religious convictions concerning the nature of God and different mental experiences and qualities. With regard to the nature of God and the dynamics of the universe, the author does not seek to impose on the reader the conviction of his faith, but he presents it as a possible means of explaining the truths that are empirically operative in spiritual psychology and common in human experience.
Our minds are obviously finite, limited, and subject to error. No human language is adequate to express the realities of infinity. There is no irrefutable scientific or logical proof of the existence of God and spiritual realities; nevertheless, there is much scientific and logical data that makes such convictions of faith reasonable and highly probable. Despite these restrictions, every human being can experience the presence of God and be enriched with spiritual values.
The human mind has an innate ability to formulate a universal framework within which it can think. Every electron, planet, thought, personality and spiritual reality is a unit functioning in this holistic universe; no being or entity can exist or live in isolation. To grasp the infinity of the universe is beyond the capabilities of the finite mind. The concept of unlimited Deity and Reality astounds the human imagination. There are, without doubt, Deity Absolutes which we cannot fathom. The Hindu concept of Brahman strives to explore such a reservoir of potentialities. Our astronomical universe seems to extend into infinity. These galaxies of outer space doubtless contain many inhabited planets. We assume that we live in a gigantic creation populated by innumerable forms of intelligent life. The spiritual cosmos must have an equivalent and surpass the material creation. Human life is an adventure into the unknown, but we are not alone.
While awareness of God is not part of our most immediate perception, God is the most real and certain of our experiences. In thought and in everyday consciousness, we become aware of an authentic self deep within ourselves. Gradually, we recognize this identity and inner presence as the reason for being, the unshakable reality in our consciousness. This is the most important and rewarding human experience—to find God for ourselves, in ourselves, and through ourselves.
God is primary to all psychological functions, relationships, and realities. The kingdom of God is realized in the human heart by the rule of God. Nothing can take the place of God in individual consciousness or human society. To be separated from God is to be cut off from the source of life and creativity. When such estrangement occurs, our personality deteriorates and civilization degrades. Conversely, when we recognize the primary relationship of God in our lives, we receive all other things essential to creative growth and the eternal survival attached to it. Love is the fundamental and dominant relationship of God with all personalities. Therefore, we spontaneously recognize the inherent and natural universal relationship as the Father/Mother relationship of God and the brother/sister relationship of all peoples, the Fatherhood of God and the kinship of all humanity. In this conscious relationship, we gradually grow in our ability to experience God and to enrich our lives through this divine fellowship.
We recognize the totality of spiritual influence in our lives as unitary and holistic; nevertheless, throughout the centuries, humanity has experienced and conceived a multiple deity relationship, traditionally attributed to the Paradise Trinity: the Universal Father, the Eternal Son, and the Infinite Spirit. This Trinitarian recognition represents an important distinction in understanding the dynamics of spiritual psychology. It helps us visualize and relate to spiritual realities in human experience.
The Trinity ministers to the mind of each individual. The Father indwells the human mind with a fragment or spark of His spirit which we will call the indwelling Spirit or the Inner Light. It is with the Spirit of Truth that the Son increases our insight. The Spirit ministers to the needs of our mind through the Holy Spirit who is in close harmony with the chemical-electrical circuits of the mind-brain. All this ministry of the spirit is unified and we experience it as one presence helping and guiding us.
The Paradise Trinity has further created and structured the universe to be conducive to functions concerning the psychology of the spirit. The Father is the source of the personality gravity circuit, drawing all personalities to himself. The Son is the center of the spirit gravity circuit, drawing all spiritual psychological activity to his presence. The greater the spiritual content of our consciousness, the more intensely we are drawn to all truth. In this sense, spirit gravity operates in a manner similar to material gravity. The Spirit activates the mental gravity circuit, drawing all thought in harmony with reality to the Ultimate Reality. These spiritual gravity systems of the universe are perfectly unified, directing all spiritually oriented thought and personality development to greater and greater spiritual realization.
