Depression, Psychophysiology and

Concepts of God
By Richard E. Keady

THE GOD ABOVE GOD is Paul Tillich's final answer to the vexing
problem of the relationship between the symbols we use to point to the
reality of God and that reality as it actually is in se. While the problem has
stimulated generations of theologians to speculations of magnificent length
and depth little attention has been devoted to the interrelationship between
the symbols (concepts of God) which individual persons hold to be central
to their religious system and the emotional state in which they find them-
selves at any given point in time. Even less attention has been given to the
way in which psychophysiology elucidates both our understanding of and
adherence to concepts of God and at the same time our understanding of
mental illness.
The pervasiveness of depression in the modern world—and the number
of times religious and psychological and psychiatric consultants are called
upon to provide counseling to depressed individuals—encourage further ex-
ploration of this painful human experience and the relationship between
that experience and concepts of God. The extreme situation of clinical de-
pression (as well as tortured life stories) offer stark evidence for the under-
standing of the problems of this paper. By bringing to bear some conclu-
sions from modern scientific research on the electrochemical structure of the
brain we can further narrow the focus of the discussion for the purpose of
gaining a deeper insight into the relationship between theology and depth
psychology as these two disciplines reflect upon the experience of depression.
The study of psychophysiology has convinced modern Western ob-
servers that frequently the origin of somatic difficulties/diseases is to be
found in the psyche. This represents an often incomplete reversal of the
long-held Cartesian dualism which asserts that there is no unilateral or re-
ciprocal relationship between the well-being of the body and the well-being
of the mind/psyche. While the modern antidualistic trend has made signif i-
* Richard E. Keady (Ph.D., Claremont Graduate School; S.T.L., College
di Sant' Anselmo, Rome) was for eight years a Benedictine monk and
presently teaches in the Religious Studies Program at San Jose State
University, California.
(263)
264 Encounter

cant advances in understanding the interdependency of body and mind/

psyche, I believe that this movement has not gone far enough. The heritage
of enlightenment rational idealism still pervades our understanding of the
human person. Note the tendency among academics to disregard personal
physical fitness until some major trauma forces a radical change in life
style. Lack of exercise, over-indulgence of food, liquor and tobacco, and
voluntary submission to deleterious environmental conditions speak more
eloquently than words of the conviction that for theologians mental life ex-
ists independently of somatic life despite occasional lip service to the
contrary.
The thesis of this paper is, then, that the etiologies of depression, psy-
chophysiological illness and concepts of God refer to three points on a circle
in which the direction of causative influence can flow in both directions
around and across the circle. The paper aims at understanding the impact
of recent developments in the depth psychology of psychophysiology upon
the method and content of theology. Questions which arise in such a con-
sideration are, for instance: How does depression influence an individual's
theological vision? How do the symbols of God, sin, evil, eternal punish-
ment in Hell and eternal bliss in Heaven influence our body and mind/spirit?
Finally, if there is an etiological circle which includes concepts of God how
are we to relate this understanding to the reality of God above the concept
of God? How is it possible to continue to "do theology" after the full im-
pact of these considerations has modified the predominant methodologies
which do not give adequate consideration to such an etiological circle? How
can theology get out of its own presuppositions? How can it overcome the
seeming stake it has in separation, individualism and at times outright
dualism?

Depression
Depression is a common experience in every day life, so common that
it is difficult to imagine a person who has not felt the lack of energy, the
negative self image and the sense of impotence which characterize such a
condition. But this common condition, this "normal" depression is dif-
ferent from though on a continuous scale with clinical depression. The com-
mon signs of clinical depression recognized by a number of authorities are:
sad, lonely apathetic or irritable mood; an exaggeratedly negative, self-
punitive self-concept; disturbed vegetative functioning with overactive
autonomic nervous system accompanied by decreased appetite, poor sleep,
constipation, and diminished sexual interest; physical complaints of aches,
weakness, fatigue altered activity level with slowing or agitation; impaired
 Depression, Psychophysiology and Concepts of God 265

