Extending What We Can Talk About

Spirituality as Grounded in Relationship (An Exploration Through the Ideas of Lowen, Winnicott, Schore, and Patanjali)

Abstract

Spirit has often been separated from body and mind and treated as not amenable to scientific study. A big influence in this regard was Ludwig Wittgenstein who, in 1922, came to the conclusion that the language of science was not able to talk about the mystical, saying, “There is indeed the inexpressible. This shows itself; it is the mystical” (p. 90). With the development of the science of the human mind and human relationships, spirit is perhaps becoming more amenable again to study. Alexander Lowen (1988) brought the concept of “spirit” under scientific and therapeutic observation through the concept of bio-energy, working with the body as well as the mind. Donald Winnicott (1953, 1960), through the idea of transitional phenomena, placed the language of the mystical in a psychodynamic and scientific context. Alan Schore (2012) has provided a neurophysiological way of talking about how the unconscious process contributes to human development through relationship. Patanjali’s Yogasutra, compiled 2,000 years ago, covers similar ground in a way which remains useful and relevant and which helps in understanding the distinction between mind and body and spirit.

Waitara

Tēnā ia anei i te nuinga o te wā wehea ai te wairua mai i te tinana me te hinengaro, ā, meatia ai kāre e whaiwāhi hai kuapapa mātai hinengaro. I te tau 1922, ka puta te whakataunga a Ludwig Wittgenstein kāre e taea e te reo pūtaiao te kōrero mō te tūāhu, arā, ko tāna, ‘Āe ra hoki! Kāre he kupu hai whakaahua. Koianei tōna tohu atua’ (w. 90). Kua whaneke ake nei te taiao o te hinengaro me te whakawhanaungatanga, kua rata haere pea te wā wānanga wairua. Nā Alexander Lowen (1998) i mau te ariā ‘wairua’ ki raro i te tirohanga mātai hinengaro mātai haumanu mā te ariā pūngao koiora, mahiatahitia nei te tinana me te hinengaro. Nā Donald Winnicott (1953, 1960), i whakauru te reo ā-wairua ki roto i te horopaki mātauranga pūtaiao, whakahihiko hinengaro. Kua homai e Alan Schore he ara kōrerohanga mātai whaiaroaro mō te hatepenga mauri moe ki te whanaketanga o te tangata puta mai i te whakawhanaungatanga. He rite tonu te papa pōtaea e tā Patanjali Yogasutra, i whakaemihia rua mano tau ki muri, ā, e hāngai tonu ana e whai hua tonu ana hoki me te āwhina i te mātauranga whai haere i te rangatiratanga o te hinengaro te tinana me te wairua.