-=Guilt and Original Sin, an Orthodox perspective=-

I came across a very fascinating article regarding guilt:

O Happy Guilt, O Joyful Sorrow: An Orthodox Understanding

Having though about this particular issue for quite some time, it is seriously making me think that perhaps the Catholic and Protestant understanding of Original Sin may be in error.  Here is a blog entry I stumbled upon which discusses this very issue:

Why Ed Became Orthodox, Part Nine: Original Sin without Original Guilt

Here's another link worth looking into:

View of Sin in the Early Church: Ancestral Versus Original Sin: An Overview with Implications for Psychotherapy

And to think that Original Sin may have originated from a Latin mistranslation, since a more appropriate translation would Ancestral Sin.

As someone like me who has helped people clear all sorts of deeply rooted emotional issues, the Eastern view of sin as an illness makes a lot more sense than the Western view of sin as moral failure.  Thus, the Orthodox Church looks at it from a therapeutic perspective, than a juridical one.  For years, I felt there was some sort of disconnect between psychology and Christianity, but now, I see that Orthodox Christianity doesn't divide the two.  In fact, Orthodoxy seems to harmonize the two very neatly.

-=more on Orthodoxy=-

When comparing the Orthodox Church with the Catholic Church (and the rest of western Christianity for the matter), I see a major problem with Original Sin. It seems to naturally lead towards an over emphasis on guilt, which has plagued me for such a long time. The result of such guilt was beating myself up - not a healthy way of changing my life.

I remember when I was a Calvinist, the idea of Total Depravity once had me convinced I was physically impossible of doing any good whatsoever. Western Christianity speaks of guilt inherited through Adam at the moment of conception, yet Eastern Christianity knows nothing of this. Eastern Christianity says we only inherit mortality and that no one is guilty of anything he or she did not personally do.

If this is correct, I wonder what the implications are.

Moreover, I mentioned scholasticism in my previous blog entry. I find it odd how scholasticism seems to be at the forefront of Western Christianity, whereas Orthodoxy emphasizes hesychasm, which is a practical means towards real healing and transformation of the human person.  It's as if the Eastern Christianity functions more like a hospital while Western Christianity functions more like a library.

I think I fully agree with Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos:

When referring to Orthodox theology, we do not simply mean a history of theology. The latter is, of course, a part of this but not absolutely or exclusively. In Patristic tradition, theologians are the God-seers. Saint Gregory Palamas calls Barlaam [who attempted to bring Western scholastic theology into the Orthodox Church] a "theologian," but he clearly emphasises that intellectual theology differs greatly from the experience of the vision of God. According to Saint Gregory Palamas theologians are the God-seers; those who have followed the "method" of the Church and have attained to perfect faith, to the illumination of the nous and to divinisation (theosis). Theology is the fruit of man's cure and the path which leads to cure and the acquisition of the knowledge of God.

Western theology, however, has differentiated itself from Eastern Orthodox theology. Instead of being therapeutic, it is more intellectual and emotional in character. In the West [after the Carolingian "Renaissance"], scholastic theology evolved, which is antithetical to the Orthodox Tradition. Western theology is based on rational thought whereas Orthodoxy is hesychastic. Scholastic theology tried to understand logically the Revelation of God and conform to philosophical methodology. Characteristic of such an approach is the saying of Anselm [Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093-1109, one of the first after the Norman Conquest and destruction of the Old English Orthodox Church]: "I believe so as to understand." The Scholastics acknowledged God at the outset and then endeavoured to prove His existence by logical arguments and rational categories. In the Orthodox Church, as expressed by the Holy Fathers, faith is God revealing Himself to man. We accept faith by hearing it not so that we can understand it rationally, but so that we can cleanse our hearts, attain to faith by theoria* and experience the Revelation of God. (emphasis mine)

(source: The Difference Between Orthodox Spirituality and Other Traditions)

Thus Orthodoxy is more practical, which I value more than logical reasoning.  Emotions almost always triumph over a person's thoughts, and logic therefore does very little to stop a person from procrastinating, or picking up that next cigarette.  Orthodoxy has a viable solution for these ego-driving behaviors.

Later in the article, he goes on to say:

-=seeking the truth... again=-

Eastern Orthodoxy has got me thinking yet again.  A Catholic gentleman (and former seminarian) mentioned that he is considering becoming Orthodox.  Lately, I've been doing some reading on my own and I'm now a bit confused.  I doubt I'll know what to do any time soon, but there are some things that I will have to fully understand before making any decision.  In particular, Original Sin, Papal Infallibility come to mind.

Supposedly Augustine's understanding of Original Sin is the foundation for this doctrine, yet it is based on a mistranslation of Romans 5:12.  As for papal infallibility, I know a lot of Orthodox Christians make wrong assumptions about it, but it looks like I'll be spending a significant amount of time looking into the truth.

And here's an interesting statement regarding Buddhism and Orthodoxy:

Perhaps the reason that monastic meetings between Christian
monks and Buddhist monks have been fruitful is that those who
spend a lot of time in prayer and meditation encounter the false
moves the mind makes in the effort to protect the ego, and these
take a common form. The resemblance between the Buddhist sense
of mindfulness and the various ways the Orthodox Philocalia
addresses the idea of guarding the heart are fascinating. Both
traditions caution against allowing either aversion or attraction to
mislead us; both are careful and attentive about what might be
called the psychology of prayer At this level there can be fruitful
discussion and learning from both sides (JohnGarvey, Seeds of the
Word: Orthodox Thinking on Other Religions, Crestwood, NY: St
Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2005, 121-122).

Over the years, I've been noticing similarites between the two religions, and that has got me thinking.  What I find interesting is the fact that Orthodoxy emphasizes 'stillness' or hesychasm which is a means towards self-transformation (i.e. theosis).  The idea is to dethrone the ego and live a real human life, which is what God had intended for us from the beginning.

As a child, I was always interested in improving my life, so naturally I had read a lot of self-help books.  Some were interesting, while others were quite useless.  The ones I found most interesting were the ones that point to what some people would call 'enlightenment' which involves transcending the ego. 

Even though I am not a psychologist (nor would I want to be one!), I am well aware of how to go about removing psychological problems very rapidly (typically within 1-2 hours).  With all my experiences in helping people rapidly remove traumas, phobias and other psychological problems, I've come to realize that we are not our behaviors ("I am a procrastinator"), nor are we emotions ("I am depressed").  My experience basically reveals to me that "I think, therefore I am" (i.e. the prominence of rational thinking) is a problem.  Why? 

Unfortunately, I don't have much time, but here's a simple way of putting it:

Too much thinking ----> more emotional problems

I could be wrong, but I think I'm onto something.

-=use it or lose it?=-

Use It Or Lose It? Study Suggests The Brain Can Remember A 'Forgotten' Language

-=motivation - the key component in my language teaching=-