thought processes with high distractibility, indecisiveness, disinterested-

ness, and preoccupation with hopelessness and helplessness (J. Becker, 8;
see also Beck, 4-40; Mendels, 6-20).
While this dismal list does not describe the majority of the population,
there is a common element in normal and clinical depressive experience.
The low moods of normal individuals are similar to clinical states of de-
pression in four ways: 1, The descriptions of the subjective experience are
similar, such as sadness, loneliness, apathetic or irritable moods, etc.;
2, the behavior is similar, such as withdrawal from activity, diminished
sexual interest, weakness, fatigue, etc.; 3, some of the physical manifesta-
tions are similar such as insomnia, fatigability, etc., and there is a common
cycle of moods, the high to low moods, the manic-depressive cycles (Beck,
7f.) ; 4, they also presumably have some evolutionary survival value which
may reside in the fact that "moods permit modulated affective discharge in
which small amounts of affect are repetitively discharged on a wide range
of objects for a relatively prolonged period. This mode of discharge is
adaptive, because it is less disruptive than abrupt, massive affective dis-
charge" (J. Becker, 4 ) . When moods influence self evaluation unrealisti-
cally, either by excessively high or low deviations, a typical poorer dis-
crimination results between subjective and objective reality and an incom-
patibility between response and the eliciting situation.
In all of these similarities the distinctions between "normal" depres-
sion and clinical depression is that in the former case the depression is not
incapacitating, the period of time is brief and self limiting, there is a co-
terminous capacity to experience joy and beauty, the depression is ultimately
put to good use and becomes a source of growth, and throughout the depres-
sion the person retains a grasp on reality (Andreasen, 158).
The term mood used to indicate a subjective state of consciousness is
problematic in itself inasmuch as it is a term referring to a "spectrum of
feelings extending from elation and happiness at one extreme to sadness and
unhappiness at the other" (Beck, 7 ) . Moods "pervasively influence all
aspects of personality function: feelings, ideation, overt behavior, physio-
logical process, and especially feelings about oneself and the world"
(J. Becker).
Moods are more formally related to psychogenic disorders found in the
schémas by which we interpret the reality around us. These schémas are the
mediating cognitive structures between stimulus inputs (internal or ex-
ternal) and personality responses. They consist of organized clusters of
attitudes, beliefs, and assumptions related to objects, events, or relations
(acting as stimulus scanners, filters, decoders, information processors, in-
266 Encounter

terpreters, and response encoders). They vary in abstractness, differen-

tiation, availability to awareness, and hierarchical level. Supraordinate
schémas influence subordinate schémas (J. Becker, 104).
The three most important supraordinate schémas in depression are those
pertaining to the self, the outer world and the future. The typical depres-
sive bias is usually the result of prior experience resulting from interaction
with significant socializing agents, such as parents. After the learning has
occurred the depression results from "events with cue properties similar to
those responsible for the initial acquisition of negative attitudes" (J. Becker,
105). This experience may be the result of cognitive labeling and physio-
logical arousal which is illogical and automatic.
Pharmacological treatment of depression is based upon the evidence
available that in about one third of the clinical depressant population drugs
called monoamine oxidase and the tricyclic drugs effect the level of a sub-
stance which transmits messages at the gap between neurons in the brain, a
substance known as norepinephrine. The successful use of these drugs in
the treatment of depressed individuals is thought to depend upon the regu-
lation of the levels of norepinephrine, so that in cases where these drugs are
successful it seems that depression is primarily a function of the chemical
imbalance in the brain. The present discussion in many disciplines con-
cerning the nature and structure of the brain is a fascinating cutting edge of
humanity's attempt to understand itself. It is not necessary, however, to
summarize the details of this discussion here. It is sufficient to note that
there is empirical evidence that there is a relationship between depression
and the chemical structure of the brain regardless of the question of which
influences which.
This information provides empirical evidence to substantiate the con-
tention that the experience of depression, with all its ramifications for theo-
logical vision, has some etiological roots in the physical and chemical com-
position of the body of the person who formulates theological propositions
about concepts of God.
The distinction between normal and clinical depression provides a first
level of understanding of the varieties of depression. Andreasen suggests
that depression particularly characterized by nonspecific feelings of guilt
and worthlessness arising out of the conscious recognition of human frailty
is normal and may provide a ground in the personality for "compassion for
human frailty in others" and a realization of human "dependence on a be-
ing higher than the [self]" (Andreasen, 156). Also within the normal/ac-
ceptable range are "feelings of sinfulness and worthlessness that grow out of
actual specific sins or crimes committed in the past and that the patient ap-
 Depression, Psychophysiology and Concepts of God 267

