preface: The U.S. Department of Justice has accepted my complaints # 83404-WLP as well as 83404; 95500, 91650, 91569, 90778 – They explained in detail how the Definist Fallacy causes serious misunderstandings and cause prejudices, misunderstandings, and outright ignorance at times. The complaint was filed against Kaiser Permanente who accepted and condoned the Definist Fallacy which I properly identified as a fallacy and which both Dr S. Farra and Dr P Wong agree as a proper identification
Abstract: Supreme Court Justice Rehnquist, Fallacies and the Supreme Court: A Critical Analysis of Justice Rehnquist's Decisions in Criminal Procedure Cases University of Colorado Law Review, Vol. 59, p. 741, 1988.
Using former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist’s opinions in criminal procedures cases as a contextual showcase, the author explores the nature and extent to which even U.S. Supreme Court justices, members of the world’s most powerful tribunal, resort to regularly employing rhetorical tricks and otherwise logically fallacious reasoning in their opinion-writing. A logical fallacy is a type of incorrect argument, and the study of fallacies is a sub-species of logic. A fallacious argument is one that appears to be correct and which may be very persuasive, but which proves on closer examination to be logically invalid.
The question is - has the Supreme Court based their ruling on a fallacy.
In a nutshell, in Court - to make a determination - one needs "knowledge" of some sort, in one form or another. The idea that life is sacred is an abstraction and not knowledge. As St Augustine and St Gregory of Nyssa emphatically point out the absolute Truth (God) is beyond human comprehension. It would follow then that any absolute knowledge of the origins of life is also beyond human comprehension. On top of that, the abstraction is disconnected from the real world which even further makes the argument a fallacious argument since the abstraction then has no real basis. I have seen on TV an Evangelical preacher state that women can turn their reproductive on or off at will – so as to invalidate the rape argument being used against removing abortion rights.
The Absolute Truth [God] is beyond human comprehension Early Christian Mystics, St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Augustine - Humility &Wisdom without Arrogance
Judge a man by his questions, rather than his answers! Voltaire (1694-1778)!
A Question
Voltaire states that you should judge a man by his questions. My question is: I n light of what St Gregory, St. Augustine, St. Symeon, and a slew of other spiritual leaders who state the "Absolute truth is beyond human comprehension!” it would then also seem to stand to reason that no one could possibly know the “Absolute truth about the origins of life!” Furthermore, as St Gregory points out that would be an abstraction disconnect from real life - and people as well - making its relevance dubious. On top of that there is Genesis 2:7 which defines life in that God "breathed" life into man. Secondly using an abstraction disconnected form the real world and real people is not reasonable. Being a spiritual person, I am well aware of some of the Biblical scriptures such as God “knew” Jeremiah before he was born – and I agree with and believe in. But the question is not an abstract question, the real question is on what basis can you judge a woman. And I reasoned that my “belief” - which is not “knowledge” is inadequate basis for judging another person.
They are using an abstraction that life in and of itself is sacred, and in the sense of St Gregory of Nyssa, that abstraction has become an idol divorced and a deviation of real truth. My read is that if you went through the 104-page article on Supreme Court Justice Rehnquist’s rulings on fallacies there would be some applicable content to the recent Supreme Court ruling. The question is not what an abstract truth si but on what basis can I judge an individual woman. From forty years of experience and encountering abstractions and maladaptive stereotypes I can tell you I am NOT an abstraction – or an anomaly as the APA refers to spiritual experiences. And for the record I do not have powers (maladaptive stereotype-abstraction and I am nowhere near all seeing or all-knowing – speaking of abstractions - just as a point information. Summary of my experiences at the end if you are interested.
In a nutshell, in Court - to make a determination - one needs "knowledge" of some sort, in one form or another. The idea that life is sacred is an abstraction and not knowledge. As St Augustine and St Gregory of Nyssa emphatically point out the absolute Truth (God) is beyond human comprehension. It would follow then that any absolute knowledge of the origins of life is also beyond human comprehension. On top of that, the abstraction is disconnected from the real world which even further makes the argument a fallacious argument since the abstraction then has no real basis. I have seen on TV an Evangelical preacher state that women can turn their reproductive on or off at will – so as to invalidate the rape argument being used against removing abortion rights.
Again, I would emphasize that the passage in Genesis 2:7-9 is a highly visible and explicit passage relative to the question of life: 7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and ethe man became a living creature. 8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, hand the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
I can’t emphasize enough that the abstraction that life is sacred – is a belief and not knowledge, and it is clear that in the way it is being used it is an “idol” in the sense of St Gregory of Nyssa. The politicization of Jesus Christ by the same group of people is clearly an “idol.”
