Wellness Intersections
Clinical Psychology and Mysticism: Mutual Contributions
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Paulo Henrique Curi Dias
This paper aims at understanding aspects of the dynamic interface between clinical psychological practice and studies within the field of mysticism, through the perspective that these areas of human knowledge offer a vast potential of mutual contributions. While mysticism will be understood through a phenomenological reading of the spiritual relationship between the mystic and the absolute, clinical practice will be understood as the dialogical experience built as an intersubjective relationship between patient and therapist, which enables a mirroring of the latter’s ethical positions throughout existence. The question addressed, therefore, remains: in which particular way these two different aspects (and methods) of human experience may establish a valid and rigorous form of interaction? In such regard, the research intends to approach both the ways in which mystical studies may broaden the ethical and ontological conceptions inherent to clinical practice as well as the way through which the clinical method implies at a new comprehension of spiritual phenomena. In dialogue with the psychoanalytic perspectives of authors such as Bion, Winnicott and Safra, we intend to regard the position of mysticism within clinical practice. Such study will be realized through a brief exposition of the concept of mysticism and its relations to psychology and psychoanalysis as it regards a way of questioning the epistemological and ontological basis of clinical practice and establishes a particular way of inscribing spiritual pathological phenomena within the interface between psychology, spirituality, mysticism and religiosity in its hermeneutical multiplicities.
The Material Moral Economy of Spirit Possession in Chinese Folk Religion
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Peter Zabielskis
This paper is based on more than two years of field research in the city of George Town, Penang, Malaysia. Though specific to this culture and region, the discussion is relevant to trance possession elsewhere; it analyzes the role of the materiality of objects in the religious systems that such phenomena embody. The methods used were participant observation, video and still photography, and interviews. Research assistants allowed me to converse with participants in their native language. I attended more than 100 spirit possession sessions in several different temples. My questions to participants included the eliciting of details about all the often very colorful objects and equipment used in such events; I recorded many hours of conversations and kept voluminous notes about my observations. My conclusions are framed within existing theories of Chinese folk religion that hold that -- contrary to some of the major themes and ideas of spirituality and religious practice in Western traditions -- this is a practice of action and the materiality of concrete offerings and physical exchanges rather than concern to elicit any interior state. I combine this framework with contemporary theories regarding material culture and the power of objects, resulting in a new way of articulating what previously been called magic in older scholarly approaches. My results indicate that when such concretely material objects play such important roles in community rituals and spiritual thinking a somewhat different logic with different standards is at work than in more mainstream religious traditions.
Spirituality and Mental Well-being: Exploring the Interrelationship between Sufism and Mental Well-being among British Sufis
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Merve Cetinkaya
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between Sufi spirituality and mental well-being. It is a qualitative research project involving in depth interviews as part of a series of focus groups. Previous published studies have focused on exploring the effects of spiritual practice on different well-being variables. This large body of research has predominantly concentrated on practice as a key element of spirituality. In this proposed research, an empirical study of spirituality will be undertaken in order to identify the relationships that exist between Sufi practice and mental well-being. The study will interview British Sufis in different contemporary groups. Previous research into spirituality has been derived from Christian or Buddhist religious norms and beliefs. Sufi groups have not featured in these inquiries into spiritual well-being and this absence will be the focus of the proposed study. In particular there will be a focus on how Islamic-based spirituality as expressed by British Sufis may contribute to their well-being.