propriately believes must be expiated or undone (Andreasen, 155)."

Andreasen suggests that in the psychotherapeutic relationship the role
of religion for the depressed patients is to introduce the element which
transcends their own individuality. He does not seem to care what that
religious experience is so long as "these young people can find their identity
and a purpose to their lives by active participation in some logos that trans-
cends their individuality" (Andreasen, 162).
It would seem to be theologically and historically incorrect to assert
that the kind of transcendent vision is indifferent as an ingredient in the
emotioiial/spiritual structure of an individual. Surely the tone and struc-
ture of a particular religious vision must in some way effect the degree of
depression for a person who borders on clinical depression. This leads us
to the question of the relationship between different concepts of God and
depression.

Depression and Concept of God: Individual Examples

The subject "concepts of God" suggests that there is a variety of ways

in which religious thought has conceptualized God. In fact, in Western
thought there are many ways of conceptualizing God, though the accuracy
of those conceptualizations remains in dispute. In the list of attributes of
God which Western tradition has affirmed for centuries there are funda-
mentally two characterizations which compete with one another: the God of
light, mercy, kindness, and justice in the non-punitive sense and the God of
darkness, wrath, punitive justice, anger, etc. While rational systematic
approaches, to God may recognize the necessity of affirming all such attri-
butes it is evident that through the ages a different emphasis has been placed
on different sides of God according to the mood of the age or person. White-
head refers to this when he says that
. . . three strains of thought emerge . . . amid many variations in detail,
[which 1 respectively fashion God in the image of an imperial ruler, God
in the image of a personification of moral energy, God in the image of an
ultimate philosophical principle. . . .
The history of theistic philosophy exhibits various stages of com-
bination of these three diverse ways of entertaining the problem. There
is, however, in the Galilean origin of Christianity yet another suggestion
which does not fit very well with any of the three main strands of thought.
It does not emphasize the ruling Caesar, or the ruthless moralist, or the
unmoved mover. It dwells on the tender elements in the world, which
slowly and in quietness operate by love; and it finds purpose in the pres-
ent immediacy of a kingdom not of this world. Love neither rules, nor is
it unmoved; also it is a little oblivious as to morals (Whitehead, 520f.).
268 Encounter

