BUDDING PNEUMATOLOGISTS OF THE 21st CENTURY
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In the light of what I have been reading over the last decade or so, could it be that mainline psychologists and traditional psychiatrists are finally beginning to wake up and acknowledge what the mother of both, pneumatology--with the help of her mate, philosophy--told them centuries ago?

Without neglecting the importance of the mind (psyche) and the body (soma), pneumatology, and her mate said: Pay attention to the spirit (pnuema), which is both divine and human and permeaties all that IS.

And I will add: All this can happen under the guidance of GØD--that in which all existence exists.

ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE
AND ELIMINATE THE NEGATIVE
Oct. 14, 2006

Friday, October 13, the Globe and Mail published an article by
Elizabeth Bernstein, a columnist with the Wall Street Journal, which
poses the question: Should psychologists accentuate the positive to
stem depression?

Apparently, according to the article, a growing body of thought now
takes issue with the approach of traditional psychiatry—the kind which
puts the emphasis on spending numerous hours discussing negative
behaviour. This growing body of "new" thought—Where have they been?—is
made up of those who say that the best way to stem depression—and I
would add other conditions—is to focus on the positive.

All I can say is: It's about time!!!!

In the final analysis, life is ALL ABOUT LOVE, or the lack of it, isn't it?.

THE POWER TO WILL THE GOOD
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All I need to say, to all concerned, is: Thanks for a very positive
article on the power of positive thought—another way of saying, love.
Perhaps some psychologists, bless their unconscious hearts, are
beginning to discover what pneumatologists—students of the human
spirit and believers in hearts that are conscious--have been saying
for centuries, which is this: Deep down, all human beings are
spiritual beings having physical and mental experiences.

To back up those who take, "issue with traditional emphasis on the
negative" when dealing with depression, may I suggest we all take a
look at at least one of those early pneumatologists:

WAS PAUL THE FIRST PNEUMATOLOGIST?
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Before the one we know of a Paul was called by that name he was called Saul. We first come across the name Saul (of Tarsus) in the the book of Acts 7:54-58, where we read about the stoning and murder of Stephen. He was the first martyr of group of reformed Jews--"Followers of The Way", they were called--then under the leadership of Peter. There, Saul, who was obviously an official of the puppet-government set up by Rome and based in the Temple, is described as the young man who took care of the cloaks of the witness, and, no doubt the stoners. Acts 8:1 specifically states that Saul approved of the murder of Stephen. The story of the conversion of Saul ( c 34 CE), brought about, suddenly, by his encounter with the Holy Spirit (Pneuma) of God, is told in Acts 9. Then he was know as Saul of Tarsus.

Acts 13:9 we have the verse: "The Saul--also know as Paul (a Roman cognomen)--was filled with the Holy Spirit.

THE WAY, THE HOLY SPIRIT & PAUL'S PREPARATION
Between his conversion and the beginning of his first missionary journey Paul, under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, went through a period of preparation of about thirteen years. This means that he began his work as a missionary of "The Way" in c 47 CE. In Acts 22: 17, we read that he was led by the Holy Spirit, not to stay Jerusalem, but to take his message to Macedonia and then to other parts of the Gentile world, even to Rome. He tells us that while he was in the Temple, on the Sabbath Day, praying that, guided by the Holy Spirit, he fell into a trance and had a vision. The vision told him

Around this time Paul wrote a letter, while he was in prison, to the first Christians of a church he founded in Philippi,in the Roman province of Macedonia. It was the first church he founded on European soil during his second missionary journey.

The Philippian Christians, like him, were were going through a terrible time filled with lots of trouble. Instead of focusing on the negative, the doom and gloom, Paul's letter was filled with optimism. It was filled with words of thanks for what they had done for him. In addition it was filled with reassurance, confidence and encouragement.

For example, in Chapter 4:8, he asked the people to think on the following concepts: He asked them to focus on "...whatever is true ...honorable ...just ...pure ...lovely ...gracious ... excellent ... and worthy of praise ... think about these things."

