Spirituality and Psychology

Earlier I wrote a blog about a certain former seminarian classmate of mine who asked me why do I desire to be a teacher.

And during the next class we were like sharing our ideas in the middle of out Guidance and Counseling class discussion about psychology and how psychology is different from religion, and that spirituality is at all different from psychology. Another classmate who is 20 years older than I am and is an engineer also said the same about psychology. And so did my teacher who graduated bachelor in psychology about probably 20 years ago.

My engineer classmate says that psychology is only focused on the mind and does not tackle about spirituality. My commentaries are first of all, psychology deals not only with mental processes but also behavior. Secondly, psychology, just like education, takes into consideration the Psychomotor, Affective, and Cognitive aspects of an individual and of learning. Thirdly, spirituality is a form of a higher frequency of consciousness. And consciousness is just a part of the broader field of psychology. Somehow I can say that spirituality is related with psychology or that it is studied in the science of psychology. Laslty, there is a branch in psychology called Transpersonal psychology that studies self-transcendence and spiritual aspects of the human experiences.

The essence of spirituality is the search to know our true selves, to discover the real nature of consciousness. This quest has been the foundation of all the great spiritual teachings, and the goal of all the great mystics. (more)

• Abraham Maslow identifies peak experiences wherein people often have spiritual experiences. He calls this self-transcendence, which is beyond self-actualization or self-realization.


• Carl Gustav Jung calls this  process a person undergoes to wholiness the process of individuation.


• Eastern religions call this "Great Awakening" and/or "Enlightenment"


• In Carl Gustav Jung's Psyche and Symbol, he emphasized that the spirit is "the sum total of all phenomena of rational thought, or of the intellect, including the will, memory, imagination, creative power, and aspirations motivated by ideals."

While I was looking for research journals to find answers to the question initially raised, I stumbled upon this informative  interdiciplinary conversation (pdf) in a certain college wherein participants shared their own point of view about the connections and intersection between psychology and spirituality .

As a learner, I do want to stick with the linear thinking, rather do otherwise and try to find the answers through my own inquiry or read as much as possible until the mind's query is sufficed.

Today Matters

Earlier in class, one of my classmates who happens to be a former seminarian, and who is now a counselor, and an active church leader, asked me of my reason for wanting to become a teacher. Then I was kind of "uhhh" "uhmm" Then I realized I really did not know why, nor did I ever thought about it.

First and foremost I wanted to have masters degree in Psychology, probably on Counseling or Clinical Psychology. However, I couldn't afford yet the tuition fees so I have to find a job and save money for my future. That was my original plan.

Few days after, instead of finding a job, I found my self sleeping, eating, doing nothing at home. I was basically bumming around, annoying people (parents) and did all kinds of weird stuffs.  Then I lost my motivation. My mom bombarded me with questions like when am I gonna stop bumming around and start looking for a job. She's basically giving me the pressure. Consequently, I started looking for a job online. I passed my application and my cv online to various companies some I know, others I have not the slightest idea as to what their company is about.

Then a few days after, a recruiter from Convergys called me on my land line phone and asked me if I was interested in applying for customer service representative in the company. They got my number from my Alma matter's database. Then I said,"Okay, I'll try." So I was scheduled for an interview the next day. When I arrived on the venue, I saw a close friend who happened to have just passed the final interview and was there for the training. Since I was very early, I sat with him and we chatted. There I also found out that his boyfriend was also in the other call center company where my friend previously worked. He was also applying  for the costumer service position.

Few minutes later, I saw my other friend who also my school mate in USC. He was also applying in Convergys. And I saw his baby and his girlfriend who was also a school mate of mine.

What conspired the whole day was all good. I passed the processes, and was scheduled for the final interview the next day. But then I didn't pass the final interview. It wasn't all that bad. My realization on that following day was that I can never get things that I never wanted, and that I can only strive for what I want. Or maybe I am just trying to justify my actions. But really I'm so lazy to get a job right now.

Then came May, my cousin who was working with CTTE in CSCST, where I am currently having my DPE course, said his "simply inspiring" words that did inspire me to enroll. So here I am now, hopeful to be a teacher's board passer and become a teacher.

