|
Link to share: https://hanglberger-manfred.de/en-understanding-feelings.htm |
|
The "Copernican turn" understood through the World of Emotions and thus by People
In some important philosophical directions in ancient Greece there was already a general devaluation of the emotional world, which was seen as the opposite of rational thinking. The repression of emotions was praised as valuable self-control appropriate to the educated man.
Since the psychological causes of irascibility, sexual and material greed or extreme jealousy, for example, were not known, the feelings were regarded as a dangerous loss of morals and self-control. It was, of course even then until nowadays, a frightening experience that irascibility and unbridled sexuality can cause destructive behaviors to the point of murder. Equanimity and steadfastness in the face of the interplay of emotions were therefore seen as essential qualities of a mature man.
Important authorities of the early Church adopted this view of the emotional world and reinforced this devaluation of some feelings (rage, sexual desire, ...) by interpreting them as work of the devil and thus as absolute opposition to the will of God.
They were convinced that with these "sinful feelings", in a certain way, they had the devil in themselves. To fight the devil in oneself, as demanded by the Christians, then meant to fight a part of oneself. If some feelings are considered as pleasing to God (love, compassion, ...) and others as sinful, then man is torn apart inwardly. His soul becomes a constant battlefield of different feelings.
Devalued feelings are actually often very destructive because they are neither understood nor sought to be understood. Faithful, conscientious people fear them because they cannot always be brought under control and then they can trigger destructive behaviors. For everything spiritual that is devalued and suppressed, often develops a life of its own that eludes dialogue and creative communication.
Since many feelings as signals of the soul, provide man with inner, independent orientation, the person who has learned to evaluate and suppress feelings loses his inner compass. Man then needs a “master” who tells him what to do and what not to do. The Church has settled this problem introducing the obligation of obedience to the faithful. Most believers have not rebelled against this obligation, because when they find themselves dominated by devalued feelings in their emotional insecurity, they are grateful to receive guidance from the authorities of the Church.
That obedience is in blatant contradiction to the message of Jesus, believers were not aware of. In fact, Jesus never used the words "obedience" and "obey" to refer to people. Obviously they were no concepts of value in the eyes of Jesus. With him it is radically about becoming responsible and thus about the spiritual-mental independence of man. This is contrary to obedience thinking. Especially his parables are intended to educate the believers to use their own senses and to develop their own judgment. His legacy of the “New Covenant” at the Last Supper cannot be separated from the promise of the “New Covenant” made by the prophet Jeremiah, who had already announced it about 600 years before Jesus Crist and which already deals with becoming radically mature and responsible (Jer 31:33-34: "No one will teach the other any longer …).
The Protestant Church, too, has always evaluated feelings, because since Luther it has primarily focused on Paul, who, unlike Jesus, often uses the words "obedience and obey" and thus represents a different understanding of authority than Jesus. Especially in the New Testament epistolary literature, some feelings are clearly devalued and presented as contrary to the will of God. With some Church fathers this behavior takes on extreme traits.
Obedience thinking in the Church was a major reason why the community of faith was split into a "teaching" (= commanding) and "listening" (= obeying) Church, giving rise to the clericalism that Pope Francis describes as the problem of the Church of our time. By adopting the social order of the Middle Ages in the form of nobility and "common people" into the Church order (prince-bishops, " venerable priests" and "laymen"), this problem of clericalism being the order of the church's ranks was considerably aggravated and consolidated for many centuries.
When the religious authority (Church, bishops, priests) evaluates feelings, it plunges believers into constant feelings of guilt, since the evaluated feelings come and go like most other feelings - regardless of the willpower of the person. Thus, believers repeatedly perceive the existence of the demonized feelings inside of themselves and consequently see themselves as sinners, because a Christian should not have such feelings. People who feel guilty all the time are easily intimidated and made to be obedient and submissive. At the same time, for many centuries, the Church has offered to the faithful rites performed by its priests (confession, confession of guilt in Holy Mass) in order to free themselves from these feelings of guilt. At first, problems of guilt are created with the faithful, for which a solution is already existing which is to be obligatorily accepted by the faithful. Anyone who does not accept this "offer" is threatened with eternal punishment in hell. This is a way to bind the faithful to the Church and make them dependent on it.
One can only give up the evaluation of feelings if one also understands the extreme and often destructive feelings, such as irascibility and sexual instability, as signals of the psyche, because they indicate that there is still mental homework to be done. Modern psychology offers the decisive help for this, because it shows that there are two sources to intensify feelings which can lead them to become destructive.
1. One source is
repressions (usually) in childhood, which later in adulthood can rise
unconsciously and uncontrollably and can intensify current feelings in such a
way that we can lose control and then they become destructive. 2. The second source for an intensification of our emotions is us being unconsciously attached to repressed feelings of our parents, sometimes our grandparents, or other relatives. If our ancestors have experienced painful things that they could not work out, but have repressed, their children and grandchildren could take over their feelings. When these children are adults, their own emotions can become stronger in a way that their behavior takes on destructive traits. If we know about these correlations and perceive them, then we can leave the emotional burdens of the ancestors with them, respect them with their destiny and accept our life from them. In this way we become free from these unconscious burdens, and the ancestors experience compassion and respect for their fate, which then they can accept more easily and thus affirm their lives more comprehensively. Even if those ancestors have already passed away, compassion and respect for their fate have a liberating and healing effect on those now living. In family constellations, those who take on the roles of the deceased, also experience relief through compassion and respect from the living. Persons who, in the sense of religious faith, assume a permanent connection between the living and the deceased, can see this as an indication that a therapeutically and spiritually healing way to handle the burdensome feelings one has inherited from one's ancestors, will also become a blessing to them, even if they are already deceased.
If we stop evaluating feelings, but try to understand their signals, they become an inner compass, which promotes our self-esteem, our independence, our decision-making competence and thus the development towards a mature conscience. How differentiated our psyche perceives the inner and outer world with the signals of our feelings is shown by the following compilation of more than 100 feelings: >>>
No longer suppressing and evaluating our emotions but trying to understand them, we become free from the unspeakable inner turmoil, we can rather find inner peace and thus a more positive attitude towards ourselves and our existence in this world. We will thereby develop a different understanding of authority and cooperation, as we overcome obedience thinking and make our decisions from within. In this way, one's own experience, one's own perception and one's own thinking become the path to maturity, as it is appropriate to human dignity - or, in religious language, to our “likeness to God”. This view of the world of emotions and the corresponding practice is the crucial way to prevent spiritual abuse. (More in detail: Formation of conscience >>> )
Thus, this positive view of the world of emotions has a similarly important significance for the understanding of the human being as the "Copernican turn" for the astronomical understanding of the universe and our position in it. It would be very important
to address also in liturgy and in the prayer culture of the Church the ways
and the realization of holistic maturity.
Manfred Hanglberger
Translated by: Ingeborg Schmutte
Link to share: https://hanglberger-manfred.de/en-understanding-feelings.htm |