During that second missionary journey he went from Philippi to Thessalonica, the capital city of Macedonia, then under Roman control. There, Paul established another church. To them, later, he wrote a letter similar to the one to Phillipi. It, too, was filled with words of reassurance, praise, hope, joy and encouragement.

In I Thessalonians, Paul called on the to live at peace and to treat one another with the highest respect... "We urge you" he wrote, "...to warn the idle, encourage the timid, help the weak and be patient with everyone ... at all times make it your aim to do good to one another and to all people ... be thankful in all circumstances. This is what God wants...". In chapter 5:23, he offered this blessing, " May the God who gives us peace make you holy and keep your whole being—spirit, mind and body (pneuma, psyche and soma)—free from every fault. He who calls you will do it because he is faithful."

NOTE THE SEQUENCE: SPIRIT, MIND AND BODY
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In the New Testament Greek, the words for spirit, mind and body are:
pneuma, psyche and soma. From 'pneuma' we get our English words,
pneumatic, and pneumonia. The French call car tires, 'pneus'. Because
the ancients looked up on air, wind and breath as something that was
awesome and mysterious—much like we do when we think of the vastness
of the vacuum of space—they used the word for them as a metaphor for
anything to do with 'spirit', which comes from the Latin, spiritus,
the translation of 'pneuma'. The Hebrew and Arabic languages use the
same metaphor.

ENTER PNEUMATOLOGY
From 'pneuma' we also get the seldom-used English word
'pneumatology'—the study of the spirit, divine and human. Out of
pneumatology came psychology. Both, originally, were a branches of
philosophy. Before modern times, 'pneumatology'—a branch of
metaphysics—was the commonly used word. In my opinion, we need to
revive it as a common word to refer to that consciousness which is
beyond ordinary animal psychology.

Another of the great pneumatological documents is Paul's letters to
the Corinthians. Corinth was the great and commercial capital of the
Roman province of Achaia. Ever the optimist and positive thinker,
Paul wrote to help the Christians in Corinth dealing with what were
obviously pneumatological differences, which were causing practical
problems including sectarian differences. He called on everyone,
through prayer and meditation, to get in touch with the hagio
pneuma—the Holy Spirit of God and the spirit of Christ. He counseled
that this spirit would help them solve problems they were having
around such ordinary matters as diet and family life.

THE GIFT OF HOLY SPIRIT--THE HAGIO PNEUMA--IS CENTRAL TO ALL
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Chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians is specifically about the gifts from the Holy
Spirit—pneumatological gifts. There were obvious spiritual differences
about the nature and function of the healing gifts of the 'pneuma'—the
spirit. Along with gifts of knowledge and wisdom and the ability to
communicate as spiritual teachers Paul mentions the power to heal. His
words about there being "one body with many parts" makes him and
advocate of holism long before the modern invention of the word.

THE HIGHEST GOOD AND THE GREATEST SPIRITUAL GIFT OF ALL—AGAPE/LOVE
===============
This leads us to his In his great "poem" on spiritual love. In I
Corinthians 13, he wrote about the highest spiritual gift of all,
agape/love--the foundation, even to this moment, of all effective
positive thinking. Agape--unconditional good will—must not be confused
with eros (sensual love) and philia (friendship). Eros and philia,,
guided by agape, can be delightful kinds of love. However, without
agape, they can lead to jealousy, greed, anger, crime, wars,
terrorism, murder and
numerous dark tragedies.

SOMATOLOGICAL, OR PHYSICAL BEINGS
Keep in mind that Paul did not deny the physical reality that, like
animals, we are physical, or somatic, beings governed by the somatic
laws of cause and effect. By using the term 'soma'--that is, body-he
acknowledged the importance of the physical basis of suffering and
pain. We are somatological beings.

PSYCHOLOGICAL, OR MENTAL BEINGS
Like animals, we are also mental, or psychological beings. In his use
of the Greek word 'psyche'--that is, mind, in the animal sense of the
word--long before modern psychology he acknowledged that there is a
psychosomatic, or mental, basis for suffering and pain.

