Spiritual Advice and Guidance Blog: Urantia Book

Q: Our degree of self-control is the measure of our soul. Is it cheating to use medications to increase ones control of emotions like anger, sexual lust, anxiety or any other emotional unbalance?

A: It may be a measure of a person's soul that they think enough of themselves and other people to want to do whatever they can to get help if they feel out of control in the way of harmful emotional states. These states can be due to so many things - environmental, inherited, or simple imbalance, some of which can be addressed through medications. Sometimes people are not thinking of anything but relief from their symptoms...getting that relief may help them in their spiritual life.

Whether or not such a person is "cheating" because they may be getting help with harmful emotions seems a very subjective and personal matter which is none of my business. If it helps people to navigate in this world a little better for awhile, where's the harm? And why pass any kind of judgment?

Is it cheating to take a tranquilizer to keep from getting an anxiety attack? Drugs are drugs; some are intended to normalize abnormal behavior. To not use them when they're available and intended to correct a particular behavior pattern would be ignorant.

Jesus taught us that self-mastery is an ideal worth striving for. Those of us who are lucky enough to have this Revelation know that true self-mastery is a spiritual achievement which can be had through perseverance, determination, faith, trust, and prayer. But even so, just because a person takes medication to help them through a rough time in their life does not mean that they are failing at self-mastery. Seeking help may, in itself, be evidence of self-mastery. And spiritual work can surely be done even with medication.

How you get to self-mastery not be not the important thing - THAT you get there seems more important.

Q: I fully understand that some people HAVE to use medications to be calm, like those in psychiatric asylums. Though I was wondering whether it is a spiritual achievement to get self-control, when you are chemically under control through administered medications. I heard, as an example, about this dude who almost lived in celibacy, though his celibacy was a result of medications....not supreme self-control. If a person then buys anger-, sexual management pills to become more spiritual, is the result then spiritual or is it almost a pathetic attempt to cheat God?

A: So, to rephrase that - just so we're clear: Someone knows that self-control is a spiritual achievement. They want that spiritual achievement, so they buy pills to control their behavior chemically, hoping to become more spiritual as a result of the control because they can't control themselves any other way...?

I can't speak for God, or anyone else, but if their desire is truly spiritual growth, it'll probably work out - maybe not that way, but some way. God knows the heart, and I am sure he judges on that alone.

To cheat God? Spiritual achievement occurs when will power is used to overcome compulsions or desires. If one has no overriding sexual impulses or no predilection toward anger because they have been deadened through medications, then being celibate or placid have no spiritual components.

Labels: medicine, self-control, self-mastery, soul, The Urantia Book

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Monday, April 07, 2008

Healthy way to reach God

6 Apr 2008,
Deah Curry

...long ago our ancestors knew a fundamental truth that we are only recently rediscovering: good mental health is inextricably intertwined with deep spiritual development. Transpersonal psychologists in the past several decades have produced good science that shows that people who have strong spiritual beliefs and practices are generally more resilient in the face of life crises, and tend to have an easier time recovering from some physical illnesses.

This should not be surprising. After all, the psyche â€” a Greek word for soul â€” which has come to be used for the mind or one's consciousness in modern times, is inescapably spiritual in its core nature. And so are we. This does not mean that we must return to church or temple, or become ultra religious to fulfil the promise of deep spirituality as a safeguard for mental and physical health. Let's not confuse religious belief and observance with spiritual development, which is about cultivating awareness, empathy and wisdom, being of service, and having tolerance and integrity â€” all virtues that can and should apply no matter what religious framework one believes in. Healing emotions often involves developing one's spirituality.

These healing and development efforts in education and therapy are about raising consciousness in order to support transformation in the learner or client. Transformation is more than just change. It occurs at such a deep level that we are truly different beings when we undergo transformation. Transformative change is essential for all of us in order to become better people, able to make a beneficial difference in the world and in our own lives. No matter where you are in your personal spiritual journey, or mental health status, it is useful to ponder these five transformative questions.

In the way you are living your life, how are you being the medicine? In teaching naturopathic medical students, the relevance of that question is obvious. But if we think about medicine as energetic spiritual power, as the First Peoples of America did and do, I think this question applies to all of us on the path of transformational consciousness. Being the medicine is about how you are living your life in such a way as to be respectfully and appropriately using the spiritual power that is innate within you. What can you further develop in order to be the medicine more fully?

What do you trust? Notice I didn't ask who. This question is asking: in what do you place your belief that all is and will be as it should be? It's always interesting to try to take this question down as deep as one can with as much honesty as one can stand. In your everyday life, are you acting in congruence with what you say you trust? If not, what needs to be surrendered, reframed, or healed in order to be in alignment with what you say you trust? What cause will you give your life?

The answer to this question is often very telling as to how congruent we are with our espoused and lived values. What we prioritise in thoughts, words, and deeds on a daily basis is what we are giving our life energy to. Many of us say we value our families, but then we work 16 hours a day, rarely eat a meal together, and put business success above interpersonal family relationships. Doing this is giving life energy to work, to stress, to something other than the family that is supposedly valued. What we're actually doing is not congruent with what we're saying we give our life to. Philosophers might say that happiness comes from not waiting until circumstances force you to choose between the cause for which you would give your life, and the life you live everyday. Are you really living a life of purpose and meaning now, and if not, what needs to change?

What you put your attention on grows. Are you growing what you want to be growing? If not, how does your attention need to shift? It really means something spiritually profound and psychologically healthy to be able to say you walk your talk. Can you say that with full integrity? If not, look at how you need to re-prioritise your choices.

At the end of your life, what will you have dared so that you can pass on with no regrets?

Daring to take risks is one of the most essential transformative energies that I know of for both spiritual development and mental health. In fact many mental health and relationship problems start from a fear of risking being fully seen as our authentic selves, fear of asserting our whole truth, fear of risking rejection and abandonment by those we love, fear of risking pride or security, and other large and small risks. Daring is a catalyst for becoming everything we are meant to be.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Healthy_way_to_reach_God/articleshow/2929454.cms

Labels: Deah Curry, medicine, mental health, religion, spirituality, transformation, trust