Have you ever noticed how, in the spiritual world at least, changing the name of something can make it acceptable? For example…..

The basis of much of Christian psychology is based on Jungian psychology. I myself am not much of a Jungian, but that leaves me in the minority. Carl Jung did a lot of work in the field of dream analysis, which is a fascinating field in which I have very little expertise. Despite that, there are a whole lot of Christian types who accept Jungian psychology while rejecting dream analysis as bizarre and somehow not spiritual.

We have all had the feeling of deja vu, where we feel as if something that is happening to us has happened before. I have read a number of scientific theories about this phenomenon, none of which are very convincing to me. It seems to me very likely that we experience the feeling of deja vu because we have a momentary glimpse of the future. That is a kind of clairvoyance, but many Christian types would reject the possibility of clairvoyance despite having experienced deja vu.

Many of us are skeptical about a lot of everyday phenomenon based solely upon the label applied to them. We are fine with “trusting our gut” or “following our instincts” and recognize the importance of first impressions, but many of us balk at the notion that someone can know something about a person whom they have just met – or that someone might be gifted in a way that allows them to feel another person’s spirit.

If there is any hope for the Christian Church to continue to exist into the next century, I believe it lies in being able to openly discuss any issue from any perspective. We need to allow that we don’t have all the answers and stop rejecting things from traditions outside our own – most especially when there are parallels to what we are rejecting within our own tradition!