Tag Archives: meditation

More questions on Home Temple…

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My previous answers generated a number of additional questions from Carrie. Isn’t that the way of things? Let me see if I can manage an answer to them. This time I’ll just quote, rather than paraphrasing the questions.

>1. Other than praying in Hebrew, what do you mean by "Jewish and Kabbalistic elements" that you have added to the liturgy?

The training liturgy, rubrics, vestments and accoutrements of the Home Temple include the following:

1. The chalice and paten we use initially are the cup and plate used in a Jewish seder.

2. The stole worn is the Jewish prayer shawl, or tallit.

3. A seven-branched menorah is used on the altar. In addition to the seven candlesticks representing the seven spirits of God, the menorah rests on three bases which are taken as representing the three kabalistic worlds.

4. As mentioned, many of the regular prayers of the Mass are done in Hebrew. For example, “Holy, Holy, Holy” becomes “Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh”.

5. In addition, several traditional Jewish prayers are encorporated, for example, the “Shema Israel” (“Hear, oh Israel”)

6. An emphasis is placed on the musical tones and specific sounds intoned, as these are believed to be important resonators of the power of the ritual.

7. A number of prayers are added and wording adapted to a more mystical understanding of the Mass as a union of our hearts with the heart of God and Christ.

8. Several traditional gestures and postures (such as the “nacham” – crossing the hands over the chest) are added.

These elements are part, as I said, of the training Liturgy. After being ordained, priests are given a great deal of independence and allowed to use whatever liturgy, vestments and Mass accoutrements they wish. They are perfectly free, for example, to use the full traditional Latin Rite regalia and say the Tridentine Latin Mass.

There are several purposes to having these elements in the training Mass which improve the quality of whichever liturgy is eventually used. First of all, Jesus was (if you’ll pardon me stating the obvious) Jewish. Understanding his spiritual traditions is critical to understanding what Jesus taught. The early Jewish Merkabah mysticism, with which Jesus was very likely involved, is the spiritual ancestor to the Kaballah, and many of the concepts were passed down to it.

Secondly, the training Liturgy teaches (would that the Liturgical reformers in the RC understood this) that Liturgy operates through symbols of spiritual power. Sounds, smells, gestures and movements all convey spiritual meanings above the understanding of the conscious mind. Introducing too much mental noise and discursion –such as lengthy sermons – into liturgy only disrupts the spiritual flow. Even having too much vernacular language encourages mental, rather than spiritual participation. The purpose of Liturgy is primarily to nourish the spirit, not the mind. The Home Temple training liturgy teaches this to the student.

>2. Is Martinism, and the Home Temple Movement in particular, a Jewish Movement?

I understand that you are anxious for information on Martinism. Unfortunately I have little to give. I am not myself involved in Martinism. Bishop Kiezer, – who is a virtual walking encyclopedia regarding the western mystery traditions, schools and orders – has, I believe, gone through at least some of the Martinist degrees, as well as those of most of the other initiatic schools. He has synthesized his information into an initiatic school in which Home Temple students are encouraged (but not required) to participate – the Temple of the Holy Grail (or T.H.G.) I have received the initiation and several of the first “empowerments” of this order, but am not qualified to tell you which concepts were derived from which initiatic schools or which elements (if any) are particularly Martinistic. Bishop Kiezer does offer an online class in the Western Mystery Tradition which probably covers Martinism at least in broad outline, and I intend on eventually taking the class when time and finances permit. It is available at www.wisdomseminars.org

I would guess that the reason many of the initiatic orders have an interest in Judiasm is that the earlier Merkabah and later Kabalistic mysticism of Judiasm was borrowed upon heavily by western and Christian mystics from shortly after the time of Jesus. Jesus himself was very likely acquainted with these concepts. Jewish mysticism was incorporated into both Jewish and Christian Gnosticism, and later by most other western mystery schools.

The Home Temple priesthood training puts a lot of emphasis on Jewish language and thought – because this is the only way to hope to recover the full meanings of many of Jesus' teachings.

