Reflections on Spirituality

Pelle Rosenquist

One of the dominant and recurring themes one encounters in the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg may be expressed simply as follows: the Spiritual World is the world of cause and the Natural World is the world of effect.

To give this universally powerful concept a more conscious and personal meaning in each of our lives, Swedenborg asserts: "..nothing ever takes place in man without a cause in the spiritual world.:"(Arcana Caelestia, paragraph 5713).
Nothing! This is a very elevating idea (both actually and figuratively) to keep in mind whenever we pause to contemplate the various and sometimes perplexing occurrences in our lives.

This is one of the reasons we should be encouraged by seeing the word "Spirituality" being used with increasing frequency in many fields of seemingly unrelated endeavor. It has certainly become a veritable watchword in Nutrition, Ecology and particularly in the Healing Arts- all part of the burgeoning holistic movement.

For instance, as many may know, for the past several years Harvard Medical School has sponsored a periodic symposium entitled Spirituality and Healing in Medicine. Participants have included leaders in the disciplines of medicine (both traditional and "alternative" or "complementary"), psychotherapy, psychology, religion (a wide spectrum of faiths represented), philosophy and even statistics.

Some truly remarkable studies have been undertaken with equally remarkable results reported. As the title of the continuing symposium indicates, they have embarked on a serious endeavour to ascertain the place and efficacy, if any, of including a recognition of and an appeal to "spirituality" in the healing process. And the clear intent of those so conscientiously involved in these studies is their very serious wish to understand the truly remarkable 'outcome' they have observed so that those results may be reliably replicated on demand.

This is where I believe dangers arise- not only in the medical model just used as an example, but in any such approach to 'spirituality' in general. The fact is, the Spiritual cannot be accessed so 'easily'. First of all, Swedenborg makes it abundantly clear that the Spiritual is not in Space & Time and therefore is discretely different from the Natural. It is not simply a 'finer' natural to be sought and discovered by probing ever deeper into the human Psyche. It, the Spiritual, is indeed 'there', ever present, ever the 'conduit' of course into the world of effect; but not properly a subject which is destined to surrender its 'secret' to the probing of the rational - no matter how altruistic the motive.

This is not to say that ventures such as the Harvard sponsored studies are not useful- they surely are. But if the goal is to ultimately 'understand' the functioning of the spiritual with the concomitant wish to somehow thereby control of influence the spiritual, it is doomed to failure. (Dr.Michael Kearney in his excellent book, Mortally Wounded, without mentioning the spiritual specifically, is surely alluding to this when he warns against" ..certain psychological techniques which access the image-laden depths of soul with the purpose of gaining better understanding and more control of one's life. Ultimately, this is about ego-strengthening at the expense of soul tendency will be, in the heat of frustration and disappointment, to deny the existence of what cannot be specifically identified and manipulated. When, in fact, such a failure simply proves that the Spiritual does exist, just as described by Swedenborg, and is the very source of existence itself! But, to reiterate, discouragement due to the failure to access and activate the Spiritual at will, may tragically result in it being turned away from, dismissed as some kind of 'wishful-thinking' projection and fall into fable.

The point is, we should celebrate and encourage the growing awareness of the primacy of the Spiritual; wonder at its presence in seeming miracles; rejoice in its tantalising and unifying traces in teh connectedness of all things; and gratefully receives its blessings. But always remaining ever mindful of the fact that the Spiritual in which we all abide unconsciously, the conscious awareness of which we are in constant tendency toward, is ultimately at gift. It is a gift never to be attained by rational strivings, no matter how well-intentioned, for it is the 'reward' of genuine humility, the blessing of finally acknowledging our nothingness.

Returning to and concluding with a reference to the Harvard symposium, the need to humbly accept the presence of the Spiritual as a 'given' may be best expressed by an absolutely breathtaking statement made by a patient in a group of women in the last stages of terminal breast cancer. When asked if she found the recognition of the Spiritual a helpful component of treatment, she calmly replied without hesitation: "Yes, by eliminating the concept of time, we do live longer." That is an assertion to contemplate!- from a courageous woman who was obviously blessed with a healing glimpse of the Spiritual not long before her fully conscious and joyful entrance into it!

Copyright S.Pelle Rosenquist 1999

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