I'm back again with the same question, why do I want to become a teacher. All I know is that I have no answers as of the moment. But soon enough I will definitely have my answers.

I just told my classmate that as of now, I'm taking the opportunity that the world has given me that's why I am here. I don't know my direction. I'm just merely taking a step to this road I am not fully aware of. And trying to explore if this is really where I belong. What matters is that I am enjoying what I have today, I am making friends. I am loving my subjects.

Sometimes if you are so preoccupied of the future, you will end up losing God's gift, which is today. The reason why today is called present because It's a blessing and it matters.

Boredom's Doldrums

Now, this is what I call boredom’s doldrums. I’m really bored because I have no Internet at the moment. Now I am here in an Internet café—paying. I guess the server in my place is down. And this is something that really pisses me off. Oh well, let me just use this solitary moment to share what ever is on my mind at the moment since I am not doing anything beneficial or worthwhile lately.

It has been quite a while since I quit reading mythology, new age and the occult, which are my fascination. I started my fascination with the occult when my cousin who is I guess 20 years older than I am, showed the occult threshold to me. I mean not literally. Well she must have been one of the first people who influenced me with occult studies.  I was only in elementary, probably when I was ten or eleven, when she got married with her second husband. It was also the same time when she brought an antique occult book from elsewhere. I could still remember the big brown old book with a very striking title on the hardbound cover page. DEMONOLOGY. And there I was intrigue. Harry Potter books were quite her fascination, and my cousins too. But Harry didn’t catch me the way the big brown old book did.

Too bad it was the first and the last time I saw it.

Her parents didn’t know of the book’s existence. Her sisters and brothers didn’t, but I did. She could have known that I like the occult and weird things too, or she wouldn’t share it with me. We are not really close, probably due to our age gap, nor am I close with any of her siblings. But it was the very first time that I actually felt that I belong to something, a world greater than my own.

Few years’ back, I started reading witchcraft. It’s not that I want to be a witch or something. I just want to be educated with it. And then I read about astral projections, OBE (out-of-body expreinces), dreaming, psychic development, and ESP (extra-sensory perceptions). In fact I have quite good books in my library.

In my attempt and intent to find justification to these occult phenomenons, I bumped into a field where I am now, Psychology. There I started reading about Carl Guztav Jung, who is my first favorite and is still my favorite psychologist, because his ideas were the only ones that could possibly enlighten me with the occult.

Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss. His father was a pastor in a Swiss Reformed Church. But he was more of a skeptic though religion was one of his work’s themes. Jung had wide range of interests he was convinced not to limit his learnings with just one field. He studied archaeology, anthropology, literature, and others. One thing that I really like about him is that he stands for his beliefs though others continually criticize him for being heretic and being a weirdo. But he wasn’t heretic. Anyone who is an avid reader of his works can testify to that. And about the weirdo thingy, I do really want to comment on that, though he was kind of an introvert as a child.

Progressively over the years, all my learnings have deteriorated just like that. I feel like I don’t know anything anymore. I feel really frustrated with my self now. I want to know things I do not know, and with each documentary I watch over National Geographic or Discovery Channel or article I read from book or from the internet, it feels like its never enough and am so impulsively wanting to get more. And now It’s so unfortunate because I have no internet access, and I know am obviously trying to forget about the internet and focus on something worthwhile.

So, this is just part one of my story about this world greater than my own.

Mood: Relaxed

Listening: Dido – Thank You

Journal Writing

"We read so that we shall remember the atmosphere and the reality we have known. In times to come, we shall consider the multiple messages that were given to us."

---Ira Pragoff
The Well and the Cathedral

Just a thought. I really find journal writing interesting, Why? These are why!

Journal writing is an activity for self-revelation. Writing about my feelings, thoughts, reactions, comments, criticisms, judgments, dreams, wishes and behaviors can open my eyes to see who I really am. It provides opportunity for me to see myself from the past, the present and the future. It allows me to evaluate how I've been doing for the past days. Through it , I am able to identify how fleeting my emotions are and how transient my impressions were.