>3. Do you have a congregation, or do you perform liturgy for just your own family?

I am recently ordained, so until now I have only performed the liturgy for family and close friends. We will probably start to branch out to a slightly larger group now. If the home church arrangement becomes too cramped we can rent some space – but I don’t expect we’ll ever be a very large group except perhaps for special events.

 >4. Since you don't embrace doctrine, how does the Movement develop a moral code, and how do you enforce it?

It’s hard to answer this one briefly, but I’ll try. First of all, on the level of the ordained priesthood, there IS a basic code of ethics which all priesthood students must agree to and sign, which can be found here: http://www.hometemple.org/Ethics.htm This very basic level of ethical conduct is primarily designed to keep the Home Temple free of legal difficulties and open scandal. Violations are investigated by a court of Bishops, and anyone found guilty of violating them will have their charter and ministerial credentials revoked and be removed from any association with the Home Temple. Evidence of any crimes will be turned over to authorities.

Part of the code of ethics is that priests are bound to not allow to go unchallenged the physical or emotional abuse or violation of people or other living things or the commission of crimes. Beyond a well-defined crime, however, one is left to one’s inner guidance regarding personal and social evils and one’s response to them.

The Home Temple encourages an evening contemplation of the day’s actions and deep meditation upon beneficial changes in behavior. Fundamentally, the whole point of a Gnostic or illuminated approach to spirituality is an inner transformation. An enlightened individual doesn’t need to be told not to abuse children or commit acts of violence. It is virtually impossible for the enlightened individual to behavior in any way but for the greater good of all. Anyone who requires a multi-volume encyclopedia of moral theology to know right from wrong probably won’t be attracted to the Home Temple.

>5. Since you don't wish to be under the jurisdiction of Rome, why are valid orders and valid succession important?

In the first place, valid orders aren’t simply an invention of Rome. They represent a powerful spiritual endowment from Jesus. Priesthood is a real power to effect real spiritual change which is transmitted at ordination. Sacraments are not simply symbols. They transmit actual spiritual grace and power. A comprehensive and valid lineage of priesthood is the assurance that this spiritual endowment is actually being transmitted.

In the second place, INVALID orders present obstacles to attempts by apostolic churches to cooperate, confederate or unify. While this goal is always illusive, it remains a fond hope of many.

>6. Do members of the Movement practice channeling and attempt to evoke spirits?

First of all, your question would only pertain to the Temple of the Holy Grail. The Home Temple priesthood does not require participation on the THG and instruction is confined to the strictly sacramental. However, since I’ve done some work with THG, I’ll answer from that perspective.

Channeling is taught to be dangerous and spiritually immature and destructive. I have not run into any practices I would describe as “evoking spirits”. Angels, Ascended Masters and such are INVOKED, or called upon for assistance, but not called up and commanded. There are operations with aquasters, elementals and similar things which would probably qualify as, at the minimum, theurgical if not magical.

>7. What should those of us on the outside looking in make of the fact that Eugene Vintras is in the Martinist line of succession, since Vintras has had some rather startling accusations lodged against him?

Well, I’m not aware of him being in our line of apostolic succession. Our primary lineages are found here:

http://www.hometemple.org/twolines.htm

Bishop Kiezer has an excellent .pdf book on the various lineages of the Independent movement (Wandering Bishops: Apostles of a New Spirituality) available free for download on this page (scroll down a ways)

http://www.hometemple.org/Publications.htm

I think you would actually find it quite helpful in your research. The book is quite frank about some of the problems with the movement as well as its successes.

But to answer the question in the generic – I would expect you to think about a disreputable Independent Bishop about the same way I think of a Borgia Pope – a flawed or even evil individual who could, nevertheless, occupy or transmit a valid office. If we hold that priesthood and the episcopate must be transmitted only by GOOD people, then we have a big problem. First of all, just HOW good? Can a murderer who still has orthodox beliefs transmit them? What about a kind charitable person who is also somewhat heretical? How is the person in the pew supposed to know if the priest officiating at their Mass, or baptism, or marriage is “good enough” and was ordained by a bishop who was “good enough” and that the chain of “good enough” people goes all the way back to Jesus unbroken by a scoundrel?

