The Psychology Of The Cross By Nwaocha Ogechukwu It is obvious that a great mass of religion has attached magical values

to this sign! stated James Hastings in his book: Encyclopedia of religious ethics Vol. IV (p.324330) in his attempt to explain human psychological traits displayed on the presence of various cruciform symbols! These magical values entail those psychological traits develop by man and have caused him to form a strong bond with the religious symbols. It involves the awe and reverence felt upon the spiritual perception of the Cross; though the feeling depends on different religious connotation attached to create strong value to it. However the origin of those psychological feelings has been speculated to have originated from mans god-conscious instinct, thus an idea developed to justify that there is an inborn instinct in man that arouse the sacred emotional feeling which result in mans quest to sacredness! Contrarily, some proved, from theological and sociological perspectives, that the objects of religion on are in origin and essence those things, events and ideas which arouse the feelings of sacredness. Furthermore the idea of attaching emotional feeling to a religious icon despite their different connotations formulated to justify certain religious doctrines has undergone different social evolutionary changes from the history of human religion and the history of their quest for spiritual essence developed from the ancient world of superstition. And its strong influence has caused many adherent of Cruciform used religious groups to adore it as god. No wonder why another Roman Catholic author, P. Didron stated, thus a legend has been created around it (cross) as if it were a living being,.the cross has become the object of a veritable cult. It has received worship similar; if not equal, to that of Christ, this sacred wood is adored almost equally with God himself!

Resource Box: Nwaocha Ogechukwu, nominated as One of the Great Minds of the 21st Century by the American Biographical Institute, lives in Nigeria and is a researcher in the fields of philosophy, religion, history and psychology. His book, The Secret behind the Cross and Crucifix (ISBN: 978-1-60860-850-8) is available from Amazon, or from the publisher at http://www.eloquentbooks.com/TheSecretBehindTheCrossAndCruifix.html.