Also, journal writing is fun, that's why I always bring a journal with me in school and anywhere I go. It's fun to seek what I do not know about my self. It's fun to see me unfold. It is my personal journey for truth and awareness.

Couch of the Unfathomable

situated at the corner of the darkened room

is the couch of the unfathomable, where the angel sat

she looked at the darkness that is miserly black

the dim light from the sooty sky illuminated her

while the bottomless pit of the abyss made her sober

the nightingales of the night sang their discant songs

and her sluggish, melancholy spirit devoured them all

her lifeless black torn wings is all that she has

never had she realized that she's one beautiful lass

she felt her heart beating for something

through the absence of awareness she knew there was one thing

but that one thing was left unsaid, dormant and forgotten

the words of the angel kept in silence deep within

the violence of the darkness of the earth she loathed

that made her fall on the ground, and she lost it

her life on earth was wasted, she thought

not realizing that she flew into the sky, where she could

to fly as beautiful as she could in the human world

and help others in their search for the Word

as he angel sat on the couch of the unfathomable

her lifeles black torn wings is healing

until she could finally soar up high into the sky

and sing her melodious and harmonious songs

so that the world will hear again

the sweet air of the angel that once have fallen

on the earth's vicious and violent ground

© 2007 | jeelchristine poems

This poem offers hope after pain. I remembered  Daniella and I decided on writing something positive on a papyrus, and this poem was written, as a summary confrontation for all our heartbreaks and painful experiences. It's a time to let go and finally step on the next path our lives.

Slumber Hours

painting taken from Yessy Art Gallery

as i entered the house of the haunted
i knew that my hours have ended
to woe the promise he has hated
towards the gossamer that he has painted
on the canvas he spilled his blood
to summon the dead through its cup
and i stood there as he looked at me
i smiled at him but he dared not to see
the vows we've made, he has forgotten
the memories we've shared he has abandoned
i felt like crying but tears didnt fall
i might as well go and leave it all
my time on earth has passed
but before my slumber, he asked
whether promises are really meant
or our last time together cannot be spent
i love him and he loves me too
but there are things that neither of us can do
we cannot bear destiny's cruelty towards us
but even so, nobody can separate us
not death of life itself
because in this slumber hours
his heart and mine only crave for one another
as he will bring me back to life
from the world of the others
together we'll wake ones again
holding hands, we'll live our vows together ones again
the fulfillment of our dreams is at hand
nothing and no one will bind us from this band
because of the power i have vested in it
it will never separate us, forever
yet, he has lost all his strenght to fight it..
the foul smell of the creosote
is penetrating into my pale skin
this is indeed the end of our time
this is what's left in me, my slumber hours,
our forever broken vows..

© 2007 | jeelchristine poems

Divergence

There is more to me than what you see.

Scarred with the pain that inflicts me

Devouring my wandering soul,

Underneath the shadows I call my own.

Despite all I've been through, I never quit

I have fought hard enough for me to sit

I suddenly see my self standing in the new world

I doubt if I belong.

I've wondered if I have a place here

A place I can call my own.

I've searched hard enough to find my home

But for now, I don't know where I belong

Do I belong?

Most of you don't really understand

What I'm going trough now is tough

Perhaps you know nothing of me at all

I've still yet to find what I'm capable of

My sense of purpose is confusing me

What am I destined for tomorrow?

Clueless, is this my direction?

Quite a diverged road I'm walking into now.

This divergence will take me there,

Hopefully to the place I shall call my home

© 2007 | jeelchristine poems

Is The Quest For Knowledge An Opiate?

Photo Taken from Ducatirider

So I've seen a video entitled "Dangerous knowledge" from a fellow Multiplier. It was about a great mathematician who became insane on his quest for knowledge about the mystery of Infinity.

The question is:
Is knowledge at some point dangerous?

Could it be that It isn't at all knowledge but knowledge at its utmost point of inquiry or knowledge at its extreme point of mystery about to be found fierce to the point of bringing his inquirer to the madness of insanity?or to the realm of skepticism and doubt?

