Mystical Experience and Interpretation (the W-C Lattice at a glance)
January 18, 2007
“I am an empirical spiritualist because the only way one can know truth is by experience. Observing with our eyes, sensing with our intuition, feeling with our emotions: these are all necessary parts of discerning truth. We must trust them. That is how God communicates with us, by providing emotional, visual and intuitive information qued to the empirical experiences of nature.” — Center for Unhindered Living
This is similar to how I feel about how to attain “truth”. Some would immediately discount things like “out of body experiences” and even lucid dreams as having little or no value and then call themselves “scientists”. A real scientist looks for proof prior to making hasty assumptions about what is and is not probable/possible.
On the other hand, I don’t instantly believe or agree with everything I hear preached in the pulpit or claimed in books. I like to experience things for myself (if possible) prior to making an assumption.
Jesus, Buddha and other enlightened beings actually had direct contact and experience. Their teachings have been taken and interpreted by the masses and the results have been social stability at best and subversive population and resource control and manipulation at worse.
The problem with Direct Experience: Interpretation
Because interpretation plays such a huge part in how we use what we know, I don’t believe that even direct experience is a “cure all” for the current human condition. Anyone can have a phenomenological experience, and their interpretation of that experience will be based on their current psychological-sociological (and unfortunately pathological) stage.
How a person interprets those experiences can be seen in the Wilber-Combs Lattice:
The lattice shows the spiritual/religious belief level (or type of belief) a person can have ranging from Archaic to Integral (this is taken from James Fowler’s research on stages of faith). The top of the W-C Lattice shows the type of phenomenological experience a person can have.
A person at an Archaic level can have a phenomenological experience (i.e. feel a holy presence, feel one with all things ect), however their interpretation of the experience will be much difference than someone at say and Integral level. A person on the lower end of the W-C Lattice might come away from an experience of oneness and suddenly think that they are a Messiah or even God.
So a person such as Vernon Wayne Howell (a.k.a David Koresh), may have indeed had visions, however the interpretation is determined by the psychological make up of the individual. Vernon’s beliefs and vision (an alleged phenomenological experience he had while on a trip to Israel) guided him to take control of the Branch Davidian Seventh-day Adventists, break a bunch of federal laws and get subsequently killed by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) when the Branch Davidian compound was raided.
*There are many variables that can be considered which led up to the terrible tragedy that took the lives of 70+ victims (including children), and I won’t disrespect these people by claiming that faith and religion had everything to do with their deaths. For one, there were alot of mistakes made by the U.S. government.
From a different Perspective
When ever we have experiences it is imperative that we keep them in context. Merely keeping all phenomenological experiences in perspective (this doesn’t at all mean ignoring them or devaluing them) we can have the wisdom on how to act. Having perspective means acknowledging biases, assumptions and psychological/physical make up that come from our social upbringing and genetics. Unfortunately, this is a big hurdle for many religious traditions as they claim exclusive rights to all truth and perspectives leaving no room for evaluation and questions.
Pathological disorders and phenomenological experiences are a whole different ball game. The truly ignorant would put both in the same category (very 18th century “lets lobotomize and shock everyone until they think like us” kind of dogma).
The Metaphor of the Nautilus @ Beyond Religion
January 18, 2007
[from “about us” page of Beyond Religion]
Oliver Wendell Holmes, a century and a half ago, saw the metaphorical significance of the chambered home of the Nautilus. These fascinating seashells are spiral in shape and consist of a series of ever-larger chambers in each of which the sea creature lives for a season until it outgrows that particular space. The Nautilus then enlarges its shell by the addition of a new chamber suitable for the next stage of its life.
Holmes wrote, in a poem entitled The Chambered Nautilus, “Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul….Let each new temple, nobler than the last, Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, Till thou at length art free, Leaving thine outgrown shell by life’s unresting sea!” |
more at Beyond Religion
The spiral is one of the most fundamental and beautiful parts of evolution:
Here it is in the development of the the human psyche: Spiral Dynamics (the name is indicative of the evolutionary, sequential growth the a persons “world views”.
It can be seen in everything from DNA to the formation of galaxies.
Ken Wilber is O.k.
January 2, 2007
Ken Wilber had a Grand Mal Seisure in December and is now recovering.
Ken Wilber is America’s (and perhaps the worlds) greatest philosopher. His is perhaps the most important vision in the world as he has dedicated his life to an integral paradigm that allows religion and science to co-exist not only in theory but in practice.
Ken Wilber is a recepticle delivering one the most important messages that humanity has ever needed. I am so happy this man is here with us.
When you look at the dilema that both heartless flat Western science and mindless world religions have gotten humanity in, it is very clear something needs to be done.
Regardless of how you feel about either science or religion it is fair to say that most humans rely heavily on one and/or the other. They have been at each others throats for centuries now. Religion one the first round by trying (unsucessfully) to abort science before it could fully develop, get out of the womb and walk on its own. Science is now a big mean teenager and is beating the TAR out of is old prudist relative, religion.
Some Atheist believe (no pun intended) that religion is pure superstitious ignorance that is the primary cause of all human suffering. Prominent scientists such as biologist Richard Dawkins are very outspoken against religion:
“This final scientific enlightenment will deal an overdue death blow to religion and other juvenile superstitions.” guardian uk
With events like the destruction of the World Trade Center and other suicide bombings around the world being inspired by religious fundamentalist, people like Richard Dawkins are being heard; though, the acts of a few fundamentalist should not at all reflect all religious people in every part of the globe as the new breed of Atheist seems to be saying.
In some cases I agree with their arguement. Humans have used religions to do bad things. However, the same can definitely be said about science. Both are used to justify and implement the unjustifiable, but I guess that is entirely dependent on your perspective of “just”.
Regardless of the agressive stance of the new athiests, the fact remains that religion remains the primary method of human development all over the world. And in that way it is still necessary. I don’t believe that the “God” of religions (dogma & belief) can be replaced with the ”God” of science (empirical evidence & rationality).
I don’t believe either of their Gods can explain everything. And they definitely can not acurately perceive everything because their perspective is most of the time completely biased about EVERYTHING.
Which brings me back to Ken Wilber and his Integral team. The integral paradigm that they are introducing includes all the strengths of religion and science and none of the weaknesses. Whether you are an atheist or a tele-evangalist you should be able to appreciate the importance of allowing people the freedom to be peacefully stupid in one big stupid family.
Ken.. thank you for living another day. I love you (but not in a homosexual way.. although I think that you have a great ass ;).
