Pelegianism

stain glass saint augustine: paparutzi / christina rutz

Pelagianism is the unorthodox Christian view that salvation may be attained through one’s own efforts, in contrast to redemption through Divine Grace.

Pelagius believed that Adam’s original sin (as told in the Biblical book of Genesis) was a bad example for the rest of us but it didn’t indelibly stamp sin into every human being born after him.

In other words, Pelagius recast the traditional idea of a universal “original sin” into a more specific “first sin” of Adam.

Sin then is something we can avoid by making good ethical choices and following through with good ethical actions. This puts full responsibility on the individual.

Jesus, then, is seen as setting a good example and providing a means for atonement instead of dying for the original sin that we, so the traditional story goes, inherited from Adam’s egregious disobedience to God.

In the early 5^th century St. Augustine condemned this idea and its founder, Pelagius, was accused of heresy and acquitted.

But this was only a reprieve. Pelagius was subsequently re-charged and excommunicated. Not necessarily executed, he disappeared from history.

Beyond Words adds:

It’s almost as if we know good works is the answer to a riddle, but few of us know how to set up the question. We’re afraid if we do, we’ll get off-course and fall into the trap of Pelagianism. » Source

On the Web:

• Lots of good details and quotes at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelagianism

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Peebles, Dr. James Martin

Chief Powhatan by terren in Virginia / Terren

Dr. James Martin Peebles (1822-1922) was an American spiritualist and Universalist minister who believed that he received inspiration and spiritual guidance from a ‘band of angels,’ as he put it.

Some of these alleged guides were famous characters, such as Mozart, the sister of Louis XVI of France and Chief Powhatan, father of Pocahontas.

Other guides were less famous, such as John W. Leonard, a deceased Scottish clergyman.

Peebles traveled to India several times with Col. Henry Steel Olcott, the co-founder of Theosophy.

Today, Linda Pendleton and others claim to channel messages from Dr. Peebles.

His alleged message to humanity is consistent with much New Age channeling–that is, universal love, cooperation, and the need to overcome the illusion of separation among individuals and nations.

Dr. Peebles, himself, lived three days short of 100 years.

» Channeling

On the Web:

• Linda Pendleton’s web site: http://www.todancewithangels.com/peebles.html
• Answers.com: http://www.answers.com/topic/james-martin-peebles

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Parvati

Râvana, Shiva et Parvati (temple de Banteay Srei): Jean-Pierre Dalbéra

Parvati is a Hindu Mother-goddess and the consort of Siva as described in the Puranas.

Parvati is said to be the daughter of the Himalayas and a model for the ideal wife. Sometimes called Devi, she is generally regarded as a benevolent, nurturing and protective figure.

In one variant of the myth, Parvati is the reincarnated Sati (who formerly took her own life). At the request of Vishnu she stops the distraught Siva from undergoing his terrible dance of cosmic destruction.

Some regard her as the exemplary shakti.

Shakti is a Sanskrit term for female power, sometimes called ‘serpent power’ because it’s said to rise upwards like a serpent through the chakras of the meditating yogi or yogini.

Shakti also denotes a general principle of creative, cosmic energy. When personified it takes the form of a goddess, such as Parvati or Krishna’s playmate, Radha.

» Hinduism

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Particle-Wave Duality

Girls demonstrating wave-particle duality by James Guppy

The so-called “particle-wave duality” refers to the apparent contradiction that arises when we try to understand the nature of light.

Light may be understood as a wave phenomenon (i.e. energy) or as matter (i.e. a particle), depending on the experimental conditions under which we observe it.

Philosophers of science say the duality is bound up in the way we use language. And the conflict might be reconciled if we consider what language is and does.

Language, they say, not only describes but also informs our understanding of things spoken and written about. In short, our descriptions of the world around (and within) us shape our worldview.

Consider the moon, for instance. To an Apollo astronaut it might be taken as something to walk on. For an ancient Roman citizen believing in the state religion of old Rome, the moon might be seen as a somewhat mysterious place where the goddess Luna resides.

In ancient Iran, the moon was believed to be “The Great Man” who incarnates on Earth from time to time. And in the fairly recent past, the moon was whimsically said to be made of blue cheese.

In each of these cases, the words and the semantic context within which they’re placed shape the understanding of the thing described.

Although we might overcome the particle-wave duality by maintaining that it’s informed by current modes of describing and categorizing reality, this still doesn’t tell us much about the actual essence of light, energy and matter–or even if these observable phenomena have a ‘true essence.’

At some point language becomes inadequate. And many believe that sciences which use a symbol system, such as mathematics and physics, are equally as imperfect and incomplete to the task of describing reality.