If Plato believed in the Theory of Recollection, could it be likely that recollection of what was perfect, which our unembodied spirit lived with very hard to do?

Is the craving for truth addictive that at some point leaves a person not to stop from acquiring it? That at some point transforms the believer to disbelief, doubt, and skepticism?

What about this so called "linear line of thinking" which the modern world has muchly accepted, while the initial instinctual thinking has been long time ago placed into the foulness of oblivion. Does it lead us to madness? Could it be the culprit of ADHD, Anti-Social behavior, Autism, Depression, Addiction and the like?

Friends Vs. Leeches

photo taken from Angelspit

Sometimes, you cannot trust people around you. So make sure who your real friends are and cut all the leeches out.

I was still on my first year in the Psychology program where I experienced being betrayed by a friend, not just any friend but a close friend. It was then that I learned my lesson, that I cant trust anyone.  I have lots of friends, but I know too well who my real friends are.

"Bring not every man into thine house: for the deceitful man hath many trains. Like as a partridge taken [and kept] in a cage, so is the heart of the proud; and like as a spy, watcheth he for thy fall: For he lieth in wait, and turneth good into evil, and in things worthy praise will lay blame upon thee. Of a spark of fire a heap of coals is kindled: and a sinful man layeth wait for blood. Take heed of a mischievous man, for he worketh wickedness; lest he bring upon thee a perpetual blot. Receive a stranger into thine house, and he will disturb thee, and turn thee out of thine own."

(Apocrypha: Sirach 11:29-34: Careful In choosing Friends.)

Jerkhood: Women Always Blamed

Genesis 2 :4-25 Creation second tale –The garden of Eden _ Genèse 2 :4-25 Création second tale - Le jardin d’Eden

God asked, "Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"
Adam replied, "This woman you put here with me gave me a fruit from the tree, and I ate it."
In other words, the woman is to blame!
Want evidences?

1.
Don't blame girls, women
By Jacqueline E. Woods

The American Association of University Women (AAUW) is troubled by recent suggestions that girls and women are somehow to blame for the fact that boys are not excelling in certain academic areas. Is there a "gender war" being waged against boys, as some have claimed?

Gender inequity in education is a complex issue. Two years ago, AAUW published "Beyond the 'Gender Wars,' " a summary of the views of some of America's foremost researchers of boys and girls regarding a range of gender-equity questions. One of the major conclusions shared by these researchers was that we do not need to "fix the boys" or "fix the girls."

2.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Blame the woman

Once again, women are simply too fat and too old, according to this recent article about rising maternal mortality rates in England. Oh, and they have the audacity to want a natural birth--which of course the article didn't bother to define--another alleged culprit behind rising mortality rates!

From the article:

But some medical staff and patient groups also fear the NHS's policy to encourage "natural" birth without medical assistance is putting women at risk by denying them medical care in pregnancy and labour. Professor James Dornan, director of foetal medicine at the Royal Maternity hospital in Belfast, said: "Nature dictates that one in every 100 women will die while having a baby. The mortality rate in parts of Africa is now about 850 to 1,000 per 100,000. Left to nature that is what nature will do. I believe in women having choice but it has got to be informed choice.

3.
From The Sunday Times
November 25, 2007
Maternity deaths rise
Sarah-Kate Templeton

THE number of maternity deaths in Britain has increased over the past three years with doctors blaming increasing obesity, older mothers and the drive towards "natural" birth.

4.
Blame The Woman
Susan Estrich

It's all her fault. She made him do it. Don't blame Paul Wolfowitz, World Bank President, for his breach of ethics in negotiating a transfer and pay raise for his longtime girlfriend. Blame her.