Logic, our knowledge of divine mercy, and western canons thus have laid out that a schismatic, excommunicated, heretical bishop can nonetheless transmit valid orders – and that the priest at your parish can still provide a valid sacrament, even if the priest is secretly a terrible sinner or closet heretic.

I fully understand that these answers probably raise yet more questions, which I'll be happy to attempt to answer if you can be patient with the pace.

Sermon on Worry

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Near the end of his life, Mark Twain said: "I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.” How many hundreds of hours have we spent agonizing over possible problems that never actually happened?

 

Ralph Waldo Emerson said it more poetically:

 

"Some of your hurts you have cured,

And the sharpest you still have survived,

But what torments of grief you endured

From the evil which never arrived."

 

The Peanut's character Charlie Brown is notorious for this kind of worrying. Eventually he said, “I’ve developed a new philosophy. I'm only going to dread one day at a time".

 

The Master Jesus doesn't want us to dread the future. Not even one day at a time. He wants to introduce us to the "Perfect love which casts out fear." He tells us in his teachings not to fear the future. Now the version of this we have in Matthew is a bit confused. It makes Jesus into Charlie Brown. Jesus says there, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Now I’m pretty sure that this isn’t a very good rendering of what Jesus actually said. Jesus never focused on troubles and he would hardly advise us to do so. I suppose if he had, we could make a fortune marketing the “Don’t Worry About Tomorrow” Christian day-planner. It wouldn’t have a calendar – just a page that says “Today’s Troubles”.

 

I suspect what happened was that some poor neurotic scribe a hundred years after Jesus read Jesus’ statement to “not worry about tomorrow” and thought “How can Jesus be serious? How can we not worry about tomorrow?? Oooohhh – it must be because there are so many horrible things to worry about TODAY!!” He apparently doesn’t notice that two verses earlier, Jesus tells us not to worry about TODAY either! Here’s how Bishop Keizer renders this entire teaching in the Simple Word of the Master Jesus:

 

“Therefore, do not WORRY (!) or say, what will we eat? Or, what will we drink? Or, how will we be clothed? For your Heavenly Father knows you have need of all these things. But seek first the guidance and justices of God’s INNER kingdom, and all these things shall be added unto you. Therefore do not fear the future; rather, entrust the problems of the day in prayer to the Father, and then act on Heaven’s guidance. For the transformed present will produce a transformed future.”

 

The Master Jesus wants our attention in the here and now. In the present moment – the only moment where we can actually change anything. The past doesn’t exist. The only contact you have with the past is in your memories – in the present moment. The future doesn’t exist. The only effect you have on the future is caused by your actions right here and now, in the present moment.

 

Does this mean we SHOULDN’T use an appointment calendar? No, that’s not what it means at all. It’s fine – even helpful, to use “time” for practical purposes. Who do you think worries more about tomorrow – the person who consults their appointment book and knows they have three appointments tomorrow – or the person who doesn’t HAVE an appointment book and THINKS they may have appointments tomorrow. The person without the appointment book may spend hours trying to remember where they are supposed to be and at what time, or making calls to find out.

 

Even if you aren’t consciously thinking about your appointments and things to do – if you don’t have a good planning and appointment system, your commitments will always be there in the back of your mind or in your subconscious, giving you a faint feeling of anxiety as your mind tries to keep track of everything. So the purpose of organizing your plans and appointments isn’t to worry about the future, it’s to NOT worry about the future. Once your mind knows that your commitments are captured in some external system that it knows you will check when you are supposed to – it can relax, and let you focus back on the present moment.

 

Of course, if organizing and reorganizing your day becomes your hobby – if you spend more time organizing than actually DOING, then you’ve let your organizing pull you away from the present moment.

