Welcome to part 11 of our weekly series on the soul. This week I want to talk about the powers of the soul and the phenomena that is often called paranormal or occult these days, phenomena also too often ascribed to angels, Holy Souls, or demons, when it could easily have its source in ourselves or in others around us, sometimes but not always in the circle of our family and friends. Notes and links are at the end of this post.
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Welcome to part 5 of the Weekly Series on the Soul. We’ve been looking at Dom Alois Wiesinger’s Occult Phenomena in the Light of Theology, and it’s been a fascinating read. For me, anyway. I hope it has been for you, as well. After all those years I spent wandering around, seeking esoteric knowledge, finding REAL knowledge has been a source of much joy. REAL spirituality, not the pablum that’s been pawned off on so many of us, especially in the last century until now. More Catholics should know these things and that’s why I’ve been sharing it here on the blog. (There will be a link to a free copy of the book at the end of this post.)
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Welcome to the Weekly Series on the Soul, Part 4, based on the book, Occult Phenomena in the Light of Theology, by Dom Alois Wiesinger, OCSO. If you’ve missed the previous posts, you can catch up using the links at the top or at the end of this one. Last week Dom Wiesinger told us about pure spirits according to theology. This week he’ll help us gain “a fuller coneption of the powers latent in the human soul.” He’ll also explain to us a “pure spirit’s mode of cognition” and with the way a pure spirit communicates with and influences other spirits. He’ll also tell us about two characteristics of pure spirits that really got my attention: their immunity from forgetfulness and fatigue. (Yes, I’d like some of that, please. Can I have it to go?)
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My day began so well. And then it exploded in a million different directions. I’m just now sitting down to do any writing at 8pm. Well, that’s not exactly true. I sat down to write a bazillion times today, but the writing was interrupted every single time. But mostly it was for a good cause.
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I’m writing this series as I re-read the book, Occult Phenomena in the Light of Theology, by Dom Alois Wiesinger, OCSO. Last week I shared passages from the first chapter, Body and Soul. This week we’ll look at the second chapter, Pure Spirit, angels and human souls. You can get a copy using the links at the end of this post. I’m mostly going to quote passages from the book instead of write about it because I’m at the beginner stage in understanding it; but I want to go ahead and share this material with you because I think more Catholics should know it. See the beginning of last week’s post for some of my thoughts on that. This time Dom Wiesinger gets into the way spirits communicate and the way spirits and humans learn. In this chapter I also discovered a new favorite word: noopneustia. Isn’t that delightful? What does it mean? Patience, patience. It’s in this chapter toward the end.
Continue reading “Weekly Series On the Soul, Part 3”Occult phenomena, why bother; theology, why it matters
Update, Sat, Nov. 9: I left out a link earlier. It did appear at the very end of the post, and now I’ve added it towrd the end of the opening paragraph. Sorry about that! It was in the draft version, but when I pasted the text in, the links didn’t transfer. I had to re-enter them and that one slipped by me. Whatta maroon, huh?
First I’ll offer a few thoughts of my own as to why we should bother to study the soul, occult phenomena, or theology. Then I’m going to quote several passages of Dom Wiesinger to show what he has to teach us. In all honesty, I haven’t studied this long enough or deeply enough to attempt to put it in my own words yet. So since the text is in the public domain, I’ll let the author speak for himself. Some of the passages at the beginning of the quotes are repeated from last week, in case it’s been a while since you read the earlier post, or in case you missed it altogether. If you haven’t got a copy of his book yet, get a free PDF copy from archive.org. I’ll provide a link to purchase a copy at Amazon at the end of the post.
Continue reading “Weekly Series On the Soul, Part 2”
When I was a new ager, I was seeking the truth. I had no idea where to find it but I was seeking it. I had so many questions and many of them were the same ones that man has asked for as long as he has had the use of language with which to ask: What are we? Who are we? Is reality limited to what we can see with our eyes, touch with our hands? Is there life after death? What is the soul? What does the soul do? How do sin, evil, and the Fall effect the soul? What about the spiritual world and angels?
Enter the book I wish I’d had all those years ago: Occult Phenomena in the Light of Theology, by Cistercian abbot, Alois Wiesinger, OCSO, published in the nineteen fifties. (There is a link to a free copy of the book in PDF format at the end of this post.) Wiesinger doesn’t try to be cute or entertaining, and his book is not likely to be showing up on many new ager’s book shelves. Though it does have that much-abused word “occult” in the title, so some may pick it up not suspecting in the least what they’re in for. (Until they open it up and see the word Christian a few times. That’ll put them off. Sadly.) This is Catholic theology and it doesn’t mess around. If you’ve ever read any Catholic books from that the fifties or earlier, then you know what I mean.
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Catholic Heart and Mind 