Spiritual Maturity I

Holy Spirit is a divine spark that lifts up our souls. Carl Jung, the
Swiss psychoanalyst, spoke of the Divine Nous. "Man did not create the
Spirit but the Spirit makes him creative, always spurring him on, giving him enthusiasm and inspiration." This divine inspiration leads to the
transcendence of self. This process begins with the transformation of the
heart and the contrition of soul as the genesis from which the fruits of the Spirit come forth.

Therefore, what are the elements that constitute spiritual integrity? St.
Peter and St. Paul speak of our unique and special relationship with God.
Our spiritual identity is rooted in the personal relationship that we all
possess with the Divine Creator. This relationship extends our identity
beyond the realm of words and thoughts into a process of spiritual action.
Prof. George Flovosky of Harvard University said, "A Christian has to feel
himself personally in the presence of God." Jung observes that this level of integration is part of the process of individuation. This integration is a transformation of the self and a harmonizing of the unconscious elements and conscious elements of our psyche. This harmony of self and our sense of spiritual identity is the collective dilemma that our Orthodoxy in America is immersed in today. We have integrated many spiritual symbols as a conscious aspect of our faith, but unconsciously within our interior cross we are terribly conflicted as we do not live the Gospel that we believe in.

Our spiritual identity is manifested by a consistent behavior. Aristotle
said, "We are what we repeatedly do. The pursuit of excellence is not an act but a habit."

This level of spiritual insight is impossible to achieve unless we develop
the final and most difficult to attain quality which is spiritual maturity.
The process of maturation and maturity is a major social ailment in our
society. Maturation is a process of growth and how many in our society live
an existence of emotional and spiritual death because they fail to develop
themselves. Their emptiness of self and their inability to fulfill those
innate and instinctive necessity of the soul, is the foundation of all
social ills in our society. Erich Fromm, the German psychoanalyst and social philosopher, wrote extensively about the psychological conditions of
identity and maturity.

Our need for identity is a condition of mans search for meaning. All our
passions and strivings are an attempt to find an answer to our existence.
Individuals that adhere to the quality of relatedness seek to find
satisfaction by loving others outside themselves. In this cooperative union
the greater good is created. In being assumed into the pursuit of the
greater good our personal integrity and freedom is enhanced and there is an
artful extension of our individuality. The narcissists' path is one of
self-love. This inward journey is not to the interior cross but to our ego
for there is no attempt to gather our soul energy for the benefit of others. These egos seek only self-pleasure.

Those who follow the path of relatedness can find transcendence and as many
of our Church Fathers have written, the transformation of the heart. Fromm
said: "In man's need for transcendence lies the root of love...the
satisfaction of the need to create, leads to happiness." C.S. Lewis, the
British theologian, goes on a little further: "All human things pass away
and therefore, we should not let our happiness depend on them but on the
only Beloved One who will never pass away." In all our striving for the
external possessions and privileges of our American society, we have cut
ourselves off from those internal and transcendent qualities; in which true
joy and love are only found.


From:
"Developing the qualities and identity of spiritual maturity in Orthodoxy"
Hon. Dr. Robert Scott, D.MIN (The Hellenic Chronicle, March 2000)
Keynote address: Twelfth Annual Meeting of Orthodox Clergy and Laity (OCL):
Berkeley, California, Radisson Hotel, Berkeley Marina, November 12-14, 1999.