Since starting this channel in February this year, I have been wracking my brain about, well, the brain. That is, having spent several years, at a slow pace, finishing an M.S. Psychology degree (emphasizing on the biology behind psychology), I have wanted to make a video, or a series, or something that bridges psychology with Catholicism and our deposit of faith: Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition.
After all, although the Catholic Christian faith, for instance, did not spawn out of psychology per say – psychology itself did spawn out of philosophy and then eventually morphed into its own science. Namely, the Enlightenment era, as well as several now famous, 19th and 20th century pioneers, helped psychology grow out of philosophical and spiritual musings and into a full-fledged discipline.
In fact, the word psychology (according to Merriam-Webster and scores of credible sources on the subject) comes from two Greek words: psyche (“breath, life, or soul”), and –logia (from the word “logos” and meaning “word, speech, or reason”). Therefore, psychology helps us study and describe the relationship between the mind, body, and soul.
In addition, psychology can help us understand our relationship to God and how we balance our mind, body, and soul connection. Within the past few decades – mostly due to the Internet, reality-focused TV and movies, and dramatic changes to Western society — psychology has been a fast-growing, ever-evolving field. Unfortunately, this has also been a bit of a double-edged sword: On one hand, the science end of psychology has produced crucial findings about human personality types, the strong links between genetic and environmental influences, understanding more precisely how cognition (*thinking*) works, and finding effective ways to treat neurological disorders.
On the other hand, psychotherapy has been a mixed bag in its effectiveness: It is not that easy to measure (other than relying on patient/client feedback) – and because traditional medicine has been rightfully skeptical about the various forms of psychotherapy available, the medical field, in the meantime, has been merging the more measurable parts of psychology with neuroscience and related disciplines.
On top of that, because numerous universities are now largely Left leaning, social science and humanities programs are a muddied mix of curriculums, political agendas and group identity ideologies. Quite frankly, I have moments where I sort of regret earning my Psychology degree: I did receive a quality education overall; however, based on class discussions on controversial topics — and instructors who supported group identity ideologies, safe spaces, and qualifying free speech they didn’t agree with as “hate” or “triggering” speech — it appeared to be the beginning of something much bigger brewing throughout universities. And that is now compounded with the same agendas seeping into corporate HR departments. It certainly makes me wonder about the future of social sciences and humanities.
In the meantime, and circling back to my wanting to show how psychology can help us understand why being Catholic and understanding Sacred Scripture are necessary components of human existence – lo and behold, I stumbled across a video this week that gives an excellent introduction to psychology, an early history of psychoanalysis, and how we are to see our soul in relationship to having a human mind and body, and living in this glaringly complex, human world.
Even better, this video – linked below — features one of my favorite inspirations within the Catholic faith and to my own faith journey as a Catholic: the venerable Bishop Fulton Sheen – who was featured in a TV series, called Life is Worth Living, from 1951 to 1957, and also as a syndicated program, called The Fulton Sheen Program, from 1961 to 1968. Side note: I plan on recommending several other videos from this series, as Bishop Sheen was not only thoroughly on point about social topics that still apply to this day, he also perfectly presents Catholic Christian belief in an easy-to-understand format, and how our communion with God, our spiritual walk on this Earth, is the supreme antidote to our fallen world.
It’s not just that Bishop Sheen was charismatic and a natural in front of the camera – it’s also that he knew how to be both a magnificent example of Catholic clergy, but also an everyday human with two feet on the ground, and who could laugh at his own shortcomings and quirks. Which made him an excellent choice to explain how to approach the big topics in life that affect all of us: families, marriage, temptations, sin, science, truth, philosophy – and, of course, psychology too!
In this recommended video, pay particular attention to Bishop Sheen showing why we must fundamentally see human creation as *normal* — that we were created in the image of God and given the means to reflect God’s goodness – and not just a web of psychological abnormalities that overshadow our ability to live in goodness and be in accord with God.
Bishop Sheen makes this distinction as follows:
–He first explains three main components of “normal”: the mind, the body, and the world. All of these normal components are susceptible to turning abnormal, yet they are not fundamentally abnormal, based on how we understand the story of our creation.
–He then gives an overview of three pioneers in psychology and how they influenced our understanding of the mind, body, and world:
*Alfred Adler, whose psychoanalytic theories described how individuals deal with inferiority and what drives them toward superiority.
*Sigmund Freud, who is infamously known for hyper-focusing on human sexuality, the libido as driver for early childhood development; and how the ego, superego, and id relate to each other.
*Carl Jung, whose work in depth psychology and theories about conscious and the collective unconscious have helped explained striking similarities between individuals and traditions across cultures. In short, Bishop Sheen maps Adler to the mind, Freud to the body, and Jung to the world.
–Lastly, he explains how newer theories in psychology – which although are now several decades old, they are still studied and factored today. In brief, trends have ranged from explaining psychological abnormalities as physiologically based to showing that human beings clearly have an intellect, a will, and desire to connect with morality and values. Bishop Sheen sums this up by confirming that whether it be psychology or related discipline, we are still a fundamentally good creation — as God made it so.
“Psychology and Psychiarty” (featuring Bishop Fulton Sheen): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-5_RTREbUs