Lesson 1 ~ Driven by the Heart vs Driven by the Mind ~ Introduction to Spiritualism

Lesson 1 ~ Introduction to Spiritualism

Driven by the Heart vs. Driven by the Mind

By:  Trent Murman

Over the past 30 years mainly my background has been in and dealing with those in the medical fields.  I have met many very outstanding persons, but I have also observed many of these people can be and usually are steadfast in their beliefs whether it be "Driven by the Heart or Driven by the Mind".  In many situations it is rather difficult to convince either of these two types of persons to accept or even listen to another point of view.  Some will tell you it has to be scientifically/medically proven and they need to see it in black and white while others might simply say that's the way it is and not question or even want to question the theory there might be a higher power that may have had a part in the situation or concept at hand.

 

I remember quite clearly one incident that happened to me personally when I was discussing a private matter with the father of a 15 year old boy who was so distraught that his son was gay.  After some time of just listening to the dad he turned to me and ask "why and where did this come from?"  I offered to him two thoughts of theorizing on this matter.  One was the concept that a person was born with these tendencies "it's in their biological make up, DNA" and is there from conception and as the child matures it either manifests itself more visibly or somehow they learn to suppress it or hide it.  The latter not being beneficial to the person's wellbeing because it create all kinds of turmoil inside his/her mind.  The other concept is we are a product of our environment.  Meaning if the male child is without a positive role model as he is growing up there are usually the tendencies to acquire feminine characteristics, because that is all they have been exposed to hence they actually know no difference.  I guess you could say both concepts could boil down to we are all a "product of our environment".  Personally I believe whatever you are going to do or be in life is made up of this journey that is pre-planned for you and is in your genes at the time of conception.   Hence, what will be will be. 

 

Some will tell you it has to be scientifically/medically proven and they need to see it in black and white while others might simply say that's the way it is and not question or even want to question the theory there might be a higher power that may have had a part in the situation or concept at hand.

 

So, in conclusion…should we try to change their way of thinking…no, it is necessary to have these types of people around to scientifically explain and map out new trails for others to explore that may lead to a definite hard based conclusion with the facts.

 

On the other hand…should we try to change the way people think about having a higher power to delineate the structure of the essence of "being"…no, we desperately need both of these to balance things out in the universe. 

 

As human beings we need the sole power to choose from one thought process to the other and the option to make that choice. 

 

Just my opinion.  Go In Peace. 

Spirituality

 Universal Life Church Seminary

Master of Spiritualism

            The basis of this course was first and foremost a philosophical look at religion, ideas, and spirituality throughout about the past 3000 years and then explaining how these same ideas are woven into your daily world.  Small sections of the course also went beyond just explaining the philosophical ideas to showing practical uses and placements of those same ideas in modern spirituality and society.

            I liked that the author covered various philosophies some of which may not have explicitly been directly related to religion, such as socialism.  The author does bring up good arguments for all of the theories he covers including socialism, which once looked at through the right lens does relate very well to spirituality and religion.

            It was also nice of the author to bring their personal experience in views into the lessons.  It’s unfortunate that the author has had to go through some of the trial and tribulations that they have but they seems to have grown from it.  Hopefully all of the students taking the course are also able to learn something vicariously through their experiences.  

I can personally say that while I have not lived anything to the extremes that the author has I did see certain parts of the story that related to me.  For example, I’ve been lost in the woods alone in the winter in New York State before, true I was not lost for days I was only lost for hours but it gives me an inkling of the feeling the author must have felt.  I’ve never dealt with an abusive lover but I was the child that had to listen to his parents fight all the time.  

These things cause us to grow over time and lead us to be the people that we are today.  We have a choice, we can either learn from our life, from our successes and failures; or we can choose to keep doing what we’ve always done, the only problem with that is, as the saying goes, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always gotten.

Rev. Justin Oles

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