1.
Spirituality
–
Modern spirituality typically includes a belief in a supernatural realm, personal growth, a quest for an ultimate/sacred meaning, religious experience, or an encounter with ones own inner dimension. The meaning of spirituality has developed and expanded over time, the term spirituality originally developed within early Christianity, referring to a life oriented toward the Holy Spirit. The term spirit means animating or vital principle in man and animals and it is derived from the Old French espirit which comes from the Latin word spiritus and is related to spirare. In the Vulgate the Latin word spiritus is used to translate the Greek pneuma, the term spiritual, matters concerning the spirit, is derived from Old French spirituel, which is derived from Latin spiritualis, which comes from spiritus or spirit. The term spirituality is derived from Middle French spiritualité, from Late Latin spiritualitatem, there is no single, widely agreed definition of spirituality. A survey of reviews by McCarroll e. a. dealing with the topic of spirituality gave twenty-seven explicit definitions and this causes some difficulty in trying to study spirituality systematically, i. e. it impedes both understanding and the capacity to communicate findings in a meaningful fashion. To accomplish this, the re-formation is oriented at a mold, which represents the shape, in Judaism the Torah, in Christianity there is Christ, for Buddhism, Buddha. Houtman and Aupers suggest that modern spirituality is a blend of humanistic psychology, mystical and esoteric traditions, Spirituality is sometimes associated with philosophical, social, or political movements such as liberalism, feminist theology, and green politics. Some argue spirituality is intimately linked to resolving mental health issues, managing substance abuse, marital functioning, parenting, words translatable as spirituality first began to arise in the 5th century and only entered common use toward the end of the Middle Ages. In a Biblical context the term means being animated by God, to be driven by the Holy Spirit, in the 11th century this meaning changed. Spirituality began to denote the mental aspect of life, as opposed to the material and sensual aspects of life, in the 13th century spirituality acquired a social and psychological meaning. In the 17th and 18th century a distinction was made higher and lower forms of spirituality, A spiritual man is one who is Christian more abundantly. The word was associated with mysticism and quietism, and acquired a negative meaning. Modern notions of spirituality developed throughout the 19th and 20th century, mixing Christian ideas with westen esoteric traditions and elements of Asian, especially Indian, Spirituality became increasingly disconnected from traditional religious organisations and institutions. Ralph Waldo Emerson was a pioneer of the idea of spirituality as a distinct field, the Transcendentalists emphasised an intuitive, experiential approach of religion. Following Schleiermacher, an individuals intuition of truth was taken as the criterion for truth, in the late 18th and early 19th century, the first translations of Hindu texts appeared, which were also read by the Transcendentalists, and influenced their thinking. A major influence on modern spirituality was the Theosophical Society, which searched for secret teachings in Asian religions and it aims to present Hinduism as a homogenized ideal of Hinduism with Advaita Vedanta as its central doctrine. Due to the colonisation of Asia by the world, since the 19th century an exchange of ideas has been taking place between the western world and Asia, which also influenced western religiosity
Spirituality
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Union with Christ is the purpose of Christian mysticism.
Spirituality
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Jñāna marga
Spirituality
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Bhakti marga
Spirituality
–
Rāja marga
2.
Religion
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Religions have sacred histories and narratives, which may be preserved in sacred scriptures, and symbols and holy places, that aim mostly to give a meaning to life. Religions may contain symbolic stories, which are said by followers to be true, that have the side purpose of explaining the origin of life. Traditionally, faith, in addition to reason, has considered a source of religious beliefs. There are an estimated 10,000 distinct religions worldwide, about 84% of the worlds population is affiliated with one of the five largest religions, namely Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism or forms of folk religion. With the onset of the modernisation of and the revolution in the western world. The religiously unaffiliated demographic include those who do not identify with any religion, atheists. While the religiously unaffiliated have grown globally, many of the religiously unaffiliated still have various religious beliefs, about 16% of the worlds population is religiously unaffiliated. The study of religion encompasses a variety of academic disciplines, including theology, comparative religion. Theories of religion offer various explanations for the origins and workings of religion, Religion is derived from the Latin religiō, the ultimate origins of which are obscure. One possible interpretation traced to Cicero, connects lego read, i. e. re with lego in the sense of choose, go over again or consider carefully. The medieval usage alternates with order in designating bonded communities like those of monastic orders, we hear of the religion of the Golden Fleece, of a knight of the religion of Avys. In the ancient and medieval world, the etymological Latin root religio was understood as a virtue of worship, never as doctrine, practice. In the Quran, the Arabic word din is often translated as religion in modern translations and it was in the 19th century that the terms Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, and Confucianism first emerged. Max Müller characterized many other cultures around the world, including Egypt, Persia, what is called ancient religion today, they would have only called law. Some languages have words that can be translated as religion, but they may use them in a different way. For example, the Sanskrit word dharma, sometimes translated as religion, throughout classical South Asia, the study of law consisted of concepts such as penance through piety and ceremonial as well as practical traditions. Medieval Japan at first had a union between imperial law and universal or Buddha law, but these later became independent sources of power. There is no equivalent of religion in Hebrew, and Judaism does not distinguish clearly between religious, national, racial, or ethnic identities
Religion
–
Urarina shaman, Peru, 1988
Religion
Religion
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The
Yazılıkaya sanctuary in
Turkey, with the twelve gods of the underworld
Religion
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Confucianism,
Taoism, and
Buddhism are one, a painting in the litang style portraying three men laughing by a river stream, 12th century,
Song dynasty
3.
Timeline of religion
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The timeline of religion is a chronological catalogue of important and noteworthy religious events in pre-historic and modern times. This article reaches into pre-historic times, as the bulk of the religious experience pre-dates written history. Written history is only c.5000 years old, a lack of written records results in most of the knowledge of pre-historic religion being derived from archaeological records and other indirect sources, and from suppositions. Much pre-historic religion is subject to continued debate, homo heidelbergensis deliberately disposed of deceased individuals, usually in funerary caches. 98,000 BCE In the area of present-day France and Belgium,40,000 BCE The remains of one of the earliest anatomically modern humans to be cremated was buried near Lake Mungo. 38,000 BCE The Aurignacian Löwenmensch figurine, the oldest known sculpture in the world. The sculpture has also interpreted as anthropomorphic, giving human characteristics to an animal. All convincing evidence for Neanderthal burials ceased and this practice may be the origin of sacred relics. The oldest discovered Venus figurines appeared in graves, Some were deliberately broken or repeatedly stabbed, possibly representing the murders of the men with whom they were buried, or owing to some other unknown social dynamic. 25, 000–21,000 BCE Clear examples of burials are present in Iberia, Wales and these, too, incorporate the heavy use of red ochre. Additionally, various objects were included in the graves,13, 000–8,000 BCE Noticeable burial activity resumed. Prior mortuary activity had taken a less obvious form or contemporaries retained some of their burial knowledge in the absence of such activity. Dozens of men, women, and children were being buried in the caves which were used for burials 10,000 years beforehand. All these graves are delineated by the walls and large limestone blocks. The burials share a number of characteristics that go back thousands of years, Some burials were double, comprising an adult male with a juvenile male buried by his side. They were now beginning to take on the form of modern cemeteries, old burials were commonly re-dug and moved to make way for new ones, with the older bones often being gathered and cached together. Large stones may have acted as grave markers, pairs of ochred antlers were sometimes mounted on poles within the cave, this is compared to the modern practice of leaving flowers at a grave. 9831 BCE The Neolithic Revolution began and resulted in a population explosion
Timeline of religion
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Extent and major sites of the Indus Valley Civilization. The shaded area does not include recent excavations.
4.
Christian spirituality
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Christian mysticism refers to the development of mystical practices and theory within Christianity. It has often connected to mystical theology, especially in the Roman Catholic. The attributes and means by which Christian mysticism is studied and practiced are varied and they range from ecstatic visions of the souls mystical union with God to simple prayerful contemplation of Holy Scripture. Mysticism is derived from the Greek μυω, meaning to conceal, in the Hellenistic world, a mystikos was an initiate of a mystery religion. Mystical referred to religious rituals and use of the word lacked any direct references to the transcendental. In early Christianity the term referred to three dimensions, which soon became intertwined, namely the biblical, the liturgical and the spiritual or contemplative. The biblical dimension refers to hidden or allegorical interpretations of Scriptures, the liturgical dimension refers to the liturgical mystery of the Eucharist, the presence of Christ at the Eucharist. The third dimension is the contemplative or experiential knowledge of God, William James popularized the use of the term religious experience in his 1902 book The Varieties of Religious Experience. It has also influenced the understanding of mysticism as an experience which supplies knowledge. Wayne Proudfoot traces the roots of the notion of religious experience further back to the German theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher, the notion of religious experience was used by Schleiermacher to defend religion against the growing scientific and secular critique. It was adopted by scholars of religion, of which William James was the most influential. Other critics point out that the stress on experience is accompanied by favoring the atomic individual, transformation has particular importance in the theology of Origen. Mystical experience is not simply a matter between the mystic and God, but is shaped by cultural issues. Thus, the nature of experience could be tailored to the particular cultural and theological issues of the time. The link between mysticism and the vision of the Divine was introduced by the early Church Fathers, who used the term as an adjective, as in mystical theology, in Christian mysticism, Shekhinah became mystery, Daat became gnosis, and poverty became an important component of monasticism. The Alexandrian contribution to Christian mysticism centers on Origen and Clement of Alexandria, given the importance of reason, Clement stresses apatheia as a reasonable ordering of our passions in order to live within Gods love, which is seen as a form of truth. Alexandrian mysticism developed alongside Hermeticism and Neoplatonism and therefore some of the same ideas, images. In particular, Philo taught that allegorical interpretations of the Hebrew Scriptures provides access to the meanings of the texts
Christian spirituality
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Mystic marriage of Christ and the Church.
Christian spirituality
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Life of
Francis of Assisi by
José Benlliure y Gil
Christian spirituality
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Resurrection of Jesus,
Matthias Grünewald.
5.
Mysticism
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Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in ultimate or hidden truths, the term mysticism has Ancient Greek origins with various historically determined meanings. Derived from the Greek word μυω, meaning to conceal, mysticism referred to the liturgical, spiritual. During the early period, the definition of mysticism grew to include a broad range of beliefs. In modern times, mysticism has acquired a limited definition, with applications, as meaning the aim at the union with the Absolute. This limited definition has been applied to a range of religious traditions and practices. Since the 1960s scholars have debated the merits of perennial and constructionist approaches in the research of mystical experiences. The perennial position is now largely dismissed by scholars, most scholars using a contextual approach, Mysticism is derived from the Greek μυω, meaning I conceal, and its derivative μυστικός, mystikos, meaning an initiate. The verb μυώ has received a different meaning in the Greek language. The primary meanings it has are induct and initiate, secondary meanings include introduce, make someone aware of something, train, familiarize, give first experience of something. The related form of the verb appears in the New Testament. As explained in Strongs Concordance, it properly means shutting the eyes and its figurative meaning is to be initiated into the mystery revelation. The meaning derives from the rites of the pagan mysteries. Also appearing in the New Testament is the related noun μυστήριον, the term means anything hidden, a mystery or secret, of which initiation is necessary. According to Thayers Greek Lexicon, the term μυστήριον in classical Greek meant a hidden thing, a particular meaning it took in Classical antiquity was a religious secret or religious secrets, confided only to the initiated and not to be communicated by them to ordinary mortals. In the Septuagint and the New Testament the meaning it took was that of a purpose or counsel. It is sometimes used for the hidden wills of humans, but is often used for the hidden will of God. Elsewhere in the Bible it takes the meaning of the mystic or hidden sense of things and it is used for the secrets behind sayings, names, or behind images seen in visions and dreams
Mysticism
–
Votive plaque depicting elements of the
Eleusinian Mysteries, discovered in the sanctuary at Eleusis (mid-4th century BC)
Mysticism
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The Appearance of the Holy Spirit before Saint Teresa of Ávila,
Peter Paul Rubens
Mysticism
–
Life of
Francis of Assisi by
José Benlliure y Gil
Mysticism
–
Jewish mysticism
6.
