16. Emotional Education The therapeutic origins of Christian spiritual psychology can be found in the classical Greek education Known as paedia, which trained the emotions as well as the intellect. Saint Paul developed this into the long forgotten Christian idea that one cannot be a good Christian without practice. (Ref. ) This emotional education appears to have been the reason for the adoption of Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire. Later, Saint Symeon the New Theologian (Date...) pointed out that to live according to the beatitudes (Ref..) requires an unusual state of awareness.: "He who does not have attention in himself and does not guard his mind, cannot become pure in heart, and so cannot see God." Later, classical intellectualism and Renaissance humanism led to Western Christendom virtually ignoring such teachings. As a result, our secular world sees no need to educate the emotions - an error from which we are now reaping the whirlwind in suffering, and in our alienation from our own children ABSTRACT TEXT 17. Magnetisation to God The idea of 'magnetisation to God' is a key part of the spiritual psychology taught by Praxis, and was first applied to the early Christian method of integration of the psyche, so far as we know, in the second half of the nineteenth century by the Russian hermit Saint Theophan the Recluse, who, around 1860-1870. It is based on 'the construction in the psyche of a 'Magnetic Centre,' a complex structure of linked ideas that awaken and intensify the individual's love for God, and on methods of eventually fusing this structure to make it permanent. The methods are far older than the name and run through almost all Christian spirituality in different forms ABSTRACT TEXT 18. Understanding the mystical spirituality of the Christian east Praxis carries out research into these special truths and into the tradition that taught them. Investigations over nearly twenty years have confirmed that the most influential early fathers of Christianity practised and passed on these special teachings. Those ancient teachings formed an unwritten tradition which took the greatest of the great words of the gospel and taught those who wished how to put them into practice. From that practice came understanding. ABSTRACT TEXT 19. The shocks to the psyche once known as 'God’s drill' The Christian psychological method appears to function through two very different paths, but in fact these are intertwined. One method is essentially under our control, and depends on complex methods that search deeper and deeper until we totally transcend our ordinary everyday state of consciousness. The other is outside our control and involves the great crises in our lives; crises that may wake up individuals or, as in the time now coming on us, whole civilizations, crises that go so deep that one early father described them as ‘God’s drill.’ ABSTRACT TEXT 20. The threshold of real prayer Saint Anthony the Great, while in the Desert, said that there are three kinds of people who came to God: Those who automatically love God. Those were born with a fear of God. A third type, who come to God as a result of affliction ... as a result of the difficulties in their lives. Most people who grow up with modern attitudes and modern desires and still eventually remember to turn to God fall into this latter group. Even the second kind seem now to be quite unbelievably rare. But it does happen! ABSTRACT TEXT 21. Ora et Labora It is normal today to believe that to work for spirituality one should somehow avoid thought. From this misconception come many of the problems of the way: for who can avoid thought? Instead, all real spiritual methods must be understood differently. The activity of thought is continuous, so that one basic formula is that - except at specific points which will be understood by those who can attain them - the mind should be intentionally kept busy. When this is done correctly, the parasitic, accidentally triggered thoughts are replaced by thoughts that have been intentionally selected. ABSTRACT TEXT | 