 

So let’s get back to the present moment. Because the present moment is the gateway to the Kingdom of Heaven

 

I’m going to make a statement that may seem extreme, but I ask you to consider it carefully. Almost all of our worry, fear, stress, frustration and anxiety comes from refusing to accept the present moment as it actually is.

 

Next time you’re worried about a relative or stuck in a traffic jam, notice your feelings. At the bottom of your frustration you’ll find a deep feeling of resentment and hostility against the reality of the present moment. When we worry about the future, what are we really doing? We may be rebelling against the fact that our reality has uncertainties in it. Or we are unhappy with our present reality and want to focus on our plans for the future – but they’re not coming fast enough. There are too many setbacks. We’re not getting out of this terrible present situation as fast as we’d like to. Or perhaps we fixate on the past to escape the present moment. We linger in the sweet sadness of memories of a past that we prefer to our current situation.

 

We fight and we resist and we run away from the only thing that actually exists – the present moment.

 

Why do we resist it so?

 

Well, one thing that may worry us is an idea in the back of our minds that if we accept the present moment, and are content with our current situation – we’ll never get out of it. We’ll be stuck here. Forever. We think that with our discontent we can bribe or threaten God into changing things for us. But if we let him think we’re content – he’ll just let us languish. That doesn’t say a lot of good things about our image of God, does it? It sounds like the kind of God who if we ask for bread will give us a rock. But it is love and gratitude that open the windows of heaven, not discontent.

 

If we drop our resistance to the present moment, does that mean we are stagnant? That we can’t change? Of course not! It means that our change begins with an objective, loving assessment of out situation as it really is. It’s like a person who falls into quicksand. By resisting – by flailing around like a lunatic – we only sink deeper – because our activity is irrational – not productive. But if we keep ourselves calm – if we don’t resist the reality of our situation, then we can plan our escape more efficiently. And the universe will help us. Perhaps we will notice a branch nearby that we can grab. Something we wouldn’t have noticed if we were flailing around. Perhaps we can explore the quicksand and find a gentle handhold or toehold somewhere. And we make progress.

 

The next time you find yourself in the grip of worry, or resentment or anger some other strong negative emotion, try this exercise – completely surrender to the present moment, including all its risks and possibilities. Don’t resist. Know that everything is just as it must be for the moment. Suspend your judgment of other people, or the situation or yourself.

 

What you will find is that a space opens up in the spiritual atmosphere. There’s a feeling like a fresh breeze blowing away your problems. You may still feel anxiety or some other emotion – but you won’t be lost in it. You won’t BE worried – you’ll be a person aware of experiencing a feeling of worry. And that’s a much different feeling. And when you do, you’ll find that your emotions will settle down. Negative emotions like worry don’t like to be watched. They’re bashful. Be the witness of your emotions instead of being possessed by your emotions.

 

Let’s come back to the present moment again. There is another reason we run away from the present moment. This reason is rooted in the nature of our being. It’s a metaphysical reason. That doesn’t mean it’s weird or complicated. Just the opposite. It means it’s so basic it’s sometimes hard to see.

 

The Master Jesus says that the Kingdom of God – God’s dominion or God’s dimension – is within you – within each of you. If you could reach down to your innermost nature, your heart of all hearts – you will find the presence of God. Your innermost essence – is God’s essence. That is the secret of all secrets. That is the core of all mystical teaching – the root of all true religion.

 

But this inner kingdom is hidden from us. It’s covered up by huge amounts of emotional turmoil and mental noise. Anyone who has seriously tried to practice meditation knows that – even when you don’t want it to – the mind keeps spewing out thoughts like some unwanted television set that’s impossible to turn off.

 

Eckhart Tolle tells a story of sitting on a bus next to a woman who was mentally disturbed. She was talking to an imaginary person in a loud and often hostile voice. Lots of profanity. She was a running stream of conversation. Later as he washed his hands in public bathroom, Eckhart thought to himself “I’m sure glad I’m not like that woman” – and the man at the sink next to him gave him a strange look. Then Eckhart realized he hadn’t THOUGHT the phrase to himself – he’d actually said it out loud!

