Joy and Sadness in Spiritual Life According to St. Ignatius of Loyola: A Hermeneutic Study

Part II: Inspired by St. Ignatius of Loyola: Reading Feelings - An Attempt at Interpretation

Keywords: character, emotionality, reading feelings, spiritual discernment, natural background: psychophysical, existentially situational, existentially constitutive, supernatural background, joy, sadness, emotional and emotional–spiritual states, temperament, feelings, spiritual life

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to attempt to interpret human emotionality as expressed in the experiences of joy and sadness, in view of the precepts of one of the schools of Christian spirituality: Ignatius Loyola’s teachings (1491– 1556). According to this current of spiritual philosophy, which draws on the centuries-old experience of the biblical and Christian understanding of the emotional dimension of our lives, as well as the experiences and thoughts of Ignatius himself, our emotionality—often experienced as a kind of incom­prehensible “buzz”—may, in reality, constitute equally emotional, legi­ble “speech.” This “speech” becomes understandable when we can properly “read,” that is, recognize and understand, the emotional experiences we expe­rience in this sphere. The article’s reading feeling is a proposal of commonsen­sical–sapiential deciphering of both our emotional and emotional–spiritual experiences and joys and sorrows, as well as analyzing and interpreting them in the search for relevant meanings that they often carry or express.

Author Biography

Tomasz Homa, Jesuit University Ignatianum in Krakow

Jesuit, philosopher, and professor at the Jesuit Univer­sity Ignatianum in Krakow. In his research he deals with issues concerning social and political philosophy, existentialism, ethics, and culture. He has written monographs on social and political philosophy—W drodze do pod­miotowości społeczeństwa [On the Way to the Subjectivity of Society], Obywa­telskość [Citizenship], and Wspólnotowość [Communality]—and co-autho­red Problemy współczesności a chrześcijanie [Problems of the Present Day and Christians] and Zagadnienia etyczne i społeczne do dyskusji dla młodzieży i wychowawców [Ethical and Social Issues for Discussion for Young People and Educators].

References

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Fedeli, M. (2003). Temperamenty, charaktery, osobowość. Profil medyczny i psy-chologiczny [Temperaments, characters, personality: A medical and psychological profile]. Krakow: WAM Publishing House.

Loyola, I. (2001). A pilgrim’s fourney: The autobiography of Ignatius of Loyola (Joseph N. Tylenda, Trans.). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.

Loyola, I. (2017). The spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola (Father Elder Mullan, Trans.). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.

Plato. (2008). The Republic (B. Jowett, Trans.). https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1497/1497-h/1497-h.htm (Original work published ca. 375 BCE)

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The Bible, New International Version. (2011). Bible Gateway. www.biblegateway.com/versions/New-International-Version-NIV-Bible

Published
2020-03-01
How to Cite
[1]
Homa, T. 2020. Joy and Sadness in Spiritual Life According to St. Ignatius of Loyola: A Hermeneutic Study: Part II: Inspired by St. Ignatius of Loyola: Reading Feelings - An Attempt at Interpretation. Perspectives on Culture. 28, 1 (Mar. 2020), 69-100. DOI:https://doi.org/10.35765/pk.2020.2801.08.
Section
European Spiritual Heritage