PNEUMATOLOGICAL, OR SPIRITUAL BEINGS
However, then he added the word 'pneuma' (literally, air, wind, or
breath) as if to indicate that we are 'pneuma', or spiritual, beings
with the power to act pneumasomatically, and pneumapsychically, to
trump what happens in the mind and body. Conscious thinking (positive
and negative) can affect what happens in the mind and body.

WE ARE MORAL AND ETHICAL BEINGS
This means that much of what happens to us, for good or ill, is the
result of the conscious choices we make moment by moment. That is,
somewhere along the line, for better or for worse, we individuals, by
conscious (positive or negative) choice, cause this, that, or the
other thing, happen to us--for good or ill.

If what the article points out is true, more and more psychotherapists
are actually becoming pneumatherapists and recognizing that we ought
to be challenged to be moral and ethical human beings. They are
beginning to discover that what gets our attention gets us.

In his great book, Whatever Became of Sin (1973), the great American
psychiatrist, Karl Menninger (1893-1990) made this point, decades ago.
Along with his father and brother, in 1919, they founded of the
Menninger Clinic, Topeka, Kansas. The Menninger family were very
involved members of their church and the always pointed out the value
of positive rational religions. In 2003 the clinic, much smaller than
in its heyday, moved to the Houston area, where it continues in
association with the Baylor College of Medicine and the Methodist
Hospital.

Menninger's "mea culpa" letter To Thomas Szasz
This is interesting: On October 6, 1988, less than two years before
his death, Karl Menninger wrote an historic letter to Thomas Szasz,
the controversial libertarian psychiatrist and author of The Myth of
Mental Illness and many other books, repudiating his officially
expressed views on psychiatry. After reminiscing over his many years
of observations of the treatment of psychiatric patients, Menninger
expressed his regret that he did not come over to Szasz's positions on
psychiatry. "I am sorry you and I have gotten apparently so far apart
all these years", Menninger wrote and that "We might have enjoyed
discussing our observations together. You tried; you wanted me to come
there, I remember. I demurred. Mea culpa". The tone and style of
Menninger's letter suggests he had been much closer to Szasz on the
issues than one might have suspected from reading Szasz's criticisms
of Menninger. In Menninger's letter he puts the terms diagnosis,
patients and treatment in quotes, suggesting that he had agreed with
Szasz's arguments that psychiatric diagnosis is a medical fraud,
psychiatric patients are prisoners and psychiatric treatments are
tortures. Menninger's letter to Szasz and Szasz's reply has since been
released into the public domain and can be read in there entirety at
Szasz.com.

Think of it this way: Photographers who spend the day taking pictures
of garbage will end the day with lots of pictures garbage. Photographers who want beautiful pictures must be must choose to focus on that which will give them beautiful pictures. Some artists, with beauty in mind, are even able to take pictures of garbage which look beautiful.

The point of all the above is as follows:

SPIRITUALITY AND THE MAKING OF PERSONAL CHOICES
===============================================
There are times when each of us needs to remind ourselves to take personal, or spiritual, responsibility for the personal and spiritual choices we make.

The more we pay attention to this reminder, the more freedom we will gain over what happens to us, physically and mentally. Psychologists, who willingly recognize this, and take on the role of so reminding us of this, are no longer just psychologists, they are pneumatologists. Bless all those with the courage to make the move.

When Richard Dawkins speaks about
ABOUT SCIENCE-BASED SPIRITUALITY,
IMHO, he is speaking pneumatologically
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Recently, I read that the currently-famous "atheist"--the modern version of Robert Ingersol--Richard Dawkins, of Oxford, agrees that there is such a thing as "spirituality". Thank you, Richard.

However, Richard Dawkins also asks us to distinguish between a science-based spirituality and one that is based on a kind of Bible-believing religious literalism.

Of course RD is right. And I am sure he understands that this is not a new idea. As I recall, without calling it "science-based" I made this same kind of distinction when, in the 1940's, I decided to study theology and spirituality with the intention of offering myself as a candidate for the Christian ministry in the United Church of Canada. With this as my intention, in 1947, I entered Mount Allison University, Sackville, NB. http://www.mta.ca I was seventeen.