 

We’re all “crazy people”. We all have a running stream of mostly useless, mostly repetitive thought going on in our minds all the time. The only difference is that the “normal” people manage not to let it come spilling out of their mouths – at least MOST of the time.

 

A lot of those thoughts are hopes and plans, and especially worries, about the future. They pull us like a strong swift current away from our grounding in the present moment. And it is in the present moment, and only there – that we can find the gateway into the inner kingdom of God.

 

You won’t find the Kingdom of God in some grandiose plan for the future.

 

You won’t find it in some cherished memory of the past.

 

God, your inner nature – is reality. And there is only one point of contact we have with reality – that pinpoint gateway – that eye of the needle, between the remembered past and the imagined future. The doorway to the kingdom of God that fills up the reality of the present moment.

 

Be in the present moment. Don’t think about it. Experience it. Surrender yourself in a complete and loving acceptance of the present moment, and the door begins opens to you. And behind the door is the essence of the Godhead, the Buddha Nature, closer to you than you are to yourself.

 

And as you become more at home in the present moment, you realize that you ARE the present moment. It is timeless. It has no past and no future. It is only now – eternally now. Forms and manifestations come and go. They appear in the field of Now and then they disappear – but the Now remains, and YOU remain – at peace in the vibrant energetic emptiness of God – wanting for nothing, worrying about nothing.

 

And here’s the paradox. When you seek first God’s inner kingdom, all the rest falls into place. The universe aligns itself to your purposes because you are aligned to the universe. Just at the moment when you begin to lose your desperate grasping after the external things of the world, the things you need begin to come to you almost without effort. And you can enjoy them fully – free of worry, because when they go, as all finite things do, they don’t take a part of you with them. You are connected to the source of all manifestation.

 

This is the kingdom of God, and the home country of all mystics. It’s a place where worries and problems subside, because you are no longer at odds with the purposes of God manifesting in your life. Many teachers of different traditions have commented on this.

 

Listen to the Catholic mystic St. Theresa describe it:

 

Let nothing trouble you / Let nothing frighten you

Everything passes / God never changes

Patience / Obtains all

Whoever has God / Wants for nothing

God alone is enough.

 

The Indian Guru Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj said:

 

"You are all drenched for it is raining hard. In my world it is always fine weather. There is no night or day, no heat or cold. No worries beset me there, nor regrets. My mind is free of thoughts, for there are no desires to slave for."

 

And here’s one of the most famous quotes from “A Course In Miracles”

 

"Nothing real can be threatened.

Nothing unreal exists.

Herein lies the peace of God."

 

Put aside the unreality of your worries about the future, your longings for the past, your impatient desires. Surrender to the reality of this present moment.

 

And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

 

Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Birth of God

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The Birth of God

(A meditation on Luke 1:26–38) The master sat with his students around a fire. Over the flickering flames, they began to ask him questions.

“You have told us that God must be born inside of us,” said one. “How do we accomplish this?”

“I will answer you by telling you the story of God’s birth and his mother, for she is the model of the mystic. In the mystical journey, each of us approaches God as a virgin maiden. The wombs of our souls are empty. We must receive the life of God from on high. We must open ourselves to receive him.”

“What was the maiden’s name?” Asked a student.

“’Miryam’ (or ‘Mary’), which means ‘bitterness’.” Said the master. “Bitterness is indeed the state of each of our small, independent selves – for we seem cut off from God and from each other. Bitter is the fruit of our apparent separation – for we seem completely powerless to save ourselves from our exile. But in this bitterness, a messenger appeared to her – Gabriel, the strength of God. In our weakness, God is strong.”

“Must we wait for an angel to bring God to us?” Asked his students.

“Remember,” said the master “that an ‘angel’ is simply a messenger of God. Whatever way God uses to reveal himself to you is his angel. I am his angel. This story is his angel. And this angel hailed her strangely. He did not use her name, “bitterness”, but instead saluted her by the name ‘hail, full of grace’. He told her that God was already with her. Such is the message of God to your soul. You are favored. God already dwells in you. God’s grace is already with you.”

