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Evolutionary states

This pattern was clearly understood by Saint Paul and many of the fathers of the church. Depending on how fully formed, they said, a human being in his evolutionary state is either:

•          Animal

•          Natural (or normal human), or

•         Spiritual

Saint Paul said: “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.” ( 1 Corinthians 2:14-16.) The human faculty of communication comes from the formation in man of a new mind, but that new mind is normally almost unformed and hence is subordinated to the ‘physical man’.  Before this last passage, Saint Paul advised us to change this state of subordination: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” ( Romans 12:2.)

Today, this analysis gives rise to a therapeutic model based on the formation in the human psyche of abilities that enable the individual to meet the problems of the time, and on the formation of related elements in the collective psyche, the ‘common ground’ of the culture. The cultural elements sustain those elements in the individual, and the individuals form the culture, and ‘the forest is only healthy when the trees are healthy.’ Proper formation of the evolutionary psyche would also seem to require the proper, not legalistic or mechanical, formation in that psyche of means of co-operative behaviour. In particular this must prevent the need to fall back into the pack-behaviour common to most primates, producing competitive forms of response that are harmful to the population as a whole.

Philosophical errors about our nature also lead to problems in life, and the improvement of our understanding of life is also a part of cultural formation. Another element is the formation of an integrated emotional component. Because of these aspects, education in these fields was once the responsibility of the churches, but this is no-longer delegated to the churches, perhaps because they were no longer doing it as perhaps they should, and no effective substitute has been developed. What we more normally call ‘cultural’ activities are a subset of these processes of cultivating the psyche. Most skills, developed to a sufficient degree, have a side-effect of considerably improving the overall self-control of the individual. Most forms of aesthetic appreciation improve our ability to perceive in general, with similar benefits. Development of skills can also help us to survive in a competitive world, and aesthetic sensitivities can also be useful in everyday life, although sometimes they appear more as handicap, particularly if they have been overdeveloped.  

 CULTURAL

Cultural P1

Cultural P2

Cultural P3

Cultural P4

Cultural P5

Spiritual crisis of the West  

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