Perspective – from an article US allies express dismay at ‘appalling’ Supreme Court decision to scrap abortion rights By Rob Picheta and Arnaud Siad, CNN
Updated 7:26 PM EDT, Fri June 24, 2022
“The news coming out of the United States is horrific,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday. “My heart goes out to the millions of American women who are now set to lose their legal right to an abortion. I can’t imagine the fear and anger you are feeling right now.”
TOPSHOT - Abortion rights activists celebrate the decision of Colombia's high court to decriminalise abortion up to 24 weeks of pregnancy in Bogota, on February 21, 2022. (Photo by Raul ARBOLEDA / AFP) (Photo by RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP via Getty Images)
Analysis: Abortion rights activists in the US can learn from recent progress on abortion access in Latin America
“No government, politician, or man should tell a woman what she can and cannot do with her body. I want women in Canada to know that we will always stand up for your right to choose,” he added.
French President Emmanuel Macron also expressed “solidarity” with women in the US, and called abortion a “fundamental right for all women” soon after his Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna called the decision “appalling.”
And Spanish leader Pedro Sánchez said in a tweet: “We cannot take any right for granted. Social achievements are always at risk of going backwards and their defense has to be our day to day. Women must be able to decide freely about their lives.”
Protests took place in front of the US Embassy in London on Friday evening, with other protests scheduled to take place across Europe over the weekend, including in Ireland, where a constitutional ban on abortion was overturned in 2018."
Preamble: St Gregory of Nyssa (335-395)
Gregory of Nyssa (c. AD 335 – 395) – Along with his older brother, Basil of Caesarea, and Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory was one the three great Cappadocian Fathers of the 4th century. Besides, emphasizing that God is beyond words, St Gregory also made the very crucial point that - at times - abstractions can confound and confuse people from a certain perspective
"Gregory's theology [St Gregory of Nyssa], as expressed in his work, is dynamic and progressive, it is set on an endless journey. We will always be traveling towards the infinite towards the vision of the divine [the drive to touch the divine as part of envisioning] .....The soul's love of divine beauty is an eternally perfective and creative power." (p.3 Gregory of Nyssa: Song of Songs by McAmbley) A critical passage to understand St Gregory’s theology is from the Song of Songs, “According to the true words of the Lord (Mt 5:8), the pure in heart will see God. They will receive as their minds can comprehend! However the unbounded incomprehensible divinity remains beyond comprehension. (p.161 St Gregory of Nyssa Song of Songs) After 40 years it is crystal clear that my personal mindset-filter definitely has some limitations].
St. Gregory of Nyssa: “Making an idol of God”
In the book, Life of Moses, St. Gregory emphatically points out that “…every concept formed by our understanding which attempts to attain and to them in the divine nature serves only to make an idol of God, not to make God known”. ~ from “The Life of Moses”. St Augustine says something remarkably similar! "God is not what you imagine or what you think you understand." St. Augustine is clearly stating it isn't possible to conceptualize God!
From the Song of Songs
St Gregory of Nyssa observes that God’s manifestation to the great Moses began with light [Ex 19.18], after which he spoke through a cloud [Ex 20.21] Having risen higher and having become more perfect, Moses saw God in darkness [Ex 24. 15-18]. By this example we learn that our withdrawal from false, deceptive ideas of God is a transition from darkness into light. Next, a more careful understanding of hidden things leads the soul through appearances to God’s hidden nature which is symbolized by a cloud over-shadowing all appearances and which little by little accustoms the soul to behold what is hidden. Finally, the soul is led on high. Forsaking what human nature can attain, the soul enters within the sanctuary of divine knowledge where she is hemmed in on all sides by the divine darkness. The soul forsakes everything without, that is appearances and ideas; the only thing left for her contemplation is the unseen and unattainable in which God dwells. Scripture says of the Lawgiver, “Moses entered into the darkness where God was!” [Exodus 20.21]. (p.202 SoS)
Preface: The question of whether one can prove God is actually an ongoing debate in social sciences - believe it or not. The Materialist "Prove God" norm is a critical question - making Early Christian leaders, like St Augustine, St Gregory of Nyssa, and other spiritual leaders very salient in this question.
The Materialist “Prove God” Maxim is an artificial academic argument that “attempts” to force a spiritual or religious person to “Prove God or Spirit” – in their view to show that their spiritual beliefs or religious beliefs have any worth or validity. Almost very religious or spiritual person, of course, will likely tell you, flat out, that it is impossible to prove God!
