theological imperialism

Huxley's religious future

"Like any other form of imperialism, theological imperialism is a menace to permanent world peace. The reign of violence will never come to an end until:

• First, most human beings accept the same, true philosophy of life;
• Second, this Perennial Philosophy is recognized as the highest factor common to all world religions;
• Third, the adherents of every religion renounce the idolatrous time-philosophies, with which, in their own particular faith, the Perennial Philosophy of eternity has been overlaid;
• Fourth, there is a world-wide rejection of all the political pseudo-religions, which place man's supreme good in future time and therefore justify and commend the commission of every sort of present iniquity as a means to that end.

If these conditions are not fulfilled, no amount of political planning, no economic blue-prints however ingeniously drawn, can prevent the recrudescence of war and revolution."

Aldous Huxley (1945) The Perennial Philosophy; Flamingo; ISBN 0006547338

stillness after breakfast

George G Clark, 12 April 2009

 

A period of stillness after breakfast and I am aware of many vague thought threads. I get the impression that the inner censor is vetoing many of them - or is that being paranoid?

One of the thought threads wonders how many 'agencies' are contained in such a concept? There are perhaps three main ones:

·         Generating thought threads. 
Most thought threads arise from unconscious causes and conditions - external and internal - many and varied - noble and ignoble - habitual and creative. The inbuilt life force doing its thing.
"The mind has a mind of its own!"

·         Vetoing by the inner censor.  
This is a result of other unconscious causes and conditions. There is a tendency to try and maintain a consistent self concept by limiting attention to the familiar and parochial - note that the self concept can be robust or weedy!) Panic attacks are part of the arsenal.
"Don't even go there!"

·         Witnessing the above.
By consciously noticing thought patterns (with their associated feelings) you thus become, to some extent, unattached to them. 'You' are thus potentially able and willing to 'look into' some mental stuff that might normally be avoided.
"Aha, so this is what 'anger, greed, compassion, generosity etc' is like!"

 

Note that the third agency is the one that enables insight and thus liberation from reflexive habit. By being truly aware of what is going on in your head it becomes possible to choose for or against particular patterns of thought and feeling.

Aha - it pays to have periods of stillness after breakfast. Be still and know!

 

to some extent awake

Before getting out of bed this morning I noticed that attention was filled with sights and sounds from a telly programme I watched last night. So ‘I’ switched attention to breathing and body awareness. But ‘it’ quickly switched to thinking of the details of a project at the weekend and to work that needs doing on some web sites. So, again, ‘I’ switched attention to breathing and body awareness.

It is to be noted that attention rarely stayed with the present moment for more than a few seconds. But there was quite good awareness of what was going on - there was thought - but ‘I’ was not lost in it - not completely! As I woke I was to some extent awake - yahoo!

Blind habits

While in the kitchen I noted an urge to put the milk bottle to my lips and to eat dates but I resisted the temptations and then felt a spoiled brat temper tantrum welling up. “I want it now!”

And that melodrama took less than a minute to unfold. Minor mood colours. All part of a days churn.

There is much mental stuff that is not normally noticed or understood. Blind habits. So wake up to them and be free to live authentically in the present. Why not?

stew juice

I noticed myself obsessing over trivia - stewing in my mind made juices. Given that the energy comes from the amazing life force how come it manifests in such a scatty and disorganised way in me?

Presumably I am not unique. So how come there is so much cerebral noise. Good enough I suppose is good enough. The bare necessities get covered and the rest is fluff.

The bottom line is brute physical survival - food, clothing and shelter.

The psychological stuff on top is go faster stripes.

The transcendental stuff on top of that is pretty rarefied.

Rumi's mental guest house - welcome them all - a short poem

enlightenment2 - neuroscience etc in search of the ineffable - some hugely clever stuff now presented in bite sized video chunks

Joseph Goldstein and Carol Wilson the Vipassana people talk about it on video

gross national happiness

The term Gross National Happiness was first expressed by the King of Bhutan His Majesty Jigme Singye Wangchuck. It is rooted in the Buddhist notion that the ultimate purpose of life is inner happiness. Bhutan being a Buddhist country, Bhutan's King felt the responsibility to define development in terms of happiness of its people, rather than in terms of an abstract economic measurement such as GNP.
http://www.grossinternationalhappiness.org/index.html

 

STEEPLeS Horizons

George G Clark, 04 January 2009

There are those who think about development (change for the better). It is a massive and interdisciplinary topic. There is an ever present danger of 'experts' reifying particular bits and thus missing out on the bigger picture. How might we guard against this?

Elsewhere we have noted that it is useful to isolate seven factors of development using the acronym STEEPLeS[1]. It is also possibly useful to think of each factor in terms of eight horizons that expand from self through family, community and tribe and on to nation and humanity and possibly even to biosphere and planet. The following table maps the factors against the horizons so as to create an inclusive matrix.

	S	T	E	E	P	Le	S
Self
Family
Community
Tribe
Nation
Humanity
Biosphere
Planet

 

Notes:

(1) For each horizon there is need to make allowance for variations based on sex, age, class, ethnicity etc and to set these in dynamic historical perspective ie to beware of being too focussed on the bulked up average person.

(2) For each STEEPLeS factor there is the option of detailing a before and after scenario for each horizon[2].

(3) It might be thought that the matrix covers too much and that it either trivialises or gives too much value to particular points of view. The key issue is to know when bias and partiality is in effect and thus to coolly relax about relatively narrow viewpoints and try to see the bigger picture. But this intellectual position has to be bedded in self knowledge - and this is ultimately grounded in values and thus in the spiritual factor.

(4) The horizons can be expanded at both top and bottom. Below the level of self we have organs and tissues; cells; molecules; atoms; sub atomic particles; and quantum entities. Above the level of the planet we have the solar system, the universe and the cosmos (the multi-verse?). How big can (and should) the picture be drawn? Who decides? On what grounds?

 

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[1] STEEPLeS = Social, Technological, Environmental, Economic, Political, Legal, Spiritual

[2] http://dodclark.blogspot.com/2008/12/padding-steeples.html