Whitehead's four "images of God" may be understood as equivalent to

"mediating cognitive structures between stimulus inputs (internal or ex-
ternal) and personality responses" (see above) (J. Becker, 104). These
supraordinate schémas act as "stimulus scanners, filters, decoders, informa-
tion processors, interpreters and response encoders" (J. Becker, 104). In-
asmuch as the supraordinate theological schema, either at the level of ex-
plicit theology or implicit (unconscious) theological assumptions, must be
located schematically in the mind and inasmuch as we assume there to be a
bidirectional influence, we can only conclude that there is some relationship
between the concept of God a theologian or a school of theology professes
and the somatic conditions which characterize the existence of those who
formulate the predominant symbology of God's existence. Paul Tillich
himself saw part of this interrelationship when he wrote:
One can say that psychotherapy has replaced the emphasis on the demand-
ing yet remote God by an emphasis on his self-giving nearness. It is the
modification of the image of the threatening father—which was so im-
portant to Freud's attack on religion—by elements of the image of em-
bracing and supporting mother. If I were permitted to express a bold
suggestion, I would say that psychotherapy and the experiences of pas-
toral counseling have helped to reintroduce the female element, so con-
spicuously lacking in most Protestantism, into the idea of God.
Tillich's notion of the female element (though couched in stereotypical lan-
guage which may offend some) parallels Whitehead's reference to that
fourth strain of thought about God which emphasizes the "tender elements
in the world, which slowly and in quietness operate by love" (Whitehead,
520).
If we retain an over-simplified schema for organizing the various con-
cepts of God available to us, we shall be able to attempt a correlation be-
tween the mood of a particular person or group of persons and the emphasis
of that particular conceptualization of God. The thesis of this paper is that
there is a bidirectional etiological system involving three factors: concepts
of God, psychophysiology, and depression. That is to say that there is a
positive correlation between certain concepts of God and depression as both
a physical and mental condition. Some examples will support this thesis,
though it is recognized that these examples do not represent proofs.
In describing depression Beck selects a description of melancholia from
Plutarch, in the second century A.D. The depression resulting from rejec-
tion by the divine is obvious.
He looks on himself as a man whom the Gods hate and pursue with
their anger. A far worse lot is before him; he dares not employ any
 Depression, Psychophysiology and Concepts of God 269

means of averting or of remedying the evil, lest he be found fighting

against the gods. The physician, the consoling friend, are driven away.
'Leave me,' says the wretched man, 'me, the impious, the accursed, hated
of the gods, to suffer my punishment.' He sits out of doors, wrapped in
sackcloth or in filthy rags. Ever and anon he rolls himself, naked, in the
dirt confessing about this and that sin. He has eaten or drunk something
wrong. He has gone some way or other which the Divine Being did not
approve of. The festivals in honor of the gods give no pleasure to him
but fill him rather with fear or a fright (Beck, 5).
The celebration of life for the victim of melancholia brings nothing but ac-
centuations of the very mood such celebrations are supposed to overcome.
A second example comes from the Old Testament in the story of Job.
Now Job is a complex character, and inasmuch as he continues to struggle
with God he does not ultimately give in to his depression. His language is,
however, full of imagery which corresponds to contemporary views of the
emotional condition of the victim of depression:

May the day perish when I was born,

and the night that told of a boy conceived
May that day be darkness,
may God on high have no thought for it,
may no light shine on it.
• · ·
Why did I not die new-born
not perish as I left the womb?

Why give light to a man of grief?

Why give life to those bitter of heart,
who long for a death that never comes,
and hunt for it more than for a buried treasure?
They would be glad to see the grave-mound
and shout with joy if they reached the tomb
(Job 3:3, 4; 11; 20-22).
These words certainly sound like the lamentations of a victim of depression,
but it is important to note that Job's approach to God and the experience he
is having are tempered by a strong belief in both sides of God's being. As
C. G. Jung has pointed out in his powerful study of Job:
As certain as he is of the evil in Yahweh, he is equally certain of the good.
In a human being who renders us evil we cannot expect at the same time
to find a helper. But Yahweh is not a human being: he is both a perse-
cutor and a helper in one, and the one aspect is as real as the other.
Yahweh is not split but is an antinomy—a totality of inner opposite»—
and this is the indispensable condition for his tremendous dynamism, his
270 Encounter