New religious movement
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NRMs can be novel in origin or part of a wider religion, in which case they are distinct from pre-existing denominations. Some NRMs deal with the challenges posed by the world by embracing individualism whereas others seek tightly knit collective means. Scholars have estimated that NRMs now number in the tens of thousands worldwide, with most of their members living in Asia, most have only a few members, some have thousands, and only very few have more than one million members. New religions have often faced a hostile reception from established religious organisations, in Western nations, a secular anti-cult movement and a Christian countercult movement emerged during the 1970s and 1980s to oppose emergent groups. In the 1970s, the field of new religions studies developed within the academic study of religion. There are now several organisations and peer-reviewed journals devoted to the subject. Scholars continue to try to reach definitions and define boundaries, there is no singular, agreed upon criteria for defining a new religious movement. However, the term usually requires that the group be both of recent origin and different from existing religions, there is debate as to what the term new should designate in this context. According to him, NRMs constituted those religious groups that have found, from the perspective of the dominant religious community, to be not just different. This definition would mean that which religions were regarded as NRMs would differ from country to country and would be open to change, as noted by scholars of religion Olav Hammer and Mikael Rothstein, new religions are just young religions. Melton has stated that those NRMs which were offshoots of older religious groups, tended to resemble their parent group far more than each other. One question that faces scholars of religion is when a new religious movement ceases to be new, some NRMs are strongly counter-cultural and alternative in the society they appear in, while others are far more similar to a societys established traditional religions. There are also problems in the use of religion within the new religious movements. Since at least the early 2000s, most sociologists of religion have used the new religious movement to avoid the pejorative undertones of terms like cult. These are words that have used in different ways by different groups. For instance, from the nineteenth century onward a number of sociologists used the terms cult, the term cult is used in reference to devotion or dedication to a particular person or place. For instance, within the Roman Catholic Church devotion to Mary and it is also used in non-religious contexts to refer to fandoms devoted to television shows like The Prisoner, The X-Files, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In the United States, the term began to be used in a pejorative manner to refer to Spiritualism
New religious movement
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International Society for Krishna Consciousness member in
Moscow
New religious movement
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1893
Parliament of the World's Religions
New religious movement
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The Beatles in India with
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
New religious movement
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Jehovah's Witnesses evangelising from house to house.
7.
Mystical experience
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Since the 19th century, mystical experience has evolved as a distinctive concept. Perennialists regard various mystical traditions as pointing to one universal transcendental reality, the perennial position is largely dismissed by scholars but has lost none of its popularity. Neurological research reveals which areas in the brain are involved in so-called mystical experience both spontaneous and behavioral induced, especially the brains temporal lobe seems to have a significant role here. In mystical and contemplative traditions, mystical experiences are not a goal in themselves, the term mystical experience has become synonymous with the terms religious experience, spiritual experience and sacred experience. A religious experience is an experience which is interpreted within a religious framework. The concept originated in the 19th century, as a defense against the rationalism of western society. William James popularized the use of the religious experience in his The Varieties of Religious Experience. William James, In mystic states we both become one with the Absolute and we become aware of our oneness and this is the everlasting and triumphant mystical tradition, hardly altered by differences of clime or creed. The concept of mystical experience has influenced the understanding of mysticism as an experience which supplies knowledge of a transcendental reality, cosmic unity. Wayne Proudfoot traces the roots of the notion of religious experience further back to the German theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher, the notion of religious experience was used by Schleiermacher to defend religion against the growing scientific and secular critique. It was adopted by scholars of religion, of which William James was the most influential. The notion of experience, however, has criticized in religious studies today. Robert Sharf points out that experience is a typical Western term, the notion of experience introduces a false notion of duality between experiencer and experienced, whereas the essence of kensho is the realisation of the non-duality of observer and observed. Pure experience does not exist, all experience is mediated by intellectual, a pure consciousness without concepts, reached by cleaning the doors of perception, would be an overwhelming chaos of sensory input without coherence. Constructivists such as Steven Katz reject any typology of experiences since each mystical experience is deemed unique, other critics point out that the stress on experience is accompanied with favoring the atomic individual, instead of the shared life of the community. Dan Merkur makes a distinction between states and reverie states. According to Merkur, in trance states the functions of consciousness are temporarily inhibited, and trance experiences are not filtered by ordinary judgements. Most mystical traditions warn against an attachment to mystical experiences, and offer a protective, perennialists regard those various experiences traditions as pointing to one universal transcendental reality, for which those experiences offer the prove
Mystical experience
–
Meditation
Mystical experience
–
"The Temple of the
Rose Cross ",
Teophilus Schweighardt Constantiens, 1618.
Mystical experience
–
Sufi whirling
Mystical experience
–
Three early Methodist leaders,
Charles Wesley,
John Wesley, and
Francis Asbury, portrayed in stained glass at the Memorial Chapel,
Lake Junaluska, North Carolina
8.
Religious experience
–
A religious experience is a subjective experience which is interpreted within a religious framework. The concept originated in the 19th century, as a defense against the rationalism of Western society. Many religious and mystical traditions see religious experiences as revelations caused by divine agency rather than natural processes. They are considered real encounters with God or gods, or real contact with realities of which humans are not ordinarily aware. Skeptics may hold that religious experience is a feature of the human brain amenable to normal scientific study. The commonalities and differences between religious experiences across different cultures have enabled scholars to categorize them for academic study, psychologist and Philosopher William James described four characteristics of mystical experience in The Varieties of Religious Experience. According to James, such an experience is, Transient – the experience is temporary and it is outside our normal perception of space and time. Ineffable – the experience cannot be put into words. Noetic – the individual feels that he or she has learned something valuable from the experience, gives us knowledge that is normally hidden from human understanding. Passive – the experience happens to the individual, largely without conscious control, although there are activities, such as meditation, that can make religious experience more likely, it is not something that can be turned on and off at will. Religious experiences are by their very nature preternatural, that is and they may be difficult to distinguish observationally from psychopathological states such as psychoses or other forms of altered awareness. Not all preternatural experiences are considered to be religious experiences, moore and Habel identify two classes of religious experiences, the immediate and the mediated religious experience. Mediated – In the mediated experience, the experiences the sacred through mediators such as rituals, special persons, religious groups. Immediate – The immediate experience comes to the believer without any intervening agency or mediator. g, private – a non-specific, general feeling of God working in ones life. g. If one sees someone walking on water, one should believe that it is occurring, principle of Testimony – with the absence of any reason to disbelieve them, one should accept that eyewitnesses or believers are telling the truth when they testify about religious experiences. The German thinker Rudolf Otto argues that there is one factor to all religious experience. In his book The Idea of the Holy he identifies this factor as the numinous, the numinous experience has two aspects, mysterium tremendum, which is the tendency to invoke fear and trembling, mysterium fascinans, the tendency to attract, fascinate and compel. The numinous experience also has a quality to it, in that the person feels to be in communion with a holy other
Religious experience
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Meditation
Religious experience
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The Buddha demonstrating control over fire and water.
Gandhara, 3rd century CE
Religious experience
–
Sufi whirling
Religious experience
–
Three early Methodist leaders,
Charles Wesley,
John Wesley, and
Francis Asbury, portrayed in stained glass at the Memorial Chapel,
Lake Junaluska, North Carolina
9.
Ego death
–
Ego death is a complete loss of subjective self-identity. The term is used in various intertwined contexts, with related meanings, in Jungian psychology the synonymous term psychic death is used, which refers to a fundamental transformation of the psyche. In the death and rebirth mythology, ego death is a phase of self-surrender and transition and it is a recurrent theme in world mythology and is also used as a metaphor in some strands of contemporary western thinking. In psychedelic experiences, the term is used synonymously with ego-loss, the term was used as such by Timothy Leary et al. to describe the death of the ego in the first phase of an LSD-trip, in which a complete transcendence of the self and the game occurs. Various definitions can be found of ego death, an imageless experience in which there is no sense of personal identity. A fundamental transformation of the psyche, such a shift in personality has been labeled an ego death in Buddhism or a psychic death by Jung. Ego death is the phase of Joseph Campbells description of The Heros Journey, which includes a phase of separation, transition. The second phase is a phase of self-surrender and ego-death, where-after the hero returns to enrich the world with his discoveries. According to Leary, Metzer & Alpert, ego death, or ego loss as they call it, is part of the experience of death in which the old ego must die before one can be spiritually reborn, complete transcendence − beyond words, beyond space−time, beyond self. There are no visions, no sense of self, no thoughts, there are only pure awareness and ecstatic freedom from all game involvements. Daniel Merkur uses the term to refer to the crisis which may occur during a trip. It is sometimes termed ego loss The death crisis takes various forms, the early examples in a series of death crises are usually attended by extreme panic. Michael Hoffman, Ego death is the cessation, in the intense mystic altered state, of the sense and feeling of being a control-wielding agent moving through time and space. John Harrison, emporary ego death loss of the self or, in the affirmative. Carter Phipps, Enlightenment equals ego death the renunciation, rejection and, ultimately, the problem of healing and improving the global quality of life seems strongly connected to the unpleasantness of the ego-death experience. Ventegodt and Merrick refer to Jungs publications The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, first published 1933, in Jungian psychology, a unification of archetypal opposites has to be reached, during a process of conscious suffering, in which consciousness dies and resurrects. Jung called this process the transcendent function, which leads to a more inclusive, Jung used analogies with alchemy to describe the individuation process, and the transference-processes which occur during therapy. According to Leeming et al. from a point of view psychic death is related to St. John of the Cross Ascent of Mt. Carmel
Ego death
–
The Hero's Journey
10.
Panpsychism
–
In philosophy, panpsychism is the view that consciousness, mind or soul is a universal and primordial feature of all things. Panpsychists see themselves as minds in a world of mind, Panpsychism is one of the oldest philosophical theories, and has been ascribed to philosophers like Thales, Parmenides, Plato, Averroes, Spinoza, Leibniz and William James. Panpsychism can also be seen in ancient philosophies such as Stoicism, Taoism, Vedanta, during the 19th century, panpsychism was the default theory in philosophy of mind, but it saw a decline during the middle years of the 20th century with the rise of logical positivism. The recent interest in the problem of consciousness has revived interest in panpsychism. The term panpsychism has its origins with the Greek term pan and psyche as the center of the mental life of us humans. Psyche comes from the Greek word ψύχω and can mean life, soul, mind, spirit, heart, early forms of panpsychism can be found in pre-modern animistic beliefs in religions such as Shinto, Taoism, Paganism and shamanism. Panpsychist views are also a theme in pre-Socratic Greek philosophy. According to Aristotle, Thales the first Greek philosopher, posited a theory which held that everything is full of gods, Thales believed that this was demonstrated by magnets. This has been interpreted as a panpsychist doctrine, other Greek thinkers that have been associated with Panpsychism include Anaxagoras, Anaximenes and Heraclitus. Plato argues for Panpsychism in his Sophist, in which he writes that all things participate in the form of Being, in the Philebus and Timaeus, Plato argues for the idea of a world soul or anima mundi. According to Plato, This world is indeed a living being endowed with a soul, a single visible living entity containing all other living entities, which by their nature are all related. Stoicism developed a cosmology which held that the world was infused with a divine fiery essence called Pneuma. The relationship of the individual Logos of beings with the universal Logos was a concern of the Roman Stoic Marcus Aurelius. The Metaphysics of Stoicism was based on Hellenistic philosophies such as Neoplatonism and Gnosticism also made use of the Platonic idea of the Anima mundi, after the closing of Platos Academy by the Emperor Justinian in 529 CE, Neoplatonism declined. Though there were mediaeval Christian thinkers who ventured what might be called panpsychist ideas, cardano argued for the view that soul or anima was a fundamental part of the world and Patrizi introduced the actual term panpsychism into the philosophical vocabulary. According to Giordano Bruno, There is nothing that does not possess a soul, platonist ideas like the anima mundi also resurfaced in the work of esoteric thinkers like Paracelsus, Robert Fludd and Cornelius Agrippa. In the 17th century, two rationalists can be said to be panpsychists, Baruch Spinoza and Gottfried Leibniz, in Spinozas monism, the one single infinite and eternal substance was God, or Nature which has the aspects of mind and matter. Leibniz view is there are an infinite number of absolutely simple mental substances called monads which make up the fundamental structure of the universe
Panpsychism
–
Two
iwakura — a rock where a
kami or spirit is said to reside in the religion of
Shinto.
Panpsychism
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Illustration of the Neoplatonic concept of the
World Soul emanating from
The Absolute
Panpsychism
–
Illustration of the Cosmic order by Robert Fludd, the
World Soul is depicted as a woman.
Panpsychism
–
In the art of the
Japanese rock garden, the artist must be aware of the rocks' "ishigokoro" (‘heart,’ or ‘mind’)
11.