“Didn’t this confuse her?” inquired one, “When all she could see within her was her own emptiness?”

“To begin to feel the opening of the soul to God is confusing and frightening” agreed the master. “For he shatters our previous concepts, our expectations. We begin to doubt our old ways, our old thoughts and beliefs. We doubt ourselves. And that is good, because our small selves have nothing to do with bringing forth God in the soul. So the angel quieted Mary’s fears, and told her God would conceive a son in her, and she would call him ‘God saves’ and that he would rule over all things. For God intends dethrone the small self from its lordship over our being, and replace it with the kingship of the Godlife. The Godlife rules within us from an eternal perspective. It is not bound by the considerations of time or place. The Godlife saves us from the tyranny of the small self.”

“What did Mary need to do to bring this about?” Asked a student.

“Mary still clung to confusion about the origin of the Godlife” said the master. “She insisted to the angel that she was a virgin. As are we all in the spirit, for nothing of the material world, the small self, or the reality bound to space and time will cause the divine conception in us. The angel explained that the Divine Spirit would come upon her and the power of God overshadow her. Because of this, the life within her would be the Godlife – for the Godlife overshadows our small selves. No man is the father of the Godlife. No guru, priest or master. God alone brings forth his life in us.

“But are not you our master?” asked a student with concern. “Do you not bring about the birth of God in us?”

“Not my small self,” replied the master with intensity. “The Godlife in me speaks to the Godlife in you. My own small self has no part of it. Between those who have this life in them, there arises a communication and a unity beyond words. So, when the angel told Mary that her cousin Elizabeth also carried a miraculous child, the desire began to rise up in her to visit Elizabeth, so that the Godlife they shared could commune with itself.”

“I’m still confused,” insisted an older student hesitantly. “Mary is not aware of God within her. The angel explains that nothing she can do will bring the Godlife. She is told no human being can bring her the Godlife. So what does she DO?”

The master’s voice lowered to a whisper to emphasize his words – “Not what she does, but what she does NOT do. Mary responds to the angel of God with the only truly perfect thing the small self can say. ‘I am God’s slave. I put my small self entirely at the disposal of the Godlife. Be it done to me according to his will.’ Not by doing, but by a surrender from doing, Mary becomes the perfect mystic. The Godlife begins to shine in her with perfect brightness. Not all at once- nor in its adult manifestation. But it begins to grow with rapidity. So likewise, you who hear my voice feel the stirrings of life within you.”

The Science of Mysticism

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Here are the points I’d like to cover in this essay;

1. Why is the “scientific paradigm&” attractive?
2. Are these attractive elements inseparable from philosophic materialism?
3. Can the scientific paradigm be reconciled with spiritual things?

1. Why is the “scientific paradigm” attractive?

Just as there are a lot of questionable motives that could attract someone to religion, there are of course a number of questionable motives to be attracted to the scientific paradigm, especially as a replacement for a “religious paradigm”. For example, one might have a pathological hatred of dogmatic authority, a projected father-hatred directed against God, or simply the desire to behave as one wishes without having to answer to any objective moral standard. Let’s dismiss all these and give our scientists the benefit of the doubt, just as we would hope they would do for our religious inclinations. Let’s address the good reasons one might be attracted to a scientific paradigm.

I think the primary attractions of the scientific paradigm can be summed up as follows: utility and beauty.

First utility. A great attraction of science is the results it produces. As Bertrand Russell put it, science, while it diminishes our cosmic pretensions, enormously increases our terrestrial comfort. Science has provided an ever-progressing collection of creature comforts, medical advances, and entertainments. We might call this the indoor plumbing argument ;-)

Second, beauty. Science seems to produce glimpses of the workings of the cosmos, on a micro and macro level, that can inspire something akin to religious awe. It gives, to an extent, some of the same feelings provided by religion in terms of working toward a higher purpose. Man is inherently curious, and science provides an outlet for that curiosity. The philosophical trappings of science also have an intrinsic and simple beauty – something akin to the Japanese art of understatement – clean, functional and austere.

