Reviewing the ‘data’ portion of this blog series (typical of religions and metaphysics), we find a significant variance as to the ways God is conceived by different cultures. While, such variance may appear to present a problem in solving definitively the ‘God Conundrum,’ in truth, … Continue reading The Changing Face of Spirituality (Part 3.7)

I have received a number of insightful and useful comments pertaining to my recent blogs from members of the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC, as to my development of reality employing modern scientific thought, rather than deferring to the mysticism of Plato, Philo of Alexandria, Plotinus and … Continue reading The Changing Face of Spirituality (Part 3.6)

Today, we conclude the descriptive phase of our analysis of spirituality; as such provide the cognitive data necessary to postulate useful and meaningful conclusions, as to what human theological systems can tell us about spirituality, i.e, is spirituality [1] an evolutionary psychological-CNS process for dealing … Continue reading The Changing Face of Spirituality (Part 3.5)

Hermeticism: The theological school we will discuss herein, is Hermeticism. Hermeticism comprises the purported teachings of an Egyptian Initiate known as Hermes Trismegistus (the ‘thrice-great’). Though, many claim that the teachings of Hermes predate recorded history; others, as AMORC, state that such teachings arose early … Continue reading The Changing Face of Spirituality (Part 3.4)

Vedic Schools Differ: All orthodox schools of Hinduism – Nyaya, Vaisesika, Samkhya, Yoga, Mimamsa and Vedanta – accept the foundational premise of Vedas and Upanishads that "Ātman exists.” Jainism too accepts this premise, though it has its own perspective on what that means. In contrast, … Continue reading The Changing Face of Spirituality (Part 3.3)

Evolution of the Vedic Schools of Thought: One of the most ancient and long enduring theological systems is found in the Indian subcontinent. Such theology, modern Hinduism, is the offspring of a merging of [1] a foreign religious system, the Vedic philosophy of the Aryans, … Continue reading The Changing Face of Spirituality (Part 3.2)

Traversing the Second Side of the Triangle [Philosophies of Mind and Soul] In the following blog segments, I discuss several commanding theological world views, e.g., Hinduism, hermeticism, materialism, and Judeo-Christian-Islam. Therein, I remind the reader of irrefutable problems, i.e., [1] the extreme cognitive dissonance betwixt … Continue reading Changing Face of Spirituality (Part 3.1)

Traversing the First Side of the Triangle Neo-Darwinian Evolutionary Theory As you learned yesterday, a useful method of coming to understand the operation and functionality of very complex biological systems is to separate the totality into component subsystems which seem rationally related. For example, the … Continue reading The Changing Face of Spirituality (Part 2)

Today, we shall begin discussing how science has changed and continues to change many of the basic concepts and experiential modes of spirituality. Such changes beginning in the 16th century with Galileo and Descartes; accelerating in the 17th to 19th centuries with the discoveries of … Continue reading The Changing Face of Spirituality

After some thought, I am delaying further discussion as to the paranormal so to allow interested souls to read or skim some pertinent publications. Books are available at http://www.alibris.com and articles can be found upon the internet.  The few below will suffice. [1] John Palmer: … Continue reading Reason and the Paranormal Hypothesis (Part 2)