Panenhenism

The name of God: fdecomite

Panenhenism is a term coined by the British scholar of religion and intelligence officer, R. C. Zaehner (1913-1974), to describe the belief that the universe is a unified whole, without referring to any kind of God.

Zaehner’s term prefigures semiotic and postmodern concerns to deconstruct words like ‘God‘ and what they connote for various individuals and groups—e.g. women, visible, invisible as well as outspoken and silent minorities.

Zaehner, himself, became a practising Catholic and often emphasized the distinction between what he called monist and theistic perspectives on mysticism. The monist, he claims, adheres mostly to Asian religions (with some exceptions) where the self is identified with the godhead, whereas the theist believes that the self is forever individual and relates to the Godhead.

To illustrate the latter point of view Zaehner begins his book Mysticism: Sacred and Profane (1961), by making reference to the Jewish writer, Martin Buber, who makes a similar distinction.

By stating his biases at the outset of his study, Zaehner is miles ahead of other scholars who conceal their religious convictions and at the same time try to appear “neutral” or “objective” when surveying world religions.

In fact, the notion of coming out with one’s biases at the outset of a study was a significant topic of concern while I was doing my doctorate in the 1990s. Even then, some of the dimmer scholars would engage in long, polemical tracts without ever saying what their own biases were.

One had to read between the lines.

While one may not agree with everything Zaehner says, at least he’s outright and not sneaky about his beliefs.

» Connotation, Denotation, Panentheism, Pantheism, Polytheism

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Quine, Willard

Methods of Logic by Quine: brewbooks / J Brew

Willard Quine (1908-2000) was an influential American mathematician and philosopher who rejected Kant’s analytic-synthetic distinction and advocated a form of holism.

Quine argues that empiricism contains “two dogmas.” One dogma is the distinction made between intellectual constructs and facts. The second dogma is reductionism; that is, the belief that naming and meaning are the same.

Quine’s thought has been variously championed and critiqued. It seems that whatever way we look at the problems Quine addresses, we fall into the same trap: Language (and arguably all symbols, to include numbers) has conceptual and descriptive limits and can never be precise and complete.

In fact, the problem of the relation between symbols and reality is an age old one with no definitive answer.

On this point Heraclitus wisely said that we cannot step into the same river twice.

In sociology, Quine’s thought crops up in discussions about reification and the also about the relation between scientific truth claims on the one hand, and ideology, the profit motive and social power on the other hand.

» Science

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http://earthpages.wordpress.com/?s=Heraclitus

Atlantis

Image source: Athanasius Kircher's Map of Atlantis (c.1669)

Atlantis is an ancient and possibly legendary civilization whose military capabilities apparently posed a threat to Europe and Africa before it finally disappeared into the sea.

The Greek statesman Solon learned from an Egyptian priest at Sykes about ancient temple records telling of Atlantis. Dating back over 9,000 years, the records said a massive destruction periodically befalls the earth forcing mankind “to begin again like children with no memory of what went before.”

The destruction of Atlantis is variously attributed to an earthquake, volcano or high-tech weapons.

The grandfather of the Greek philosopher Plato heard the story of Atlantis from Solon. Plato duly writes about Atlantis as a kind of utopia in his dialogues Timeus and Critias.

Subsequent variations of the story say the Atlantians possessed high-tech death-rays, hot and cold running water and miraculous cures.

But some archaeological paintings allegedly depicting Atlantis include boats propelled by men with primitive poles, which doesn’t quite add up: Why so primitive a means of propulsion if Atlantis boasted incredibly high tech resources?

Recent scientific and archaeological expeditions are trying to uncover hard evidence for Atlantis. Some researchers hope that orbiting electronic instruments will discover Atlantis’ true location. Others are using Google Earth to try to discern the location.

Said to be a paradise before its destruction, Atlantis apparently had a temple of Poseidon at its center. And after its destruction, some survivors are said to have been scattered across the globe by sea.

Some believe this accounts for the seemingly paranormal feats of architecture found around the world–from Stonehenge to the massive sandstone etchings in Peru, and the similarly styled pyramids of Egypt and Aztec Central America.

