The Narrow Path of Truth
The physicist Wolfgang Pauli Perhaps explained the the dilemma intrinsic in spirituality when he stated that, “It is only a narrow passage of truth (no matter whether scientific or other truth) that passes between the Scylla of a blue fog of mysticism and the Charybdis of a sterile rationalism. This will always be full of pitfalls and one can fall down on both sides.”
Imagination
Imagination can be a double-edged sword. The philosopher Susanne Langer, perhaps expressed the dilemma best when she observes that man “can adapt himself somehow to anything his imagination can cope with; but he [man] cannot deal with Chaos.” Albert Einstein believed that imagination is a much more powerful tool of scientific investigation because, while knowledge is limited to "What is." imagination encompasses not only what is, but "What could be" or even beyond our world and universe! Einstein's "imagined" thought experiments is how Einstein came up with the theory of relativity. Albert Einstein stated that "The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination!" Many of the great scientists had that exact view as well including Carl Sagan, the physicist Max Planck, as well as Carl Jung! I should mention that I have actually had a few transcendental spiritual-psychic experiences (one of which is notarized and very detailed - and 6 or 7 other "tags" documented) , so I can testify that - for me personally - a transcendental intelligence [God] is a reality.
Are We Limited by What We Are?
It is second nature for human beings to think of forces in the world. Even inanimate forces like forest fires are seen by forest fighters in human terms as beings or entities with devious human intentions. The ancient Greek philosopher, Xenophanes (c.570–c.475 BC), first observed that anthropomorphism was very influential in ancient Greek religion. Xenophanes is famous for his verse about 'anthropomorphism': But if horses or oxen or lions had hands, or could draw with their hands and accomplish such works as men, horses would draw the figures of the gods as similar to horses, and the oxen as similar to oxen, and they would make the bodies of the sort which each of them had." David Hume the famous philosopher (1711 – 1776) stated the same exact thought that human beings can only ordinarily think and envision things except in human terms and a human frame of reference because their mind-set limited people - for the most part - to what they knew and could envision.
"More than you can Imagine!" - Maryland State Motto
St Augustine (c.354-c.430 AD) made essentially the same observation as Hume, only much earlier, that people can only think in human terms and generally lack the capability of stepping outside themselves - however St Augustine emphatically pointed out that was wrong thinking. 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 echoed by St Gregory of Nyssa, in the classic work, the Song of Songs, which 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 State of Mind, or Orientation, Automatically Entails Limitations – Being in Essence a Filter
One of the points that I make is that you can't prove "will" any more than you can prove “spirit” or God. However, you can study spiritual and religious people though. Spiritual and religious beliefs are like any other beliefs, such as love, for instance, which has conflicting definitions. To understand "will" as I argued one would be required to study how the concept of will affects peoples' thinking and behavior. They haven't done that for spirituality though. Academics got hung up on an academic abstraction and for all practical purposes mainstream psychology totally bypassed spirituality altogether.
Stephen Cave in his article, There’s No Such Thing as Free Will - But we’re better off believing in it anyway., states that This research (on the will) and its implications are not new. What is new, though, is the spread of free-will skepticism beyond the laboratories and into the mainstream. The number of court cases, for example, that use evidence from neuroscience has more than doubled in the past decade—mostly in the context of defendants arguing that their brain made them do it. And many people are absorbing this message in other contexts, too, at least judging by the number of books and articles purporting to explain “your brain on” everything from music to magic. Determinism, to one degree or another, is gaining popular currency. The skeptics are in ascendance.
Another pioneer of research into the psychology of free will, Roy Baumeister of Florida State University, has extended these findings. For example, he and colleagues found that students with a weaker belief in free will were less likely to volunteer their time to help a classmate than were those whose belief in free will was stronger. Likewise, those primed to hold a deterministic view by reading statements like “Science has demonstrated that free will is an illusion” were less likely to give money to a homeless person or lend someone a cellphone.
Further studies by Baumeister and colleagues have linked a diminished belief in free will to stress, unhappiness, and a lesser commitment to relationships. They found that when subjects were induced to believe that “all human actions follow from prior events and ultimately can be understood in terms of the movement of molecules,” those subjects came away with a lower sense of life’s meaningfulness. Early this year, other researchers published a study showing that a weaker belief in free will correlates with poor academic performance.
