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Rogério
Coelho |
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Taming
aggressive
instincts
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As the ego becomes
aware of the
innate values in
the Self,
a healthy
programming for
behavior is
possible
“A true
Spiritist is
recognized for
his moral
transformation
and by his
efforts in
taming his bad
inclinations”. - Allan Kardec
Studying the
History of the
peoples, it will
not be difficult
to conclude that
the genesis of
aggressive
instincts -
loose in the
present day -
merges with the
genesis of man
himself.
Therefore, it is
lost in time! On
the above
sentence, we see
that Kardec used
the verb “to tame”. And
he was (as
always) covered
with reason,
because in order
to reverse
aggressive
instincts into "educated
attitudes",
one must employ
enormous efforts
of self-mastery.
And if we do not
take the
initiative for
ourselves, the
divine
mechanisms will
begin to act as
Lazarus teaches
when he
reprimands us: “Woe
to the lazy
Spirit, woe to
him who closes
his
understanding!
For we, who are
the guides of
Humanity in
march, we will
whip him and we
will subjugate
his
insubordination
by means of the
double action of
the brake and
the spur".
Psychotherapy in
view of
aggressive
instincts
Joanna de
Angelis takes
us on a journey
to the abysses
and unknown
depths of the Self,
where the roots
of aggressive
instincts are
firmly
implanted,
showing us how
to extirpate
them.
According to the
noble Guide, "An
efficient
psychotherapy
frees the
patient not only
from conflicts,
but also from
primitive
passions, which
begin to be
directed with
balance,
transforming the
lower impulses
into emotions of
harmony. The
archetypal
images that
emerge from the
unconscious
individual
inherit some of
the aggressive
instincts that
predominate in
the human nature
- resulting from
the anthropo-socio-psychological
process - become
diluted by
reason, in a
work of
awareness of its
evil
inclinations and
immediate
overcoming, as
emphasizes Allan
Kardec, the
illustrious
Encoder of
Spiritism.
These evil
inclinations or
tendencies
towards
primitive,
rebellious, and
disturbing
attitudes of the
emotional and
moral
equilibrium are
inherited and
attuned to the Self because
of the long
evolutionary
trajectory, in
the course of
which he
experienced the
primacy of
ancestral forms,
more instinct
than reason,
characterized by
automatic
impulses than by
the logic of
reasoning.
Impregnating the ego with
its burdens of
savage passions,
they need to be
worked hard so
that they
abandon the
foundations of
the unconscious,
in which they
find themselves,
and can be
dissolved, and
replaced by the
mechanisms of
feelings of
love,
compassion, and
solidarity...
(...) As the ego becomes
aware of the
values
embedded in
the Self, a
healthy program
for the behavior
becomes
possible,
working every
difficulty,
every challenge,
through
reconciliation
with its eternal
reality. The
phenomena that
seem to hamper
the process of
psychological
maturation are
replaced by the
stimuli for the
conquests that
take place, in
an effort to
surpass new
edifying
achievements
that enrich with
joy the family,
social and human
relationships in
general. It is a
way for the
patient to get
rid of his bad
impulses, which
only contribute
to make him
experience wild
feelings and to
enclose his
wishes in the
narrow space of
stormy
ambitions.
(...) All
individuals have
the imperative
need to work on
their primary
tendencies,
their dominant
and primitive
instincts. All
this ancestral
psychological
patrimony that
remains in them
is the initial
stage of the
process of
becoming aware
of his
consciousness
that cannot be
violated without
serious damages
regarding other
manifestations
that are part of
the reality of
the instincts
themselves. This
intimate battle
is made possible
by the stimuli
that flow from
the first
results, when
the initial
stages of the
internal
struggle are
naturally
overcome. As
busy spaces
cannot be
filled, it is
imperative to
replace each
disturbing
impulse by a
noble feeling,
increasing the
area of
understanding
of life and
disputing
harmony in the
commitment of
health.
Putting aside
the instinctive
impulses...
It is worthwhile
to recall the
already
considered wise
proposal of
Krishna to the
disciple Arjuna,
as narrated in
the Baghavad
Gita, when
the first one
tells him that,
in his condition
as a Pandavas prince,
he will have to
fight fearlessly
against the kin of
the group Kuru,
even though
these are
numerically
larger. Although
the young
candidate for
spiritual
fullness wished
for peace, he
was concerned
that he would
not be able to
fight the other
members of his family,
thus causing a
great tragedy.
Moreover, he did
not know where
this vigorous
battle would
take place. But
the merciful and
wise teacher
reprimanded him,
and informed him
that they were relatives, because
they came from
the same root,
but that the Pandavas were
the virtues
while the kurus were
the vices in
that
interrelationship
that
strengthened in
the causality of
the phenomena,
but that victory
would
undoubtedly be
of those noble
values while
the struggle
would have to be
fought in the
field of
consciousness...