Parallel tales about a lost civilization destroyed by catastrophe have been simultaneously recorded by an Egyptian scribe and a Mayan stone cutter.

True or false?

Apparently the Greek government prohibited exploration of an underwater area researchers believe would definitively prove the existence of Atlantis.

Aristotle seemed to believe that Plato was mythologizing about Atlantis in an attempt to symbolically warn against “overweening ambition,” as Shakespeare would much later caution through his character Macbeth.

Paula Byerly Croxon adds that Plato’s myth about Atlantis was “underscored by the visions of Madame Blavatsky and Edgar Cayce” (The Piatkus Dictionary of Mind, Body & Spirit, London: Piatkus, 2003 p. 24).

While it is easy to be skeptical about the historicity of Atlantis, it should be kept in mind that the ancient city of Troy was widely thought to be mythical until an uncovered archaeological site proved its existence in the 1870’s.

Whatever the truth may be, the myth goes on with an American-Canadian science fiction TV program called Stargate Atlantis that appeared in 2006, a spin-off from the very popular Stargate SG-1 series.

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Quiddity

february eucharist: + Alan / Alan Creech

Quiddity (Latin: quidditas = whatness) is a medieval scholastic term referring to the alleged primary substance of a thing (i.e. essence) in contrast to its secondary substance (i.e. observable form).

This kind of distinction can be confusing but goes back to both Plato and Aristotle¹ (the latter doing away with the former’s idea of eternal Forms), and plays an important part in understanding the Catholic Sacrament of the Eucharist, said to change in essence but (obviously) not in observable form.

That’s why Catholics can believe that Holy Communion is not just a memorial service but a sacrament in which one partakes of the living body and blood of Christ.

What differentiates the Catholic Eucharist from others is that, while taking the transformed host, one becomes more a part of the mystical body of Christ.

Here the eater becomes part of the eaten, this acting in reverse of purely natural eating, where the eaten becomes part of the eater.

It’s important to understand that, in the Catholic distinction between essence and form, essence is not to be understood as mere “energy”–i.e. the energy of the universe.  For Catholics essence is a spiritual term, thus denoting something qualitatively different than the mere energy behind the apparent duality of matter/energy.

This is an important point so often overlooked by New Age / New Physics enthusiasts who think they have it all figured out when recasting the old myth of naturalistic pantheism in the latest scientific lingo, which really is just another set of mythic constructs.

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¹ Thomas Aquinas’ philosophy owes a lot to Aristotle, and therefore to Plato. He uses the Aristotelian concept of substance to develop a rational basis for theology. For Aristotle, substance is what exists of itself, not depending on anything else for it to exist. For example, colours depend on the object in which they inhere for their existence, but not vice-versa. But how can this hidden substance of things be explained?

Read more at Suite101: Aquinas’ First Cause Argument: Thomism Builds on the Platonic and Aristotelian Traditions http://metaphysics.suite101.com/article.cfm/aquinas_first_cause_argument#ixzz0ecT1E201

» Consubstantiation, Transubstantiation

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Quakers

Quakers: BinaryApe / Pete Birkinshaw

The Quakers (a.k.a. The Religious Society of Friends) are a Protestant religious movement founded in England by George Fox (1624-1691).

The Quakers rejected the Sacraments, advocated plain speech and clothing, and were persecuted for their nonconformity.

Pockets of Quakers exists around the globe, often in economically disadvantaged places where they engage in charitable works geared toward social improvement.

Quakers emphasize an Inner Light and personal revelation and have generally been regarded as a well-meaning but misguided “sect” by orthodox Catholicism.¹

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¹ See for instance » http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=9765

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Q Document

Comparison of Matt 3:7-10 and Luke 3:7-9. Common text highlighted in red. Text is from 1894 Scrivener New Testament which is in the public domain - Alecmconroy

In Biblical studies the Q in ‘Q Document’ stands for quelle, meaning “source” in the German. In other words, it’s a source document for other documents that include some of its content.

