INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY
The Aim of God-Centered Psychology: Human Flourishing
God-Centered Psychology has grown organically from a lifetime of study, spiritual practice, & service. As a Western-trained psychotherapist with deep roots in the sacred, on the one hand, I see clearly what is true & false, beneficial & harmful in the secular Western model. On the other hand, I am able to draw from the wellspring of Abrahamic Monotheism the principles & practices that are rooted in the sacred, and as such, are absolutely necessary and perfectly designed for human flourishing.
Psychotherapy literally means ‘Care of The Soul’
For those of you with some background in Western psychology, you are well aware of the tragic irony and ironic tragedy that the social science that purports to care for the soul doesn’t believe that such a thing exists. Hence, the need for God-Centered Psychology.
When we study the complete corpus of Abrahamic scripture, Old Testament, New Testament, and Last Testament (Qur’an), and read closely the writings of reliable scholars, we see the principles & practices of human psychology, this most essential social science, from beginning to end. God has called us to the highest station as human beings and has given us the ways & means to attain it. Such is LOVE.
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This uplifting, life-affirming social science is deeply rooted in revealed scripture, prophetic character, mindfulness of the afterlife, and of God’s nearness here & now. God-Centered Psychology is further informed by the refined understanding & praxis that were developed in the centuries following The Qur’anic revelation. This was the time when the science of the self (‘ilm al nafs) blossomed from the contemplation & realization of spiritual masters, among them, Imams Al Ghazali, Qushayri, Tirmidhi, Muhasabi, Asfahani, Junayd.
God-Centered Psychology is an Individual Psychology
That Brings Out The Best in Human Beings
God-Centered Psychology is grounded in three key features of the human condition. Together, they comprise what is known as our fitrah, the original nature God gave us.
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The primordial norm of a transcendent humanism.
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The essence of goodness-beauty-excellence (husn) at the core of our being.
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The intrinsic capacity for spiritual growth, and for a few, spiritual perfection in this life.
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"In reality, the human being's perfection is that which is desired of his existence by God."
(Abd al-Rahman Jami)
(May God have mercy on him.)
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“God captured within the nature of the soul
a luminous, intelligent, and holy innate nature…”
(Ruzbihan Baqli)
(Masalik al-Tawhid)
Temporal Vanities have replaced Eternal Verities
Tragically, we are living at a time when the truth of our luminosity has been all but lost. The seduction of temporal vanities has replaced our calibration to eternal verities. Human beings have forgotten that we are here on earth to conform our souls to Reality by way of sacred knowledge & supreme effort.
How did this happen? By way of three toxic ideologies that have become pervasive: 1.) Paganism, which is the worship of something other than God. 2.) Neo-Marxism, whose mandate is to reduce everything to a struggle for power. 3.) Postmodernism, which asserts that everything about human beings is socially constructed. As such, the perpetrators of this monstrous ideology are out to destroy everything: reason & revelation, civility, morality, masculinity & femininity, ethics, metaphysics, human biology, language, culture, history, intelligence, excellence, sacred wisdom, religion. Is it any wonder that an entire generation is beset by a colossal mental-health crisis?
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Bereft of wisdom as children are, they are not able to navigate the landmines of these toxic ideologies without getting badly wounded. My heart goes out to all young people: Muslims, friends of other faiths, & seekers. They are facing unprecedented challenges in these upside-down times. Lies have been instantiated into laws. Education has become indoctrination. Religion has been banished from the public square.
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"If there is no God. Everything is permitted."
(Dostoevsky)
(The Brothers Karamazov)
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Secular ideology is a mental-health calamity. All kids are at-risk. Kids from religious families are taught beautiful, traditional values at home, but every day when they go to school or on line, they are thrust back into the madness. As such, many suffer from severe cognitive dissonance, what I call 'psychological whiplash,' which leads to confusion, capitulation, and crises of faith. Kids with no religion are at-risk from the get-go, with no moral compass to guide them. An entire generation has become addicted to social media and the soul-crushing evils it perpetuates: grievance & vengeance, promiscuity & vulgarity, materialism & narcissism. The data are clear & copious. Self-absorption leads to depression. And worse.
But there is no need for despair. There is absolutely a way forward, a path that leads upward, to the Light. For all young people who have been unwittingly misguided or who have lost their way and want to return, I am reaching out in love to help you find the sanity & serenity, certainty & dignity you deserve as a human being.
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Since the dawn of time, the eternal verities that govern life have been codified in The Sacred Law given to us by God through 'His' prophets, from Mount Sinai to The Mountain of Light. Preserved in scripture, protected & transmitted by parents, elders, & religious communities down through the ages, these universal precepts & practices are what sustains humanity. This is the glue that holds everything together. Absent this glue, everything falls apart.
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Human Beings: God’s Greatest Creation
As such, a return to our revealed scriptures is crucial, for in them alone do we learn who we truly are as human beings and what we are here on earth to do. In Genesis 1:27 we learn that we are created in God’s image. ‘He’ breathed into us from ‘His’ Spirit and made us ‘His’ greatest creation. (Genesis 2:7, Qur’an 15:29). We are exalted beings before whom ‘He’ commanded the angels to bow down (Qur’an 2:34, 7:11, 15:29 ).
"We take our hue from God! And who could give a better hue to life than God. We are His worshippers."
(Qur’an 2:138)
As such, God-Centered Psychology views human suffering not narrowly like the Western secular model, but much more broadly & deeply, as varying forms & degrees of:
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psychological darkness
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moral weakness
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spiritual blindness
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emotional brokenness.
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Accordingly, God-Centered Psychology provides:
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light for cognition
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strength-training for volition
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remedies to improve spiritual perception.
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heaping doses of love, hope, & beauty to heal emotion.
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In this way, order is restored in the self, order being the meaning of the Greek cosmos, and we children of Adam being the cosmos in miniature, the microcosm. When our Divine Design is restored, we are able to carry out our Divine Assignment as worshippers of God and caretakers of creation. Calibrated to the sacred, we find the joy & fulfillment that is our birthright as human beings.
“When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man, that You think of him? What is the son of man, that You care for him? For You have made him
a little lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor. You make him ruler over the works of Your hands. You have put all things under his feet.”
(Psalm 8:3-6)
Manifesting our God-given Potential
Once this foundation is put in place by way of counseling, the ultimate aim of God-Centered Psychology, by way of coaching, is to instantiate higher degrees of excellence so that, throughout their lives, human beings can manifest more & more of their God-given potential.
We have honored the children of Adam. Provided them with transport on land and sea. Given them for sustenance things good and pure. Conferred on them special favors, above many of those whom We created with a marked preferment.
(Qur’an 17:70)
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The Sacred Framework
Whereas Western psychotherapy emerged from the medical field and operates on a disease model, God-Centered Psychology emerged from the educational field and operates on a developmental model. The word ‘education,’ from the Latin educare, means to draw out what is innate. In clinical practice, God-Centered Psychology is supported by a dynamic process I have come to call Sacred Framing™ which is:
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Constituted by cognitive-behavioral methods of therapy.
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Oriented towards felicity here, proximity to God hereafter.
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Facilitated in the loving atmosphere of moral exhortation & spiritual care.
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When The Sacred Framework is in place, we are able to see with clarity the capacity God gave us and tap into it. A limitless vista opens up. The Light grows brighter & brighter within, and we are able to make our way in the world with increasing wisdom & compassion, by the grace of God.