Pantheism
–
Pantheism is the belief that all reality is identical with divinity, or that everything composes an all-encompassing, immanent god. Pantheists thus do not believe in a personal or anthropomorphic god. The term pantheism was not coined until after Spinozas death, and his work, Ethics, was the major source from which Western pantheism spread. Pantheistic concepts may date back thousands of years, and some religions in the East continue to contain pantheistic elements, Pantheism derives from the Greek πᾶν pan and θεός theos. There are a variety of definitions of pantheism, some consider it a theological and philosophical position concerning God. As a religious position, some describe pantheism as the polar opposite of atheism, from this standpoint, pantheism is the view that everything is part of an all-encompassing, immanent God. All forms of reality may then be considered either modes of that Being, some hold that pantheism is a non-religious philosophical position. To them, pantheism is the view that the Universe and God are identical, pantheistic tendencies existed in a number of early Gnostic groups, with pantheistic thought appearing throughout the Middle Ages. These included a section of Johannes Scotus Eriugenas 9th-century work De divisione naturae, the Roman Catholic Church has long regarded pantheistic ideas as heresy. Giordano Bruno, an Italian monk who evangelized about an immanent and he has since become known as a celebrated pantheist and martyr of science. Bruno influenced many later thinkers including Baruch Spinoza, in the West, pantheism was formalized as a separate theology and philosophy based on the work of the 17th-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza. Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher of Sephardi Portuguese origin, whose book Ethics was an answer to Descartes famous dualist theory that the body, Spinoza held the monist view that the two are the same, and monism is a fundamental part of his philosophy. He was described as a God-intoxicated man, and used the word God to describe the unity of all substance, although the term pantheism was not coined until after his death, Spinoza is regarded as its most celebrated advocate. His work, Ethics, was the source from which Western pantheism spread. The breadth and importance of Spinozas work was not fully realized until years after his death. Spinozas magnum opus, the posthumous Ethics, in which he opposed Descartes mind–body dualism, has earned him recognition as one of Western philosophys most important thinkers, Hegel said, You are either a Spinozist or not a philosopher at all. His philosophical accomplishments and moral character prompted 20th-century philosopher Gilles Deleuze to name him the prince of philosophers, Spinoza was raised in the Portuguese Jewish community in Amsterdam. He developed highly controversial ideas regarding the authenticity of the Hebrew Bible, the Jewish religious authorities issued a cherem against him, effectively excluding him from Jewish society at age 23
Pantheism
–
The philosophy of
Baruch Spinoza is often regarded as pantheism, although he did not use that term.
Pantheism
–
Albert Einstein is considered to be a pantheist by some commentators.
Pantheism
–
Levi Ponce 's "Luminaries of Pantheism" in Venice, California for The Paradise Project, "dedicated to celebrating and spreading awareness about pantheism."
12.
Gnosticism
–
Gnosticism is a modern name for a variety of ancient religious ideas and systems, originating in Jewish milieus in the first and second century CE. This Divine spark could be liberated by gnosis of this Divine spark, the Gnostic ideas and systems flourished in Mediterranean in the second century CE, in conjunction with and influenced by the early Christian movements and Middle Platonism. In the Persian Empire Gnosticism spread as far as China with Manicheism, a major question in scholarly research is the qualification of Gnosticism, based on the study of its texts, as either an interreligious phenomenon or as an independent religion. The word Gnosticism is a construction, from the Greek word gnosis. Gnosis refers to knowledge based on experience or perception. In a religious context, gnosis is mystical or esoteric knowledge based on direct participation with the divine, in most Gnostic systems the sufficient cause of salvation is this knowledge of the divine. It is a knowing, comparable to that encouraged by Plotinus. With gnosis comes a fuller insight, and gives an understanding of the deeper meanings of doctrines, scriptures. The usual meaning of gnostikos in Classical Greek texts is learned or intellectual, platos use of learned is fairly typical of Classical texts. By the Hellenistic period, it began to also be associated with Greco-Roman mysteries, the adjective is not used in the New Testament, but Clement of Alexandria speaks of the learned Christian in complimentary terms. The use of gnostikos in relation to heresy originates with interpreters of Irenaeus, some scholars consider that Irenaeus sometimes uses gnostikos to simply mean intellectual, whereas his mention of the intellectual sect is a specific designation. The term Gnosticism was derived from the use of the Greek adjective gnostikos by St. Irenaeus to describe the school of Valentinus as he legomene gnostike haeresis the heresy called Learned, the Syrian-Egyptian traditions postulate a remote, supreme Godhead, the Monad. From this highest divinity emanate lower divine beings, known as Aeons, the Demiurg, one of those Aeons, creates the physical world. Divine elements fall into the realm, and are locked within human beings. This divine element returns to the realm when Gnosis, esoteric or intuitive knowledge of the divine element within is obtained. Gnostic systems postulate a dualism between God and the world, varying from the radical dualist systems of Manicheanism to the dualism of classic gnostic movements. Radical dualism, or absolute dualism, posits two co-equal divine forces, while in mitigated dualism one of the two principles is in some way inferior to the other, in qualified monism the second entity may be divine or semi-divine. Valentinian Gnosticism is a form of monism, expressed in terms previously used in a dualistic manner, Gnostics tended toward asceticism, especially in their sexual and dietary practice
Gnosticism
–
Manichean priests writing at their desks, with panel inscription in
Sogdian. Manuscript from Khocho,
Tarim Basin.
Gnosticism
–
Irenaeus, who first used "gnostic" to describe heresies
Gnosticism
–
A lion-faced deity found on a Gnostic gem in
Bernard de Montfaucon 's L'antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures may be a depiction of the Demiurge; however, cf.
Mithraic Zervan Akarana
13.
Hermeticism
–
Hermeticism, also called Hermetism, is a religious, philosophical, and esoteric tradition based primarily upon writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus. These writings have influenced the Western esoteric tradition and were considered to be of great importance during both the Renaissance and the Reformation. The tradition claims descent from a prisca theologia, a doctrine that affirms the existence of a single, true theology that is present in all religions, st. Thomas Aquinas reported that Trismegistus arrived at something akin to the doctrine of the Trinity. The three parts of the wisdom are alchemy, astrology, and theurgy, the Poimandres, from which Marsilio Ficino formed his opinion, states that They called him Trismegistus because he was the greatest philosopher and the greatest priest and the greatest king. The Suda states that He was called Trismegistus on account of his praise of the trinity, much of the importance of Hermeticism arises from its connection with the development of science during the time from 1300 to 1600 AD. Consequently, it was the practical aspects of Hermetic writings that attracted the attention of scientists, Isaac Newton placed great faith in the concept of an unadulterated, pure, ancient doctrine, which he studied vigorously to aid his understanding of the physical world. The term Hermetic is from the medieval Latin hermeticus, which is derived from the name of the Greek god, in English, it has been attested since the 17th century, as in Hermetic writers. The word Hermetic was used by Dr. Everard in his English translation of The Pimander of Hermes, Mary Anne Atwood mentioned the use of the word Hermetic by Dufresnoy in 1386. The synonymous term Hermetical is also attested in the 17th century, sir Thomas Browne in his Religio Medici of 1643 wrote, Now besides these particular and divided Spirits, there may be a universal and common Spirit to the whole world. It was the opinion of Plato, and is yet of the Hermeticall Philosophers, Hermes Trimegistus supposedly invented the process of making a glass tube airtight using a secret seal. Hence, the term completely sealed is implied in hermetically sealed, in Late Antiquity, Hermetism emerged in parallel with early Christianity, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism, the Chaldaean Oracles, and late Orphic and Pythagorean literature. These doctrines were characterized by a resistance to the dominance of either rationality or doctrinal faith. The books now known as the Corpus Hermeticum were part of a renaissance of syncretistic and these post-Christian Greek texts dwell upon the oneness and goodness of God, urge purification of the soul, and defend pagan religious practices such as the veneration of images. Their predominant literary form is the dialogue, Hermes Trismegistus instructs a perplexed disciple upon various teachings of the hidden wisdom, many lost Greek texts and many surviving vulgate books contained discussions of alchemy clothed in philosophical metaphor. One of these, known as The Asclepius, contained a prophecy of the end of Roman rule in Egypt. Plutarchs mention of Hermes Trismegistus dates back to the 1st century AD, and Tertullian, Iamblichus, after centuries of falling out of favor, Hermeticism was reintroduced to the West when, in 1460, a man named Leonardo de Candia Pistoia brought the Corpus Hermeticum to Pistoia. He was one of agents sent out by Pistoias ruler, Cosimo de Medici. In 1614, Isaac Casaubon, a Swiss philologist, analyzed the Greek Hermetic texts for linguistic style and he concluded that the writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus were not the work of an ancient Egyptian priest but in fact dated to the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD
Hermeticism
–
The Magician displaying the Hermetic concept of "As above, so below."
14.
Neoplatonism
–
Neoplatonists were heavily influenced by Plato, but also by the Platonic tradition that thrived during the six centuries which separated the first of the Neoplatonists from Plato. In defining the term Neoplatonism, it is difficult to reduce the school of thought to a set of ideas that all Neoplatonic philosophers shared in common. The work of Neoplatonic philosophy involved describing the derivation of the whole of reality from a single principle, instead, the most concise definition of Neoplatonism casts it as a historical term. Thinkers of this period include Syrianus, Olympiodorus the Younger. Neoplatonism has been influential throughout history. In the Middle Ages, Neoplatonic ideas were integrated into the philosophical and theological works of many of the most important medieval Islamic, Christian, yeats and T. S. Eliot, among many more. The term Neoplatonism has a function as a historical category. On the one hand, it differentiates the philosophical doctrines of Plotinus, on the other, the term makes an assumption about the novelty of Plotinus interpretation of Plato. The term Neoplatonism implies that Plotinus interpretation of Plato was so distinct from those of his predecessors that it should be thought to introduce a new period in the history of Platonism. Some contemporary scholars, however, have taken issue with this assumption and have doubted that Neoplatonism constitutes a useful label and they claim that merely marginal differences separate Plotinus teachings from those of his immediate predecessors. Whether Neoplatonism is a meaningful or useful historical category is itself a central question concerning the history of the interpretation of Plato, for much of the history of Platonism, it was commonly accepted that the doctrines of the Neoplatonists were essentially the same as those of Plato. The Renaissance Platonist Marsilio Ficino, for instance, thought that the Neoplatonic interpretation of Plato was an authentic, contemporary scholars often identify the German theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher as an early thinker who took Platos philosophy to be separate from that of his Neoplatonic interpreters. However, others have argued that the differentiation of Plato from Neoplatonism was the result of a historical development that preceded Schleiermachers scholarly work on Plato. The most important forerunners of Neoplatonism are the Middle Platonists, such as Plutarch, Neoplatonism is generally a metaphysical and epistemological philosophy. Neoplatonism is a form of idealistic monism combined with elements of polytheism, although the founder of Neoplatonism is supposed to have been Ammonius Saccas, the Enneads of his pupil Plotinus are the primary and classical document of Neoplatonism. One of the features of Plotinus system, which was also taken up by subsequent Neoplatonists, is the doctrine of the One beyond being. For Plotinus, the first principle of reality is a simple, ineffable, unknowable subsistence which is both the creative source and the teleological end of all existing things. Although, properly speaking, there is no name appropriate for the first principle, the One is so simple that it cannot even be said to exist or to be a being
Neoplatonism
15.
Western esotericism
–
Western esotericism is a scholarly term for a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements which have developed within Western society. They are largely distinct both from orthodox Judeo-Christian religion and from Enlightenment rationalism, the idea of categorising a wide range of Western traditions and philosophies together under the rubric that we now term esotericism developed in Europe during the late seventeenth century. Various academics have debated the definition of Western esotericism, with a number of different options proposed. One scholarly model adopts its definition of esotericism from certain esotericist schools of thought themselves, treating esotericism as a perennialist hidden, a second perspective sees esotericism as a category that encompasses world-views which seek to embrace an enchanted world-view in the face of increasing de-enchantment. The 19th century saw the emergence of new trends of thought that have come to be known as occultism. Prominent groups in this included the Theosophical Society and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Modern Paganism developed within occultism, and includes religious movements such as Wicca, Esoteric ideas permeated the counterculture of the 1960s and later cultural tendencies, from which emerged the New Age movement in the 1970s. The academic study of Western esotericism only emerged in the late 20th-century, pioneered by scholars like Frances Yates, Esoteric ideas have meanwhile also exerted an influence in popular culture, appearing in art, literature, film, and music. The adjective esoteric first appeared in the second century CE as the Ancient Greek term esôterikós, the noun esotericism, in its French form of lésotérisme, was first used in 1828, by Jacques Matter in his book, Histoire du gnosticisme. The term was popularized by the French occultist and ceremonial magician Eliphas Lévi in the 1850s, Lévi also introduced the term loccultisme, a notion that he developed against the background of contemporary socialist and Catholic discourses. Esotericism and occultism were often employed as synonyms until being distinguished by later scholars, the concept of Western esotericism is a modern scholarly construct rather than a pre-existing, self-defined tradition of thought. The first to do so was Ehregott Daniel Colberg, a German Lutheran who wrote Platonisch-Hermetisches Christianity, various academics have emphasised the idea that esotericism is a phenomenon unique to the Western world, as Faivre stated, an empirical perspective would hold that esotericism is a Western notion. As scholars such as Faivre and Hanegraaff have pointed out, there is no category of Eastern or Oriental esotericism. The emphasis on Western esotericism was nevertheless primarily devised to distinguish the field from a universal esotericism, Hanegraaff has characterised these as recognisable world views and approaches to knowledge that have played an important although always controversial role in the history of Western culture. This attitude was endorsed by Egil Asprem, nevertheless, esotericism itself remains a controversial term, with scholars specialising in the subject disagreeing as to how it can best be defined. It subsequently became a popular approach within several esoteric movements, most notably Martinism and Traditionalism, within the academic field of religious studies, those who study different religions in search of an inner, universal dimension to them all are termed religionists. Such religionist ideas also exerted an influence on more recent scholars like Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, there are various problems with this model for understanding Western esotericism. The most significant is that is rests upon the conviction that there really is a universal, hidden, moreover, Hanegraaff noted that when scholars adopt this definition, it shows that they subscribe to the religious doctrines which are espoused by the very groups that they are studying
Western esotericism
–
The
tree of life as represented in the Kabbalah, containing the
Sephiroth.