But there’s a catch. The Q Document is purely hypothetical.

According to some scholars, this document would account for the similar material in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke that can be found after the similar material in Matthew, Luke and Mark is removed from Matthew and Luke.

Still undiscovered by archeology, Q remains nothing more than an imaginative scholarly hypothesis although some tend to talk about it as if it were real.

On the Web:

• The history and complexities of this (so far) imaginary document can be found in the excellent Wikipedia entry » http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_document

» Bible

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Q (The)

John de Lancie: Cayusa / Bart

The Q is a fictional group entity in Star Trek TV spin-offs and films, residing in an eternal field of space-time called the ‘Q-continuum.’

Not unlike the avatar in Hinduism, the Q manifest in specific instances of space-time to apparently regulate the ebb and flow of events within the universe.

The main manifestation of Q, played by actor John de Lancie, conforms to the trickster archetype.

Like most deities found in mythology, the manifest aspect of the Q uses supernatural powers to baffle, vex and test human beings to the point of distraction.

As with most otherworldly pantheons, there is a faction of rebellion within the Q-continuum, consisting of those tired of being “good” and politically correct at the expense of enjoying their free will and vitality.

These dissenters are prohibited and disciplined through punishment by the Q moral majority.

As outlined in the entry for Star Trek: The Next Generation:

And then there was “Q,” played by actor John de Lancie, who was something akin to a classical Greek god in that he had powers and knowledge extending beyond our normal conception of space and time. Also like the Greek gods, he often abused these powers in childish ways and even challenged the authority of the Q Continuum (the ruling body of the Q, representing its status quo), resulting in his frequent punishment.

» Dreamtime

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Ramanuja

Deity at the Sriranganathar Perumal Temple: Dilip Muralidaran

Ramanuja (1017-1137 CE) was an important Hindu sage and philosopher who believed that Vishnu was supreme and challenged the ideas of Sankara and the Saivites (followers of Siva).

Ramanuja developed the system of Visistadvaita or qualified monism.

Specifically, Ramanuja challenged Sankara’s claim that only the Brahman is real and individuality is illusory (maya).

For Ramanuja the Brahman is real and beyond pain and suffering but individual souls (jivas) emerging from and ultimately resting within the Brahman are also real.

While the Brahman is beyond the law of karma, the individual soul (jiva) is not.

As a result, the jiva experiences the pleasure and pain of earthly life.

Liberation from samsara, the round of rebirth due to karma, is gained through individual effort as well as the grace of God (as Vishnu).

As a consequence of his religious and philosophical innovation, Ramanuja was persecuted by a rival Hindu who happened to be a Saivite ruler.

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Plato

Plato and Aristotle: originally uploaded by Image Editor

Plato (427-347 BCE) was a Greek philosopher born into an aristocratic Athenian family. Over the centuries he’s proved to be one of the most influential philosophers known to mankind.

Plato believed in reincarnation and the idea that all knowledge is contained in the soul before a particular birth.

According to Plato, the trauma of birth makes us forget what we knew. Learning is just “remembering” what we already knew at a more fundamental level of knowledge.

This view may seem similar to the Freudian notion of the unconscious, but more correctly it leads to Plato’s idea of the Forms.

Plato’s Forms are understood as perfect, unchanging and eternal reality. As with various schools of Buddhism, everything in our changing world is viewed as imperfect and perishable.

But the similarities end there. For Plato, by gaining knowledge of the Forms while living our worldly life, we learn about eternity and personal immortality. Buddhists, on the other hand, champion the squelching out of individuality.

Plato’s beliefs about a personal afterlife led him to say that “life is a preparation for death.”

Plato’s most influential philosophical teacher was Socrates. Soctrates was sentenced to death in Athens on charges of “atheism” and “corrupting the youth.” Socrates could have escaped, but chose to drink poisonous hemlock rather than flee and live dishonorably.

Some suggest that it’s unclear as to why Socrates felt that absconding from such a silly charge would be dishonorable. If he truly believed that his own views were right, why would he play the martyr for the flawed beliefs and practices of a corrupt state?

