Psychology and Spirituality Part 1

November 8, 2024

Psychology and Spirituality Part 1

You are warmly invited to this week’s series of Daily Reflections exploring “Psychology and Spirituality.”

As a student in a theology school, I was an oddball because I interpreted the spiritual through the lens of psychology instead of religion. Later in my graduate psychology program, I was also odd because I interpreted psychological phenomena through the lens of spirituality. For some reason, I never saw the split between psychology and spirituality, but many people seemed to see them as entirely different bodies of knowledge. I recall many conversations with people who grappled with the relationship between psychology and spirituality. It seemed they had to choose one over the other. A typical question was, “Do we attribute the miracles in the Bible to the spiritual realm, or to the psychological processes of those who supposedly witnessed these events?” Another question is, “Do we live from our minds or our spirit?”

For me, psychology and spirituality are inseparable because of my belief in the “Theory of Intentional Cause.” Yes, I cannot comprehend why or how life exists without something having caused it. I know good people who believe that creation was a random occurrence with no particular rhyme or reason. They have the perfect right to that belief. For me, however, belief in an intentional cause assumes there is an intelligence behind the meticulous, vast, and interrelating aspects of the creation. Therefore, the creation has rhyme, reason, and purpose. The belief in Divine Intelligence makes all the difference in our experience of life.

If Divine Intelligence caused creation, then there is a natural relationship between that intelligence and the creation, much like there’s a natural relationship between a parent and their child. The implications of there being a Creator are profound and infinite. Humankind as a whole has chosen not to consider creation a random incident, but instead to acknowledge a divine source as the reason for being. Most cosmologies, current and historical, reflect the concept of the Divine; the Abrahamic religions, as well as Hinduism, and a preponderance of Indigenous religions, hold that a Divine Power is our source and continues an ongoing relationship with creation.

In creation spirituality, our truest nature is our soul, who we are at the most profound level of being. In our natural state, the soul animates the mind, emotions, and behavior; the study of which we call psychology. Therefore, for those who believe we are creations of the Divine, our psychology is intrinsically woven into our divine nature. The abilities to think, rationalize, feel, and act on our thoughts and emotions all originate from our most basic identity, our soul.

Spiritual practice: Point to yourself. To what part of your body did your finger point? If it was the chest region, ask yourself why you pointed there instead of to your head, or to another part of your body. Write a journal entry about why you feel or do not feel we are primarily spiritual. If we are not primarily spiritual, what are we most primarily?

Self-Inquiry: Do you see psychology and spirituality as being alike or different? Why?

Dear God,

I now know much more about why we say, “May the Lord be with you” “And with your spirit.” Amen