Another important aspect of the infinite complexity of deity considering the principles of spiritual psychology is the universal cosmic leaven, referred to by William James, Carl G. Jung, Alfred N. Whitehead and others as the developing, evolving and perfecting nature of God. This activity of the divine leaven, the Supreme, stimulates personal, planetary and universal growth towards perfection. The Supreme is the divine stimulating influence underpinning action, competence and achievement. The deity presence of the Supreme coordinates the divine and immutable realities of eternity with the finite and ever-changing events of time.
Spiritual psychology is first conditioned by the nature of reality. God as the First Source Center of all things and beings is the primordial relationship and the one who definitively determines all that is human. Being of a spiritual nature, the Universal Father ensures that all human thought and action culminates in some form of spiritual growth and accomplishment. Spiritual psychology seeks to understand the dynamics of this original fact that is the human condition.
We experience three forms of reality: matter, mind, and spirit, which take the psychological expressions of facts, meanings, and values. All are aspects of an energy having a common origin in the creative activity of God, but are quite different in their contributions to our spiritual psychological growth and destiny. Matter, mind, and spirit are dynamically interrelated in human experience; nevertheless, no one aspect of reality can be limited in relation to another. To observe that mind emerged from matter may seem to be a fact of science, but it is not the truth as to its nature or origin. All mind has a non-material creative source even though it is associated with matter and is, in an important way, materially conditioned. Similarly, although spiritual values find their expression in mental activity, their origin is in the spiritual category of reality.
Human nature is quantitatively dominated by material experience. We are material beings. We live in material bodies and think by means of electrochemical activity of the mental-material brain. Although material activity is highly mechanical and can be predicted by physical laws, its behavior is dynamic on the atomic and subatomic levels. Although the material world is stable and tangible to ordinary perception, at the atomic level the energy in motion and its behavior cannot always be predicted by analytical logic. Reason is unable to predict the substance created or the behavioral characteristics of many compounds formed by the union of various chemical elements. There is no analytical way of knowing that two flammable hydrogen atoms combined with one oxygen atom, which stimulates combustion, would produce a liquid, water, which extinguishes fire! Nor is there anything in its chemical composition to suggest that, unlike most substances which contract when cooled, water expands when frozen. Also, the entire kingdom of nature warns against the folly of postulating a mechanistic universe and eloquently implies that behind everything there is a great mind.
Mind is a form of reality about which we know little, in the main. It has its origin in the cosmic mind of the Infinite Spirit. Nevertheless, experientially and functionally, we possess first-hand knowledge of mind, which we possess neither of matter nor of mind. We live in the realm of mind, the cognitive activity of psychological consciousness, perception, and thought. All that we know of matter and mind is acquired through the mediation of our mind. It is through the techniques of mind that material reality and spiritual reality become experiential. In the finite world, mind bridges the wide gap between material and spiritual reality. It unifies facts and values by means of meanings. Cognitive philosophy integrates our total experience.
The mind has many and complex relationships with matter and spirit. We have experiential and empirical evidence that physical changes have effects on mental modifications and that mental attitudes bring about physiological changes. The situations of our mind condition our perception of spiritual values and spiritual transformation significantly modifies the orientation of our mind.
As our mind establishes a holistic relationship with matter and spirit, two cognitive capacities emerge: intelligence and creativity. Intelligence is more closely associated with the perception of facts and the activity of the left side of the brain, generating rational, logical and analytical thought. Creativity is more closely related to the perception of values and the activity of the right side of the brain, and gives rise to insight and integrative and synergistic thought. When the development of intelligence proceeds faster than spiritual growth, the individual has difficulty perceiving the depth of truth, beauty and goodness in human experience and often becomes cynical about religious idealism. Similarly, too much spiritual development tends to produce a fanatical person who is no longer in harmony with the facts and distorts spiritual perception.
When the universe is observed from the point of view of objective perception of methodological reasoning of facts, it submits to the point of view of physical sciences which can be practically standardized for everyone. When reality is studied from the “inner” point of view of psychological consciousness and perception of values, we have the varied points of view of the world, in psychology, philosophy and theology. These separate points of view of different minds as well as a great variety of experiences increase enormously the creativity of civilization and culture. These divergent points of view become counterproductive and dangerous only when they are based on the extreme choices of perception of thought, resulting in philosophical materialism, psychism or spiritualism which always distort reality.