2. Are these attractive elements in science inseparable from philosophic materialism?

In a word. No. I will argue that the pairing of the two is in fact somewhat accidental. What is it, to begin with, that MAKES science useful and beautiful? Why is it so successful in producing useful technology and elegant, universal models? Is it philosophic materialism? Not at all. One can easily imagine a natural philosophy based exclusively in materialism, but without the procedural philosophy of science. A dogmatic materialism that gave no heed to experiment, refinement of process, or observational confirmation (indeed, there are places in the culture where such is a reality). Such a dogmatic philosophy would be neither especially useful nor attractive.

The philosophy of science is a complex subject but to simplify, I contend that what makes science work is the following:

A. Science discovered the principle of a self-correcting system. It corrects itself by allowing own authorities and procedures to be questioned, evaluated, and changed based on that evaluation. In this way, the procedures and principles it uses are constantly improving.

B. Science seeks to approximate objectivity by making its observations according to standardized protocol.

C. Science then subjects the content of its observations to a wide community of trained observers who have the same observational protocols available to them. Again, this approximates objectivity by .

And that’s about it as far as essentials. Notice that philosophic naturalism isn’t part of those three scientific characteristics. Actually, even physicalism isn’t demanded. I believe that philosophic naturalism became more associated with science because it was a natural ally against religion and religious authority.

3. Can the scientific paradigm be reconciled with spiritual things?

There is absolutely no reason (other than a-priori prejudice) why the three principles listed above (self-correction, standardized observation and community feedback) can’t be applied to man’s inner experiences. There is no reason why a “science of the Spirit” can’t exist. In fact, it does exist, in many forms.

The a-priori prejudices I mentioned tend to arise from an illusion science has created. A self-deception into which it falls. Because science strives to approximate objectivity, it can lose sight of the fact that all observations are, in the last analysis, events in the human mind. Even if those events are recorded by some kind of mechanical device, they ultimately must be processed in the human mind or they are not part of our reality at all. All we have to go on are our perceptions or our perceptions of the perceptions of others ;-)

In other words, while science sees events proceeding from physical systems, like so:

Events <<<< Physical system

In fact, we do not have direct knowledge of those physical systems (thank you Emmanuel Kant) but rather only direct knowledge of our mental perceptions of the events, like so:

Mental perceptions <<<< Events <<<< Physical system

Is there any reason why our mental perceptions of the events generated by physical systems (traditional science) have a higher priority or are more “real”; than our mental perceptions of mystical experiences? No. they are both mental perceptions. The only argument that can be attempted for the mental perceptions of physical events being superior is that perhaps they are more universal – more applicable to many different observers.

But this is not the case. If we apply the three characteristics of science to mystical experiences – if we use a standardized protocol for making mystical “observations” – and we compare notes with other trained observers of the mystical experience, and if we allow our protocol to be refined by continual criticism and improvement – we find that there are definite universals in the interior landscape of mystical experience.

How might this work? For example – we learn a particular meditation technique. We practice it until we are a skilled observer (which unfortunately may take months or years.) We take note of our experiences using this technique. We compare those experiences with those of a community of other meditators. And we refine our meditation and observation methods as we go along.

It’s important to note here the importance of TRAINED observation. It is not an adequate response to say “I sat down and tried to think about God one day for a half hour. Nothing happened”. This is no more persuasive than for me to say “I looked at the sky with my binoculars and found absolutely NO evidence of cosmic background radiation,” or “I looked at a bubble chamber one time and all I saw were a bunch of squiggles.” Some kinds of observation need special training and protocol. Meditation or mystical exploration are no different.

Are the mystics simply auto-suggesting themselves into these experiences through their training and protocol? Several things suggest they are not.

First of all, the protocol themselves generally do not have the quality of suggestion. Indeed, the whole point of most meditation methods is remove the barriers of pre-conceived thoughts, concepts and other filters on our perceptions and simply experience the inner world in a state of completely open-minded receptivity. Secondly, if the techniques are auto-suggestive, one would expect that the observations would not be universal, but would vary according to the spiritual expectations of the individual. This does not seem to be the case. The universals still exist.