Western esotericism
–
A colored version of the 1888
Flammarion engraving
Western esotericism
–
A later illustration of Hermes Trismegistus
Western esotericism
–
Hypnotic séance. Painting by Swedish artist
Richard Bergh, 1887
16.
Emanuel Swedenborg
–
Emanuel Swedenborg was a Swedish scientist, philosopher, theologian, revelator, and mystic. He is best known for his book on the afterlife, Heaven, Swedenborg had a prolific career as an inventor and scientist. In 1741, at age 53, he entered into a phase in which he began to experience dreams and visions. This culminated in a spiritual awakening, in which he received revelation that he was appointed by the Lord Jesus Christ to write The Heavenly Doctrine to reform Christianity. For the remaining 28 years of his life, Swedenborg wrote eighteen published theological works and he termed himself a Servant of the Lord Jesus Christ in True Christian Religion, a work he published himself. Some followers of The Heavenly Doctrine believe that, of his theological works, Swedenborgs father, Jesper Swedberg, descended from a wealthy mining family. He travelled abroad and studied theology, and on returning home he was eloquent enough to impress the Swedish king, Charles XI, through the Kings influence he would later become professor of theology at Uppsala University and Bishop of Skara. Jesper took an interest in the beliefs of the dissenting Lutheran Pietist movement, sola fide is a tenet of the Lutheran Church, and Jesper was charged with being a pietist heretic. While controversial, the beliefs were to have a impact on his son Emanuels spirituality. Jesper furthermore held the belief that angels and spirits were present in everyday life. This also came to have a impact on Emanuel. In 1703–1709 Swedenborg lived in Erik Benzelius the youngers house and it was also a flourishing center of scientific ideas and discoveries. Swedenborg studied physics, mechanics and philosophy and read and wrote poetry, in 1715 Swedenborg returned to Sweden, where he devoted himself to natural science and engineering projects for the next two decades. A first step was his meeting with King Charles XII of Sweden in the city of Lund, the Swedish inventor Christopher Polhem, who became a close friend of Swedenborg, was also present. Swedenborgs purpose was to persuade the king to fund an observatory in northern Sweden, however, the warlike king did not consider this project important enough, but did appoint Swedenborg assessor-extraordinary on the Swedish Board of Mines in Stockholm. From 1716 to 1718, Swedenborg published a periodical entitled Daedalus Hyperboreus. One notable description was that of a machine, the same he had been sketching a few years earlier. In 1718 Swedenborg published an article that attempted to explain spiritual and mental events in terms of minute vibrations or tremulations, upon the death of Charles XII, Queen Ulrika Eleonora ennobled Swedenborg and his siblings
Emanuel Swedenborg
–
Memorial plaque at the former location of Emanuel Swedenborg's house at Hornsgatan on
Södermalm,
Stockholm.
Emanuel Swedenborg
–
Portrait of Swedenborg by
Carl Frederik von Breda.
Emanuel Swedenborg
–
The Flying Machine, sketched in his notebook from 1714. The operator would sit in the middle, and paddle himself through the air. See Smithsonian model and explanation by Dr. Paul Garber, former Curator of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, on the principle of flight of the aircraft. His descriptions may be found in a chapter of the Söderburg book, p. 32, or on the video clip at 5:48 on its timeline.
Emanuel Swedenborg
–
Arcana Cœlestia, first edition (1749), title page
17.
Pietism
–
Pietism was an influential movement within Lutheranism that combined Lutheran emphasis on Biblical doctrine with the Reformed emphasis on individual piety and living a vigorous Christian life. Although the movement was active exclusively within Lutheranism, it had a impact on Protestantism worldwide, particularly in North America. Pietism spread from Germany to Switzerland and the rest of German-speaking Europe, Scandinavia and the Baltics, and it was further taken to North America, primarily by German and Scandinavian immigrants. The movement reached its zenith in the century, and declined through the 19th century. A substantial part of the Pietistic Protestants was formed by German Sectarians, Norwegian Lutherans, Swedish Lutherans, as the forerunners of the Pietists in the strict sense, certain voices had been heard bewailing the shortcomings of the Church and advocating a revival of practical and devout Christianity. The direct originator of the movement was Philipp Jakob Spener and he studied theology at Strasbourg, where the professors at the time were more inclined to practical Christianity than to theological disputation. In 1675, Spener published his Pia desideria or Earnest Desire for a Reform of the True Evangelical Church and this was originally a pejorative term given to the adherents of the movement by its enemies as a form of ridicule, like that of Methodists somewhat later in England. While large numbers of orthodox Lutheran theologians and pastors were deeply offended by Speners book, in 1686 Spener accepted an appointment to the court-chaplaincy at Dresden, which opened to him a wider though more difficult sphere of labor. In Leipzig, a society of young theologians was formed under his influence for the learned study, the theological chairs in the new university were filled in complete conformity with Speners proposals. Orthodox Lutherans rejected this viewpoint as a simplification, stressing the need for the church. Spener died in 1705, but the movement, guided by Francke and fertilized from Halle, spread through the whole of Middle, Spener stressed the necessity of a new birth and separation of Christians from the world. Many Pietists maintained that the new birth always had to be preceded by agonies of repentance, the whole school shunned all common worldly amusements, such as dancing, the theatre, and public games. Some believe this led to a new form of justification by works and its ecclesiolae in ecclesia also weakened the power and meaning of church organization. These Pietistic attitudes caused a counter-movement at the beginning of the 18th century, one leader was Valentin Ernst Löscher, a movement which cultivated religious feeling almost as an end itself. Yet some claim that Pietism contributed largely to the revival of Biblical studies in Germany and to making religion once more an affair of the heart and of life and it likewise gave a new emphasis to the role of the laity in the church. Then came a time when another intellectual power took possession of the minds of men, bonhoeffer denounced the basic aim of Pietism, to produce a desired piety in a person, as unbiblical. Pietism is considered the influence that led to the creation of the Evangelical Church of the Union in Prussia in 1817. The King of Prussia ordered the Lutheran and Reformed churches in Prussia to unite and this union movement spread through many German lands in the 1800s
Pietism
–
Philipp Jakob Spener (1635–1705), known as the "Father of Pietism"
Pietism
–
Haugean Pietist
Conventicle. Painting by
Adolph Tidemand, 1852
Pietism
–
The Broad and the Narrow Way, a popular German Pietist painting, 1866
18.
Romanticism
–
Romanticism was characterized by its emphasis on emotion and individualism as well as glorification of all the past and nature, preferring the medieval rather than the classical. It was embodied most strongly in the arts, music, and literature, but had a major impact on historiography, education. It elevated folk art and ancient custom to something noble, Romanticism assigned a high value to the achievements of heroic individualists and artists, whose examples, it maintained, would raise the quality of society. It also promoted the individual imagination as a critical authority allowed of freedom from classical notions of form in art, there was a strong recourse to historical and natural inevitability, a Zeitgeist, in the representation of its ideas. In the second half of the 19th century, Realism was offered as a polar opposite to Romanticism, the decline of Romanticism during this time was associated with multiple processes, including social and political changes and the spread of nationalism. Defining the nature of Romanticism may be approached from the point of the primary importance of the free expression of the feelings of the artist. The importance the Romantics placed on emotion is summed up in the remark of the German painter Caspar David Friedrich that the feeling is his law. Samuel Taylor Coleridge and others believed there were laws that the imagination—at least of a good creative artist—would unconsciously follow through artistic inspiration if left alone. As well as rules, the influence of models from other works was considered to impede the creators own imagination, so that originality was essential. The concept of the genius, or artist who was able to produce his own work through this process of creation from nothingness, is key to Romanticism. This idea is called romantic originality. Not essential to Romanticism, but so widespread as to be normative, was a strong belief, however, this is particularly in the effect of nature upon the artist when he is surrounded by it, preferably alone. Romantic art addressed its audiences with what was intended to be felt as the voice of the artist. So, in literature, much of romantic poetry invited the reader to identify the protagonists with the poets themselves. In both French and German the closeness of the adjective to roman, meaning the new literary form of the novel, had some effect on the sense of the word in those languages. It is only from the 1820s that Romanticism certainly knew itself by its name, the period typically called Romantic varies greatly between different countries and different artistic media or areas of thought. Margaret Drabble described it in literature as taking place roughly between 1770 and 1848, and few dates much earlier than 1770 will be found. In English literature, M. H. Abrams placed it between 1789, or 1798, this latter a very typical view, and about 1830, however, in most fields the Romantic Period is said to be over by about 1850, or earlier
Romanticism
–
Caspar David Friedrich,
Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog, 1818
Romanticism
–
Eugène Delacroix,
Death of Sardanapalus, 1827, taking its
Orientalist subject from a play by
Lord Byron
Romanticism
–
Philipp Otto Runge, The Morning, 1808
Romanticism
–
William Blake,
The Little Girl Found, from
Songs of Innocence and Experience, 1794
19.
German idealism
–
German idealism was a speculative philosophical movement that emerged in Germany in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It began as a reaction to Immanuel Kants Critique of Pure Reason and was linked with both Romanticism and the revolutionary politics of the Enlightenment. The word idealism has more than one meaning, the question of what properties a thing might have independently of the mind is thus unknowable and a moot point within the idealist tradition. Kants solution was to propose that while we can know, via sensory experience, particular facts about the world and that is, we cannot know what objects we will encounter, but we can know how we will encounter them. Kant called his mode of philosophising critical philosophy, in that it was less concerned with setting out positive doctrine than with critiquing the limits to the theories we can set out. The conclusion he presented, as above, he called transcendental idealism, Kant said that there are things-in-themselves, noumena, that is, things that exist other than being merely sensations and ideas in our minds. Kant held in the Critique of Pure Reason that the world of appearances is empirically real, the mind plays a central role in influencing the way that the world is experienced, we perceive phenomena through time, space and the categories of the understanding. It is this notion that was taken to heart by Kants philosophical successors, arthur Schopenhauer considered himself to be a transcendental idealist. In his major work The World as Will and Representation he discusses his indebtedness to Kant, the Young Hegelians, a number of philosophers who developed Hegels work in various directions, were in some cases idealists. On the other hand, Karl Marx, who was numbered among them, had professed himself to be a materialist, Kants transcendental idealism consisted of taking a point of view outside of and above oneself and understanding that the mind directly knows only phenomena or ideas. Whatever exists other than mental phenomena, or ideas that appear to the mind, is a thing-in-itself and he wanted to restrict reasoning, judging, and speaking only to objects of possible experience. The main German Idealists, who had been students, reacted against Kant’s stringent limits. In 1787, Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi addressed, in his book On Faith, or Idealism and Realism, Jacobi agreed that the objective thing-in-itself cannot be directly known. However, he stated, it must be taken on belief, a subject must believe that there is a real object in the external world that is related to the representation or mental idea that is directly known. This belief is a result of revelation or immediately known, but logically unproved, the real existence of a thing-in-itself is revealed or disclosed to the observing subject. In this way, the subject directly knows the ideal, subjective representations that appear in the mind, by presenting the external world as an object of belief, Jacobi legitimized belief. …y reducing the world to a matter of faith, he wanted merely to open a little door for faith in general…. Karl Leonhard Reinhold published two volumes of Letters Concerning the Kantian Philosophy in 1790 and 1792 and they provided a clear explication of Kants thoughts, which were previously inaccessible due to Kants use of complex or technical language
German idealism
–
Philosophers of German idealism. Kant (upper left), Fichte (upper right), Schelling (lower left), Hegel (lower right)
20.