Along these lines, the holistic thinker Peter Russell suggests that we should not confuse the map (i.e. scientific concepts and theories) with the thing mapped (i.e. supposed fundamental aspects of the universe).

The debate around describing and the described gets complicated, however. Some maintain that language is, in fact, adequate and is an integral part of reality. But this argument falls short when we consider how meanings have changed and continue to change throughout human history.

» Berkeley (George), Brahman, Einstein (Albert), Hume (David), Kant (Immanuel), Locke (John), Poststructuralism, Schrödinger (Erwin), Semiology, Tao, Young (Thomas)

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Young, Thomas (1773-1829)

Double-slit interference: Originally uploaded by Ethan Hein

Thomas Young (1773-1829) was an English scientist, physician and Egyptologist who conducted the double slit experiment in 1803.

In this experiment light was said to behave like a wave due to an observable interference pattern.

This suggested that light is a type of energy, as opposed to a collection of particles.

In 1905 the view of light as energy was confounded by the Hungarian-German Nazi Philipp Lenard, whose own experiments demonstrated that light also behaves like a particle–that is, a unit of matter.

Up to this point in Western intellectual history, a history which Richard Nisbett¹ and others say is almost obsessively concerned with rational categories, matter and energy were thought to be entirely different because, according to previously available observational frameworks, matter behaved differently than energy.

Since the discovery of the apparent duality of light as matter and energy, however, an entirely new series of experiments and theories have arisen about the enigmatic “stuff” of the universe.

This search includes what physicists have called the “God Particle.” If its existence is confirmed, this would apparently resolve some current inconsistencies in theoretical physics.

As an Egyptologist, Young also helped to decipher the Rosetta Stone.

» Democritus, Hume (David), Particle, Particle-Wave Duality, Schrödinger (Erwin), Standing Wave

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¹ Richard E. Nisbett, The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently… and Why. New York: The Free Press, 2003.

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Particle

The Large Hadron Collider/ATLAS at CERN - uploaded by Image Editor (see excellent notes for this photo at flickr)

In physics a particle is defined as a tiny unit of matter.

Experiments in subatomic physics, together with studies in semiotics have thrown the entire notion of the particle into question.

The Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger conceived of the particle as a standing wave–i.e. a relatively stable energy pattern.

For others, particles are seen as wave packets of energy.

More recently, particle physicists have postulated a “God Particle.” If its existence is confirmed, this would apparently resolve some current inconsistencies in theoretical physics.

Independent thinkers, sociologists and philosophers, however, ask how we can confirm the independent existence of something when the longstanding philosophical debate about the relation between subjectivity (i.e. biased conscious observers) and objectivity (i.e. apparently unbiased observations) remains unresolved, and might always be.

It seems that modern physicists are playing a high priced game and probably convincing many people that they’re getting at some basic truth when arguably they’re just creating an historically relative paradigm. In so doing, they carry out experiments within the parameters of that paradigm to, consciously or unconsciously, not only advance but also reinforce and legitimize it.

In other words, many alleged high-tech “confirmations” are an essentially invalid way of saying that a particular game is THE game.

But this is not just an abstract game. It’s no secret that the public is easily swayed by glimmering machines and perhaps Photoshopped results, and this popular enthusiasm most likely makes it easier for scientists to get government funding.

Granted, the results of modern physics are theoretically useful and have many practical applications. And our inherent limitations as a species should not stop us from exploring and developing our mysterious universe.

Nevertheless, we should remember that ideas like the “God Particle” are just a culturally relative story, and certainly not the whole story.

» Democritus, Hume (David) , Lenard (Philipp Eduard Anton), Particle-Wave Duality, Young (Thomas)

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Castanada, Carlos

Las enseñanzas de Don Juan: arugatse / Geronimo De Francesco

Carlos Castanada (1925-1998) was a Peruvian born anthropologist and author who immigrated to California in the hope of attaining an academic career.

He published the book The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge (1968) for his masters thesis.

The book apparently was an anthropological account of his encounter with a wise, benevolent Yaqui sorcerer in Mexico. It did very well commercially and Castanada continued with a series of best-sellers, all written along the same lines.

Critics of his work point out that Castanada took no real field notes and is elusive about his past, suggesting that the books are cleverly crafted fiction.

Fictional, embellished facts or scrupulously factual, these widely acclaimed stories outline a belief in interactive fields of reality.

In the broadest sense these fields could be differentiated as “ordinary” and “non-ordinary” worlds, or as Mircea Eliade termed it, mundane and supramundane reality.

But Don Juan teaches more than a simple “this and that” cosmology. Schematically speaking, his vision is not unlike the mathematical fractal. The sorcerer is said to control interactive fields of power. He or she may exert influence from one region of power to another to bring about an ethically good outcome.

