For who has known the nous of the Lord, that he may instruct him, but we have the nous of Christ. ( I Corinthians 2.16. ) The key to Christian psychological methods is found in the possibility of making changes to the deepest levels of the human psyche; changes that can create a new and different kind of mind, one which can never occur by chance. What then is the human mind, what changes it, and what can it become? The Greeks of the early church used several related words, particular nous, and psyche. But how can we obtain the 'nous of Christ?' The changed human mind contains something almost absent from the ordinary unawoken psyche, but first, it is our thinking which must change. The changed human mind contains something almost absent from the ordinary unawoken psyche, but first, our thinking must change. It was claimed by John Locke that at birth the human mind is a ' tabula rasa' a blank slate on which nothing has yet been written. The part of the psyche described by the Greek word nous, (found in this quotation from Saint Paul and normally translated into English - particularly in this gospel quotation) - as 'mind,' is indeed an almost blank slate at birth, and if our 'mind' is to be clear it needs to become blank again - 'save ye become as little children.' But investigation shows that in other ways the nous is not quite the same as our modern idea of mind. In the traditional Christian psychology, it is the nous the eye of the psyche where the most important changes must occur: particularly a change described in the Greek word metanoia: change of nous, which is normally translated repentance, as in the famous passage in Mark. "Repent, for the rulership of God is close at hand." (Matthew 3:2.) The Greek word here and in Matthew 4:17 is metanoiete change of nous. |