Transcendentalism
–
Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that developed in the late 1820s and 1830s in the eastern United States. It arose as a reaction to or protest against the state of intellectualism. The doctrine of the Unitarian church as taught at Harvard Divinity School was of particular interest, miller and Versluis regard Emanuel Swedenborg as a pervasive influence on transcendentalism. It was also influenced by Hindu texts on philosophy of the mind and spirituality, a core belief of transcendentalism is in the inherent goodness of people and nature. Adherents believe that society and its institutions have corrupted the purity of the individual, Transcendentalism emphasizes subjective intuition over objective empiricism. Adherents believe that individuals are capable of generating completely original insights with as little attention, Transcendentalism is closely related to Unitarianism, the dominant religious movement in Boston in the early nineteenth century. Rather than as a rejection of Unitarianism, Transcendentalism evolved as a consequence of the Unitarian emphasis on free conscience. They were not, however, content with the sobriety, mildness, instead, they longed for a more intense spiritual experience. Stated in alternate terms, Transcendentalism was not born as a counter-movement to Unitarianism, from 1840, the group frequently published in their journal The Dial, along with other venues. By the late 1840s, Emerson believed the movement was dying out, all that can be said, Emerson wrote, is that she represents an interesting hour and group in American cultivation. There was, however, a wave of transcendentalists, including Moncure Conway, Octavius Brooks Frothingham, Samuel Longfellow. Notably, the transgression of the spirit, most often evoked by the poets voice, is said to endow in the reader a sense of purposefulness. This is the theme in the majority of transcendentalist essays. Though the group was made up of struggling aesthetes, the wealthiest among them was Samuel Gray Ward. Transcendentalists are strong believers in the power of the individual and their beliefs are closely linked with those of the Romantics, but differ by an attempt to embrace or, at least, to not oppose the empiricism of science. The transcendental movement can be described as an American outgrowth of English Romanticism, Transcendentalists believe that society and its institutions—particularly organized religion and political parties—corrupt the purity of the individual. They have faith that people are at their best when truly self-reliant and independent and it is only from such real individuals that true community can form. Even with this necessary individuality, transcendentalists also believe all people possess a piece of the Over-soul
Transcendentalism
–
Henry David Thoreau
Transcendentalism
–
Margaret Fuller
21.
New Thought
–
The New Thought movement is a philosophical movement which developed in the United States in the 19th century, considered by many to have been derived from the unpublished writings of Phineas Quimby. There are numerous groups, most of which are incorporated in the International New Thought Alliance. And teaching and healing one another, and our mental states are carried forward into manifestation, the teachings of Christian Science are in some ways similar to Quimbys teachings. Its founder, Mary Baker Eddy, was a student and patient of Quimbys, William James, in The Varieties of Religious Experience, described New Thought as follows. for the sake of having a brief designation, I will give the title of the Mind-cure movement. It is a scheme of life, with both a speculative and a practical side. In its gradual development during the last quarter of a century, it has taken up into itself a number of contributory elements, but the most characteristic feature of the mind-cure movement is an inspiration much more direct. Their belief has in a general way been corroborated by the experience of their disciples. The New Thought movement was based on the teachings of Phineas Quimby, Quimby had developed a belief system which included the tenet that illness originated in the mind as a consequence of erroneous beliefs and that a mind open to Gods wisdom could overcome any illness. By my theory or truth, I come in contact with your enemy and this I do partly mentally, and partly by talking till I correct the wrong impression and establish the Truth, and the Truth is the cure. During the late 19th century, the healing practices of Quimby mingled with the Mental Science of Warren Felt Evans. Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, has sometimes been cited as having used Quimby as inspiration for theology, Eddy was a patient of Quimby’s and shared his view that disease is rooted in a mental cause. Because of its theism, Christian Science differs from the teachings of Quimby, New Thought is also largely a movement of the printed word. In 1906, William Walker Atkinson wrote and published Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World, Atkinson was the editor of New Thought magazine and the author of more than 100 books on an assortment of religious, spiritual, and occult topics. These magazines were used to reach a large audience then, as others are now, nautilus magazine, for example, had 45,000 subscribers and a total circulation of 150,000. One Unity Church magazine, Wee Wisdom, was the childrens magazine in the United States. Today, New Thought magazines include Daily Word published by Unity, by 1916, the International New Thought Alliance had encompassed many smaller groups around the world, adopting a creed known as the Declaration of Principles. The declaration was revised in 1957, with all references to Christianity removed, the chief tenets of New Thought are, Infinite Intelligence or God is omnipotent and omnipresent. Divinely attuned thought is a force for good
New Thought
–
Founders
New Thought
–
Beliefs
New Thought
–
Distinctive doctrines
22.
Theosophy
–
Theosophy is considered part of Western esotericism, which believes that hidden knowledge or wisdom from the ancient past offers a path to enlightenment and salvation. Theosophy comes from the Greek theosophia, which combines theos, God and sophia, wisdom, Blavatskys major work, The Secret Doctrine, was one of the foundational works of modern theosophy. As of 2015, organizations descended from, or related to, Modern Theosophy has also given rise to, or influenced, the development of other mystical, philosophical, and religious movements. The term theosophia appeared in the works of early Church Fathers, as a synonym for theology, the derived term theosophy was originally also a synonym for theology, however, it acquired various other meanings throughout its history. Therefore, the terms were the opposite of the present-day meaning, in Jewish mysticism, the theosophical doctrinal system of Kabbalah emerged in late 12th-century southern France, spreading to 13th-century Spain. Kabbalah became the basis of later Jewish mystical development, the theosophical Kabbalah in Judaism was recast into its second version, Lurianic Kabbalah, in 16th-century Ottoman Palestine. Gershom Scholem, the founder of Jewish mysticism academia, saw Medieval and Lurianic Kabbalah as the incorporation into Judaism of Gnostic motifs, at the centre of Kabbalah are the 10 Sephirot powers in the divine realm, their unification being the task of man. In Lurianism, man redeems the sparks of holiness in materiality, by the 16th century the word theosophy was being used in at least one of its current meanings. Christian theosophy arose in Germany in the 16th century, inspired to a considerable extent by the works of Paracelsus, theosophy flourished in the works of Aegidius Gutmann, Valentin Weigel, Heinrich Khunrath, Johann Arndt, and Kaspar Schwenckfeld. The term had not yet reached a settled meaning, however, the work of the 17th-century German Christian mystic Jakob Boehme strongly contributed to spread the use of the word theosophy, even though Boehme rarely used the word in his writings. It is on account of the title of some of his works, moreover, Boehme gave the word theosophy a limited meaning, making it clear that he was not conflating nature with God. There were relatively few theosophers in the 17th century, but many of them were prolific, outside of Germany, there were also theosophers from Holland, England, and France. This group is represented by Jan Baptist van Helmont, Robert Fludd, John Pordage, Jane Leade, Henry More, Pierre Poiret, in the 18th century, the word theosophy came into more widespread use among some philosophers. Theosophers themselves used the word theosophy sparingly, at least up until the middle of the nineteenth century, Johann Jakob Brucker included a long chapter on theosophy in his monumental work Historia critica philosophia. He included theosophers alongside other currents in esotericism in what was then a reference in the history of philosophy. German philosophers produced major works of Christian theosophy during this period, Theophilosophia theoritica et practica. by Samuel Richter, other notable theosophers of the period include Johann George Gichtel, Gottfried Arnold, Friedrich Christoph Oetinger, William Law, and Dionysius Andreas Freher. The term theosophy is more reserved for the reverse process of contemplating the divine in order to discover the content of the concrete universe. In England, Robert Hindmarsh, a printer with a Methodist background, formed a Theosophical Society in 1783 and this society was renamed in 1785 as The British Society for the Propagation of the Doctrines of the New Church, consisting of Swedenborgian based beliefs
Theosophy
–
The book
The Voice of the Silence presented by Blavatsky to Leo Tolstoy
23.
Anthroposophy
–
Anthroposophy aims to attain in its study of spiritual experience the precision and clarity attained by the natural sciences in their investigations of the physical world. The philosophy has double roots in German idealism and German mysticism and was expressed in language drawn from Theosophy. The Anthroposophical Society has its center at the Goetheanum in Dornach. Modern critics, particularly Michael Shermer, have termed anthroposophys application in such as medicine, biology. Anthroposophy has also been termed the most important esoteric society in European history, the early work of the founder of anthroposophy, Rudolf Steiner, culminated in his Philosophy of Freedom. Here, Steiner developed a concept of free will based on inner experiences, by the beginning of the twentieth century, Steiners interests turned to explicitly spiritual areas of research. His work began to interest others interested in ideas, among these was the Theosophical Society. From 1900 on, thanks to the reception given to his ideas. During the years of his leadership, membership increased dramatically, from a few individuals to sixty-nine Lodges, by 1907, a split between Steiner and the mainstream Theosophical Society had begun to become apparent. While the Society was oriented toward an Eastern and especially Indian approach, Steiner was trying to develop a path that embraced Christianity, the split became irrevocable when Annie Besant, then president of the Theosophical Society, began to present the child Jiddu Krishnamurti as the reincarnated Christ. Steiner strongly objected and considered any comparison between Krishnamurti and Christ to be nonsense, many later, Krishnamurti also repudiated the assertion. By this time, Steiner had reached considerable stature as a spiritual teacher and he spoke about what he considered to be his direct experience of the Akashic Records, thought to be a spiritual chronicle of the history, pre-history, and future of the world and mankind. In a number of works, Steiner described a path of development he felt would let anyone attain comparable spiritual experiences. In 1912, the Anthroposophical Society was founded, after World War I, the Anthroposophical movement took on new directions. Projects such as schools, centers for those with needs, organic farms and medical clinics were established. As a spiritual basis for the movement, Steiner wrote a Foundation Stone Meditation which remains a central meditative expression of anthroposophical ideas. Steiner died just over a year later, in 1925, by 2007, national branches of the Anthroposophical Society had been established in fifty countries, and about 10,000 institutions around the world were working on the basis of anthroposophy. In the same year, the Anthroposophical Society was called the most important esoteric society in European history, anthroposophy is an amalgam of the Greek terms ἄνθρωπος and σοφία
Anthroposophy
–
Rudolf Steiner
Anthroposophy
–
Second
Goetheanum, seat of the Anthroposophical Society
Anthroposophy
–
The First
Goetheanum, designed by Steiner in 1920,
Dornach, Switzerland.
24.
Occultism
–
The occult is knowledge of the hidden. In common English usage, occult refers to knowledge of the paranormal, as opposed to knowledge of the measurable, the terms esoteric and arcane can also be used to describe the occult, in addition to their meanings unrelated to the supernatural. Occultism is the study of practices, including magic, alchemy, extra-sensory perception, astrology, spiritualism, religion. Alchemy was common among important seventeenth-century scientists, such as Isaac Newton, Newton was even accused of introducing occult agencies into natural science when he postulated gravity as a force capable of acting over vast distances. By the eighteenth century these unorthodox religious and philosophical concerns were well-defined as occult, inasmuch as they lay on the outermost fringe of accepted forms of knowledge and they were, however, preserved by antiquarians and mystics. Occult science is the research into or formulation of occult concepts in a manner that resembles the way natural science researches or describes phenomena. In his 1871 book Primitive Culture, the anthropologist Edward Tylor used the term occult science as a synonym for magic, Occult qualities are properties that have no known rational explanation, in the Middle Ages, for example, magnetism was considered an occult quality. Newtons contemporaries severely criticized his theory that gravity was effected through action at a distance, some religions and sects enthusiastically embrace occultism as an integral esoteric aspect of mystical religious experience. This attitude is common within Wicca and many other modern pagan religions, some other religious denominations disapprove of occultism in most or all forms. They may view the occult as being anything supernatural or paranormal which is not achieved by or through God, monistic in contrast to Christian dualistic beliefs of a separation between body and spirit, Gnostic i. e. Walker, Benjamin. Encyclopedia of the Occult, the Esoteric and the Supernatural, harold W. Percival, Joined the Theosophical Society in 1892. Blavatsky, Occultism versus the Occult Arts, Lucifer, May 1888 Bardon, true to His Ways, Purity & Safety in Christian Spiritual Practice, ISBN 1-932124-61-6. ISBN 1-57863-150-5 Forshaw, Peter, The Occult Middle Ages, in Christopher Partridge, The Occult World, London, Routledge,2014 Gettings, Fred, Vision of the Occult, ISBN 0-7126-1438-9 Kontou, Tatiana – Willburn, Sarah. The Ashgate Research Companion to Nineteenth-Century Spiritualism and the Occult, ISBN 978-0-7546-6912-8 Martin, W. Rische, J. Rische, K. & VanGordon, K. W. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.201 p. N. B, the scope of this study also embraces the occult. ISBN 0-8028-0262-1 Partridge, Christopher, The Occult World, London, the Tree of Life, An Illustrated Study in Magic. Newton, Isaac, Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John by Sir Isaac Newton Rogers, L. W. Hints to Young Students of Occultism. Albany, NY, The Theosophical Book Company, joseph H. Peterson, Twilit Grotto, Archives of Western Esoterica Occult Science and Philosophy of the Renaissance
Occultism
–
Reconstruction of the "Holy Table" as used by
John Dee.
25.