Incredible as it may sound, that is an ongoing methodology used by the “science of psychology.” In an article recently published on the Pubmed site on the NIH website discussed at some length the materialism issue because it is ongoing and continuing! The psychologists, William R. Miller and Carl E. Thoresen, unequivocally state in their article, “Spirituality, religion and health: an emerging field of research,” that “A philosophical basis for this perspective is materialism, the belief that there is no is nothing to study because spirituality is intangible and beyond the senses.” This reformulation of Materialist "Prove God" Maxim - or fallacy - is just another form. - with the end result that spiritual and religious beliefs are excluded from scientific consideration and have no validity because they are (defined by academics) “intangible [unreal] and beyond the senses.” That is, it is impossible to prove “Intangible” since it cannot be measured - the same as stating one needs to "Prove God - which is ludicrous. Same result. It is horrifically degrading since what the message in those norms are is that "Your spiritual beliefs are so unreal and such utter nonsense that your beliefs are not even worthy of scientific or objective consideration."
In a post to FB philosophy and science groups, I posted an essay asking if scientists should review studies of spirituality. I was trying to make a point and I was pretty shocked when perhaps one dozen or so actually answered, "No, you shouldn't look at studies." One "philosopher" stated outright that spirituality is unreal. So, I asked, well what about "the people"? I mean the people are real. I was doubly shocked when the philosopher answered, "Spiritual people have no physical reality" I ran into a young man at a local bar in Easton who said the same thing! That is the "crooked thinking" as an article on Supreme Court Rehnquist's rulings on fallacies terms the problem of fallacies. Fallacies can be very "persuasive" and generate "crooked thing!"
70,000 views of my mini-essay on avcademai.edu profile
My view form my research, to be blunt is that the social sciences as they stand today is an industry which has a number of very serious issues and problems. I have recently had my academia.edu profile - & mini essay on academic materialism is not science and destructive - go viral for all practical purposes with over 70,000 views in just short of 3 months. Below are conclusions.
"Dr. S. Farra, a psychologist Emeritus, states: "Surely, Materialism is a "mindset" or "filter" that apriori (ahead of time, before any discussion begins) Rules Out anything/everything but itself." and has brought "a deep darkness to our world!" Buddha stated: "We become what we think!"
There is NO difference between an academic nor or stereotype and other norms: Bargh observes, "If you are reminded of your group status before performing a test or task, and the cultural stereotype says that your group is not very good at it, your performance will be affected. You will consciously or unconsciously, “buy in” to that stereotype. (John Bargh Before You Know It p.83)
This mini-essay (academia-profile actually focuses on methodology problems which are pervasive - which Dr. P Wong wants me to publish.
To my knowledge, no one else has applied our understanding of norms to academic norms - whcih do in fact exist. An underlying problem with materialism is that is is profoundly based on a fallacy - that quantification equates unequivocally to science. That is false - particularly when you come to human consciousness! Quantification excludes art right off the bat. Then there is creativity, imagination (which Einstein and other scientists highly advocate) , as well as dreams, hopes - not to mention purpose. That would make death an unreality as well. And the problem is almost all academic and college graduates have that norm - or maladaptive stereotype welded into their brains.
Social sciences are missing these aspects of human consciousness - they have No social consciousness, no teachings, no spiritual drive, etc. means the statement "Academic Materialism is Unscientific and Destructive is 100% accurate & it should read "DESTRUCTIVE!"
"WE" have built our house on sand!
here is a link for the full mini-essay:
https://independentscholar.academia.edu/CharlesPeckJr
"God is not what you imagine or what you think you understand.
If you understand you have failed!" -St. Augustine
When one wants to begin with the question of what human consciousness can truly grasp or even imagine, the best illustrations could probably be pulled from Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Entanglement. Even the brilliant genius Albert Einstein simply could grasp or even imagine quantum entanglement. To Einstein quantum entanglement was an impossibility – something which just couldn’t happen. Quantum entanglement was a complete and baffling mystery. An “entangled pair” of subatomic particles react immediately and directly to the spin of the other subatomic particle - in spite of the fact that happens when the subatomic particles are separated by arbitrarily large distances. That was bad enough. Worse, the direct and immediate reactions to a change in the spin of the other entangled particle occurred at speeds faster than the speed of light. As most people know the speed of light was an absolute in Einstein's theory of relativity, so quantum entanglement violated every law of classical physics as Einstein understood it. Albert Einstein named the aberrant physics of quantum entanglement, "Spukhafte Fernwirkung" - which means, in German, "spooky action at a distance." So, being from the State of Maryland that fits in perfectly with the Maryland State Motto which proudly proclaims, "More than you can Imagine!"
