Is there a such thing as spiritual diseases?

  • Thread starter Thread starter dizzy_dave
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
D

dizzy_dave

Guest
Since there are so many physical diseases and mental diseases, I was wondering is there any spiritual diseases? If there are what are they? Why don’t we hear much about them?
 
Well, I would imagine that spiritual sloth, scupulosity, etc. are just a few.
 
Hi Dave. Wow, interesting question. I think the others have answered better than I can… but my simple answer would be… yes, there is such a thing as “spiritual disease”. It is called… sin.

Of course, we all know that Our Lord revealed Himself, in the Gospels as the Divine “Physician”. The ultimate “Doctor” Who can heal us all.

“And Jesus answered and said to them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a physician, but they who are sick. I have not come to call the just, but sinners to repentance’.” (Luke 5:31)

Doesn’t that just fill you with awe? That He is so merciful to us. God bless and Merry Christmas! 🙂
 
dizzy_dave said:
Since there are so many physical diseases and mental diseases, I was wondering is there any spiritual diseases? If there are what are they? Why don’t we hear much about them?
Click to expand...
Wow dave, in two lines you have asked a huge question.

I suspect that spiritual and psychological illnesses have some overlapping areas. However that is a large and tricky topic all its own.

Personnally I don’t think that there are spiritual diseases in the same sense that we think of physiological and psychological diseases. These are caused by some exterior pathogen, or chemical imbalance in our bodies. They are measurable by science.
Spiritual disease is different and truly relates to DIS-EASE.

The term “disease” really indicates a feeling of discomfort and a lack of internal peace. A sense that things are not right. This is called stress by science and creates conflict in ourselves that can lead to all sorts of physical maladies, not to mention the spiritual ones.
Perhaps the thing about spiritual disease is that it primarily springs from “wrong thinking” or “mal-formation of the character”. In other words, acting against that which gives us greater “ease” and sense of well being in our soul.
So long as this wrong thinking or mal-fomration is left uncorrected, the dis-ease will continue to create problems.

As I said this a large and complex subject.
Perhaps, for the sake of discussion, we can start with:

The Seven Deadly Sins:
(From Wikipedia) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_deadly_sins
1 The sins
1.1 Lust (Latin, luxuria)
1.2 Gluttony (Latin, gula)
1.3 Greed (Latin, avaritia)
1.4 Sloth (Latin, acedia)
1.5 Wrath (Latin, ira)
1.6 Envy (Latin, invidia)
1.7 Pride (Latin, superbia)

This should be a very interesting thread. Thanks for starting it.

James
 
Does anyone know if any books have been written on this topic by Catholics?
 
dizzy_dave said:
Since there are so many physical diseases and mental diseases, I was wondering is there any spiritual diseases? If there are what are they? Why don’t we hear much about them?
Click to expand...

What are sins, if not diseases 🙂 ?​

Sin is a terminal disease - & it contains every particular sin 🙂 That’s one of the reasons God died of it when He was crucified; it is deadly.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top