31/03/2026
This piece is based on the work of the based of the philosopher and theologian Paul Tillich. He wrote a sermon about sin and its meaning. Rather than listing “Sins” Tillich argues that sin is:
“… separation. To be in the state of sin is to be in the state of separation. Separation is threefold: there is separation among individual lives, separation of a man from himself, and separation of all men from the Ground of Being.”
So Tillich argues that Man is permanently estranged from himself and The Ground of his Being (aka “God”. Or more loosely the numinous. Or that which we classify as “the wholly other”.) In my clinical work over the years - as a mental health nurse and a counsellor - I have created a new category of “Existential separation”. My experience is that so many of our emotional crises are based in a deep sense of alienation. Alienation from all those people, places and things that root and nourish us. I’m reminded of those folk whom one used to see pushing a shopping trolley carrying all their important possessions. Literally a mobile home. In my clinical work I’ve seen the psychological equivalent. They might have a street address but they are camping out in it. Emotional squatters.
The clinical work is to ground these people. To help them become “persons of substance”. Rooted and grounded in the knowledge that they count. As Tillich wrote “Joy is the emotional expression of the courageous YES to one's own true being.” If I’m besieged by psychotic, persecutory voices all day or feel so valueless that killing myself is my only response then something is missing. A sense of being connected. To the Ground of our Being, which is where we grow and thrive. And that sense of disconnectedness is so often at the root of our distress.
If this were a piece about our physical health, I could write about the need for daily vitamins. But here I want to include our emotional health. A daily walk in the park just to look at the natural world. Literally the birds and the bees. A minute or two to appreciate a sunset. Activities that ground us and remind us of our place in the wider world. A small exercise but one that is as important to our spiritual and emotional health as are vitamins are to our physical health.
Photo By raschau - https://www.flickr.com/photos/raschau/43099112594/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=75457129