Page 4 Psychological development The psyche is often dominated by the body, which shapes it generally on the basis of genetic information. In this state it exercises its power of choice in the wrong way, and instead of choosing the good, the true, and the spiritual, it chooses the petty and the personal, and pursues physical or psychological pleasure instead the joys of a spirit about which it knows little or nothing. Palamas wrote: “But the Evil One (the animal side of life), who is always looking for ways of wickedly turning us aside from what is higher, casts spells in our psyches, then interlaces them almost inescapably with the ties that are most dear to men of vanity. To some he suggests varied and profound vistas of knowledge, while to others he suggests wealth, or false fame, or carnal pleasures. His purpose is that we spend our whole lives seeking these things, and never have enough strength left to set our hand firmly to the education which purifies the psyche.“ ( Saint Gregory Palamas – Triads, vol. 1, Part 1) Monastic forms of spirituality change the state of the psyche by first changing the conditions of outside life. It is not so generally known that there also exist methods in which the psyche works directly on itself, in order to change its character during an otherwise normal life in the world. This changes the situation, although it does not change noticeably until the individual begins to awaken a third stratum of the psyche, described as the nous, at which point it begins to discern reality more clearly and so becomes more moral. This change is not automatic. The semantic level, because of its infant origins, is at first dominated by the physical organism and strongly resists change. At this stage, it naturally follows an animal-like survival mode in which the body’s needs dictate the conclusions formed by the semantic level. This can be observed in certain social patterns, which can be perceived as an elaboration of what can only be called ‘higher primate pack behaviour’. But just as the semantic layer can modify the more-or-less instinctive behaviour of the body, so the nous can under certain circumstances, or with specific training, modify the functioning of the semantic layer. |
