The hormones and the spirit



SHOULD our behavior be based more on the hormonal or rather on the rational and spiritual?

A feisty lady doctor and psychologist who is at the same time a consecrated person gave the Cebu clergy the other day a very enlightening and amusing lecture about human sexuality.

Actually the topic was to be on the family, given the Word Meeting of Families, but perhaps because it was her expertise, she focused more on the development of human life from the conjugal act to old age.

Yes, Virginia, the conjugal act, just before conception, already influences a man's life and future significantly. As it turned out, the audience did not mind the unexpected turn of events, and was in fact happy for it.

The dominant prism used was the biological, psychological and ambient aspects, with some moral and spiritual considerations. There were references to the role of the hormones, to certain practices whose good and bad effects would appear only later in life, etc.

The most riveting part was when she talked about the possible causes of homosexuality and other aberrant behavior. It was shocking to know that there can be many innocent things that can happen on the way to adulthood that can contribute to many behavioral discrepancies later on.

The pieces of information, of course, are not entirely gospel truth. They are quite open to modification and even to revision. Thus, they should be taken with extreme caution.

But to me it was scientific and spiritual enough, a mature talk for a mature audience, though there were spontaneous bursts of laughter at some of the examples and anecdotes. Usually hard to please, the priests miraculously did not mind delaying their lunch for an hour.

There were two things that immediately came to my mind. First, it is important for everyone, but especially for priests and for those with authority, to be familiar with the hormonal and the psychological influences in human behavior.

A rich topic worthy of constant study, it can shed light on many things. A good grounding on this knowledge can help one to be more patient, prudent, merciful and at the same time demanding in his dealings with people.

It can help one overcome scrupulous thoughts that tend to exaggerate little things that in the end are no more than petty tricks and mischief of hormones. Of course, it should never be made to ignore or discourage ethical questions either.

I think we can better approximate divine justice if this area of human concern is given due attention. No wonder, the Pope some months ago expressed the need for the study of things like psychology in the seminary. That should give us greater sensitivity to things.

Our tendency is to simplify things and stereotype people. We are prone to be rash in our judgments. You committed this, therefore, you deserve this punishment. That simple! There is hardly any effort to probe deeper into one's mind, one's heart, one's soul.

The second thing that came to mind was the need to go all the way in knowing about human life. Man's life is rich. Though only one, it has a great and growing variety of levels and aspects. It is multi-layered and multi-faceted.

Amid all this richness, we have to learn to distinguish and integrate, analyze and synthesize, and acknowledge a certain hierarchy among these aspects.

In short, we should not confine ourselves only to the level of the biological, the hormonal, the psychological, etc. We should go all the way to the intellectual and rational, the spiritual and the supernatural.

I submit that these are man's ultimate and perfecting dimensions. Everything else will just have to be integrated to these.

From that talk, I gathered that if we were to remain only on the biological and hormonal, etc., there is every reason to lose hope in life. The possibilities for things to go wrong in these areas are plentiful and constant.

That's why I don't understand why some people insist on looking at things only from the point of view of the material, biological, practical, popular, etc. They have to learn to see things in accordance with reason and with faith.

Man's life is not only a matter of hormones or a matter of psychology. It transcends these levels without nullifying them. Man's life embraces the spiritual and the supernatural.

These latter dimensions give us the elements that complete what is lacking and limited in our nature, heal what is sick in it, purify and strengthen what is weak, correct what is unavoidably wrong with it.

They forgive what is sinful, so that we can reach our true and ultimate goal. They can even take advantage of what is wrong and harmful.

This, alas, would require faith. Thus we should not rely only on the human sciences without ignoring them either. We have to live by faith, my friend!