I say that I made a science-based decision because, even as a young student, I was very interested in all the sciences, including mathematics, physics, chemistry, geography and other sciences to which I was introduced along the way. When I made the conscious decision to take a bachelor of arts degree I did so with a science-based attitude. In my freshman year I even took Maths and Physics. In addition I took English, History, including Church History, Religious Studies--and not just Christianity. I studied the Bible, including Hebrew and Greek, and other sacred books, as literature. Things really came together for me when I was introduced to psychology and philosophy. I made them my major.

I entered the Pine Hill Divinity Hall--now part of the Atlantic School of Theology, Halifax, NS--in 1951. There I concentrated on Theology--the study of God--more Bible studies (Hebrew and Greek) more Church History, and all with a non emotion-based attitude. Even then, I did not think of God as a person to whom I could relate emotionally.

NON-DOGMATIC FAITH
While I accepted the importance of having and cultivating the quality we call faith, I wanted a non-dogmatic faith, one that is rooted in reason. I was prepared then, as I am now, to have a faith that went beyond reason, but I was not prepared to believe anything, blindly, anything that is blatantly contrary to reason.

Fortunately for me, the same year I entered Mount Allison university, 1947, was the same year the university appointed the Rev. Arthur Ebbutt as the head of 60 theological students. On the first day, as part of his introduction, he told us in effect: "We are all here as students at this university. As students we are here to ask questions, to think and to explore the reasons behind what we believe. I trust that we will not hang up our brains with out hats when we come in to this classroom." I remember thinking to myself: Now this is what I had hoped it would be like.

I remember hearing, later, that certain Bible-believing literalists members of the class were not pleased with Professor Ebbutt's non-dogmatic way of teaching about about God and the Bible--"His Holy Word". They actually made several attempts to reform the university. For example, they asked that the tennis courts be closed on Sunday. Also, they asked that the department of Geology be required to teach creationism, or close.

I am happy to report that the Bible-believing literalists were not successful. They were told, politely, that Mount Allison is a place where it is possible to have a science-based faith.

SCIENCE AND FAITH CAN LIVE IN HARMONY

Interestingly, many modern scientists are not the hard-nosed materialists many used to be. They are beginning to accept that material things are not just dead and lifeless things without any kind of individuality--one of the characteristics of what it means to be spiritual.

For example, scientists who study the nature of material things tell us that there is no such thing as two things that are exactly alike, even though on the surface they appear to look alike. This applies to such things as snowflakes, and other crystals, grains of sand, salt, sugar, individual seeds, whatever.

It is probably not by accident that the poets who wrote the Bible used air (pneuma, in Greek) and water (udatos, in Greek) as metaphors having to do with spirit and the creation of things. Jesus, when he says that God is Spirit (pneuma, in Greek) he actually uses 'air' as a metaphor for God.
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We need to keep in mind, also, that science does not pretend to know it all. For example, take a look at
Another example is this: In Hebrew, the root word for G-d (This is the way the Orthodox write the divine name) is EL. It refers to mysterious action, or energy in all things. With this in mind, take note of this:
For me, this poses a very important question: What is spirituality?

What does one actually mean when one says: "Of course I agree that I am a physical and animal-like being; that I am one in possession of a body and a mind. However, am I being arrogant to say that I feel that I am more than that; that I am also a spiritual being, a person--one who is aware of being aware?

Keep in mind that, in no way does this mean that I think of myself as being superior? On the contrary, it means that I think of myself as being more responsible for things as they are. I also feel that I am responsible for understanding how things operate and for doing my best to make things better. It seems to me that science and spirituality have a lot in common.
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THE BIRTH OF SPIRITUALITY, IN ME
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Looking back, at a certain point in my childhood, probably when I first learned to use words to communicate my needs, I became aware of being aware. That is, I became consciously aware of my individuality, as a separate person apart from other
persons, especially my parents and siblings around me.

IMHO, I feel that it was at that point that I became a spiritually-based and human being. That is, I became a person with the ability to use my consciousness, to will and to make choices--for better and for worse.