That is, essentially, what Mr. Wolfowitz argued in his response to the highly critical report from the committee investigating his actions. She was the villain, not him. Ms. Riza was so "extremely angry and upset," that the ethics panel that reviewed the question of whether she could remain in her position, and concluded she couldn't, was afraid to confront her themselves, leaving it to him to handle the details of moving her out of her job. "Its [the ethics committee's] members did not want to deal with a very angry Ms. Riza, whose career was being damaged as a result of their decision," Wolfowitz writes in his written response to the just-released report. "It would only be human nature for them to want to steer clear of her." As for the resolution he reached, Wolfowitz argues that he was forced to grant her a $50,000 annual pay raise as part of the transfer not because he wanted to, but because her "intractable position" left him with no choice if he hoped to preempt his girlfriend from suing him.

I wish she had.

5.
Women Are to Blame
Abdul Rahman Al-Samari • Al-Jazirah

Visit any mall or market in this country and you will find out that the overwhelming majority of shoppers are women.

Being the customer targeted by every merchant and business, it is no wonder that the country is now awash with shops selling everything of possible interest to women.

Being the driving force behind the mushrooming shopping centers, women are also responsible for bringing into the country armies of salesmen, distributors, drivers, promoters and others involved in commerce. All of them are of course foreigners. Promotional campaigns targeting women alone are not confined to our cities but are normal in Cairo, Beirut, Dubai, Paris and London.

Not content with what they can carry, many women are accompanied by servants pushing large loaded trolleys filled with all kinds of goods. It is as if the shops would close tomorrow and never open again.

On an average, between 30 and 50 percent of the things purchased will remain in their plastic bags and wrapping until the time comes for them to be thrown away, never having been used. Once at home, there are some women who sift through the contents to determine what is useful and what is not. They will soon discover that unneeded items have been purchased and in the end, only part of what has been bought will be kept. Some working women with salaries of SR14,000 a month do not hesitate to spend that entire amount on shopping.

Banks, too, have entered the game, providing women with credit cards in order to encourage them to buy more. Not surprisingly, many women end up saddled with huge debts.

In hospitals, women patients outnumber men. Not all of them suffer from physical ailments since many are there for cosmetic and plastic surgery to improve their shape and appearance. Here, too, a thriving business has developed with doctors' appointment diaries fully booked for months, if not years.

A newcomer in the business is restaurants, many of which have opened special family sections that in some cases occupy a space larger than all the rest of the restaurant itself. Were it not for our spendthrift women who lavish on everything once money flows into their hands, we wouldn't have these millions of foreign workers.

6.
Italy: The Energy of Outrage
As economy falters, women made to blame

by Maria Nadotti
Does Berlusconi expect his wife Veronica to "buy cheaper goods"? Corbis Sygma

Guess who Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi suddenly cares about? "The Voghera housewife." Voghera is the equivalent of a small, somewhat provincial U.S. city, and most Italian politicians contemptuously regard "housewives" as incarnating the lowest form of civic consciousness - e.g., dumb.

But housewives or not, Italian women are smarter - and now angrier - than politicians think.

For instance, we know all too well about the increasing poverty the Euro monetary system has created in Italy: financial speculation, a skyrocketing increase in the cost of living, plus runaway growth in unemployment and "flexibility," a euphemism meaning "disposable and redundant" when applied to the labor force. Meanwhile, Italians face the erosion of their welfare state - formerly one of the most efficient social-services delivery systems in Europe - due to brutal cuts in public funds and increasing privatization of such services as education and health. Especially for women - employed, unemployed, working at home, native-born, or immigrant - this is a crisis.

Are women always blamed? What about the men?

Larry Crab in his book THE SILENCE OF ADAM, says that that Adam didn't protect Eve. Instead, Adam remained silent. He could have said "Sweatheart, what are you doing talking to that slimy Mr. Snake? I'm your husband and I will not just stand here while he lies to you and robs you. I will protect you. Stand back while I whack that creature on his head."

Did Adam ever took responsibilty for having eaten the fruit?

According to Bo Sanchez, men have not taken responsibility for the spiritual life of their families, and that men have not been aggressive enough to care for ther wives, their children and there communities.

What do men do then?

Where is then people's sense of responsibility?

Women! Speak! Are we to blame?

Art is Beauty

photo from Angelspit

Find the beauty in all things. If it's not there, look closer. If you still cannot find it, broaden your definition of "Beauty". Indeed, It is the quest of the artist to seek out new forms of beauty and bring it to public--even though they may be grotesque.