Much - or most of - modern Christianity appears to have abandoned the mysticism and the wisdom of early Christian mystics as well as some of the mystic wisdom of that very bastion of logic and reason, St. Augustine. Some of early Christian mysticism appears to reflect the same type or category of states of mind. Parallel to what St. Augustine stated, the Zen master Seng-ts'an recommended that a person should "not seek the truth, only cease to cherish your opinions." Anais Nin spoke about the characteristic of subjectivity in regard to truth when he said, "The personal life deeply lived always expands into truths beyond itself." Perhaps the frosting on the subjective truth cake was stated by Suzuki Roshi
observed that "To accept some idea of truth without experiencing it, is like a painting of a cake on paper which you cannot eat." That is, the 'Absolute Truth' is "not what you imagine" and are at the core, "truths beyond itself."
Many Christian leaders talk ceaselessly about the "Transcendent God." However, that would seem rather presumptuous since as St. Augustine observed, in the end, God is “beyond words and beyond comprehension!” The famous religious scholar, Karen Armstrong’s writing about religious beliefs, highlights that theme in Christianity, especially in light of the writing of early Christian mystics, including St. Augustine (354 - 430), one of the Latin Fathers of the Church who adapted platonic philosophy to Christian ideology. St. Augustine was perhaps the most significant Christian thinker, after St Paul. While acknowledging that most Christians actually do think of God in terms of being a “Being” in human terms and with a human body, as it were, St Augustine says that this type of thinking would be ‘wrong thinking,” as it were. As St. Augustine observed, “God is best known in not knowing him.” Karen Armstrong as a general observation observes, “We could not speak about God rationally, as we speak about ordinary beings….” St. Augustine states unequivocally, "God is not what you imagine or what you think you understand. If you understand you have failed."
That is, the human mind simply is not capable of comprehending absolutes, including Absolute Truth [God] or the Ultimate Reality. As such, to envision God as a being or even “Being” puts serious limits on God, and distorts a person’s understanding and comprehension of God. What would seem very salient about St. Augustine's way of thinking is that St. Augustine by all appearances had the capability of integrating rational and mystic ways of thought processes - which some I have met seem to think unlikely or impossible. Neuroscience has identified 360 distinct regions of the brain and most humans do seem to be able to keep their balance and integrate different processes within the human mind.
"[T]he unbounded, incomprehensible divinity remains
beyond all comprehension."
St. Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335 – c. 395), an early Christian mystic who is venerated as a saint in Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, Lutheranism, and Anglicanism, emphasizes that God is beyond words and beyond comprehension, and to grasp God as a “Being” diminishes God. Armstrong quotes St. Gregory of Nyssa, who believed, “Any attempt to define God clearly “becomes an idol of God and does not make him known.” (p.113) Of course, Jewish Law (and Christ was actually a Jew) prohibits absolutely any symbolism or graven images of God and, by law, prohibit pronouncing the name of YHWH. St. Gregory argued that “You had to leave behind “all that can be grasped by sense or reason” so that “the only thing left for contemplation is the invisible and the incomprehensible.” (p.113) In the classic work, the Song of Songs, St. Gregory of Nyssa states unequivocally, "According to the true words of the Lord [Mt 5.8], the pure of heart will see God. They will receive as much as their minds can comprehend. However, the unbounded, incomprehensible divinity remains beyond all comprehension." (p.161 Song of songs)
A Denial of a Denial: "God is known by knowledge and by unknowing of
him[God]!
Denys the Areopagite, who, historically, is somewhat of a mystery, was ‘apparently’ a Greek theologian who “apparently” lived in the late 5th to early 6th century. Denys named himself after St. Paul’s Athenian convert from Acts 17:34. Denys focused on the ineffable and elusive nature of God, something the Jewish theologian Heschel also emphasizes. Denys starts out by emphasizing that God has 52 names in the Bible and is referred to as a “rock”, the “sky”, and so on, and so forth. Of course, Denys points out God cannot be, in truth, any single one those things. So, first, in the process of affirmation, there is a complementary and synchronous denial, and then finally, at the pinnacle of the argument, there is a denial of the denial.
