Maturing in the Religious Life – The Image of the Heart and the Heart’s Desire, Noel Jeffs
One of the few Christmas Round-Robins I look forward to is from my old Doctrine tutor. Each year he composes a entertaining letter of satire and hilarity, often conveying a true story about something that has happened to him during the past year – little to do with Christmas, but a message of challenge and hope all the same. Once again, this years offering did not fail to deliver: one of mistaken identity – where his local doctor confused him for someone with acute mental health issues and the story progressed into its usual well written treatise.
I had similar sense of expectation at the prospect of reading and reviewing Noel Jeffs SSF book, Maturing in the Religious Life – The Image of the Heart and the Heart’s Desire (MoshPit Publishing). As an Anglican Priest I was both intrigued and excited about the title of this book, but soon became aware that it was primarily related to those who enter the religious life – taking or taken the vow of celibacy and not “the religious life” in general. So, unlike the Round-Robin, my initial thoughts did not live up to any presuppositions I might of had.
Noel Jeffs is introduced as an Anglican disabled Friar, originally from Gippsland, Australia, who enjoys conversations and silence and writing. Noel has a master’s degree in Mental Health, has trained as a psychotherapist and is also the author of the poetry collections Under the Dome and the impending Walking in Stealth.
In his book, Maturing in the Religious Life, Noel poses the questions: “Are not holiness and sexuality compatible? Is this dualism also the mark and exercise of repression?…so begins this short but dense exploration into a network of complex subject material, drawing on weighty psychoanalytical matter from the some of the great theorists. The book itself is clearly a rewriting of a thesis, which is acknowledged on the first page. So like many academic transitions, some of the material can take the reader time to decipher. I personally found it a hard read and at times difficult to digest. I am still working out whether this is ‘me’ or the subject matter. Therefore, I feel the question for any potential reader to ask, is: does this difficult and sometimes complex little book have something to offer those who are not joining or part of a specific religious community?
Noel begins his six seemingly disconnected chapters with two introductions, firstly ‘abstract‘ – is where he sets the agenda and secondly ‘introduction’ – the means of how that agenda will look as “hearts desire“. What emerges is a series of complex themes and ideas that begin to take some shape, backed up by some of the greats from the psychodynamic therapeutic world. Initially the way the book unfolds, it gives the appearance that the author is discharging a stream of consciousness around the idiom of sex and celibacy.
There can be no doubting the excellent research that has gone into this thesis, with such works of Freud and post Freudian theorists taking one on a whirlwind journey of such themes as ‘matrix’ and ‘mother and Child’ ‘Love’, ‘Sex’, ‘Desire’ and eventually ending with ‘Hearts Desire’. Noel Jeffs, looks at the Christian psychosexual tradition; For him being able to love on a level is the basis for a love relationship with God. This also requires loving the particular, before loving the universal. Quoting Schneiders, ‘One of the most consistent characteristics of the great lovers of God and personally effective ministers in Church history is the capacity for deep personal relationships. and their actual friendships’
In the first chapter entitled ‘The Religious Life’ Noel sets the scene by posing some important questions, like, why someone might choice a particular community; Using some big names and themes in the psychodynamic world, he examines the transition of space as ‘matrix’. He questions the dialogue between ‘self’ and the ‘self conscious’, stating that “matrix may allow the discovery and reveal also the transference es and images of God based upon the early object relations” (p.13)
Throughout his work, Noel returns time again to the idiom of an “authentic lifestyle”, one which has “integrity”. He begins to examine, in psychoanalytical terms, ‘the Adult’ and the development of ‘their’ own sexual and affective ‘maturation’ – another important theme to emerge. He continues to look how this might develop and look in loving communities, not just in the ‘here and now’, but also as bodes in the future in the religious life. He states that all religious have a variety of human, psychological needs, which must be met if religious are to become and function as mature adults and if holiness is to find its substrate in such human maturity. In examining this Jeffs examines, amongst others, Schneiders’ concerned to acknowledge spiritual maturity, how she views this in three areas of need: intimacy, generativity and achievement.