Others say he died in accord with his principles. Either way, Plato was so impressed by his teacher that he made Socrates the protagonist in most of his philosophical dialogues. In these dialogues the Platonic character Socrates discusses with other characters the fundamental questions of human existence.

Plato is often charged with being hostile to poetry, branding it as a shabby attempt to get at truth, while his equally celebrated student Aristotle (384 BCE–322 CE) is seen as more sympathetic to poets and the poetic process.

This observation isn’t entirely right, however. Plato admires poetry that he feels is divinely inspired, in contrast to that which he believes is merely the product of practice and studied technique.

Aristotle, on the other hand, writes detailed prose commentaries on the psychological and social importance of the artistic process, along with the rules that creative artists follow.

Perhaps feeling that he is eternally justified in doing so, Plato uses a rather poetic style in his exposition, far more so than Aristotle.

Plato condemns or severely restricts the use of poetry in education, yet he uses poetry extensively in his own works, citing verses with approval, imitating poetic style and imagery, or subjecting poems to critical study.¹

Unless one believes that Plato is a divinely inspired philosopher, he seems a bit self-indulgent here. And his distinction between inspired poetry and poetry based on mere technique seems unwarranted.

Aristotle, in fact, begins to collapse that distinction by arguing, much like Sigmund Freud or C. G. Jung, that well crafted poetry can be cathartic. In other words, Aristotle recognizes that good poetry taps into something deeper than superficial daytime reality.

From a contemporary standpoint a distinction between inspired vs. cleverly crafted art seems dubious. Instead of seeing inspiration and technique in terms of discrete categories, its seems that every work of art contains some degree of both inspiration and technique.

The two questions that follow, then, are:

1. What type, quality and degree of inspiration(s) does the artist encounter?
2. What type, quality and degree of technique(s) does he or she use while expressing that inspiration?

After the Christian church began to take hold on the European imagination, St. Augustine of Hippo favored Plato’s works and recast his ideas to support Christian belief.

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¹Paul Woodruff, “Plato’s Use of Poetry” in Oxford Art Online (Plato)

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Sin

Seven Sins by Hartwig HKD

(1) Sin is an ancient Mesopotamian moon god, also called Nanna. His cult was most prominent at the Sumerian cities of Ur and Harran. Bestowing light in the dark, Sin maintained justice through the night hours.

(2) In Catholic theology sin is any thought, speech or action that results in a transgression against the law of God, where one chooses to enact one’s personal will in conflict with God’s.

St. Augustine is often quoted by Catholic writers when trying to explain sin:

Something said, done or desired that is contrary to the eternal law.¹

The Catholic Church further breaks the idea of sin up into several categories, the most important being original sin, venial sin and mortal sin.

The general concept of sin is widespread but treated differently among world religions–e.g. transgressing God’s decrees (Judaism, Islam), acting against the cosmic order or Will of Heaven (Taoism), or harmful action arising from ignorance (Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism).

Contemporary thinking people believing in God and the importance of acting ethically are faced with a dizzying array of prescriptions on how to do the right thing and not sin. When all is said and done, it seems the most sensible approach to living right and avoiding sin is to follow one’s own lived experience and reflections upon it.

Many, however, seem unable to act as mature adults and prefer to allow some perceived authority, distant or near, to guide them on how to best live the life God gave them.

This arguably schoolboy and schoolgirl approach to ethics may afford psychological comfort (through a ready-made personal identity and sense of community) for those unable or unwilling to embrace the degree of freedom and responsibility involved in making up one’s own mind. But in the long run it seems immature and, indeed, unworthy of our potential as human beings created by and forever journeying toward God.²

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¹ St. Augustine, Con. Faust 22.27 cited in Catholic Bible Dictionary, ed. Scott Hahn, 2009, p. 850.

² See comments on this complex issue.

» Adam, Calvinism, Contemplation, Donatism, Eden, Fasting, Felix culpa, Jainism, Jesus Christ, Madonna, Milton (John), Virgin Mary

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