Spiritualism
–
Spiritualism is the belief that the spirits of the dead have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living. The afterlife, or the world, is seen by spiritualists, not as a static place. Some spiritualists will speak of a concept which they refer to as spirit guides—specific spirits, often contacted, Spiritism, a branch of spiritualism developed by Allan Kardec and today practiced mostly in Continental Europe and Latin America, especially in Brazil, emphasizes reincarnation. Spiritualism developed and reached its peak growth in membership from the 1840s to the 1920s, by 1897, spiritualism was said to have more than eight million followers in the United States and Europe, mostly drawn from the middle and upper classes. Many prominent spiritualists were women, and like most spiritualists, supported such as the abolition of slavery. By the late 1880s the credibility of the movement had weakened due to accusations of fraud perpetrated by mediums. Spiritualism is currently practiced primarily through various denominational spiritualist churches in the United States, Canada and they believe that spirit mediums are gifted to carry on such communication, but that anyone may become a medium through study and practice. They believe that spirits are capable of growth and perfection, progressing through higher spheres or planes, and that the afterlife is not a static state, many believers therefore speak of spirit guides—specific spirits, often contacted, and relied upon for worldly and spiritual guidance. According to spiritualists, anyone may receive messages, but formal communication sessions are held by mediums. Nevertheless, on significant points Christian Protestantism and spiritualism are different and this view is self-evidently incompatible with spiritualism, where the merely spiritual existence is superior to the embodied one. There are quite a number of spiritualist churches which are explicitly Christian in theology, forms of worship and praise, judaism It is held by some adherents of the Jewish religion that spiritualism is strictly forbidden by the Bible. Islam Within Islam, only rarely do some traditions - notably Sufism, despite this, the majority of the followers of Islam believe in the existence of spirits as a fundamental aspect of their religion. However, these spirits are not those of humans but of a third sapient creation said to be made by God called the jinn. Jinn are spirits made from fire, in a realm not visible to the eyes of people. A famous jinn in the Muslim tradition is Satan, as opposed to the Christian belief that he is a fallen angel, communication with these spirits, whether the spirit is good or evil in nature, is generally not encouraged in Islam. Additionally, the concept of Tawassul recognises the existence of spirits on a higher plane of existence closer to God. Spiritism Spiritism, the branch of spiritualism developed by Allan Kardec, Occultism Spiritualism also differs from occult movements, such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn or the contemporary wiccan covens, in that spirits are not contacted to obtain magical powers. Eliphas Lévi, who is regarded as the founder of occultism, strongly rejected Spiritism, later on, Madame Blavatsky, the founder of the Theosophical Society, only practiced mediumship to contact powerful spirits capable of conferring esoteric knowledge
Spiritualism
–
By 1853, when the popular song Spirit Rappings was published, spiritualism was an object of intense curiosity.
Spiritualism
–
Spiritualism was equated by some
Christians with
witchcraft. This 1865
broadsheet, published in the United States, also blamed spiritualism for causing the
U.S. Civil War.
Spiritualism
–
Hypnotic séance. Painting by Swedish artist
Richard Bergh, 1887.
Spiritualism
–
Emanuel Swedenborg
26.
Esoteric Christianity
–
Early Christians used the Greek word μυστήριον to describe the Christian Mystery. The Old Testament versions use the word mysterion as an equivalent to the Hebrew sôd, the word mysticism is derived from the Greek μυω, meaning to conceal, and its derivative μυστικός, mystikos, meaning an initiate. In the Hellenistic world, mystical referred to religious rituals. The use of the word lacked any references to the transcendental. A mystikos was an initiate of a mystery religion, theologians give the name mystery to revealed truths that surpass the powers of natural reason, so, in a narrow sense, the Mystery is a truth that transcends the created intellect. Even though revealed and believed, the Mystery remains nevertheless obscure and veiled during the life, if the deciphering of the mysteries, made possible by esotericism. This esoteric knowledge would allow a deep comprehension of the Christian mysteries that otherwise would remain obscure, some modern scholars believe that in the early stages of Christianity, a nucleus of oral teachings were inherited from Palestinian and Hellenistic Judaism. In the 4th century, it was believed to form the basis of an oral tradition which came to be called disciplina arcani. The mainstream theologians, however, believe that it contained liturgical details. Important influences on Esoteric Christianity are the Christian theologians Clement of Alexandria and Origen, Origen was a most prolific writer – according to Epiphanius of Salamis, he wrote about 6,000 books – making it a difficult task to define the central core of his teachings. Thus, it is unclear whether reincarnation and the pre-existence of souls formed part of Origens beliefs, while hypothetically considering a complex multiple-world transmigration scheme in De Principiis, Origen denies reincarnation in unmistakable terms in his work Against Celsus and elsewhere. Despite this apparent contradiction, most modern Esoteric Christian movements refer to Origens writings to validate these ideas as part of the Esoteric Christian tradition. In the later Middle Ages, forms of Western esotericism such as alchemy and astrology were constructed on Christian foundations, combining Christian theology, giovanni Pico della Mirandolas Apologia states that there are two types of magic, which are theurgy, and goetia. These disciplines were explained as the Operation of the Stars, just as alchemy was the Operation of the Sun, Kabbalah was also an active discipline. These spiritual traditions allegedly aided the esoteric to arise to higher forms of consciousness, and arise to an understanding of God, The Self. Esoteric Christians practice these forms or traditions, which they believe are all a part of the spiritual truth. The latter help to convey mystery knowledge, which can only be learned directly from spiritual experience via Theurgy, Kabbalah, in the 16th and 17th centuries, this was followed by the development of Theosophy and Rosicrucianism. Behmenism also evolved around this time, as did Freemasonry, many modern Esoteric Christian movements acknowledge reincarnation among their beliefs, as well as a complex energetic structure for the human being
Esoteric Christianity
–
A 17th-century fresco from the
Cathedral of Living Pillar in Georgia depicting Jesus within the Zodiac circle.
Esoteric Christianity
–
The Temple of the Rose Cross,
Teophilus Schweighardt Constantiens, 1618.
Esoteric Christianity
–
Greek mysticism influenced many early church theologians such as
Clement of Alexandria and
Origen.
Esoteric Christianity
–
Selfportrait with Christ by
Martin von Feuerstein
27.
New Age
–
The New Age is a term applied to a range of spiritual or religious beliefs and practices that developed in Western nations during the 1970s. Precise scholarly definitions of the New Age differ in their emphasis, although analytically often considered to be religious, those involved in it typically prefer the designation of spiritual and rarely use the term New Age themselves. Many scholars of the subject refer to it as the New Age movement, although others contest this term, such prominent occult influences include the work of Emanuel Swedenborg and Franz Mesmer, as well as the ideas of Spiritualism, New Thought, and Theosophy. Although the exact origins of the phenomenon remain contested, it is agreed that it developed in the 1970s and it expanded and grew largely in the 1980s and 1990s, in particular within the United States. By the start of the 21st century, the term New Age was increasingly rejected within this milieu, despite its highly eclectic nature, a number of beliefs commonly found within the New Age have been identified. Theologically, the New Age typically adopts a belief in a form of divinity which imbues all of the universe. There is thus a strong emphasis on the authority of the self. This is accompanied by a belief in a wide variety of semi-divine non-human entities, such as angels and masters, with whom humans can communicate. There is also a focus on healing, particularly using forms of alternative medicine. Those involved in the New Age have been primarily from middle, the New Age has generated criticism from established Christian organisations as well as modern Pagan and indigenous communities. From the 1990s onward, the New Age became the subject of research by scholars of religious studies. The New Age phenomenon has proved difficult to define, with much scholarly disagreement as to its scope, the scholars Steven J. Sutcliffe and Ingvild Sælid Gilhus have even suggested that it remains among the most disputed of categories in the study of religion. According to Hammer, this New Age was a fluid and fuzzy cultic milieu and he thus argued against the idea that the New Age could be considered a unified ideology or Weltanschauung, although he believed that it could be considered a more of less unified movement. Conversely, various scholars have suggested that the New Age is insufficiently homogenous to be regarded as a singular movement. There is no authority within the New Age phenomenon that can determine what counts as New Age. Many of those groups and individuals who could analytically be categorised as part of the New Age reject the term New Age in reference to themselves, some even express active hostility to the term. Rather than terming themselves New Agers, those involved in this milieu commonly describe themselves as spiritual seekers, other figures have argued that the sheer diversity of the New Age renders it too problematic for such use. In discussing the New Age, academics have varyingly referred to New Age spirituality and those involved in the New Age rarely consider it to be religion—negatively associating that term solely with organized religion—and instead describe their practices as spirituality
New Age
–
A New Age
Rainbow Gathering in Bosnia, 2007
New Age
–
Prominent esoteric thinkers who influenced the New Age movement include Helena Blavatsky (left) and Carl Jung (right)
New Age
New Age
–
This barrel house was the first dwelling constructed at the
Findhorn Ecovillage.
28.
Comparative religion
–
Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions concerned with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices of the worlds religions. In general the comparative study of religion yields a deeper understanding of the fundamental concerns of religion such as ethics, metaphysics. Studying such material is meant to give one a richer and more sophisticated understanding of human beliefs and practices regarding the sacred, numinous, spiritual, other religions that fit this description are sometimes included but are often omitted. The original belief in the One God of Abraham eventually became strictly monotheistic present-day Rabbinic Judaism, christians believe that Christianity is the fulfillment and continuation of the Jewish Old Testament. Christians believe that Jesus is the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament prophecy and this signaled a break with Islam and started a new religious system, that also represents the predecessor of the Baháí Faith. Christianity and Judaism are two other Abrahamic religions that diverge in theology and practice, the historical interaction of Islam and Judaism started in the 7th century CE with the origin and spread of Islam. There are many common aspects between Islam and Judaism, and as Islam developed, it became the major religion closest to Judaism. There are many traditions within Islam originating from traditions within the Hebrew Bible or from post-biblical Jewish traditions and these practices are known collectively as the Israiliyat. The historical interaction between Christianity and Islam connects fundamental ideas in Christianity with similar ones in Islam, Islam accepts many aspects of Christianity as part of its faith - with some differences in interpretation - and rejects other aspects. Islam believes the Quran is the revelation from God and a completion of all previous revelations. Several important religions and religious movements originated in Greater Iran, that is and they include Mithraism, Zoroastrianism, Ætsæg Din, Yazdanism, Ahl-e Haqq, Zurvanism, Mandaeism, Manichaeism, and Mazdakism. Indian religions refers to a number of religions that have originated on the Indian subcontinent and they encompass Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. Buddhism and modern Hinduism are both post-Vedic religions, gautama Buddha is mentioned as an Avatar of Vishnu in the Puranic texts of Hinduism. Prominent Hindu reformers such as Gandhi and Vivekananda acknowledge Buddhist influence, Gandhi, like Hindus, did not believe Buddha established a non-Hindu tradition. He writes, I do not regard Jainism or Buddhism as separate from Hinduism, a Taoic religion is a religion, or religious philosophy, that focuses on the East Asian concept of Tao. This forms a group of religions including Taoism, Confucianism, Jeung San Do, Shinto, I-Kuan Tao, Chondogyo. In large parts of East Asia, Buddhism has taken on some taoic features, Tao can be roughly stated to be the flow of the universe, or the force behind the natural order. It is believed to be the influence that keeps the universe balanced and ordered and is associated with nature, the flow of Chi, as the essential energy of action and existence, is compared to the universal order of Tao
Comparative religion
Comparative religion
–
The
Rig Veda is one of the oldest
Vedic texts. Shown here is a Rig Veda manuscript in
Devanagari, early nineteenth century.
29.