omniscience and omnipotence. Because of this knowledge Job holds on

to his intention of "defending his ways to his face" (Jung, 7).
Jung rightly points out that there are two sides to the issue. The victim of
extreme depression has, however, lost view of this reality and has succumbed
in extreme cases to only one view of the situation or reality.
A third and final example comes from the Middle Ages. In his
Courage to Be Paul Tillich characterizes the Middle Ages as the age of moral
anxiety in which the threat of non-being was manifest in the relative threat
of guilt and the absolute threat of condemnation. Martin Luther represents
a case study for both Tillich and this paper inasmuch as he was plagued
with the characteristics of depression manifest in guilt and condemnation and
articulated in the concept of God as the God of Wrath. This is not to deny
that Luther understood and wrote passionately about God as Love. I am
asserting that his particular problems with depression and his concept of
God correlate with one another.
In his fascinating though highly criticized study of Luther, Young Man
Luther9 Erik Erikson draws a useful distinction between psychology and re-
ligion. He asserts that psychology "endeavors to establish what is demon-
strably true in human behavior, including such behavior as expresses what
to human beings seems true and feels true" (Erikson, 21). He suggests on
the other hand that "Religion . . . elaborates on what feels profoundly true
even though it is not demonstrable: it translates into significant words,
images, and codes the exceeding darkness which surrounds man's existence,
and the light which pervades it beyond all desert or comprehension" (Erik-
son, 21f.). In his study of Luther Erikson describes the beginning of his
most severe attack of anxiety and depression. In looking at the list of pain-
ful problems Luther experienced at that time we find a striking number
which are in the list of depressive characteristics listed above: self-doubt,
fear of God's judgment, crisis of generativity, cardiac spasms, constipation,
severe sweats, low self-esteem and buzzing in his ears. These many charac-
teristics would indicate that Luther certainly held God to be a God of Wrath.
Indeed, Althaus indicates that Luther did have an acute sense of God's wrath
precisely because of his acute sense of his own sin: "As the holy God, God
cannot respond to man's sin in any other way than with enmity and wrath"
(Althaus, 169).
The description of this wrath is systematically more complex than
simply saying that one of God's attributes is wrath:
(Luther) sometimes declares that God's nature is nothing else than pure
love; he is not a God of wrath and of anger but only of grace. The wrath
of God then appears to be a figment of man's imagination. Man sees not
 Depression, Psychophysiology and Concepts of God 271

the true God but an idol, not God as he is in reality but only a dark cloud
covering God's face. This cloud, however, exists in man's heart and is
therefore not objectively but only subjectively present. . . . Luther in
this connection constantly repeats his basic rule: God is—is for you—the
kind of God you think and believe he is (Althaus, 170; see also Ebeling,
255).
Althaus explains further that for Luther the wrath of God is experienced in
two forms: the first is more mild, and occurs when God is absent and the
sinner believes that he is following the law, but in fact is not and is unaware
of his sin. But worse than this is the experience of knowing the law and
knowing that the sinner doesn't fulfill the law, then experiencing guilt, tor-
ture, depression, and finally resistance and antagonism toward God (Althaus,
175). The way out of his hell is only through God's action of confronting
the sinner with the gospel and "opening his heart to faith through His Spirit"
(Althaus, 178).
The way out of depression is for Luther to be found in God's action.
What saved Job from extreme depression, even despair, was his stubborn
affirmation of God's justice and mercy. What makes the melancholia of
Plutarch so dismal is precisely that there exists no positive side of the con-
cept of the gods who have condemned him. In all three examples we see
that there is a supraordinate schema through which the subject views his
experience. Where a positive side is absent, as in the case of Plutarch,
there eventuates The Sickness Unto Death so well described by Soren Kierke-
gaard and utilized by Ernst Becker.

