Welcome

to a map of psychological spirituality suitable for modern times

 

 
Introducing

Patterns

of

Spirituality

.

.

Landmarks

on a

Journey

 

 

The ideas on this site focus on the difficulties, crises and goals of spiritual development.

 

When a person treads the spiritual path, how can he/she know where he/she is on their journey? What landmarks are there that can tell them how far from or near to journey's end they are? Is he/she truly being guided by God, or is the soul doing most of the work?

Eastern traditions focus on landmarks of psychic development, as in the classical way of yoga meditation and contemplation (as expounded by Patanjali). However, what is needed for Westerners is a psychological classification of development. The difference is that psychic methods centre on mastering the mind, whilst psychological methods centre on mastering the emotions and feelings. In today's high-stress world, maturing one's emotional nature is more important than maturing the mental nature.

On this website I give my views on the psychological drama of spiritual growth.

 

I do not equate spirituality with religiosity. A religious person can be spiritual, though a spiritual person does not have to be a religious one. I do not follow any religion. This has not prevented me from having many varied psychic and spiritual experiences, with a highlight of zen satori (but in mathematical form) in my early 20s.

 

The articles on this site are in nine sections.

The article on emotion has three parts to it, and features a basic model which allows me to define what an emotion is. Then I go on to describe the characteristics of emotions and how to identify them.

The article on abreaction has five parts to it. It features the role of anxiety, laws of the unconscious mind, and catharsis and suggestion. It explains the roles of resentment and bitterness, and the ways to resolve them using forgiveness and acceptance. The two abreactions that are featured here are those of guilt and pride. The abreactions of narcissism and jealousy are described in section 8.

These two articles can also be accessed from the introduction.

The introduction in section 1 gives an overview of each section.

   

 

Section 1

Awareness

Introduction

Emotion . . . . E1 . E2 . E3 . . also see Note below

Abreaction .A1 . A2 . A3 . A4 . A5 - - the abreactions of guilt and pride

 

Section 2

Stages

Faith

Orientations

Conflict within Idealism - overview

Conflict within Idealism - three stages

Conflict within Idealism - ethics and three ideals

Stages of Belief

 

Section 3

Psychological . Metaphysics

Monism & Dualism

Essence & Monad theory

Spiritual Power

 

Section 4

Reincarnation

Ego & Soul

Psychological Mechanics

 

Section 5

The Inward Life

Identification & Self-absorption

Dialectics and Human Evolution

Utopian Idealism

 

Section 6

Enlightenment

Satori

Three Satories

Cosmic Abreaction

 

Section 7

Causality or Karma

Dialectics and Karma

Tradition and Modernity

Problems of the Spiritual Life

 

Section 8

From the Old to the New

Justification

The Conversion Experience - - the abreactions of narcissism and jealousy

Existentialism & Human Evolution

 

Section 9

More Articles

Levels of Suffering

The Purpose of Suffering - new article

 

Articles by Readers & other Writers

List of Readers' & Writers' Articles

 

References and Links

 

Links and Booklist
includes links to my other websites.

Glossary
includes Definitions, Diagrammes, Tables and a bigger booklist.

About Me

 

Note
The three articles on emotion and the five articles on abreaction are all long articles. On my website World of Emotion, they are split up into much smaller page sizes in order to make them easier to read and digest. See Links and Booklist page for the address.

* * * * *

This site was put on the internet in Autumn 2002. It was off-line from late 2004 to March 2005, when it changed address. The old address was www.dawndreamer.co.uk. This site is now a sub-domain of my site for general philosophy, which is at www.modern-thinker.co.uk/

Copyright © 2002 Ian Heath
All Rights Reserved

The copyright is mine, and the articles are free to use. They can be reproduced anywhere, so long as the source is acknowledged.

 

Ian Heath
London, UK

www.dawndreamer.modern-thinker.co.uk/

e-mail address:
ianheath6.dd<at>discover-your-mind.co.uk

If you want to contact me, use the address above but replace the <at> by @

It may be a few days before I can respond to correspondence.

 

Button design from DeKnop button manager - see Links and Booklist page.