The list goes on: Believing that free will is an illusion has been shown to make people less creative, more likely to conform, less willing to learn from their mistakes, and less grateful toward one another. In every regard, it seems, when we embrace determinism, we indulge our dark side.” Personally, I am well aware of being interconnected with the world and pretty much feel like I command a tiny rowboat in a huge and stormy ocean. However, I frequently of all people go against generally accepted norms – especially where spirituality is concerned, and I don’t have any problem doing that because I know I have a sense of agency by which I influence the mind to accomplish what I want to get done. Also, I doubt if any studies have been done on spiritual people who believe in the connectivity and unity of human consciousness to see how their views of will affect them.
The point is that, while the concept of “will” as an academic abstraction cannot be proved, the effects of that idea in human consciousness can be measured – the same as spiritual beliefs can be measured even though the academic abstract concept of spirt cannot be proven. In fact, the Materialist Doctrine which is to a large extent based on their argument that spirt or God cannot be measured is a FALLACY. Specifically, it is a Definist Fallacy which states that it is a Fallacy to employ “biased” or Loaded” terminology. In a nutshell, St Gregory of Nyssa could have told you over two thousand years ago that it isn’t possible to measure or “prove” “God” since God is beyond words and beyond human comprehension.
In any case, relative to this essay what is relevant is that in the case of Will, the idea has built in predispositions to view and react to the world in certain ways. I should state that I do believe personally in a Transcendental Intelligence [God] or a Divine Will. What is salient is the fact that seeing God only as a Being brings with it certain limitations – which is why St Augustine and many other spiritual leaders caution against that way of thinking. Psychologically by thinking of God as a Being one is trying to condense and squash God’s thinking and God’s Intelligence into the extremely limited human consciousness. It could be said that a goal of spirituality could be expressed as trying to touch the divine. To do that you have to try to reach where God is – and not where God is not. Lao Tzu in his book Tao Te Ching, states the same thing: “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.” The Quran says the same thing: “…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) That is to conceptualize the Divine in the very limited context of human consciousness, it distorts your thinking – and your judgment.
The ALL is Attributed by Some [both children and adults] with Life and Spirit
Psychologists now recognize that, in the human mind, there is without question a definite process in the human brain which has the capability to attribute mental states and project unto others their perceptions of others’ beliefs, intents, desires, emotions, knowledge, and motivations (which can be quite different from one’s own current views) to others. This process is termed “Theory of mind” (neuroscientists tend to describe it as the “default mode network” in terms of brain processes) It is understood that the “Theory of mind” [process is very important for people to grasp and cope with the human social interactions in day to day living. The Theory of mind and is pivotal in analyzing and judging others’ behaviors, and inferring others' intentions, motivations, and actions. The bottom line is that the mind envisions a person or entity and attributes intentions and intentional consciousness to them.
I should reface the discussion of Theory of Mind and what is often termed phenomenonalism-thought processes by saying that the human mind is incredibly complex. Neuroscience has identified 360 distinct regions of the brain, which most frequently appear to work in tandem with other regions of the brain. Jean Piaget (1896 to 1980) was a Swiss developmental psychologist who did extensive studies of children and their tendencies for animism and anthropomorphism. Children, when they are very young appear to have fewer distinctions between self and world, as well as between self and others. They seem to have an innate tendency to perceive beings, objects, and things as being alive and as living entities or beings. In one study he tried to discover how children thought of life. In his research children were asked questions as to if one thing or another were alive. He found that young children, when very young, had a view of life as being universal. Perhaps this is because their primary self-awareness was that of being alive – so they might ‘assume’ all other things have this “aliveness” as well.
Piaget categorized child development in three stages. In the first stage (up to ages 6 or 7), children perceive activity to be life and there is a tendency to define objects in terms of their use. The sun is alive because it rises in the morning and sets in the evening, and the purpose of the sun is to give light. In the second stage (ages 6 to 8) children narrow life down to objects that move, and in the third stage (8 to 9 through 11 to 12) life is constrained to spontaneous movement. At age eight, I would have been right between stages two and three.
