On the launch of Daneo Services, October 10th, 2003.Daneo Services make a bold claim today. They set out to draw on the best of psychology and spirituality (healthy religion) to facilitate change, liberation and above all bring hope to those who have none. At the launch of the project today it is important to acknowledge that despite its boldness this is neither naive nor foolish. It is but another step on a long journey for John, Kathleen and Pat which began with an immersion in the values of religious life and spirituality and later embraced the insights of psychology and counselling. Today we acknowledge that they have a pedigree in both camps. |
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I have been invited to explore some ideas around the merging of spirituality and psychology. There is so much, though, that could be said that I think it might be helpful to consider just three ideas or perspectives on this inter-relationship.
Firstly the Question ‘Why now?’. This is a question we are well used to in the field of psychology and therapy. An individual might be troubled for quite some time about a particular emotional dilemma and for some reason find themselves reaching out just now for help. Something will have happened that has made a difference and facilitated the desire to change by seeking out therapy and so we ask ‘why now?
In considering what has changed we could go back to ancient times when Theology was accepted as the pinnacle of knowledge. In architectural depictions Theology sits at the top of the tower of understanding with Philosophy just beneath it. Further down are disciplines like Astrology, Mathematics, Medicine etc. Truth lay at the top of the tower and was accessed in its purity only by Theology. Centuries later, however, in the period we now call the Enlightenment, we by and large cast our lot in with Science in the belief that it would bring us to truth in a way that Theology had disappointed. Scientific truth, it was hoped, would set us free and as a result we have witnessed a gradual decline in religious practice which is, however, changing.
Scientific and technological developments, despite the fanfare, have yielded a mixed inheritance. While they can get us to the moon they also bring us the spectre of Chernobyl. While half the world is starving the other half has too much. In so many ways we have become enslaved rather than liberated, impoverished rather than enriched. While we might surf through cyberspace and have instant contact with people on the other side of the world the emotional space between people is increasing. It is estimated that about 45% of people in the west are living in single person households and this is likely to rise to over 50% in the coming decade.
The illness of our time is one of loneliness and lack of meaning or purpose. Psychology can provide treatments but perhaps only spirituality can address our yearning for meaningful relationship.
The second theme I would like to explore is that of the ‘Oceanic Experience’ of the mystics. Meister Eckhart, in the 13thCentury, spoke of the mystical experience of being enveloped in God as in an ocean of love. A merging of the human being with God in a way which made it difficult to tell the two apart. It led him to speak of the human person as a spark of the divine and resulted in his excommunication. Others, though, including Paul Daneo, followed in this mystical tradition yearning for engulfment in the divine.
In contrast, Sigmund Freud interpreted this desire for merger with the godhead as a pathological yearning for return to the womb merger with mother and as such an articulation of the death instinct. Religion, while a focus of much of Freud’s writings was seen as a powerful psychological mechanism defending unconsciously against the pain of emerging as an individual grappling with intolerable instinctual drives and urges. Later analysts have argued that Freud saw only the first step in a two step dance. The purpose of grasping the yearning to merge is in the hope of managing it in a different way from the original traumas thus emerging into new life much like rising from the waters of Baptism a new person. This death-to-self regression can be thought of as at the service of new life. Therapists and counsellors know this from their practice. The client comes along in order to engage with those things which cause pain and discover a new sense of self (it gets worse before it gets better). Rather than thinking of spiritual awareness in pathological terms Daneo Services offer the hope of new a experience of meaning.
A third theme for today is that of ‘Words’. Therapy and counselling have long been referred to as the talking therapies. This comes from a strong belief in the power of words. The realm of the unconscious is preverbal and symbolic while that of conscious experience is of language and the concrete. The symptom of the client (the emotional dilemma) is thought of as an inarticulate expression of what hurts. The therapeutic process of putting words to the pain facilitates the emergence into consciousness of that which was formerly too sore to speak in the hope that it no longer need be experienced as overwhelming. Religion and spirituality have a similar belief. ‘In the beginning was the Word’ is a powerful way of acknowledging that words bring things into being. The tools of therapy and religion are similar and it may be that services like Daneo can help us to bring words like ‘love’ and ‘forgiveness’ back into the lexicon of therapists.
In these three ways then Daneo represents a creative collaboration of two strong traditions: those of psychology and religion. Today, though, we also acknowledge that two other great traditions are collaborating. Those of ‘mercy’ and the ‘finding of meaning in suffering’. The groups from which Kathleen, Pat and John emerge have had a presence for over 100 years in Belfast and contributed in many ways to the health of our people. Today we welcome a new embodiment of these traditions in Daneo Services and perhaps the final word should be given to those for whom it is hoped this project will make a significant difference in their lives. If we allow the words of W. B. Yeats to articulate what it is that those who seek out Daneo for help might bring then theses word can be spoken to Pat, John and Kathleen today:
Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
enwrought with golden and silver light,
the blue and the dim and the dark cloths
of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
but I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
Bobby Moore.