THE BEGINNING OF SELFISHNESS?
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Looking back, it seems that I chose the things that I wanted to choose; the things that came naturally, and that made ME feel good, physically and mentally, not necessarily the things that were good for me, or for others. In other words, I did not know enough to make moral and ethical choices.

In that sense I was an animal-like being and one without sin, in the moral sense of the word. Later, I learned that the sense of sin requires conscious knowledge of what one is doing, and intention in doing it.

Becoming aware of what was good for me, and for others, did not come
naturally; it came, later. It came as the result of the teachings of my parents, my older siblings, my teachers, my church and community. And often, it came as the result of certain experience which wer physically and/or mentally painful. Biblically speaking, there came a time when I ate of "the tree of knowledge of good and evil" and I lost my garden of Eden experience--my innocence.

In short, at this point, I became aware of what I now call "the pneuma factor". conscious and/or spiritually-minded person. That is, technically speaking, I began to think pneumatolgically. By the way, the philsophers of before, and around, the time of Jesus thought and wrote pneumatologically. That is

WHEN JESUS SPOKE PNEUMATOLOGICALLY
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I repeat, early in the Gospel of John, Jesus--in the original and Greek version--used the Greek word 'pneuma' a number of times.

In John 3, Jesus, speaking virtually as a pneumatologist, describes what it means to be "born again", "of the water"--a metaphor for unconsciousness--and "of the spirit". The Greek is 'pneuma'--air, wind or breath--a metaphor for consciouness.

In John 4: 24--in his conversation with the Samaritan woman--Jesus defines God as Spirit, which translates the Greek, pneuma. In John 3: 5--in his conversation with Nicodemus about the necessity of being "born again"--he refers to being born of the Spirit--the pneuma. And there are many other such references.

In 2 Thessalonians 5:23. In the New Testament Greek, Paul uses three Greek words--soma, psyche and pneuma. He expresses his concern that we reach our full potential--physically (somatically), mentally (psychologically) and spiritually (pneumatologically).

BTW, the Hebrew for spirit, is ruach; the Arabic is ruh. We get our
word from the Latin, spirito.

I trust you can see the point that I am making here: For the Bible writers, materiality and spirituality, like a horse and carriage, go together like love and marriage.

Richard Dawkins comments about "science-based" spirituality, of which I recently became aware, prompts me to revise what I wrote--see post #2--last October about pneumatology.

When Paul spoke of focusing on the Truth he was speaking of coming from the experience of Truth to maintain the focus in and amongst distractions.

One of the many failures in the history of the Christian churches was the pressure the church put on the people to give up their authority to those who could speak to God.

Jesus' message was quite clear, that the ability to know God is within each and God was in all.

Tho hypnosis can at times help boost what one already knows inside from past experience it does not remove the impressions that one experiences as real.
If one is told to focus on spirit but has no real experience of spirit then any idea supplanted within the individual is only relative to what one knows about themselves and reality.
Goodness will relate to the ideal in relative terms but if one believes from their experience that the diversity and control that has permeated ones existence is in the hands of something far more powerful than ones own desires, then that will linger within the individual chipping away at any hypnotic suggestion.
One could lend themselves to another voice that chips at the beliefs and the experiences such as the hypnotic suggestion repeatedly administered but this is not what Jesus had in mind when he taught. He was not trying to hypnotize the people, he was the living example.

If one is led by their own choice and desire to an experience of the supreme being and it is real, hypnosis is then replaced by choice to focus on the real, and that is far more powerful than planting a thought about God in the mind that is not backed by experience.
This is what Paul meant. Giving praise and gratitude to the real was the example of choice in an amongst the chaos of the disbelief and diversity of opposing thought streams that were projected in the masses who would oppose the reality of God and any worship of God.

One cannot surrender to the Supreme being without having an experience of the Supreme being.
One can conjure up ideas about the Supreme being and surrender to their best guess but whatever still has power will still exist and often evil that is not recognized as being self created will still rule in and amongst the thoughts of relative happiness and a relative God.

Bandaids often feel better but curing what causes the illness is always more powerful than trying to treat the symptoms

I agree. And, IMHO, he was just one of the ones to come to the same unitheist-like conclusion.