So I don't wanna be criticized or judged on my arts and on the arts that I like because my taste of arts is different, just as my taste of music deviates from the mainstream music. Because music for me is an art no matter how weird and how noisy they can be in other's opinion, but its not for me.

Art is an expression of beauty and of self.

mood: annoyed
music: Syncron City

[blog entry taken from my previous blogsite, posted Aug. 25, 2008]

A Satorai

(Written on Nov. 4, 2008...)

An Irony.

My life is like a lie. Earlier I thought about me, of why I always feared the truth. I have not even the slightest courage to face it. Damn I'm a lie. Perhaps the reason I cannot open my eyes to the truth is because I live within the sphere of lie. I have lied countless times and lived with it as anyone is supposed to, others have lied to me countless times, and they are to live with it too. I feel like I am hidden in big box, locked, and the keys with me, where no one is supposed to free me, but my self. I have been hiding so long. Too afraid to love again to the extent of avoiding what I see God has stored before me, making me nothing but a helpless little surviving hominid who cannot live without his folks. I always wanted to be freed from my prison cell. I have cried long enough for me to feel what it is like to be free, but I have failed many times. My friend was right, It is not true for me to say that I don't have the freedom I deserve for I have it with me long time ago. It is only me who have not seen it, and if ever I did, I didn't know how to use it or control it.

Then I found the irony of it.

For the past few days, I have lived like a prisoner. To jail my self is good. It felt good to be alone. It gave me more time to think and to understand what has been happening around me and within me. As much as I hate being jailed, and without freedom, I have locked up my self in solitary confinement a long time ago and I just didn't notice. Why have I not noticed that? because I was too afraid to see the truth. Because It may hurt me the way it hurts me now.

Then all the memories came to me, lurking in my mind as if they are about to slit me to death to realize they're nature. I finally found one piece of the puzzle I have been looking for. I found one to be added to the puzzle of my life. Damn It hurts. I remember every detail of what has befall me. I remember everything that has lead me to where I am now. They taught me to live in seclusion and I am living their words but all lies. They use a lie to manipulate me and I only allowed them to. Only a fool would believe something he doesn't fully understand. And I have been a fool all those years. What a shame!

Blindness....Our Relapse?

We are all blind
We see that in human plan
Nothing is worth the making
Unless it makes these cities glorious
If man unbuild goes
In vain we build the work
Unless the builder also grows

--Edwin Markham
Yes, society has been growing and progressing each hour of each day. People are learning within each tiny bit of a second; and within a minute, values and linear thinkings are introjected to our minds. At the course of evolution mankind was able to build the society we have now, and each structure man builds takes his precious time, spending his hours to construction sites, others to offices, school, and other institutions. The question is: Have we taken the instinct of living out of human behavior and totally relapsed it with a new brand of thinking that the human mind is not branded for?----If this new kind of thinking regresses us to stagnation instead of our personal growth? Bottom line is, man's intelligence has forgotten the human instinctual thought and human affect. Yes, people are so intelligent but they lack the emotion and the human instinctual cognition that would help them to psychological growth together with the growth of society.

Blindness is our relapse and awareness is our salvation.

Self-awareness is the key; and the rest will follow.

Cheers!

[This blog entry is copied from my previous blogsite.]

The Irony Of Moving On

Have we truly understood what it means?

Okay some person just aroused my thoughts when he told me that he has moved on. Its not that I don't believe him or anything. I cannot judge him for I am not he nor can I tell him that he lies, for I am not a Sorcerers who knows when someone is lying.

It's not that I don't have trust in people nowadays, but I just don't like the statement "I have moved on" or "naka move on nako." I'm not even sure what it means. What I am certain about is that when a person says, "I have moved on.", he is only trying to believe what he wants to believe. It's not that people are bunch of liars but sometimes they just want to believe what they want to believe. I know because I have said a million times that I have moved on because that is what I chose to believe. I cannot blame people nor can I blame my self, for sometimes we become blinded from our words, because of our thoughts. And sometimes, we are not really as keen to ourselves as we are when it comes to other poeple. Now I ask everyone, have we truly understood what introspection really is. Or have we fully practiced and mastered introspection as anyone in Wilhelm Wundt's experiments would? I doubt if I have.

