The Spiritual Self
Spiritual Self
The part of a person that looks for meaning, purpose, and connection to the divine.
It encompasses the person's beliefs and values, meaning and purpose, as well as connection.
The MOST INTIMATE and subjective part of the self.
William James diverted from the notion of spirit as EGO.
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๐น Core Elements
Beliefs and Values
โ are the core principles and truths that guide an individual's life and actions.
Meaning and Purpose
โ set the sense of direction and significance in one's life.
Connection
โ refers to the feeling of being part of something larger such as community, nature, or a higher power.
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๐น Understanding Spirituality
Spirituality
A broad concept with room for many perspectives.
Involves the recognition of a feeling or sense or belief that there is something greater than myself, something more to being human than sensory part is cosmic or divine in nature.
It is a universal human experience โ something that touches us all.
Knowing that our lives have significance in a context beyond a mundane everyday existence at the selfishness and aggression.
Involves love, compassion, altruism, life after death, wisdom, and truth
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Spiritual Experience
โ sacred or transcendent or simply a deep sense of aliveness.
Spiritual Journey
โ involves first healing and affirming the ego so that positive states are experienced; with secure self-esteem, belief in self-worth, and a capacity for love and generosity, a person becomes less constrained by ego defenses.
Opening of the Heart
โ an essential aspect of true spirituality.
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๐น Spiritual Development
Requires some sort of practice or discipline in order to make 'progress'.
Involves spontaneous happenings that cannot be accounted for scientifically and that may be attributed to an external force.
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๐น Religion and Spirituality
Religion and Spirituality
โ are both rooted in trying to understand the meaning of life and, in some cases, how a relationship with a higher power may influence that meaning.
While religion and spirituality are similar in foundation, they are very different in practice.
Religion
A person's system of unified beliefs, values, and practices that they hold holy or believe to be spiritually significant.
Formalizes certain aspects of spiritual awareness into a coherent belief system that can be taken on trust, even if the person has no direct experience of the Divine.
The belief systems of religion extend beyond the individual's experience to his/her role in society, and morality-based rules are formulated to govern relationships and activities.
Spirituality
โ is often individual rather than collective and does not require a distinctive format or traditional organization.
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๐น Categories of Religion
* Polytheism
* Monotheism
* Agnostics
* Atheists
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๐น Rituals and Ceremonies
Rituals
โ are symbolic expressions and acts performed in respect of spiritual beliefs and sacred laws.
Ritual
โ "conforming to religious rites," which are the sacred, customary ways of celebrating a religion or culture.
Ceremony
โ a formal act or event that is a part of a social or religious occasion.
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๐น William James and the Spirit
Spirit
โ William James says it is our ability to think of ourselves as thinkers.
William James
โ He says โFinding the meaning of life satisfies our spiritual self.โ
Meaning of Life
โ We are able to establish different beliefs, practices, and religions in the aim of finding the meaning of life.
Spirit
โ Our spirit enables us to engage in morality, sensibility, and consciousness.
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๐น Viktor Frankl and Logotherapy
Logotherapy
โ a type of psychotherapy introduced by Dr. Viktor Frankl.
Search for Meaning
โ its main belief is that the primary motivational force to life is the search for meaning.
Existential Vacuum
โ psychological condition of feeling of meaninglessness.
Boredom
โ is the major symptom of existential vacuum.
Noogenic Neurosis
โ neurosis caused by not psychological but spiritual dimension of human existence.
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๐น Useless and Unfulfilling Living
Useless Activities
โ indulging in idle and useless talk, empty chatter, watching soap opera on TV, abuse and addiction of social media, etc.
Ritualistic Living
โ formal education, marrying, having kids and raising them mechanically, observing and participating in religious rituals, monetary activities, etc.
Materialistic Living
โ paying too much importance to money, property, power, position, material possessions, etc.
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๐น Symptoms of Collective Anxiety in the Modern Age
1. Planless day-to-day living
โ "Why should I act? Why should I plan? Sooner or later the nuclear bomb will wipe out everything."
2. Fatalistic attitude toward life
โ "No matter what I do, things will happen the way they're meant to..."
3. Collective thinking
โ "The well-being of the group is more important than individual success..."
4. Fanaticism
โ "We must all follow the same beliefs and anyone who disagrees is a threat..."
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๐น Three Ways to Search for Meaning
1. Purposeful Work
โ about having a life goal. For as long as someone has a defined life goal, they live a life with meaning.
2. Courage in the Face of Difficulty
โ this is about an individual's acceptance of suffering, pain, and death as part of life.
3. Love
โ the ultimate factor in the meaning of life. It is โthe only way to grasp someone in the very core of their personality.โ It enables us to see someone with all their unrealized potential.
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๐น Techniques Used in Logotherapy
Dereflection
โ aimed at helping someone focus away from themselves and toward other people.
Paradoxical Intention
โ a technique that has the person wish for the thing that is feared most.
Socratic Dialogue
โ a tool to help a patient through the process of self-discovery through his or her own words.
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