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The Spirit, The Psyche and The Science

Silvia • October 10, 2020
Spirituality, a timeless aspect of human existence, transcends cultures and is a part of everyday life for many. It is a universal force that has shaped specific cultures and is deeply ingrained in people and ethnic groups close to nature. 
In recent decades, it has become increasingly "fashionable" to deal with spiritual things, to "become one", and unfortunately, the content of the word has become more and more colourful and confusing. Some people specifically reject it because they think it is a collective name for unacceptably single-minded, demonic religious sects. On the other hand, some people fervently believe that they are deeply spiritual because they go to church, wear rosaries or Malas, or know the content of scriptures belonging to a religion. They think they know the higher meaning and reason for human existence, the role of the forces of the invisible world in our lives.

According to today's general position, spirituality is a form of worldview or form that believes in the existence of supernatural forces. In this sense, all religions are spiritual, but at the same time, people outside of all religions believe in the above principles. The word itself comes from the Latin word spiritus, which means breath. In her book "Exploring the Meaning of Spirituality", Sharon Janis points out how similar the word "spiritual" sounds to the words "inspire" and "expire". In her view, it is very appropriate since when the soul is filled with spiritual energy, we experience deep inspiration. We leave the earthly world when the spiritual energy leaves our body for good. There is no doubt that the concept of spirituality is closely related to air, which is light, invisible, volatile, and simultaneously indispensable.

The spiritual SELF exists universally in all people and is not dependent on religion. It has much more to do with today's rapidly developing quantum physics, energy system theories, and scientific research into consciousness than with gurus pretending to be religious or churches using mass manipulation. What makes us different is the extent to which we use, develop, and nurture this spiritual self of ours.

Of course, understanding it is more accessible through helpers, groups, and traditions, but the essence always happens deep inside, within us.

Of course, the "innermost" can only be achieved by looking inward, for which meditation is the most natural and always available method. I know that many people have already started some meditation practice, but I also know that many people cannot even imagine it. There are countless reasons, partly social, economic, and geographical. Still, there are many internal barriers and resistance behind the fact that we reject this most intimate coexistence with ourselves. Because meditation is nothing more than turning the constantly outward focus inward, withdrawing into our innermost selves, feeling and understanding what we see there, and then - if necessary - percolating our experiences towards the alert consciousness, somehow, in this process, our self-aware, self-aware, self-healing self can be born.

Spiritual psychology or psychospirituality?

Our first set is the more significant, ancient, intangible spirituality; the other is the fresher, younger, less, but much more concrete, science-focused psychology. A trend or attitude began to develop at the intersection of the two sets. It became more widespread, giving space to spirituality within psychology in varying proportions and depth, depending on the culture. My formulation shows that the primary field of activity is psychology, i.e., research in this direction takes place, and spiritual elements appear in psychological counselling and therapies. (Spirituality does not need the presence of psychology, which, with its existence, offers an area of ​​investigation, systems of comparison, and tools for scientific investigation and use.)

Their relationship is similar to that of master and student. The ancient wisdom of spirituality inscrutably conveys new questions, paths, and teachings, which the excellent student tries to integrate into the current scientific paradigm with appropriate humility and thorough knowledge.

This thing is not new at all. The emergence of psychology as a science is closely related to psychoanalysis, and we are already there with Jung, whose conceptual system is still influential today and is increasingly popular among most scientific thinkers. Just think about the collective unconscious, or synchronicity, which is starting to become completely ordinary. Otherwise, we might not even be able to understand our lives today. This is precisely the essence of the modern hand-in-hand between spirituality and science: to be able to provide accessible and understandable answers and instructions to the increasingly chaotic, physically dull, emotionally and intellectually overwhelming world.
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