Spiritually yes, as a mental health disease no.
Finally, we are getting somewhere. OK, let us not call it a mental health disease. I really do not care what you want to call this disorder. You may simply call it a spiritual disorder, instead of the more fancy terms âpsychic disorder,â or âpsychological disorder.â Actually, calling sh$t by any other name will not make it smell better. The important thing is to recognize that the homosexual feeling is a disorder, a lack of rectitude in the movement of the sexual appetite.
I will now bring you to the next plane of our discussion, but I first need to digress a little bit to bring home some very important points. Besides the sexual appetite we also have the natural appetite for food and drink. Food and drink are supposed to nourish our bodies, and the desire for food and drink is therefore normal and healthy. But there are several ways in which a disorder can come in with respect to this appetite. One way is by eating or drinking too much (gluttony) so that the food or drink harms rather than helps the body. Another way is by eating or drinking too little, so that not enough nourishment is consumed. In both of these cases the disorder has nothing to do with the food or drink itself, because food is designed by nature to nourish the body. The disorder is in the amount of food or drink taken.
With respect to our appetite for food or drink we can say that one person is not more normal than another person because he prefers to eat rice rather than bread. One is not more normal than another because he likes to drink water rather than fruit juice. This is because these food and drink are designed by nature to nourish the body, and the desire for these substances is in harmony with the natural design and purpose of our digestive system, which is ordered toward the preservation of the individual. In other words, the appetite for these food and drink meets the functional definition of ânormal.â However, there is an abnormality, a serious disorder, - one that is even more serious than eating or drinking too much or too little, - when a person shows a craving, hunger or thirst for poisonous substances, or substances that are not nourishing but harmful. In this particular case the disorder (or abnormality) does not result from the
amount of substance taken, but from the
kind of substance craved for. The appetite for poisonous substances is abnormal, unnatural, and disordered in itself because the tendency of the appetite is not toward food, but toward a non-food, and this craving counters or opposes the function and natural design of our bodies.
Now letâs go back to our sexual appetite. Let me call your attention to the fact that there is another disorder â call it a spiritual disorder also, if you wish - similar to homosexual inclinations. It is something that we find even among heterosexual people. I am referring to LUST - the uncontrolled and inordinate craving for sex. The desire for sex (with a person of the opposite sex) is healthy and normal in itself, because it is ordained by nature toward the preservation of the human species. But if sexual desire is excessive and uncontrolled, it degenerates into lust and can lead to sins such as masturbation, fornication, adultery, etc. Therefore, lust is also a disorder of the soul and, if carried to the extreme, it could border on mania. Of course, I do not call every person who experiences some lustful feelings as mentally ill, just as I do not call a gluttonous person as mentally sick. However, it is important to recognize the possibility of developing disorders like this, if we are lacking in self-control. Lust is a disorder similar to gluttony, in the sense that it portrays the movement of the appetite toward the right object, but in the incorrect amount. Lust is the excessive sexual craving for a person of the opposite sex, just as gluttony is the excessive craving for food.
Now, a homosexual feeling is a sexual feeling, too, but unlike lust which tends toward a person of the opposite sex, the homosexual tendency is toward a person of the same sex. The homosexual tendency or inclination is, therefore, similar to the craving for a poisonous substance in the sense that they both tend toward the wrong object. It is therefore inherently unnatural, abnormal and objectively disordered in itself, because its tendency is contrary to the functional design of the human sexual act, which is ordained by nature toward the preservation of the human species. For this reason, a homosexual feeling is a disorder more serious than lust.
Again, it is important to note that merely to have a strong appetite (for food or sex) is not a sin. Lust is not a sin, but a passion. A homosexual tendency or inclination is also not a sin but a psychological condition. But failure to control all of these tendencies is dangerous, because they can result in gluttony, illegitimate sexual acts (outside marriage), homosexual acts, etc. â all of which are sinful.
A good question to ask now is this: Does the having of excessive appetite a purely spiritual disorder, or does it have accompanying physiological aberrations? Is lust a purely spiritual disorder that exists only in the soul, or does it relate to the bodyâs physiology (hormones, etc.). In the same manner, is a homosexual feeling a purely spiritual disorder, or is it somehow related to physical and chemical changes taking place in the body? I am not a doctor and am not qualified to answer these questions. But if I were to make a guess, knowing how the human soul is intimately united to the body, I think that these disorders also have physiological roots â Just my opinion.
) would you be so insistent then that the old content remain included because maybe theyâll prove it later?
I brought up objectives of both the patient and therapist in the scenario. None of the factors you raised to prove a âhighly complicated processâ were meant to be overlooked.