Whitehead's Alternative to the God of the Depressed

Whitehead's concept of God derived from the Galilean origin of Chris-
tianity does not "emphasize the ruling Caesar, or the ruthless moralist or
the unmoved mover. It dwells on the tender elements in the world, which
slowly and in quietness operate by love." This is a love which "neither
rules, nor is it unmoved; also it is a little oblivious as to morals" (PR 520f.).
This assertion stands in direct opposition to the conviction clearly evident in
Luther's spirituality that God sees, knows and judges every sin. This is the
view that God's nature is to overlook or be unaware of the sins humans hold
to be so awful.
The Whiteheadian system, as he describes it in Process and Reality, is
extremely complex and full of unique technical vocabulary which would be
out of place in this paper. The significance of the Whiteheadian concep-
tuality for the discussion of depression, however, is that it provides an al-
ternative to the conceptuality of God which, as we saw in the three examples
272 Encounter

above, may have a good deal to do with actual or potential depression. Note
that in Whitehead's concept there is an emphasis on tenderness in God, that
God is not regarded as a ruthless moralist frowning over the shoulders of
individuals given to guilt complexes about minor moral infractions. This
is a God who operates by love, a love which neither rules nor is unmoved.
The comparison here is with the concept derived from Aristotelian theology
and accepted into Christian Dogma through St. Augustine and St. Thomas
that God is the Unmoved Mover who is beyond being influenced by or de-
pendent upon the world. Such a God, the God of orthodox Christianity, is
thought to be beyond this dependence because the problems arising from
allowing this dependence into a theological system were thought to be de-
structive to that system. That is, in the mind of many who had already
constructed God in the image of Caesar, God ceases to be God as soon as He
no longer enjoys such absolute characteristics as omnipotence, omniscience,
etc.
The genius of Whitehead's system is that it deals successfully with many
of the traditional problems which have arisen from the struggle to under-
stand the nature of God and God's relationship to the world. In particular,
the over-against total otherness of many concepts of God is rejected in favor
of panentheism, a conceptualization of the relationship between God and the
world in which God is the world (pantheism) and at the same time is other
than or more than the world, i.e., transcends the world. This is the concept
of God as "creative-responsive love" which persuades existent beings as they
and God aim at the enjoyment of existence. By enjoyment here Whithead
means intense experience of the world at the subjective level. The aim of
every unit of existence is precisely to enjoy its own subjective existence as
well as to become an ever more intense influence upon the enjoyment of the
subsequent world.

Process theology sees God's fundamental aim to be the promotion of

the creatures' own enjoyment. God's creative influence upon them is lov-
ing, because it aims at promoting that which the creatures experience as
intrinsically good. Since God is not in complete control, the divine love
is not contradicted by the great amount of intrinsic evil, or "disenjoy-
ment," in the world. The creatures in part create both themselves and their
successors. (John B. Cobb, Jr., and David R. Griffin, Process Theology:
An Introductory Exposition [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1976], p. 56.)

Whitehead's alternative concept of God, so briefly outlined here, is an im-

portant contemporary view of God which may have significant results for
those who suffer from depression.
 Depression, Psychophysiology and Concepts of God 273

Conclusion
These reflections have convinced me that the etiological circle to which
I have pointed as a paradigm for understanding the interrelationships of
concepts of God, psychophysiology, and depression is in fact one of the most
important methodological considerations suggested to theologians by recent
developments in depth psychology. In fact, this etiological circle, carried
to its logical extreme, would suggest that we have certain important figures
in the history of religious thought whose theology may very well be a func-
tion of specific emotional imbalances of chemical origin. This calls into
question the writings of such great figures, and warns students of their
thought to look carefully at the personal emotional/physical history of
each person.
In light of these considerations I would like to suggest the following
methodological conclusions:
1. The feeling of self-worth is a function of many variables, one of
which is the proper balance of norepinephrine as a transmitter at the synap-
tic space between neurons, and that every individual must have a conscious
sense of the relativity of this all-important point of departure in the con-
struction of a synthetic theological vision.
2. Conversely, the weight of one's own theological vision may very
well have something to do with individual physical well-being, inducing
anxiety and stress or relieving the same.
3. Physical well-being may have some influence on the tone of the
theological vision formulated. That is, the "doing" of theology should in-
clude a consciousness of the messages and communications which come from
the body. This might be called "somatic theologyzing."
4. The self as social being cannot be seen as isolated from other selves,
as they are also psychophysiological beings who experience the same kind
of interrelationship between God and depression. The ramifications of this
for social ethics are many, some of which have been indicated by Marxist
and Neo-Marxist authors with their emphasis on the material realities of life.
5. The degree to which a human being is depressed or experiences
depression is an inlication of the degree to which he or she is subject to dis-
ruptive influences in the decision-making process. The diminution of moral
responsibility because of insanity is a well-established principle. It is also
reasonable that depression may mitigate the degree of responsibility before
both the divine and human tribunal.
6. The sense of loss which in the minds of clinical observers results
274 Encounter