In the chapter on ‘Love and sexuality in psychoanolysis’ (Chp. 4) Noel examines Jung and Freud, viewing ‘Libido’ as a vital physic energy which may be the source of various energies and not to be seen as just sexual. He looks at how the complexes of the personal unconscious functioned beyond the reach of the conscious will and possessed their own ego. He shows how for Stevens in1990s, all life, which includes persona development, is a balancing act between the personal and the ‘Maturing’ in the ‘Religious Life collective’, through which each of us sustains his or her version of those universal regulations which govern all of humanity.
It appears that Hearts Desires is a theme which is only taken up in the last concluding chapters. In his conclusion Noel says that The hearts desire, or more than the lace of somatic experience, and also the place of psychic identity and subjectivity, requires an object to love or identity with.”
Notions of love, grief, and nostalgia as well as of hatred, rage, and violence begin to be examined in the of affect and effect. Noel examines how these are an intrinsically link to the ideal of childhood and parenting seen as community He makes reference to objects of choice and objects of desire, making reference to ‘transitional objects’ as they occur in Winnicott’s theory.
There is a fascinating like at ‘object’ and ‘objects’ (cf Chapter 6). Noel views it as his “concern to see the continued expression of the relationship of ourselves to objects and the loss which can cause the loss of a sense of self. This loss of relationship and loss of self is different from the psychosomatic displacement”.
Noel states that “whatever the reasons for choice whether as acts of defence or distinct from desire, it seems that they signal that ‘love’ is a developmental level where there can be intersubjectivity and relationship. Love may be symbiotic, mutually dependent or equally partnered. The recognition of love in this way draws also upon the words ‘reality and its contrast ‘illusion’, which although used in psychotic exploration is also the substance of definition in areas of religious experience.” (P.84) When he ventures into the realm of ‘self’ in relation to therapeutic material we have real pearls of engagement, but occasionally this fades away into a dissertation-like apologetic
The shorter chapter 3 (Conventional views of the place of sexuality in the religious life) took me completely by surprise, as we have a monumental shift into the real world of film and scandal. It was fascinating and illuminating, however it was not long before we reverted back to an academical apologetic. I would have liked to have seen a little bit more of Noel’s thoughts on “Nuns on the Run” throughout the book, where Noel revealed a little of his own ‘self’ and ‘personality’ in the narrative.
In conclusion, A Maturing in the Religious Life is a book which takes us into a new world of psychoanalytic study and group analysis and the search for a living God. Spirituality and sexuality appear in a unity of life with philosophical and psychological amplification. Not withstanding, this short, dense book is something I personally had difficulty identifying with. My fear is it’s readership will be both specialised and selective due not only in the subject matter but also in its content. In grappling with ideas of sexuality and desire within the notion of celibacy might might put off any potential lay reader. There seems to be little continuity between the ever evolving themes that emerges throughout and I was left at times so felt that I needed a cup of tea to recover. That said, I also feel that it is very good and necessary read for any practitioner specialising in sex therapy or those dealing in a religious life. It undoubtedly has something to say for those in or considering entering the Religious Life, and might help, through this brave psychoanalytic study to shed light on how and why they might be doing this.
The constant question I mused on whilst reading this fascinating little book, was where is all this clevermaterial leading us? I am not sure. However, perhaps the answer in the very last line of the whole book and might shed some light on the essence of his thesis, “it is a challenge to the religious to find ways of being celibate without being sterile“ I feel that this line sums up our authors purpose: in finding a way psychodynamically of being religious and celibate – to love as a celibate without being sterile. But like my eagerly expected Round-Robin which had nothing to do with Christmas. Perhaps I am missing something and there is a deeper significance in this deep work.
The Revd. Graham M Buckle: is an Anglican Priest for over 30 years, currently the vicar of St Stephen’s with St John’s Westminster. He has a post-graduate research degree in M. Ministry and Theology from Sheffield University and a postgraduate Diploma in Applied Group-Analytic Skills at Westminster Pastoral Foundation. Graham loves watching and participating in sport: completing numerous marathons, triathlons and was part of a successful Serpentine Team to swim the England Channel. An avid supporter of Crystal Palace FC, Graham is married with three grown up children.