This moment of
the awakening of
the consciousness to
the reality of
the Si also
means the joy of
recognizing the
necessity to
free oneself
from the
dissolving
passions that
cause suffering.
The past has, no
doubt, set on
the being the
need for
evolution,
giving it a
purpose, an
objective that
must be reached
through all the
efforts of its
intelligence and
its
understanding.
Leaving aside
the merely
instinctive
impulses that
have guided it
through the
millennia, it
now awakens to
reason,
discovering the
essentiality of
life, which is
found in it as a
permanent
tendency - its
fate - that is
the harmony, the
fulfilled
ambition. It is
unavoidable
that, during
this trajectory,
the difficulties
arise, now
threatening, and
which were part
of the past
conquests, and,
in their moment,
were the
mechanisms of
survival and
victory of the
being in
relation to the
hostile
environment and
the primitive
alike that
sought to
decimate it.
By overcoming
the impressions
that remain of
yesterday, the
becoming of the
being is
enticing and
enriching, by
providing it
with idealistic
goals that will
develop feelings
and
intelligence, in
charge of
selecting the
resources that
can propel it to
the achievement
of integral
health and
social balance".
How intelligence
is understood
today
Our confrere
psychologist,
Adenauer Novaes,
offers us rich
subsidies for
the intimate
work of
eradicating
aggressive
instincts, and
the secret lies
in the
development of
our Emotional
Intelligence.
According to
Novaes, there
are several
types of
intelligence.
From the content
of the
twenty-fourth
issue of "The
Book of Spirits,"
in which
Spiritual
Benefactors
assert that "intelligence
is an essential
attribute of the
Spirit," the
author reveals
that the poverty
of our
understanding
and language
does not allow
greater insights
into the essence
of the Spirit,
showing that the
same thing
happens with the
concept of the
word "intelligence".
On intelligence,
Novaes4 explains:
"For a long
time,
intelligence was
considered as
the main
attribute to
designate the
maximum capacity
of the human
being regarding
the world and
its challenges.
The word summed
up everything
one wanted to
assert regarding
the capacity of
each human being
with regard to
his intellectual
aptitudes. But
in no way can it
sum up all the
qualities and
diversity of
human nature.
Human
intellective
capacities can
no longer be
summed up to the
word
intelligence. It
contains only
the
logic-mathematical
and
linguistic-verbal
domain of the
human mind. The
Spirit, in the
richness of its
evolution and in
the complexity
of its
potentialities,
has more than
intelligence, as
the Spirits have
very well placed
in the
Codification by
asserting that
it is only one
of the
attributes of
the Spirit. As
the Science of
the time did not
value other
forms of
manifestation of
the psychic
capacities of
the human being,
the Spirit was
mistaken for the
intelligence.
But today, after
studies and new
forms of
perception and
valorization of
human
capacities, we
can affirm that
intelligence in
all its
manifestations
is only one of
the many
attributes of
the Spirit. The
domain of the
intelligences,
belonging to the
Spirit, is still
in such a way
conceived as a
cerebral
character that
one does not
advance in the
perception of
the totality and
the psychic
reality of the
person. Science
insists on
attributing to
the brain the
potentials that
belong to the
Spirit, which
uses what its
physical
structure allows
to manifest.
The denomination
of intelligence
obeys to a time
in which terms
were lacking to
define the
capacities of
the Spirit.
Perhaps they are
still lacking,
but it is
fundamental to
understand that
the fault is not
due to language,
but to the
imprisonment of
mechanistic
paradigms and
strictly linked
to a materialist
and utilitarian
conception of
seeing the human
being. The
intelligences
defined by
science as
intellectual
capacities, far
from being mere
fields of
evaluation of
knowledge,
approximate,
albeit narrowly,
the faculties of
the Spirit.
We could
redefine
intelligence as
an aptitude of
the Spirit,
which sums up a
great number of
independent
functions, such
as: imagination,
memory,
attention,
conceptualization
and reasoning,
among others...
It results from
learning through
the formation of
habits derived
from reflexive
conditioning as
well as of the
free expression
of the Spirit in
the use of his
free will. It
is a complex
function of
adaptation to
the world where
consciousness
becomes
increasingly
capable of
understanding,
criticizing and
deciding on a
new situation. Intelligence
is the ability
to order,
organize and use
thoughts and
emotions for our
own benefit; it
is the ability
to put together
proper
procedures to do
things; it is
the ability to
solve problems
or create
situations that
are valued
within one or
more cultural
settings.
Diverting the
conception of
intelligence as
something
connected to
reasoning and
intellectual
knowledge,
Gandhi said that
"the only demons
in this world
are the ones who
circulate in our
hearts. That is
where the battle
must be fought".