from some event in the life of individuals and which precipitates depression
may very well have its roots in the deeper existential and emotional loss
which the great myths of the Fall point out to us. That is to say, we dare
not look at depression brought on by some loss as a mere isolated event in
the life of the individual, but we must see it in the context of the "fallenness"
of that individual as well as the "fallenness" of the human race. Such an
existential psychotherapeutic point of view calls upon therapists and medi-
cal doctors to take much more seriously than has heretofore been the case
the mythological explanations of the loss of innocence, perfection or bliss.
The fundamental reason why a particular concept of God would con-
tribute to the spiritual well-being of an individual is that that concept of God
comes closer to describing God as He is in reality more than any other con-
cept of God. The truth of the philosophy of organism is not to be argued
here from the metaphysical point of view. We can look at the practical
consequences of the God of Whitehead's system and indicate the ways in
which that conception makes a positive contribution to the spiritual health
of an individual who may be suffering from depression. This will be the
purpose of the remainder of this paper.
As we have already discussed, the self of the depressed individual is
characterized by too much finitude. For Whitehead this condition would
have to be seen as it relates to several important aspects of his system. First,
the eighth categoreal condition states that "The subjective aim, whereby
there is origination of conceptual feeling, is at intensity of feeling ( a ) in
the immediate subject, and (0) in the relevant future" (PR 424). This aim
at intensity of experience occurs within the context of the Ideal opposites
which "are elements in the nature of things, and are incorrigibly there"
(PR 531). These ideals "fashion themselves round these two notions, per-
manence and flux. In the inescapable flux, there is something that abides;
in the overwhelming permanence, there is an element that escapes into flux"
(PR 513). If an individual is suffering from depression both flux and
permanence will stand in the way of the goal of existence, which is intensity
of experience. The self under these conditions is threatend by flux inas-
much as it seems to the depressed person that nothing of value in the self will
remain and the self is threatened by permanence by the feeling that life is
gone, growth has ceased and the self is overcome and suffocated by the ab-
sence of change.
If a particular conception of God emphasizes one or the other aspect
there is considerable danger that that conception of God will do nothing but
aggravate an already unstable emotional state. The danger exists because of
 Depression, Psychophysiology and Concepts of God 275