An apparent physical illness, for instance, could be healed by inwardly perceiving spiritual disturbances or fields that are interacting with a patient’s bodily organs. Don Juan claimed that, by focusing awareness and exerting the will, the sorcerer could correct a seemingly isolated physical disturbance.

This kind of distance healing could be a single or complex, multi-layered issue.

While this approach might seem fanciful to some, semiotics married to sub-atomic physics seems to point in a similar direction. Leading physicists and modern science writers are now saying that “matter” and “energy” are two humanly constructed concepts and perhaps different forms of one underlying essence.

Castanada criticized the beatnik and drug guru Timothy Leary for suggesting that psychotropic drugs, alone, could cure. For Castanada, ingesting drugs was simply an initial step in a complex inner journey requiring a great deal of prolonged training and personal discipline.

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Participation Mystique

Mystiques of malabar: seemakk / Seema K K

Participation Mystique is an idea forwarded by the classical anthropologist Lucien Lévi-Bruhl about the mystical relationship that so-called primitives apparently had with objects in their environment.

In Lévi-Bruhl’s own words:

In the collective representations of primitive mentality objects can be…something other than themselves…they give forth and they receive mystic powers, virtues, qualities, influences which make themselves felt outside, without ceasing to remain where they are.¹

Carl Jung used the term to denote the allegedly numinous powers of the archetypes that, according to his theory, are mediated to ego-awareness through archetypal images.

The implication of Lévi-Bruhl and Jung’s theories is that so-called primitives were psychologically closer than moderns to otherworldly spirits, powers, demons, and so on. For Jung, these agencies are all part of the collective unconscious, often treated as real in itself when it’s arguably just a concept.

Jung also says that the development of the ego is a highpoint of modern civilization. But the shortcoming is that the ego, itself, can put a stranglehold on the powers encountered through participation mystique. This development, says Jung, gives mankind planes, trains and automobiles but robs us of the inner psychological riches that our ancestors apparently enjoyed.

This kind of thinking has been critiqued by Michel Foucault and others as a romantic reconstruction of the distant past with little or no facts to back it up. Foucault looked at various constructions of the self through history and discussed other-wordly truth claims but perhaps never really explored the numinous in the experiential sense, except when dabbling in drugs (which most advanced mystics say teaches one little at best, or are harmful at worst).

The American scholar Joseph Campbell, who builds on Jung’s work, argues that moderns can enjoy a sense of the numinous and feel more connected to the whole of creation through power-packed films like Star Wars.

In essence, Campbell is saying that “deep culture” is not something that Europeans have a monopoly on. It’s alive and well in the West–not so much through old buildings and art but through the excitement and magic of Hollywood and the wonders of technology. Campbell, however, was not so narrow-minded as to ignore the great riches of European and most other civilizations.

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¹ Lucien Lévi-Bruhl, How Natives Think, trans. Lilian A. Clare, New York: Washington Square Press, 1966 [1910],  p. 61.

» Representation, Transference, Vampires

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Parthenon

Athens - Acropolis: Parthenon (West Side): wallyg / Wally Gobetz (see photo at flickr for excellent notes)

The Parthenon is a Greek temple designed by the architect Iktinos and built in 477-433 BCE that sits on top of the acropolis at Athens.

A stunning example of Doric architecture, the pure marble sanctuary was dedicated to Athena, originally containing a massive gold and ivory statue of the goddess in its center.

Later transformed into a church, then a mosque, it was damaged in 1687 from an explosion while the Turks were at war with the Venetians.

Today the Parthenon is recognized as a world heritage site.

Despite the best efforts of local and national Greek officials to preserve for posterity this magnificent portal to the past, its very survival is threatened by acid rain and automobile pollution.

» Acropolis, Pericles

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Parsons, Talcott (1902-1979)

Books are the quietest, most constant of friends. accessible and wisest of counsellors, and the most patient of teachers: Professor Rogers

Talcott Parsons (1902-1979) was an American sociologist who emphasized the functional role of social stratification, as well as a positive relationship between educational and political systems.

Parsons was not a libertarian socialist thinker like the charismatic Murray Bookchin (1921-2006), harkening back to some fictional golden age where everyone apparently got along, thriving in a joyous, environmentally friendly community spirit.

Instead, Parsons embraced modernity, seeing it as part of the process of human development.

Critics say his theories are too abstract and ignore the dynamics of power, conflict and deviance. However, his work has had a considerable impact on anthropology, psychology, history and sociology.

He taught at Harvard from 1927 to 1973 and most likely is a part of every Sociology 101 course known to mankind.

On the Web:

• Wikipedia has a very long entry with an abundance of material about Parsons: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talcott_Parsons

» Functionalism

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