Karen Armstrong sums up Denys the Areopagite, understanding and wisdom, and says that when people ordinarily talk about God, they are actually in Denys' view “babbling incoherently.” (p.125) (I can't help but add that is especially true when Christian leaders start dragging Jesus Christ into right wing politics like many Christian leaders are doing at the moment)! Armstrong goes on to quote Denys: “Therefore…. God is known by knowledge and by unknowing of him; there is understanding, reason, knowledge, touch, perception, opinion, imagination, name and many other things, but he is not understood, nothing can be said of him, he cannot be named. He is not one of the things that are, nor is he known in any of the things that are; he is all things in everything and nothing in anything.” (p.125)
A universal prohibition among all religions is the prohibition of "playing God!", and the Ultimate arrogance of believing one has all the answers.
From the Quran:
…If the ocean were ink (wherewith to write out) the words of my Lord, sooner would the ocean be exhausted than would the words of my Lord, even if we added another ocean like it, for its aid. (Quran 18:109)
…If the ocean were ink (wherewith to write out) the words of my Lord, sooner would the ocean be exhausted than would the words of my Lord, even if we added another ocean like it, for its aid. (Quran 18:109)
According to Islamic theology, Allah [God] is neither a material nor a spiritual being. That is, according to Islamic teachings, beyond the Throne (al-ʾArsh) and according to the Quran, "No vision can grasp him, but His grasp is over all vision: He is above all comprehension, yet is acquainted with all things."
Lao Tzu in his book Tao Te Ching, states:
The tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named is not the eternal Name.
The unnamable is the eternally real.
Modern Scientists and Quantum Physicists: 'Absolute Truth' is Beyond Comprehension.
Einstein observed, “Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the discernible laws and connections, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration of this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion. To that extent I am, in fact, religious." This quote of Albert Einstein, taken from Walter Isaacson’s, Einstein: His Life and Universe (2007), reveals that Einstein perceived that the scope of scientific inquiry had definite and specific limits. In fact, Einstein concluded, as did Carl Sagan, Max Planck, Carl Jung, and other scholars and scientists, that imagination is more valuable and versatile than knowledge - especially in that imagination includes not only “what is” (knowledge) but also contains possibilities outside the prevailing scope of accepted knowledge and science. Similarly, Lev Tolstoy, the brilliant Russian novelist, great thinker, and radical Christian, in Confessions (1988), observed, “The problem facing speculative science is acknowledgement of the fact that life that lies beyond cause and effect.” In a more practical vein, Tolstoy observed that any one person or individual, who, without question, has limited brain capacity, can’t be expected to know “the infinite complexities and mutations of an infinite number of particles in the infinity of space and time,” or to understand “the life of the whole of humanity, of which neither the beginning nor the end is known,” (p. 37) - simply to have and hold a world view, or way of looking at the world.
In addressing the 'Absolute Truth' of the 'Science of Psychology,' the prominent neuroscientist and prolific author, Antonio Damasio states, in Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain (2005), “I am skeptical of science’s presumption of objectivity and definitiveness. I have difficulty in seeing scientific results, especially in neurobiology, as anything but provisional approximations.” That is, the 'science of psychology,' due in part to the myriad intangible concepts, especially when it comes to concepts such as freedom, love, justice, and equality could not be, properly, considered a “hard” science like chemistry or physics. Chemistry and physics both appear, on the face of it, to possess the capacity to accurately measure and observe all the variables involved (though quantum mechanics may bring physics into question, as well). However, when it comes to human consciousness, there is much of consciousness, that simply cannot be put under a microscope. A critical question would be: How does one measure ideals such as freedom or emotional concepts like love? Most people likely have very different ideas of what freedom is, not to mention love!
Reflections: The Dimensions of Consciousness in Spiritual and Religious Beliefs
Clifford Geertz, the anthropologist, said there is a will to understand and a need for meaning “as real and urgent as the more familiar biological needs! The scope of what human consciousness envelops and embraces is an important factor to bear in mind. As Lev Tolstoy, the brilliant Russian novelist and radical Christian, observed, "The mind of man cannot grasp the causes of events in their entirety, but the desire to find those causes is implanted in the soul of man” (p.777 WP). In an intriguing observation, Dr. Toula Gordillo, a psychologist with a Jungian bias, observed, "yes, we have to live in 'the real world' (which I think is more perception than reality anyway) , but the unseen world, the world of energy and dark matter and all kinds of things that we don't fully understand yet, that's what makes the world exciting Not knowing the unknowable... c really is magic!" Gordillo's observation is that the human mind engages in "an unseen world, the world of energy and dark matter and all kinds of things that we don't yet fully understand".