It is in the personality, where physical, mental and spiritual realities are found in harmony with the triune development, that the maximum wisdom, accomplishment and efficiency can be realized. The highest philosophical accomplishment of humanity must be based on the facts of science, the consistency of rational thought, the faith of religion and the perception of truth in revelation. The mind is the ever-growing human capacity. It is the experiential technique of endless progress.
Spirit is the qualitative form of reality representative of the nature of God. It is the highest expression of divine creativity. Spirit is the architect of human destiny, giving meaning and purpose to life. It is the source of self-realization, inner peace and happiness. On the material level, matter dominates, except in the personality, where spirit, through the mediation of the mind, strives for control. Unless we use value perception to discern the motives of behavior, we tend to evolve on the animal level of existence. Spiritual awareness allows us to transcend our animal origins. As our mind becomes increasingly dominated by spirit, it is less receptive to the material gravity of physiological dynamics and we experience greater freedom from the material mechanisms of animal behavior.
As our mind establishes a holistic relationship with matter and spirit, two cognitive capacities emerge: intelligence and creativity. Intelligence is more closely associated with the perception of facts and the activity of the left side of the brain, generating rational, logical and analytical thought. Creativity is more closely related to the perception of values and the activity of the right side of the brain, and gives rise to insight and integrative and synergistic thought. When the development of intelligence proceeds faster than spiritual growth, the individual has difficulty perceiving the depth of truth, beauty and goodness in human experience and often becomes cynical about religious idealism. Similarly, too much spiritual development tends to produce a fanatical person who is no longer in harmony with the facts and distorts spiritual perception.
When the universe is observed from the point of view of objective perception of methodological reasoning of facts, it submits to the point of view of physical sciences which can be practically standardized for everyone. When reality is studied from the “inner” point of view of psychological consciousness and perception of values, we have the varied points of view of the world, in psychology, philosophy and theology. These separate points of view of different minds as well as a great variety of experiences increase enormously the creativity of civilization and culture. These divergent points of view become counterproductive and dangerous only when they are based on the extreme choices of perception of thought, resulting in philosophical materialism, psychism or spiritualism which always distort reality.
It is in the personality, where physical, mental and spiritual realities are found in harmony with the triune development, that the maximum wisdom, accomplishment and efficiency can be realized. The highest philosophical accomplishment of humanity must be based on the facts of science, the consistency of rational thought, the faith of religion and the perception of truth in revelation. The mind is the ever-growing human capacity. It is the experiential technique of endless progress.
Spirit is the qualitative form of reality representative of the nature of God. It is the highest expression of divine creativity. Spirit is the architect of human destiny, giving meaning and purpose to life. It is the source of self-realization, inner peace and happiness. On the material level, matter dominates, except in the personality, where spirit, through the mediation of the mind, strives for control. Unless we use value perception to discern the motives of behavior, we tend to evolve on the animal level of existence. Spiritual awareness allows us to transcend our animal origins. As our mind becomes increasingly dominated by spirit, it is less receptive to the material gravity of physiological dynamics and we experience greater freedom from the material mechanisms of animal behavior.
In human experience, the interchange between matter, mind, and spirit, matter is ultimately controlled by mind and mind is ultimately dominated by the overcontrol of spirit. Our lives are endowed with spiritual-psychological resources by which we can, if we desire and are persistent, gradually develop our gross material-animal heritage into noble natures dominated by spirit. The divine plan for our lives is to lead us through the coming ages to the realization of spiritual personality status.
A balanced spiritual psychology must take into account the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of reality. It accepts and understands clearly and realistically the material nature of humankind, even while realizing that the well-being and fulfillment of human nature rests on the perceptions and guidance of spiritual reality. This paradoxical dichotomy is transcended by the mediation of the psychological dynamics of the mind.
Meredith J. Sprunger