But I am certain that there are a few who understand what introspection is. At least there are.

One cannot fully proclaim as he wishes when he himself does not fully comprehend what moving on means. And that he can only know when he has finally seen the truth though and within himself. Only can he declare that he has finally and truly moved on.

[This blog entry is copied from my previous blogsite.]

Faithfulness

I just come to realize that religiosity is different from faithfulness. It's just sad when I hear people say how religious they are because they pray three times a day, read the bible upon waking up and before sleeping, celebrate the Holy Eucharist everyday and go back to their household nagging their children (I'm referring to others from all walks of living). They think that they are always on the right track, and we "the non-religious"  and the "rarely-church-goers" are the ones yet to be condemned when our time comes. I don't believe that my religion teaches me anything about religiosity, but I'm certain on the one hand that It teaches me faith and Godliness. On the other hand, my religion is more than a religion, its my personal ideation that links me to my God, Jesus Christ. Or should I say a meme rather than an ideation that connects me to Him; it helps me build my relationship with Him, and the mere thought of Him stops me from doing something against His will. However, I am human, I am a sinner; sometimes I choose to do things for a reason which other human s like me cannot use it against me. No one but God alone can. I pray every night before I sleep. That's how I continuously maintain and nourish my personal faithfulness. I may not be much of a church goer as I was before, I know for sure that I am having a religion not for the sake of having one but because I have trust and belief in my religion that it will guide me along the way. And it is me that chooses which path I must go on, because I hold my life, the free will and intelligence God has given me are the tools I integrate for my own wellness. Bottomline is there is no need for a religion because I believe in my own "pop psychology" that spiritual experiences do not come from religious rituals but come from the self, although these rituals may be used as stimulus for an anticipated spiritual experience responses. My philosophy is that I am an eternal being--not necessarily a God--because I am no God. My flesh may rot, but my soul will not, for it is pure, divine and constant---an all-powerful spirit dwells within me. I am not a perfect creation of God, but God created me just perfectly.

[This blog enrty is copied from my previous blogsite.]

Forgive But Never Forget

They say that its easy to forgive but its harder to forget. Yes, I'm afraid I have to agree with it. Some so called "inspirational" or "self-help" books or whatever you might want to call them would suggest that its better to forgive and forget! (No offense, I read inspirational books a lot.) I just find it rather alarming. What does forgetting mean? Dismiss from the mind or stop remembering. Is that what it means? Dismissing could mean forcing out, or brushing aside, pushing aside, ignoring, discounting, suppressing.. Uh-huh! It's not easy to forget that it is why its never an option for me to forget. It's like nothing happened at all when for a matter of fact it did happen.

The mind has its natural way of defense, and the more the mind uses it into every situation, the more insanity can be acquired. Let's take into consideration forcing the self to forget, especially from a very strong and painful or from a traumatic experience. Since the memory is too painfully consuming causing poison to the person's emotional stability, the mind uses the natural defense mechanism to ease away the hurt and the impregnable memory, resulting in a temporary alleviation of the discomfort. Like I said, only temporary. As long as the person keeps on using these defences, or exaggerated use may result in an generation of increasing distress, and the more is the distress, the more intensified the defense mechanism becomes. Consequently exposing the self to the vulnearablity to insanity or abnormality. How do you think dissociative disorders, psychosis, eating disorders and other disability or dysfunction occur?

Well..bottom line is the brain is so powerful, can even be powerful than the other organs of the body. Physiologically speaking, it is the brain that controls every impulse happening inside the body. With the mind's power, it does two things to us; it can both help us and break us.

So why would I have to be in the state of oblivion when I can be free with remembering all my past painful experiences. Remember experience is the best teacher, regardless of the intensity of the emotion that coexist with it.

Cheers!

[This blog is copied from my previous blog site]