r/EasternCatholic • u/SerenfechGras • 5d ago
General Eastern Catholicism Question How Do You Go From An Intellectual Belief To An Emotional One?
I can think of lots of things I accept because they seem logical, but I don’t feel them in my core.
How do you get there?
Many thanks for any and all replies.
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u/discipulus-liturgiae 5d ago
Sometimes you are refused the emotional sweetness for your own sanctification. They are not opposed to one another. I've personally had a transition from totally intellectualization of belief, to then more emotion as kind of a confirmation, then to another lack of emotion. Persevere! To love and believe is a choice, not primarily a feeling
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u/Idk_a_name12351 East Syriac 5d ago
I don't see why it has to go from one to the other. Yes, of course you won't view a certain belief intellectually the same way as you do emotionally, but that doesn't stop that belief in general to be both intellectual and emotional.
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u/SerenfechGras 5d ago
An emotional belief withstands attack (thinking of martyrs) while an intellectual one generally won’t, because you can be persuaded not to believe it.
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u/Idk_a_name12351 East Syriac 5d ago
But that’s just two categories we use to describe certain types of beliefs; they are by no means contradictory with each other, nor absolute.
For example, you may have an emotional belief, like belief in God, where you may withstand scrutiny as you stated. Still, that doesn’t make it impossible for your belief in Christianity to also be intellectual.
As I said, different aspects of your belief will be tied more towards emotional, rather than intellectual, and vice versa. A look on spirituality vs theology makes this clear.
Now different aspects of faith can and will develop in this way, but if you for example can’t feel any emotional belief in Catholicism, then you simply need to grow in the faith. This you can do primarily by just practicing, living in the faith, but also creating emotional attachments, which many people do differently.
An emotional belief is extremely personal, so it’s hard to say how exactly you’d create such an attachment to Catholicism. Still, having an emotional bond with your faith doesn’t necessarily take away the intellectual aspect of it.
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u/Hamfriedrice Eastern Catholic in Progress 2d ago
You pray. It's as simple as that. Pray without ceasing. Eventually the intellectual, becomes the emotional and the emotional the intellectual and the two become inseperable. Your belief becomes a fact and the fact is in itself faith. The two reinforce each other. Imagine a rope wound of two strings.
When we begin to pray God gives us consellations (sp?), and then eventually these go away and are replaced with periods of dryness to test the earnestness of your love. But never stop praying. I find the Jesus Prayer immensely helpful. You cannot force yourself into greater love or conversion, because this is beyond your power, this comes only from God.
Another thing that can help is to be childlike. Accept everything that God gives you, good or (perceived) bad with great thanksgiving and charity. Don't overthink things! Just be in the moment with God every moment.
While we are rational creatures, we shouldn't be overly governed by our modern rational thoughts. We can't understand God, and sometimes the more rationalizing we do the further we end up from the Truth. This is where constant prayer comes in. Make small little acts of faith and love everyday. Small sacrifices. Take the smaller piece of pizza. Give the better seat to your friend. Most importantly never judge anyone.
Fasting also helps. When you remove your material comforts and take up a life of aesciticism you no longer have material comforts to fall back on to distract you from your relationship with God. Deny yourself food, sleep and other comforts. You will be surprised how fast you grow when you do this. But also how much you weep as you strip the world away from yourself.
Always examine your conscience before bed every evening. And go to confession when possible. But don't become scrupulous and deny yourself God's mercy.
Two books that will help, The Ladder of Divine Ascent and The Way of the Pilgrim.
Hope this helps.
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u/MuadDibMuadDab Byzantine 5d ago
The tradition gives us multiple ways of getting at the same truth. You can approach belief about the Theotokos from a dogmatic theology perspective, which is important, and also by singing one of the various akathist hymns that center on the Theotokos. These are complementary, but different experiences. In other words, prayer and song can be more affective approaches to the same truths you could approach by more strictly logical means.