In philosophical counseling, spiritual healing aims for spiritual growth and vitality based on human nature. It seeks a healthy life by examining emotional reactions and experiences related to one's own problems, establishing proper relationships between oneself and others, maturing one's personality, and expanding consciousness through self-healing and daily self-reflection to strengthen the inner life.
Fundamental and philosophical insight into human nature is necessary to understand spiritual healing properly. The classical concept that defines human nature is the 'psyche' or soul. Ancient Greek philosophers understood the soul as the principle of life corresponding to matter and gave it a unique status.
Humans are the only living creatures in nature with a unique soul that can grasp and understand the principle of all things, which is the spirit that the ancient Greeks called 'nous'. Spirit is the core concept of human nature that encompasses technology that produces and manufactures something, perception that discerns things, moral practice that pursues the meaning and value of life, and wisdom that follows principles and truth of all things.
Humans are beings who have a physical body and a spiritual soul. Humans are limited by their bodies but are spiritually unrestricted beings. Humans can constantly attempt self-transcendence toward the absolute despite being finite because they possess this unrestricted spirit. As a unique person, I am primarily distinguished from others through my body. Still, I exist as a unique individual only through mental self-consciousness and reflection. Since we have this kind of unconstrained spirit as our nature, we can transcend the defined self through internal self-transcendence, outside of ourselves, and ultimately transcend to the supernatural ultimate reality beyond nature.
Internal self-transcendence means transcending the self that has already been defined and understood through our experiences. These experiences of the self don't exist alone. They are formed through communal life within the continuity of time and space. External self-transcendence toward the other means self-dedication that overcomes the self. Of course, this does not mean physical union but mental unity with the other through self-denial.
Lastly, self-transcendence toward the ultimate reality means self-opening to the absolute being. Since the true meaning of our entire life and existence is ultimately revealed only through the absolute being, self-transcendence toward this ultimate and absolute reality becomes the core of spiritual healing.
Spiritual healing comprises three stages based on transcendence, the inherent characteristic of this spiritual human existence. The first stage is first-person self-transcendence, which is establishing a relationship with oneself that emotionally controls the passions of the mind and objectifies oneself. The second stage is second-person self-transcendence, which is establishing a relationship with oneself and others by examining the causes outside of oneself that cause passions and empathizing with and understanding them. The third stage is third-person self-transcendence, which establishes a relationship with oneself and the Absolute with an open attitude toward unconstrained reality. In our traditional approach to spirituality, these were the Purgative, Illuminative, and Unitive stages of the spiritual life.