However, I would add that human beings and human consciousness in themselves are also “unknowable” and therefore also need a simplified model to live and function day to day. Of course, people have to intellectually and emotionally simplify the real reality of the world, simply because the human mind has limits. As John Bargh observes, “mental categories are absolutely essential for simplifying and understanding the information-rich environment (e.g., Bruner, 1957; EE Smith and Medin, 1981), but stereotypes are maladaptive forms of categories because that their content does not correspond to what is actually present or happening in the environment” (The Unbearable Automaticity of Being, John A Bargh & Tanya L. Chartrand - p. 462 July 1999 American Psychologist). of religious beliefs requires an understanding that religious beliefs and ideologies are often largely simplified and stereotyped models or theories made up of symbols, symbolism and abstractions.As Clifford Geertz has observed, symbol systems are essential in religions that function as ways of looking at the world and ways of life.
Finally, group-related needs, desires and influences are essential in religions. The most important factor and influence in the life of a human being would of course be other human beings. It would seem rather obvious that religions are groups and since religions have been forming groups since prehistoric times, the purpose or function of religions would be to "form groups". Needless to say, religious beliefs would require some structure for relationships and collective action – mostly through rituals, it seems. In fact, at first glance, rituals in a social context would apparently aim to bring the individual into submission to the group. Moreover, as Roy Baumeister observes, “many of the strongest emotions people feel, both positive and negative, are related to belonging” (p.508 need). That is to say, the ideologies generated by the groups evoke very strong emotions clearly having the function of creating links by which the social structure could be generated and also of facilitating collective action.
So keeping all of this in mind can help the reader understand the necessity and benefits of the broader and more inclusive viewpoints of early Christian mystics who also tended to be less judgmental!
Link to website: https://www.spirittruthandmeaning.com/
The New Scientifically Sanctioned Materialism-Nihilism.
Psychology - and therefore - the Mind: Devoid of "Psyche" or even "Meaning"
The bottom line is that as the psychologist, Raya a Jones' 2013 article cites Jung’s 1933 observation: The “modern belief in the primacy of physical explanations has led…. To a psychology without the psyche." I would add that, in a sense, psychology has minimalized and marginalized not only spirit and spirituality, but many of the integrative concepts that help people make sense of the world and cope with the world - as well as concepts like the "Need for Meaning" advocated by greats from Aristotle, to Jung, Baumeister, Wong, Frankl, Geertz, and others. And in a sense a major driver of this would seem that "materialists" only too readily refuse to realize that much of the world is not quantifiable, and actually, perhaps more to the point, beyond their control. We are what we teach!
Viktor Frankl:
http://www.viktorfrankl.org/
Dr. Harold Koenig: https://spiritualityandhealth.duke.edu/index.php/harold-g-koenig-m-d
Dr. Harold Koenig: https://medicine.duke.edu/faculty/harold-g-koenig-m-d
Dr. Paul Wong:
http://www.drpaulwong.com/
Dr. Paul Wong: https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/paul-wong-biography/
Clifford Geertz: https://www.biography.com/people/clifford-geertz-9308224
Carl Jung: https://www.biography.com/people/carl-jung-9359134
Carl Jung: https://www.psychologistworld.com/cognitive/carl-jung-analytical-psychology
Emile Durkheim:
http://faculty.rsu.edu/users/f/felwell/www/Theorists/Durkheim/index2.htm
William James: https://www.biography.com/people/william-james-9352726
Dr. Harold Koenig Director, Center for Spirituality,
Theology and Health: https://spiritualityandhealth.duke.edu/index.php/harold-g-koenig-m-d
Dr. Koenig on what spirituality can do for you: https://www.beliefnet.com/wellness/health/2006/05/what-religion-can-do-for-your-health.aspx
Keith Karren – Body, Mind, Spirit:
http://pgrpdf.abhappybooks.com/mind-body-health-keith-j-karren-ph-d-pdf-5716009.pdf
Anthropologist Malinowski:
http://anthrotheory.wikia.com/wiki/Bronislaw_
MalinowskiSocial Anthropology - Malinowski: http://scihi.org/bronislaw-malinowski-social-anthropology/
St. Augustine (Catholic source): https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=418
St. Augustine: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/augustine
St. Gregory of Nyssa (Franciscan):
https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-gregory-of-nyssa/
St. Gregory of Nyssa (wikiorg): https://orthodoxwiki.org/Gregory_of_Nyssa