Today’s Post

In the last two weeks we followed Carl Rogers as he went into some detail in describing his observations of the process of finding the kernel of person-ness within us.  He also describes what emerges when we begin to trust and cooperate with this fundamental energy which Teilhard identifies as the ‘thread of evolution’ as it rises in us.  This week we will relook look at the three approaches we have addressed in the past few weeks, those of Freud, Teilhard and Rogers as they relate to our search for a ‘Secular Side of God’.

From Freud: the Dark Side

Even the most casual study of human history reveals the ‘dark side’ of humanity.  All of the great books of ancient religions recognize it and warn against it.

Sigmund Freud was the first to systematically apply the emerging practices of science to study of the human person, and as we saw a few weeks ago, assembled a magnificent edifice of concepts, terminology and theory which was applicable to diagnosis and treatment of human emotional problems.  Unfortunately, as we also saw, his premise of the dangerous nature of the basic human, combined with his disdain of organized religion, colored this remarkable undertaking with a deep-seated pessimism that was to permeate his ‘school’ of psychology.

Freud’s view of human ontology was surely influenced by Darwin’s theory of evolution, in which the human evolved from a non-human (animal) ancestor.  He held that this evolution explained the source of our ‘dark’ side, and hence had to be overcome if we were to rid ourselves of our ‘psychoses’.

While Freud (and Darwin) are correct about these roots and how they affect us, they don’t take into account another perspective on such evolution.  Teilhard remarked on the ‘transitional’ states of evolution, such as the formation of atoms from subatomic particles, cells from highly complex molecules, and self-aware persons from conscious animals.  He points out that the first of each of these ‘new’ entities, in every case, initially are virtually indistinguishable from their predecessor.  He refers to the earliest, prokaryotic (non-nucleus) cells as emerging ‘dripping in molecularity’.  If it were possible to see them in a population of highly complex, non-living molecules (such as viruses), it would be very difficult to distinguish them.  In contrast, at the evolutionary level of, say, neurological cells, the uniqueness of living tissue has become obviously different from complex molecules.

He sees the same thing happening with the human.  Were it possible to see the first homo sapiens in a jungle filled with pre-humans, how would we tell them apart?  Today there is no problem with such observation.

We humans have indeed emerged as animals with more brains, but that makes all the difference.  The pre-humans, with their reptilian and limbic brains, are at the mercy of their stimuli.  The reptiles fight or fly, breathe, eat and procreate according to their basic brain stimuli.  Animals add new powers of nurturing offspring, clannish connections and adaption to environment changes.  These new behaviors, due to the new limbic brain are in addition to the stimuli from their reptilian brains, and endow them with more evolutionary fitness.

Even though we humans have a third layer to our brains, the instinctual stimuli of the lower brains is still active, but the neo-cortex provides the capability of modulating them.  I have suggested that the key manifestation of evolution in the human person can be found in the evolving skill of the neo-cortex in modulating the instinctual stimuli of the lower brains.

So, even though Freud’s recognition of the Dark Side is correct, his assumption that the kernel of the person is dangerous does not take into account that it is through engagement with this kernel that the human evolves from emotional immaturity toward personal wholeness.  It’s not that the child’s essence is negative, but that his growth towards maturity is incomplete.

From Rogers: Toward the Light

As we have seen, Carl Rogers takes a view of our personal evolution that is quite different from Freud.  He assumes that each human person comes into the world with a quantum of potency, and that instead of being broken, he is incomplete and capable of personal evolution –growth– towards increased being.

It should be noted that Rogers’ articulation of the emerging characteristics of a maturing person are purely secular.  His methods are those of science: observe, theorize, and test.  They require no adherence to religious belief (and as we saw in the November 24 post above, are often antithetical to some), but rather a basic, fundamental belief in the trustworthy nature of the basic self, and a willingness to cooperate with it.

While there might not be a universally accepted list of the characteristics of human happiness or articulation of human potential, Rogers’ list is not only an excellent beginning but universally applicable.

Combined with the unique (and universal) nature of Rogers’ therapeutic relationship, concepts such as belief, faith and love take on a new, secular, meaning.

Rogers’ approach offers a structure for a true, secular, employment of secular meditation as a means to self-discovery.

From Teilhard: The Light Itself

As we have frequently discussed in this blog, Teilhard starts from the ‘other end’, describing how God is manifest in the very basic and totality of forces which power the evolution of the universe itself.  He describes how these forces combine to effect all that we can see, and not only the human as a species but individual human persons as well.  In his view (and Blondel’s and others), it is impossible to distinguish where God leaves off and where we begin since each act of our ‘becoming’ requires recognition and cooperation with this force as it rises in us.

Freud, Rogers and Teilhard in a Nutshell

Freud applies science to atheism, “It is Id, be very afraid”

Rogers applies experience to science, “It is me, I am trustworthy”

Tielhard applies science to religion. “It is I, be not afraid”

As Teilhard affirms, finding ourselves is finding the universal thread of evolution that rises in us.  As Rogers discovers, the legacy that we receive as human persons can be trusted to power our growth towards more complete being.  God can not only be found, He can be embraced.

The Next Post

After identifying God as an agent of evolution,

by which things increase in complexity over time,

through which the process of evolution is possible,

from the big bang to the human,

as products of evolution: even in our lives,

to which we can come in contact

by searching for the kernel of ourselves

using the emerging insights of science

the next post will now go on to the final stage of Relating to God: the secular side of Loving God.