Firstly the Question ‘Why now?’. This is a question we are well used to in the field of psychology and therapy. An individual might be troubled for quite some time about a particular emotional dilemma and for some reason find themselves reaching out just now for help. Something will have happened that has made a difference and facilitated the desire to change by seeking out therapy and so we ask ‘why now?
In considering what has changed we could go back to ancient times when Theology was accepted as the pinnacle of knowledge. In architectural depictions Theology sits at the top of the tower of understanding with Philosophy just beneath it. Further down are disciplines like Astrology, Mathematics, Medicine etc. Truth lay at the top of the tower and was accessed in its purity only by Theology. Centuries later, however, in the period we now call the Enlightenment, we by and large cast our lot in with Science in the belief that it would bring us to truth in a way that Theology had disappointed. Scientific truth, it was hoped, would set us free and as a result we have witnessed a gradual decline in religious practice which is, however, changing.
Scientific and technological developments, despite the fanfare, have yielded a mixed inheritance. While they can get us to the moon they also bring us the spectre of Chernobyl. While half the world is starving the other half has too much. In so many ways we have become enslaved rather than liberated, impoverished rather than enriched. While we might surf through cyberspace and have instant contact with people on the other side of the world the emotional space between people is increasing. It is estimated that about 45% of people in the west are living in single person households and this is likely to rise to over 50% in the coming decade.
The illness of our time is one of loneliness and lack of meaning or purpose. Psychology can provide treatments but perhaps only spirituality can address our yearning for meaningful relationship.
The second theme I would like to explore is that of the ‘Oceanic Experience’ of the mystics. Meister Eckhart, in the 13thCentury, spoke of the mystical experience of being enveloped in God as in an ocean of love. A merging of the human being with God in a way which made it difficult to tell the two apart. It led him to speak of the human person as a spark of the divine and resulted in his excommunication. Others, though, including Paul Daneo, followed in this mystical tradition yearning for engulfment in the divine.
In contrast, Sigmund Freud interpreted this desire for merger with the godhead as a pathological yearning for return to the womb merger with mother and as such an articulation of the death instinct. Religion, while a focus of much of Freud’s writings was seen as a powerful psychological mechanism defending unconsciously against the pain of emerging as an individual grappling with intolerable instinctual drives and urges. Later analysts have argued that Freud saw only the first step in a two step dance. The purpose of grasping the yearning to merge is in the hope of managing it in a different way from the original traumas thus emerging into new life much like rising from the waters of Baptism a new person. This death-to-self regression can be thought of as at the service of new life. Therapists and counsellors know this from their practice. The client comes along in order to engage with those things which cause pain and discover a new sense of self (it gets worse before it gets better). Rather than thinking of spiritual awareness in pathological terms Daneo Services offer the hope of new a experience of meaning.
A third theme for today is that of ‘Words’. Therapy and counselling have long been referred to as the talking therapies. This comes from a strong belief in the power of words. The realm of the unconscious is preverbal and symbolic while that of conscious experience is of language and the concrete. The symptom of the client (the emotional dilemma) is thought of as an inarticulate expression of what hurts. The therapeutic process of putting words to the pain facilitates the emergence into consciousness of that which was formerly too sore to speak in the hope that it no longer need be experienced as overwhelming. Religion and spirituality have a similar belief. ‘In the beginning was the Word’ is a powerful way of acknowledging that words bring things into being. The tools of therapy and religion are similar and it may be that services like Daneo can help us to bring words like ‘love’ and ‘forgiveness’ back into the lexicon of therapists.
In these three ways then Daneo represents a creative collaboration of two strong traditions: those of psychology and religion. Today, though, we also acknowledge that two other great traditions are collaborating. Those of ‘mercy’ and the ‘finding of meaning in suffering’. The groups from which Kathleen, Pat and John emerge have had a presence for over 100 years in Belfast and contributed in many ways to the health of our people. Today we welcome a new embodiment of these traditions in Daneo Services and perhaps the final word should be given to those for whom it is hoped this project will make a significant difference in their lives. If we allow the words of W. B. Yeats to articulate what it is that those who seek out Daneo for help might bring then theses word can be spoken to Pat, John and Kathleen today:
Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
enwrought with golden and silver light,
the blue and the dim and the dark cloths
of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
but I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
Bobby Moore.