In the same path
of Gandhi,
Antoine de
Saint-Exupery,
in The
Little Prince,
states that "it
is with the
heart that one
sees correctly;
the essential is
invisible to the
eyes". Both try
to put it that
there is
something beyond
what
intelligence
means. There are
emotional
capacities that
escape the realm
of what is known
by the name of
intelligence".
Concept of
Emotional
Intelligence
The famous IQ
tests, because
of the wide
range of human
potentialities,
are innocuous,
since they
cannot cover all
this superlative
range of
potentialities;
therefore, they
are ineffective
in measuring the
intelligence and
abilities of the
Spirit.
Still according
to the
psychologist
Adenauer, the IQ
tests partially
cover only two
intelligences:
linguistic or
verbal
intelligence (of
the domain of
speech) and
logical-mathematical
intelligence (of
calculation,
algebraic
perception). But
there are other
intelligences
besides these
two, for
example: musical
intelligence,
body-kinesthetic
intelligence,
spatial
intelligence,
intrapersonal
intelligence,
interpersonal
intelligence,
intuitive
intelligence and
Emotional
Intelligence. In
this last one,
is our great
ally to tame the
aggressive
instincts. Let
us learn from
Adenauer4 the
real meaning of
“Emotional
Intelligence”.
It is the
ability to
recognize
feelings, and
apply them
effectively as
energy in favor
of survival,
conformation and
personal growth.
It is the
ability to feel,
understand, and
effectively
apply the power
and insight of
emotions as a
source of human
energy,
information,
connection, and
influence.
Mahatma Gandhi -
showing that he
had combined his
faults and
reached the
balance and
spiritual
harmony
desirable to any
human being -
said: "I
am a
medium-sized man
with less than
average ability.
I admit that I
am not
intellectually
brilliant. But I
do not care.
There is a limit
to the
development of
the intellect,
but none to that
of the heart".
The development
of emotional
intelligence
occurs with the
appearance of empathy,
which is the
ability to
identify oneself
with the other,
feeling what he
feels. This
implicates in:
understanding,
tolerance and
patience.
Emotional
Intelligence
comprises:
self-knowledge,
mood management,
self-motivation,
impulse
education, and
sociability".
In order to
improve our Emotional
Intelligence and
awaken the inner
creative
potential that
strengthens it,
we must,
according to our
confrere
Adenauer, take
the following
actions4:
not be bothered
by small things;
cultivate
optimism and
enthusiasm,
which means
having God
within;
cultivate the
objective
persistence;
develop your own
individuality
(personal style)
and simplicity;always recognize
your mistakes;
learn to listen
and listen to
the other; learn
to distinguish
between the
deeds and the
person who
practices them;
look into the
eyes of the
person you talk
to; believe what
you say;
recognize and
feel emotion, do
not deny it or
minimize it;
cultivate love,
humanization and
compassion...
Emotional
Intelligence in
the Evolutionary
Process
To make our
Emotional
Intelligence a
reality, we must
consider that
any defeat is
important
learning as much
as victory.
Persist in
seeking
different
alternatives for
seemingly
insoluble
problems without
attributing it
to incompetence.
In addition to
the immediate
and closer
goals, we must
internally
develop the
belief in a
global goal for
life as a gift
from God.
Consider it
important to
plan, organize
and take
responsibility
for everything
that happens in
one's life.
Learn to be
guided by reason
and feelings,
seeking
alternatives
that reconcile
these
possibilities.
Stimulate in
yourself, in
your own
character, the
purest and most
noble aspects
that you
possess. Love
simplicity,
people, yourself
and life.
It is important
to develop
self-esteem. For
this you do not
need anything
exceptional in
your
personality. It
is enough to
consider oneself
a child of God
and, therefore,
possessing
minimal skills
for proper
performance in
the art of
living;
cultivate
physical
security, value
the body
properly, do not
feel intimidated
or afraid of
life; have your
personal beliefs
about your own
divine origin;
to be sure that
life itself has
a meaning and a
definite
direction; try
not to be
affected by
small defeats,
being aware that
it will improve
the own
performance next
time; do not
allow anxiety
itself to hinder
the preparation
for new trials;
in the end,
cultivate
sympathy.
(...)
Emotions are
reconfigurations
of the Spirit.
The use of
intelligence
should not be
limited to
knowing the
objects or even
serve to
characterize
them with names
or utilities. It
represents
superior
acquisition of
the Spirit and
must be placed
in the service
of love, without
which it becomes
a useless and
dangerous tool.
Emotional
Intelligence, or
the ability to
manage affects,
emotions, and
feelings, is the
most important
factor in the
evolution of the
Spirit in its
present stage on
the planet. This
acquisition will
enable the
perception of
transcendent
laws that will
enable it to
reach limits
outside the
solar system".
-
KARDEC,
Allan. The
Gospel
According
to
Spiritism. 129
Ed. Rio
[de
Janeiro]:
FEB,
2009,
Chapter
XVII,
item 4,
§ 5.
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