the reality of the ultimate evil, "that the past fades, that time is a 'perpetual
perishing.' " This means that the ultimate evil is to be found in the nature
of process itself, and that paradoxically it is the process itself which is the
avoidance of evil. This proposition strongly points to the necessity of attain-
ing an understanding of God which balances between permanence and flux.
For, "The nature of evil is that the characters of things are mutually ob-
structive. Thus the depths of life require a process of selection. But the
selection is elimination as the first step towards another temporal order seek-
ing to minimize obstructive modes. Selection is at once the measure of
evil, and the process of its evasion" (PR 517).
The process of selection requires a theology which avoids the extremes
of depreciating the value of human existence too much while at the same time
incorporating in its view of human nature a place for the goal, ideal or aim
which transcends the present reality and provides the ground for novelty.
The God which Whitehead suggests is a God which "dwells upon the
tender elements in the world, which slowly and in quiteness operate by love;
and it finds purpose in the present immediacy of a kingdom not of this
world" (PR 520). This beautifully suggests that while there is a positive
value placed on the present or on the immediate in human life, at the same
time ultimate value derives from a kingdom which transcends this immediate
world. In the first creative phase there is conceptual origination which is
deficient in actuality, then there is the temporal phase of physical origina-
tion with its multiplicity of actualities. In the third phase there is perfected
actuality, "in which the many are one everlastingly, without qualification or
any loss either of individual identity or of completeness of unity. In the
fourth phase the creative action completes itself. For the perfected actuality
passes back into the temporal world, and qualifies this world so that each
temporal actuality includes it as an immediate fact of relevant experience.
For the kingdom of heaven is with us today" (PR 532).
In this last phase of creativity "God is the great companion—the fellow
sufferer who understands" (PR 532). This characterization of God is not
some pietistic doctrine given to comfort those who would benefit from the
knowledge that God is a companion on the Way. Whitehead's characteriza-
tion arises out of the very ontological reality of his philosophy of organism.
The most important point is to be found in the last paragraph of the book.
There Whitehead says:
We find here the final application of the doctrine of objective im-
mortality. Throughout the perishing occasions in the life of each temporal
Creature, the inward source of distaste or of refreshment, the judge
276 Encounter

arising out of the very nature of things, redeemer or goddess of mischief,

is the transformation of Itself, everlasting in the Being of God. In this
way, the insistent craving is justified—the insistent craving that zest for
existence be refreshed by the ever-present, unfading importance of our
immediate actions, which perish and yet live for evermore (PR 533).
The second sentence of this difficult paragraph carries the weight of
the point I wish to make. In an existence in which the ultimate evil is per-
petual perishing there is a source of distaste or of refreshment. This source
is the judge arising out of the very nature of things who is both redeemer in
the face of perishing and at the same time the goddess of mischief. This
source of judgment or distaste is not a static "Itself" but is the process of the
transformation of itself which is "everlasting in the being of God." This
would mean that "too much finitude" is impossible in every way other than
in the dimension of fantasy or emotion. Here indeed the reality of too much
finitude is undeniable, but in Whitehead's formulation the transformation
continues as evidenced by "the insistent craving that zest for existence be
refreshed by the ever-present, unfading importance of our immediate ac-
tions . . ." This zest for existence, a condition directly antithetical to that of
depression, is refreshed because of the "unfading importance of our im-
mediate actions," a phrase which refers to the doctrine of objective im-
mortality which appears in the first sentence of the paragraph and refers
to the final value of any concrescent actual occasion. These actual occasions,
these lives which we lead are continuously perishing, and yet at the same
time they are continually living "for evermore." It is fundamentally com-
forting and balancing for the frail human spirit to know the truth that the
process itself intrinsically includes within itself both poles of existence,
both the permanence and the flux, both the conditions of finitude and infini-
tude which in the extremes eventuate in the states of clinical depression or
clinical schizophrenia, but which conditions in the Being of God find ulti-
mate balance. Whitehead's concept of God properly understood and com-
municated through some careful translation offers to both therapist and
patient a point of view which contributes to the ultimate spiritual and emo-
tional health of the individual.
The knowledge of the "unfading importance of our immediate actions,
which perish and yet live evermore" (PR 533) as articulated in Whitehead's
system would offer a balanced world view, a supraordinate schema more
consistent with the way things really are and therefore more able to con-
tribute to the resolution of the clinical cases of depression and schizophrenia.
Plutarch, Job, and Luther each had a supraordinate schema which con-
 Depression, Psychophysiology and Concepts of God Til

tributed in varying ways to the emotional experience of each and in turn the
emotional experience influenced the supraordinate schema which each ar-
ticulated for posterity. The resolution of depression in modern society
may depend much more than is generally recognized upon the theological
understanding characteristic of the patient.
 ^ s
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