This excerpt from Piaget’s research should help form an idea of how children look at the world at age 8:
Juill (7 ½): “Is a lizard alive? – Yes. – A Nail? – No. – A flower? – No. – A tree? – No. – Is the sun alive? – Yes – Why? – Because it moves when it has to (Parceque quand il faut (!) il marche). – Are clouds alive? – Yes, because they move and then they hit (ils marchent, puis ils tapent). – What do they hit? – They make the thunder when it rains. – Is the moon alive? – Yes, because it moves (elle marche). – The fire? – Yes, because it crackles. – Is the wind alive? Yes, because on a windy day it’s cold, it’s alive because it moves (il bouge). – A stream? – Yes, because it’s always going faster. – A mountain? – No, because it’s always in the same place (elle reste toujours debout). – A motor? – Yes, because it moves,” etc. (p. 200 The Child’s Conception Of The World, Jean Piaget)
Piaget draws a distinction between a child’s beliefs that essences are alive and child animism. Young children believe that all things are made for the purpose of serving humankind, and “conceives the world as a society of beings obedient to moral and social laws.” (Piaget, The Child’s Conception Of The World, p. 214) One child, Vern (6) responds to the question if the sun is intelligent: “Yes, because it wants to make things warm” (p223) Kenn (7 ½): “Is the moon alive? – Yes. – Why? It guides us at night.” Sart (12 ½): Is the sun alive – Yes, it makes the sunshine and gives light during the day.” (p.202) Piaget concludes, “The key to child animism is this, that natural beings are conscious according as they have a part to play in the economy of things.” (p.222)
Theory of Mind and Forest Firefighters
In his book, Faces In The Clouds, Stewart Guthrie lays out the case for anthropomorphism in human history, philosophy, and art. He argues that there are natural processes at work in the human mind that are responsible for the historical anthropomorphism in human religion and art. Fighting forest fires can actually be a very deadly occupation. Wildfires tend to be quite unpredictable. Wildfires can change direction suddenly, develop tangential fronts, jump roads and rivers and even burn in the opposite direction by backing. Embers carried by the wind create spotting where fires start as far away as 12 miles. Large wildfires even form their own mini-weather systems. On July 2, 2013, 19 Prescott Arizona firefighters were killed when the wind suddenly shifted and the fire changed direction. Fighting wildfires is very hazardous work.
About wildfire fighters Guthrie says, “Perception of wildfire supplies a striking example of adult animism. When National Public Radio interviewed workers fighting massive forest fires in the western United States in 1989, the firefighters said the fires were “devious,” “cunning,” or “lying in wait” and, when winds died during the night, were “resting up.” … Another spokesman said, “I swear these fires lay down at night or in the rain and they plan what to do.” In this case, envisioning an unpredictable and erratic wildfire as a thinking, living adversary and “being” would seem to be quite intelligent and rather resourceful. By putting the wildfire into a framework of intentions and purposes, the firefighter can, at least in a rudimentary fashion, analyze the wildfire and anticipate future events such as jumping or change of direction.
Imagination in Ancient Religions
Einstein observed, "The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination." Perhaps this was because he realized that his success in developing his theory of relativity was due to his thought experiments (such as the light beam and the moving elevator) and not due to rational analysis. If one looks at the display of imagination in Greek mythology, I feel one must concede that the imagination displayed in ancient Greek religion was in truth incredible. A simple list of the “divine forces” at work in the ancient Greek religious ‘world’ should help to grasp the “aliveness” of nature and the world. Besides gods and goddesses, the spirits in the world are: Acheloids (from the river Achelous); Alseids (groves); Dryads (forests) Hamadryads (trees); Hydriads (water); Leimoniads (meadows); Meliads (ash trees); Naiads (springs and rivers); Napaea (valleys); Nereid (the Mediterranean); Oceanids (the sea); Oreads (mountains). Lastly, nymphs are in a class by themselves and regarded in general as divine spirits who animate nature. Nymphs usually appear as beautiful, young nubile maidens who love to dance and sing. The nymphs express a freedom, almost erotic in nature, which contrasts them to the rather ritualistic and chaste character of the wives and daughters of the Greek Gods.
A good illustration of the imagination expressed in Greek mythology might be the story of the nymph, Castalia. Apollo fell deeply in love with Castalia but Castalia feared Apollo and fled from him. In desperation, the nymph Castalia dove into the spring at Delphi, which is located at the base of Mt. Parnassos, to escape Apollo. She That spring was then named the Castalian spring in her honor. Water from this spring was sacred. The sacred water was used to ritually clean the temples of Delphi and drunk by Pythian priestess to inspire her in making her “Oracles” which made the Oracle of Delphi famous. The last oracle of the Oracle of Delphi stated that the "water which could speak", had now been “lost forever.”
