• Spirituality and Psychology •

Psychology is the study of the mind and the diagnosis and treatment of mental and emotional disorders. We, as mystics, are not trained for or interested in treating psychological disorders. This is an area that is best left to mental health professionals. Instead, the Priests at the Centers of Light are trained to help our students increase their physical and emotional health and well-being through community, devotional life, loving connection to others, mind-body balance, and spiritual healing. We encourage spiritual healing in all our community members and students but also understand that a person cannot fully process and use deep spiritual experiences if they have serious psychological disorders. We therefore encourage our community members who need psychological help to seek it out before they embark on more in-depth spiritual work.

For those who are psychologically stable, spiritual experience and healing can bring a profound depth of joy, peace, purpose, and well being. We feel that the field of psychology/psychiatry, while excellent in treating disorders, cannot lead people to true and complete wellness because total wellness is a reflection of a harmony with one’s purpose and nature in God. Without relationship to God, a lack of illness may be possible but not true health. We believe that human beings, at their core, are God-beings and that only in union with our Creator can we be truly healthy. We do not need to add anything to ourselves to be perfect and whole because it is our nature. We need only to remove whatever inhibits the expression of our God-nature. This is accomplished in our Order through a consistent effort of the student, the grace of Jesus and Mary, receiving the sacraments, honest spiritual community, the student-teacher relationship, and spiritual healing.