Nondualism
–
Nondualism, also called non-duality, means not two or one undivided without a second. It is a term and concept used to define various strands of religious and it is found in a variety of Asian religious traditions and modern western spirituality, but with a variety of meanings and uses. The term may refer to, Advaya, the nonduality of conventional, in Buddhist Madhyamaka it means that there is no absolute, transcendent reality beyond our everyday reality, and while things exist, they are ultimately empty of any existence on their own. This is an approach to nondualism, and asserts non-difference between Ātman and Brahman. The nondualism idea developed in the Vedic, post-Vedic Hindu and the Buddhist traditions, the oldest traces of nondualism in Indian thought is found as Advaita in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, as well as other pre-Buddhist Upanishads such as the Chandogya Upanishad. In Hinduism, nondualism has more commonly associated with the Advaita Vedanta tradition of Adi Shankara. Universalism and Perennialism are another important strand of thought, as reflected in various strands of modern spirituality, New Age, according to Espín and Nickoloff, nondualism is the thought in some Hindu, Buddhist and Taoist schools, which. Teaches that the multiplicity of the universe is reducible to one essential reality, the main definitions are the nonduality of Atman and Brahman, the nonduality of Absolute and relative, and nondual consciousness. According to Dasgupta and Mohanta, non-dualism developed in various strands of Indian thought, the oldest traces of nondualism in Indian thought may be found in the Chandogya Upanishad, which pre-dates the earliest Buddhism. Pre-sectarian Buddhism may also have been responding to the teachings of the Chandogya Upanishad, Advaya of Buddhism and Advaita of Hinduism both refer to nondualism. However, while Hinduism develops its concept of Advaita with an ontological approach, the nondual consciousness is a western, inclusive understanding of various strands of eastern religiosity. In Madhyamaka Buddhism Advaya refers to the nonduality of conventional and ultimate truth, or the relative world, in Yogacara, it may also refer to overcoming the dichotomies of cognitum and cognition imposed by conceptual thought. Another Buddhist formulation of the Advaya concept has been as non-two, which denies extremes such as the existence of reality, in Madhyamaka-Buddhism, Advaya refers to the non-duality of conventional and ultimate truth. The ultimate truth is emptiness, or non-existence of inherently existing things, and it is the Middle Way between eternalism and annihilationism or nihilism. According to Murti, Advaya is that knowledge which is free of distinctions, in Madhyamaka-Buddhism, Advaya is an epistemological approach. It is the recognition that everything is impermanent and devoid of self or essence. The Chinese Buddhist scholars posited that there is a third truth above the mundane truth of samsaric being, in one description, everything is posited to be simultaneously empty, real and neither. According to Lai, most scholars of Chinese Buddhism, unlike Nagarjuna and this mistake was identified and discussed by Jizang of Sanlun school
Nondualism
–
Nagarjuna and
Aryadeva
Nondualism
–
Dogen
Nondualism
–
Sri Ramanujacharya, pioneer of Vishishtadvaita Vedanta and the foremost Jeeyar of Sri Vaishnava Sampradaya.
30.
Orientalism
–
In particular, Orientalist painting, representing the Middle East, was a genre of Academic art in the 19th century. Orientalism refers to the Orient, in reference and opposition to the Occident, the East, the word Orient entered the English language as the Middle French orient. In the “Monks Tale”, Geoffrey Chaucer wrote, “That they conquered many regnes grete / In the orient, with many a fair citee. ”The term “orient” refers to countries east of the Mediterranean Sea and Southern Europe. In Place of Fear, Aneurin Bevan used an expanded denotation of the Orient that comprehended East Asia, “the awakening of the Orient under the impact of Western ideas”. Edward Said said that Orientalism “enables the political, economic, cultural and social domination of the West, not just during colonial times, but also in the present. ”In art history, the term Orientalism refers to the works of the Western artists who specialized in Oriental subjects, produced from their travels in Western Asia, during the 19th century. In that time, artists and scholars were described as Orientalists, especially in France, in the 18th and 19th centuries, the term Orientalist identified a scholar who specialized in the languages and literatures of the Eastern world. Among such scholars is the philologist William Jones, whose studies of Indo-European languages established modern philology, additionally, Hebraism and Jewish studies gained popularity among British and German scholars in the 18th and 19th century. The academic field of Oriental studies, which comprehended the cultures of the Near East, the thesis of Orientalism develops Antonio Gramsci’s theory of cultural hegemony, and Michel Foucaults theorisation of discourse to criticise the scholarly tradition of Oriental studies. Said criticised contemporary scholars who perpetuated the tradition of outsider-interpretation of Arabo-Islamic cultures, especially Bernard Lewis, the analyses are of Orientalism in European literature, especially French literature, and do not analyse visual art and Orientalist painting. In that vein, the art historian Linda Nochlin applied Said’s methods of analysis to art. In the academy, the book Orientalism became a text of post-colonial cultural studies. Early architectural use of motifs lifted from the Indian subcontinent is known as Indo-Saracenic Revival architecture, one of the earliest examples is the façade of Guildhall, London. The style gained momentum in the west with the publication of views of India by William Hodges, examples of Hindoo architecture are Sezincote House in Gloucestershire, built for a nabob returned from Bengal, and the Royal Pavilion in Brighton. Venice, the trading partner of the Ottomans, was the earliest centre. Chinoiserie is the term for the fashion for Chinese themes in decoration in Western Europe, beginning in the late 17th century and peaking in waves, especially Rococo Chinoiserie. From the Renaissance to the 18th century, Western designers attempted to imitate the technical sophistication of Chinese ceramics with only partial success, Early hints of Chinoiserie appeared in the 17th century in nations with active East India companies, England, Denmark, the Netherlands and France. Tin-glazed pottery made at Delft and other Dutch towns adopted genuine Ming-era blue, Early ceramic wares made at Meissen and other centers of true porcelain imitated Chinese shapes for dishes, vases and teawares. Pleasure pavilions in Chinese taste appeared in the formal parterres of late Baroque and Rococo German palaces, Thomas Chippendales mahogany tea tables and china cabinets, especially, were embellished with fretwork glazing and railings, ca 1753–70
Orientalism
–
Anonymous Venetian orientalist painting, The Reception of the Ambassadors in Damascus, 1511, the
Louvre. The deer with antlers in the foreground is not known ever to have existed in the wild in
Syria.
Orientalism
–
Eugène Delacroix, The
Women of Algiers, 1834, the
Louvre,
Paris
Orientalism
–
The
Royal Pavilion in Brighton, England.
Orientalism
–
Baroque Red Mosque at
Schwetzingen Palace in Germany, finished in 1796.
31.
Theosophical Society
–
The Theosophical Society was an organization formed in 1875 to advance Theosophy. The original organization, after splits and realignments, currently has several successors, the Theosophical Society was officially formed in New York City, United States, on 17 November 1875 by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, William Quan Judge, and others. An unsecterian body of seekers after Truth, who endeavour to promote Brotherhood, Olcott was its first president, and remained president until his demise in 1907. In the early months of 1875, Olcott and Judge had come to realize that, if Blavatsky was a spiritualist, the societys initial objective was the study and elucidation of Occultism, the Cabala etc. After a few years Olcott and Blavatsky moved to India and established the International Headquarters at Adyar and they were also interested in studying Eastern religions, and these were included in the Societys agenda. After several iterations the Societys objectives evolved to be,1, to form a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or colour. To encourage the study of religion, philosophy, and science. To investigate the unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in man, sympathy with the above objects was the sole condition of admission to the society. The Society was organized as a non-sectarian entity, the following was stated in the Constitution and Rules of the Theosophical Society ARTICLE I, Constitution 4. Any Fellow who shall in any way attempt to involve the Society in political disputes shall be immediately expelled. No Fellow, Officer, or Council of the Theosophical Society, or of any Section or Branch thereof, shall promulgate or maintain any doctrinas being that advanced, or advocated by the Society. The Society reformulated this view in a resolution passed by the General Council of the Theosophical Society on December 23,1924, the theory was originally promulgated in the Secret Doctrine, the 1888 magnum opus of Helena Blavatsky. According to this view, Humanitys evolution on Earth is part of the overall Cosmic evolution and it is overseen by a hidden Spiritual Hierarchy, the so-called Masters of the Ancient Wisdom, whose upper echelons consist of advanced spiritual beings. These attempts require an earthly infrastructure which she held was ultimately under the inspiration of a number of Mahatmas, after Helena Blavatskys death in 1891, the Societys leaders seemed at first to work together peacefully. The original organisation led by Olcott and Besant remains today based in India and is known as the Theosophical Society - Adyar, the group led by Judge further splintered into a faction led by Katherine Tingley, and another associated with Judges secretary Ernest Temple Hargrove. While Hargroves faction no longer survives, the led by Tingley is today known as the Theosophical Society with the clarifying statement, International Headquarters, Pasadena. A third organization, the United Lodge of Theosophists or ULT, in 1902, Rudolf Steiner became General Secretary of the German/Austrian division of the Theosophical Society. He maintained a Western-oriented course, relatively independent from the Adyar headquarters, the latter remains active today and has branches in several countries, including the US and Canada
Theosophical Society
–
Notes of meeting proposing the formation of the Theosophical Society, New York City, 8 September 1875
Theosophical Society
–
Seal of the Theosophical Society - Door decoration at Kazinczy Street 55,
Budapest (Hungary).
Theosophical Society
–
Theosophical Society, Adyar, India, 1890
32.
Zoroastrianism
–
Ascribed to the teachings of the Iranian prophet Zoroaster, it exalts a deity of wisdom, Ahura Mazda, as its Supreme Being. Zoroastrianism was suppressed from the 7th century onwards following the Muslim conquest of Persia of 633-654, recent estimates place the current number of Zoroastrians at around 2.6 million, with most living in India and in Iran. Besides the Zoroastrian diaspora, the older Mithraic faith Yazdânism is still practised amongst Kurds, the religious philosophy of Zoroaster divided the early Iranian gods of Proto-Indo-Iranian tradition. The most important texts of the religion are those of the Avesta, in Zoroastrianism, the creator Ahura Mazda, through the Spenta Mainyu is an all-good father of Asha, in opposition to Druj and no evil originates from him. He and his works are evident to humanity through the six primary Amesha Spentas, Spenta Mainyu adjoined unto truth oppose the Spirits opposite, Angra Mainyu and its forces born of Akəm Manah. In Zoroastrianism, the purpose in life is to be among those who renew the world. to make the progress towards perfection. Its basic maxims include, Humata, Hukhta, Huvarshta, which mean, Good Thoughts, Good Words, there is only one path and that is the path of Truth. Do the right thing because it is the thing to do. The full name by which Zoroaster addressed the deity is, Ahura, The Lord Creator and he proclaimed that there is only one God, the singularly creative and sustaining force of the Universe. He also stated that human beings are given a right of choice, Zoroasters teachings focused on responsibility, and did not introduce a devil per se. The contesting force to Ahura Mazda was called Angra Mainyu, or angry spirit, post-Zoroastrian scripture introduced the concept of Ahriman, the Devil, which was effectively a personification of Angra Mainyu. The name Zoroaster is a Greek rendering of the name Zarathustra and he is known as Zartosht and Zardosht in Persian and Zaratosht in Gujarati. The Zoroastrian name of the religion is Mazdayasna, which combines Mazda- with the Avestan language word yasna, meaning worship, in English, an adherent of the faith is commonly called a Zoroastrian or a Zarathustrian. An older expression still used today is Behdin, meaning The best Religion | Beh < Middle Persian Weh + Din < Middle Persian dēn < Avestan Daēnā. In Zoroastrian liturgy the term is used as a title for an individual who has formally inducted into the religion in a Navjote ceremony. The term Mazdaism /ˈmæzdə. ɪzəm/ is a typical 19th century construct, taking Mazda- from the name Ahura Mazda, the March 2001 draft edition of the Oxford English Dictionary also records an alternate form, Mazdeism, perhaps derived from the French Mazdéisme, which first appeared in 1871. In older English sources, the terms Gheber and Gueber were used to refer to Zoroastrians, however, Zoroastrian philosophy is identified as having been known to Italian Renaissance Europe through an image of Zoroaster in Raphaels School of Athens by Giorgio Vasari in 1550. The Oxford English Dictionary records use of the term Zoroastrianism in 1874 in Archibald Sayces Principles of Comparative Philology, Zoroastrians believe that there is one universal, transcendent, supreme god, Ahura Mazda, or the Wise Lord
Zoroastrianism
–
Farvahar.
Persepolis, Iran.
Zoroastrianism
–
Faravahar (or Ferohar), one of the primary symbols of Zoroastrianism, believed to be the depiction of a Fravashi (guardian spirit)
Zoroastrianism
–
A scene from the
Hamzanama where
Hamza ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib Burns Zarthust’s Chest and Shatters the Urn with his Ashes
Zoroastrianism
–
The
fire temple of
Baku, c. 1860
33.