Elementals and Other Beings

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The conversation on the reality or unreality of “gods” interested me, and I wanted to add a few words by way of suggesting a particular metaphysical “model” for consideration.

MythMythAfter having been “around the block” a few times, I have come to the conclusion that many of the people who report seeing such diverse things as angels, demons, “gods”, monsters, aliens, faeries and other such things are actually having experiences that are, in some way “real”. Skeptics who are happy to write all such experiences off as pathological delusions will have no use for this model, and can stop reading right about now.

Many of us are willing to accept the reality of odd “sightings” that confirm our own worldview, but either reject everything else as delusional, or chalk it off to demonic impersonation, as Brandon did. One person may believe in angels but scoff at aliens. Another person may have the opposite viewpoint.

Let me suggest a more charitable model that can accommodate both. It comes from the general “New Age” framework of various esoteric teachings, but I don’t see anything in it that would prohibit a Christian, for example, from accepting it.

Let’s start with some observations from OBE (Out of Body Experience) or Astral Projection. People who experience this phenomena regularly noticed something long ago, and made note of it. The astral world can be shaped by human thought. If an astral projector find that he has need of a sword, for example, to fight off something bad, or wants a chair to sit in, it can be created with a simple act of will, and will exist in the astral world as long as this will is maintained.

Next, it was noticed that if something was created in the astral world REPEATEDLY, it began to take on a more permanent character. It would last longer with a smaller effort of will, or even remain in the astral dimension from one visit to the next. Mystics began to specifically create and reinforce things in the astral, such as temples. It was further noticed that this power of creation and maintenance was exponentially increased with the number of people concentrating on the task, and pouring their emotional and spiritual energy into it. A large number of people pouring a lot of energy into concentrating on some specific astral/spiritual thing, over the course of time, was found to have astonishing creative power.

Let’s suppose, for example, that thousands of people were to invest a great deal of psychic and spiritual energy into the notion of the god Zeus. Over the course of years, mystics would find themselves running into “Zeus” in their meditations, astral projections, etc. He would appear in more and more dreams. Given enough energy, he could even appear to people in altered (or in rare circumstances, even NORMAL) states of consciousness. He would even have considerable power during these appearances -power channeled into him by thousands of worshippers.

These powerful group thought-forms are called, in esoteric literature, “eggregors”. An eggregor, depending on its power (based on the number of people contributing their energy to it) can create strong influences and even physical manifestations. These manifestations can the various physical forms that make up the visual images of the eggregor. Let’s see how this might work:

Billions of people, over thousands of years, say trillions of prayers and devote enormous amounts of spiritual energy meditating on the Virgin Mary. This could build up an eggregor of astonishing power, causing, for example, the mass apparitions and solar phenomena observed at Fatima, Medujorge, etc.

Millions of people watching and reading science fiction spend countless hours thinking on the idea of extraterrestrials. This could build up an eggregor strong enough to cause sightings, altered states of consciousness perceived as “abductions”, etc.

People in nearly every religion have devoted great attention to the idea of angels. This might build up a strong enough eggregor to cause seemingly miraculous intervention by “supernatural” beings.

Voodoo and similar cults spend years of devotion and ritual directed toward a powerful pantheon of gods and similar forces. This creates a strong psychic eggregor which could be directed against particular individuals.

Let me back up and make a few disclaimer – I personally believe that there ARE angels, demons and probably a host of other types of supernatural beings that have a reality independent of human thought. Apparitions of Mary, angels, Jesus (or demons or aliens) MAY be exactly what they appear to be. Furthermore, not all eggregors are evil. Mass consciousness can be used for great benefit to help, heal and produce good works.

But consider the possibility that SOME “supernatural” occurrences may simply arise – not from God, and not from demons, but simply from natural human abilities to manipulate the spiritual world.

This model, it would seem to me, would explain a great deal.