Native American religious beliefs were remarkably parallel to the ancient Greek mythology and religious beliefs in some aspects. Nature and the world, in some Native American spiritual beliefs were reflections of a divine spirit or spirits. Lightning, for instance, was seen at times by some Native Americans to be divine Spirits “winking” at them. The Iroquois belief in Orenda was the belief in a “divine Spirit” very similar to ancient Greek beliefs. Beings directed their orenda – similar to the concept of Polynesian “mana” against others though it wasn’t viewed as a personification. Miracles, soothsaying, divination, prophecy, blessing, cursing, prayer, worship – seeming universal factors throughout the world - were seen to be reflections of orenda. The Native American scholar, Martinelli observes, “In this way, animal and animal beings within myths and legends of the Iroquois hold powerful orenda all their own for they have the capacity to link humanity with transcendent thought, enabling individuals to seek truth beyond what is known within the physical sphere.” [1] In the final analysis, it would seem fairly clear that the imagination expressed in the expressions of ancient Greek religion in their mythologies most probably played a pivotal positive role in the development and ‘evolution’ of humanity, as it were. And as Einstein said, ‘Imagination is far more important in human thought than knowledge.’
Commentary
When it comes to Christian religious beliefs, as St Augustine, a pillar of the Catholic Church and Christian theology, observed that, God is best “known by not knowing.” God, in any absolute sense would necessarily seem to be beyond words and beyond comprehension.St. Augustine did recognize that the majority of Christians do seem to have the tendency to view God as a "Being" in human form. Envisioning God as a Being would seem only natural in light of the mind’s Theory of Mind process, however. St. Augustine appeared to view that as "wrong thinking." St. Gregory of Nyssa said something very similar: “We know in part and we prophesy in part’ [1 Cor 13.9]; and “If any man thinks he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know” [1 Cor 8.2] (p. 204) St. Gregory of Nyssa (c.335 - c.395), who is venerated as a saint in Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, and Anglicanism, firmly believed that God is beyond comprehension and beyond words. Theologically speaking, in an absolute sense, it wouldn't appear theoretically possible to contain God in the finite form of a human being – even a very, very big one. After all, God is infinite and constraining God into the form of a (human) Being would put limits on God and diminish God. As the German author and philosopher Karl Friedrich Schlegel observed, "Religion is absolutely unfathomable. Always and everywhere one can dig more deeply into infinities." Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768 – 1834), a German theologian, philosopher, and biblical scholar argued that a person's "sense of infinity" is pivotal and vital to Christian understanding of God.
That being said it should be noted that people with autism are well-known for having deficiencies in their Theory of Mind brain processes, and people with autism are also well know for not believing in God. Stephanie Pappas, in an article in Live Science, observes "People who have more traits of autism are less likely to believe in God that those that do not have such traits, according to new research that suggests that belief is boosted by the ability to see into the minds of others." [2] Stephanie Pappas goes on to say viewing God as an intentional Being sets the stage for a personal relationship with God that many Christians feel they have with God. It should be remembered by all that everyone is different and there may be reasons why some people think what they think. A person who has a personal relationship with God may not necessarily understand those who don't and vice-versa. It would seem on both sides of the quation there are some strong emotional feelings which makes spirituality and religious beliefs such a controversial issue. In the end, psychologically as well as morally, everybody has the right to think the way they do.
Personally, the thought crossed my mind that I, personally, could possibly have some autistic tendencies because I cannot envision God as A Being. Period. I simply can't do it. That being said, I would note that because of a handful of personal transcendental spiritual-psychic experiences I personally believe in the Holy Spirit. In 1981, I wrote out a precognitive stream of consciousness-warning which I notarized. It turned out to be fairly detailed and accurate. I would note that psychological terminology fell way short of expressing the emotions and "abstractions" within the experience. Of course, believing in the Holy Spirit as a real force in the world and not believing in God as a "Being," on the face of it, doesn't really make a whole lot of sense.
But that is just the way it is. I should note that Judaism has their own concept of the Holy Spirit which they call Ruach Hakodesh. In Islam, the word, Ruh al-Qudus, communicates the idea of Holy Spirit.