Advaita Vedanta
–
Advaita Vedanta is a school of Hindu philosophy and religious practice, and one of the classic Indian paths to spiritual realization. The term Advaita refers to its idea that the soul is the same as the highest metaphysical Reality, Advaita Vedanta traces its roots in the oldest Upanishads. It relies on three textual sources called the Prasthanatrayi and it gives a unifying interpretation of the whole body of Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras, and the Bhagavad Gita. Advaita Vedanta is the oldest extant sub-school of Vedanta, which is one of the six orthodox Hindu philosophies, though its roots trace back to the 1st millennium BCE, the most prominent exponent of the Advaita Vedanta is considered by the tradition to be 8th century scholar Adi Shankara. Advaita Vedanta emphasizes Jivanmukti, the idea that moksha is achievable in this life in contrast to Indian philosophies that emphasize Videhamukti, Advaita Vedanta is one of the most studied and most influential schools of classical Indian thought. Many scholars describe it as a form of monism, others describe the Advaita philosophy as non-dualistic, beyond Hinduism, Advaita Vedanta interacted and developed with the other traditions of India such as Jainism and Buddhism. Advaita Vedanta texts espouse a spectrum of views from idealism, including illusionism, in modern times, its views appear in various Neo-Vedanta movements. It has been termed as the example of Hindu spirituality. The Advaita Vedanta school has referred to historically by various names, such as Advaita-vada, Abheda-darshana, Dvaita-vada-pratisedha. According to Richard King, a professor of Buddhist and Asian studies, traditional Advaita Vedanta centers on the study of the sruti especially the Principal Upanishads, along with the Brahma Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita. Within the Vedanta tradition of Hinduism are many sub-schools, of which Advaita is one, unlike Buddhism, but like Jainism, all Vedanta schools consider the existence of Atman as self evident. The Vedanta tradition also posits the concept of Brahman as the eternal, the sub-schools of Vedanta disagree on the relation between Atman and Brahman. The Advaita darsana considers them to be identical, Advaita Vedanta believes that the knowledge of ones true self or Atman is liberating. Correct knowledge, which destroys avidya, psychological and perceptual errors related to Atman and Brahman, is obtained through three stages of practice, sravana, manana and nididhyasana, the Vedanta tradition of Hinduism rejects the dualism of Samkhya. Advaita, like all Vedanta schools, states that Brahman is both the efficient and the cause, that from which the origination, subsistence. What created all existence is also present in and reflected in all beings and inert matter and this Brahman it postulates is sat-cit-ananda. Second, how did cit Brahman create material world, third, if ananda Brahman is pure bliss, why did the empirical world of sufferings arise. These are the questions that Advaita Vedanta thinkers have historically attempted to answer, Advaita establishes its truths, in part, from the oldest Principal Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras, the Bhagavad Gita and numerous other Hindu texts
Advaita Vedanta
–
Statue of
Gaudapada, the grand guru of
Adi Shankara and the first historical proponent of Advaita Vedanta, also believed to be the founder of
Shri Gaudapadacharya Math
Advaita Vedanta
–
Adi Shankara with Disciples, by
Raja Ravi Varma (1904)
Advaita Vedanta
–
(Vidyashankara temple) at
Sringeri Sharada Peetham,
Shringeri
34.
Buddha-nature
–
Buddha-nature or Buddha Principle refers to several related terms, most notably tathāgatagarbha and buddhadhātu. Tathāgatagarbha means the womb or embryo of the thus-gone, or containing a tathagata, the term tathāgatagarbha may mean embryonic tathāgata, womb of the tathāgata, or containing a tathagata. Various meanings may all be brought into mind when the term tathagatagarbha is being used, the Sanskrit term tathāgatagarbha is a compound of two terms, tathāgata and garbha, tathāgata means the one thus gone, referring to the Buddha. It is composed of tathā and āgata, thus come, or tathā and gata, the term refers to a Buddha, who has thus gone from samsara into nirvana, and thus come from nirvana into samsara to work for the salvation of all sentient beings. The Chinese translated the term tathāgatagarbha as (traditional Chinese, 如来藏, pinyin, rúláizàng, According to Brown, storehouse may indicate both that which enfolds or contains something, or that which is itself enfolded, hidden or contained by another. The Tibetan translation is de bzhin gsegs pai snyin po, which cannot be translated as womb, the term heart was also used by Mongolian translators. According to King, the Chinese rúláizàng was taken in its meaning as womb or fruit, Wayman & Wayman also point out that the Chinese regularly takes garbha as womb, but prefer to use the term embryo. According to Brown, following Wayman & Wayman, embryo is the best fitting translation, since it preserves the dynamic, According to Zimmerman, garbha may also mean the interior or center of something, and its essence or central part. As a tatpurusa it may refer to a person being a womb for or container of the tathagata, as a bahuvrihi it may refer to a person as having an embryonic tathagata inside. In both cases, this embryonic tathagata still has to be developed, the term Buddha-nature is closely related in meaning to the term tathāgatagarbha, but is not a translation of this term. It refers to that what is essential in the human being, the corresponding Sanskrit term is buddhadhātu. Matsumoto Shirō also points out that Buddha-nature translates the Sanskrit-term buddhadhātu, a place to put something, a foundation, a locus. According to Shirō, it does not mean original nature or essence, nor does it mean the possibility of the attainment of Buddhahood, in the Vajrayana, the term for Buddha-nature is sugatagarbha. The idea of Buddha-nature originated in India, and was developed in China. It was the result of an interplay between various strands of Buddhist thought, on the nature of consciousness and the means of awakening. And it is defiled by incoming defilements, the Mahāsāṃghika coupled this idea of the luminous mind with the idea of the mulavijnana, the substratum consciousness that serves as the basis consciousness. From the idea of the luminous mind emerged the idea that the mind is the pure. Gregory comments on this origin of the Tathagatagarba-doctrine, The implication of this doctrine is that enlightenment is the natural, Mahayana Buddhism developed new ideas on the appearance of the Buddha
Buddha-nature
–
Components
35.
Tantra
–
Tantra is the esoteric traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism that co-developed most likely about the middle of 1st millennium CE. The term tantra, in the Indian traditions, also means any systematic broadly applicable text, theory, system, method, instrument, in Hinduism, the tantra tradition is most often associated with its goddess tradition called Shaktism, followed by Shaivism and Vaishnavism. In Buddhism, the Vajrayana tradition is known for its extensive tantra ideas, Tantric Hindu and Buddhist traditions have influenced other religious traditions such as Jainism, Sikhism, the Tibetan Bön tradition, Daoism, and the Japanese Shintō tradition. Tantra as genre of literature in Hinduism have been influential to its arts, icons, Hindu puja, temples and iconography are tantric in nature. The Hindu texts that describe these topics are called Tantras, Āgamas or Samhitās, in Buddhism, its tantra-genre literature has influenced the artworks in Tibet, historic cave temples of India, and imagery in southeast Asia. Tantra literally means loom, warp, weave, the connotation of the word tantra to mean an esoteric practice or religious ritualism is a colonial era European invention. The term is based on the metaphor of weaving, states Ron Barrett and it implies interweaving of traditions and teachings as threads into a text, technique or practice. The word appears in the hymns of the Rigveda such as in 10.71 and it is found in many other Vedic era texts, such as in section 10.7.42 of the Atharvaveda and many Brahmanas. In these and post-Vedic texts, the meaning of Tantra is that which is principal or essential part, main point, model, framework. The term “Tantra” after about 500 BCE, in Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism is a bibliographic category, the same Buddhist texts are sometimes referred to as tantra or sutra, for example, Vairocabhisambodhi-tantra is also referred to as Vairocabhisambodhi-sutra. The various contextual meaning of the word Tantra varies with the Indian text, the earliest definitions and expositions on Tantra come from the ancient texts of Panini, Patanjali and the literature of the language-focussed, ritual-oriented Mimamsa school of Hindu philosophy. The word tantra, states Patanjali, means principal, main, Patanjali also offers a semantic definition of Tantra, stating that it is structural rules, standard procedures, centralized guide or knowledge in any field that applies to many elements. The ancient Mimamsa school of Hinduism uses the term tantra extensively, for example, When an action or a thing, once complete, becomes beneficial in several matters to one person, or to many people, that is known as Tantra. For example, a lamp placed amidst many priests, in contrast, that which benefits by its repetition is called Āvāpa, such as massaging with oil. Medieval texts present their own definitions of Tantra, in modern era scholarship, Tantra has been studied as an esoteric practice and ritualistic religion, sometimes referred to as Tantrism. There is wide gap between what Tantra means to its followers, and what Tantra has been represented or perceived as since colonial era writers began commenting on Tantra, many definitions of Tantra have been proposed ever since, and there is no universally accepted definition of Tantra. André Padoux in his review of Tantra definitions offers two, then rejects both, another definition, more common among observers and non-practitioners, is some set of mechanistic rituals, omitting entirely the ideological side. According to David N. Lorenzen, two different kinds of definitions of Tantra exist, a definition and a broad definition
Tantra
–
Sri Yantra diagram with the Ten
Mahavidyas. The triangles represent
Shiva and
Shakti, the snake represents
Spanda and
Kundalini.
Tantra
–
Tantric Feast, India, Himachal Pradesh, Nurpur, circa 1790
Tantra
–
Making of a Tibetan
Sand mandala.
Tantra
–
A
sadhu smoking cannabis.
36.
Yoga
–
Yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India. There is a variety of Yoga schools, practices, and goals in Hinduism, Buddhism. Among the most well-known types of yoga are Hatha yoga and Rāja yoga, the chronology of earliest texts describing yoga-practices is unclear, varyingly credited to Hindu Upanishads. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali date from the first half of the 1st millennium CE, Hatha yoga texts emerged around the 11th century with origins in tantra. Yoga gurus from India later introduced yoga to the west, following the success of Swami Vivekananda in the late 19th, in the 1980s, yoga became popular as a system of physical exercise across the Western world. Yoga in Indian traditions, however, is more physical exercise, it has a meditative. One of the six orthodox schools of Hinduism is also called Yoga, which has its own epistemology and metaphysics. Many studies have tried to determine the effectiveness of yoga as an intervention for cancer, schizophrenia, asthma. On December 1,2016, Yoga was listed as UNESCO’s Intangible cultural heritage, in Sanskrit, the word yoga comes from the root yuj which means to add, to join, to unite, or to attach in its most common senses. By figurative extension from the yoking or harnessing of oxen or horses, all further developments of the sense of this word are post-Vedic. More prosaic moods such as exertion, endeavour, zeal, there are very many compound words containing yoga in Sanskrit. Yoga can take on such as connection, contact, union, method, application, addition. In simpler words, Yoga also means combined, thus, bhaktiyoga means devoted attachment in the monotheistic Bhakti movement. The term kriyāyoga has a sense, meaning connection with a verb. But the same compound is given a technical meaning in the Yoga Sutras, designating the practical aspects of the philosophy. In the context of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the root yuj samādhau is considered by commentators as the correct etymology. In accordance with Pāṇini, Vyasa who wrote the first commentary on the Yoga Sutras, according to Dasgupta, the term yoga can be derived from either of two roots, yujir yoga or yuj samādhau. Someone who practices yoga or follows the philosophy with a high level of commitment is called a yogi or yogini
Yoga
–
Yogi sitting in a garden
Yoga
–
Statue of
Shiva in
Bangalore,
Karnataka,
India, performing yogic meditation in the
Padmasana posture.
Yoga
–
Mahavira, 24th
Tirthankara
Yoga
–
Krishna narrating the
Gita to
Arjuna.
37.
Taoism
–
Taoism, also known as Daoism, is a religious or philosophical tradition of Chinese origin which emphasizes living in harmony with the Tao. The Tao is an idea in most Chinese philosophical schools, in Taoism, however. Taoism differs from Confucianism by not emphasizing rigid rituals and social order, the Tao Te Ching, a compact book containing teachings attributed to Laozi, is widely considered the keystone work of the Taoist tradition, together with the later writings of Zhuangzi. By the Han dynasty, the sources of Taoism had coalesced into a coherent tradition of religious organizations. In earlier ancient China, Taoists were thought of as hermits or recluses who did not participate in political life, Zhuangzi was the best known of these, and it is significant that he lived in the south, where he was part of local Chinese shamanic traditions. Women shamans played an important role in this tradition, which was strong in the southern state of Chu. Early Taoist movements developed their own institution in contrast to shamanism, shamans revealed basic texts of Taoism from early times down to at least the 20th century. Institutional orders of Taoism evolved in various strains that in recent times are conventionally grouped into two main branches, Quanzhen Taoism and Zhengyi Taoism. After Laozi and Zhuangzi, the literature of Taoism grew steadily and was compiled in form of a canon—the Daozang—which was published at the behest of the emperor, throughout Chinese history, Taoism was nominated several times as a state religion. After the 17th century, however, it fell from favor, Chinese alchemy, Chinese astrology, Chan Buddhism, several martial arts, traditional Chinese medicine, feng shui, and many styles of qigong have been intertwined with Taoism throughout history. Beyond China, Taoism also had influence on surrounding societies in Asia, Taoism also has a presence in Hong Kong, Macau, and in Southeast Asia. English speakers continue to debate the preferred romanization of the words Daoism and Taoism, the root Chinese word 道 way, path is romanized tao in the older Wade–Giles system and dào in the modern Pinyin system. In linguistic terminology, English Taoism/Daoism is formed from the Chinese loanword tao/dao 道 way, route, principle and the native suffix -ism. The debate over Taoism vs. Daoism involves sinology, phonemes, loanwords, Daoism is pronounced /ˈdaʊ. ɪzəm/, but English speakers disagree whether Taoism should be /ˈdaʊ. ɪzəm/ or /ˈtaʊ. ɪzəm/. In theory, both Wade–Giles tao and Pinyin dao are articulated identically, as are Taoism and Daoism, an investment book titled The Tao Jones Averages illustrates this /daʊ/ pronunciations widespread familiarity. In speech, Tao and Taoism are often pronounced /ˈtaