PNEUMATOLOGY--STUDY OF THE SPIRIT
=================================
Pneumatology. It is a sister of philosophy, the spouse of religion and the mother of psychology. In the early 1960's, encouraged by some members of my church who were interested in understanding what is prayer and how it differs from meditation--then a hot topic in the media--I began to explore the nature and function of the human mind and spirit and how they relate to prayer, meditation and the trance state. I spoke, openly, to my congregation about this and asked for their indulgence in exploring new ways of "saying" prayers while in the trance state.
TRANCE
======
Dictionary.com defines trance as a half-conscious state, seemingly between sleeping and waking, in which the ability to function voluntarily may be suspended.
2. a dazed or bewildered condition.
3. a state of complete mental absorption or deep musing.
4. an unconscious, cataleptic, or hypnotic condition.
5. Spiritualism. a temporary state in which a medium, with suspension of personal consciousness, is controlled by an intelligence from without and used as a means of communication, as from the dead.
===================
Origin of the word:
In 1300–50; ME (Middle English) traunce, referred to a state of extreme dread, swoon, dazed state < MF transe lit., passage (from life to death), deriv. of transir to go across, pass over < L trānsīre, equiv. to trāns- trans- + īre to go
=============================================
The Greek New Testament (Acts 10:10; 11.05 and 22:17) uses the word 'ekstasia', which the King James Bible translates as 'trance'. It means to stand outside oneself. I like this meaning best.
Probably because of the dictionary meaning, most people think of the trance state as being associated with the occult, a power used by masters of hypnosis to make people, especially weak-minded subjects, behave as robot-like puppets.
When I really explored the phenomenon, what I discovered was: It is a common state into which we human beings go in and out of any number of times, daily.
Sure, the ability to fall into the hypnotic trance, like any human ability, can be used foolishly, or wisely. For example, stage hypnotists, motivated by the desire to make money--some now call themselves mentalists--have used it to entertain large audiences by getting "subjects" to do all kinds of amusing things they would not ordinarily do.
But keep in mind: such "subjects" must first be willing--and I emphasize
willing--to play along with what is expected of them. Ordinarily, no one can be forced to be a subject. Nor can the trance be used to make the impossible possible.
Used wisely however, many people, including students and professionals in all walks of life, including teachers, preachers, prophets, artists, athletes, whoever, have used the trance state, on themselves and others--consciously and, sometimes, unconsciously--to refine and improve on talents already present.
After I explained this to my congregation, I pointed out to them that almost all the prayers we say in church services are addressed to God as if he is an all-powerful, all-knowing, everywhere-present, all-loving judge-like king, and/or a father-like figure up there, or out there.
THE PATTERN OF PRAYING I USED IN THE FIRST PART OF MY MINISTRY
==============================================================
Following prayers of praise and thanksgiving to the Lord God Almighty, ministers in my day usually went on to pray for the heads of state, for those who make our laws, for our spiritual leaders, our social leaders, educators, clergy, doctors, lawyers, and even our politicians--hopeless sinners all. Just a joke. no one is hopeless
.
Sometimes, assuming that God needed reminding, we started by giving him a report of on the crime scene in the area. Then we prayed: "Oh God, help our noble justice system, with the help of the wonderful police, bring all criminals to your justice."
[looking back, perhaps the prayer should have been: Oh God, please make the criminals come to church.] Almost always, as if he needed our help, we gave God a report of what was going on in the war zones of the world, especially in the Middle East--where it has been going on for centuries. Then we asked him"
"Oh God! bring us peace."
[How come we still have war. We prayed, didn't we?][This thought just came to me: Why didn't we just pray, "O God, make all the bad people good, and all the good people--the ones who attend church--nice?" :)]
============================
"Our prayers", I said to the congregation, "contain many--and I mean
many--petitions in which we ask God to do this, that, and the other thing for us.
We always liked to remind God about the sick and suffering, especially the children. We asked him to heal them. We mentioned those on their death beds and we asked him to bless them. Hmmm!
We then asked him to bless the poor, the unemployed, the ignorant, even the sinners, and whoever came to mind. Of course--I almost forgot--We asked his to bless agnostics, atheists and all other infidels..."
CHANGES WERE MADE IN THEY WAY WE PRAYED
======================================
With the above in mind, I asked my board--the leaders of the congregation--to allow me, from then on, to make some changes in the way prayers were said in the church services.
It was agreed.
GOD, it seems, responded with a big, YES!!!