Everybody has the right to think the way they do, and everybody is different! However, there are some people who are critical of "Christians" who talk about God as a Being and depict those views as delusions or illusions. In the 2018 Barna study of religious beliefs of the younger generation many list that as a reason for not being affiliated with religious beliefs. As this essay points out, there are some very natural processes involved in envisioning God as a Being. Mainstream psychologists definitely tend to look down their noses at spirituality and religious beliefs. The prominent social psychologist, Roy Baumeister, in one of his books made a snide comment about "Christians" praying to change the trajectory of a ball. I must say in all my conversations with Christians I have never talked to one who from what I could understand would ever pray to change the trajectory of a ball.
Link to website: https://www.spirittruthandmeaning.com/
Postscript
Materialist State of Mind and Flawed Methodology
The same is true of academic and scientific methodologies which are often used as ways of thinking and ways of looking at the world. As Claudia Nielsen pointed out, the psychiatrist McGilChrist astutely observed that “The scope of inquiry and understanding of the Materialist Doctrine with its rigid adherence to the actually arbitrary principle of quantification and over-emphasis on physiological characteristics is severely restricted and limited in the analyses that can be performed.” I have met several people who have obviously internalized the “Quantification” principle of the Materialist doctrine to the point that a few people I have met seriously believe that if you can’t quantify it, it doesn’t exist – because that what the Materialist Doctrine says and materialism is the epitome of science. That started with spirituality and it is pretty much entirely focused on spirituality. The thing is these people don’t realize that if you took quantification literally and eliminated everything that you can’t quantify, Human beings would be left with the intelligence of a rat – No creativity, no imagination, no freedom, no justice, Beauty, no curiosity, no faith, no happiness, no harmony, no right and wrong as both Einstein and Jung observed, no truth, no common sense, and worst of all NO HUMOR (likely leading to the extinction of the species in my view).
A good example of the limitations of states of mind would be an answer I got form a biology PhD on the meaning of life. I periodically ask people how they view the meaning of life. When I asked this biology PhD what she thought he meaning of life is, she answered there isn’t any meaning of life. She went on to say that science cannot determine (quantify) the existence of a “Purpose” for humanity, then there can’t be any meaning. Of course, that is ridiculous. She has tons and tons of meaning, there is meaning in her relationships with her mother and father and her siblings. There is meaning in her career as a biology professor. There is meaning for her in her work with animals and fish, which she enjoys. There is meaning in her relationships with her students. Only too often, people take an academic abstraction which is a academic “model of” as Geertz would say, and use it as a “Model for” and apply to real life -which doesn’t always work that well.
Secondly, and more important the Methodology of the Materialist Doctrine is flawed. Kay Deaux, in her chapter in the Social Psychology Handbook of Basic Principles, observed that the exclusive use of laboratory experiments as the only tool of research “precluded” “affective displays.” In psychology, it is well known that emotions are notoriously subjective and not easily quantified. Kay Deux goes on to emphasize that “In contrast, natural groups, whether family, fraternity, or nation, are often the arena for intense displays of emotion and strong affective ties.” (p. 794 Social Psychology Handbook of Basic Principles edited by E. Tory Higgins and Arie W. Kruglanski)
Even a precursory overview of Human History shows that in human history, there has been genocide after genocide after genocide. Genocides are even recorded in the Bible. Also, Assyrian history records that after the Assyrians conquered one rebellious city, the Assyrians flayed human beings alive then displayed the human skins on the city walls. Of course, the Holocaust is the most horrific example of a genocide, but there are over two hundred twenty-five documented genocides in history - many of which, like the genocide of the Armenians by the Turks include within that "event" hundreds of separate atrocities. Archaeologists have actually uncovered what appears to have been a few small-scale genocides dating back to the paleolithic age.
However, because genocides can’t be brought into a laboratory setting, the science of psychology does not factor in the powerful emotions generated by group related instincts. So, people for the most part don’t understand the powerful emotions connected with racism. In fact, Republicans say there is no systemic racism precisely due to that problem. On top of that the powerful emotions would on the face of it be a factor in high stress life and death situations which police encounter regularly – and could eb an underlying cause of the disproportionately high number of unarmed blacks who get killed by police. On the news, I have seen nothing about any push for training for police even though it worked for Scandinavian countries.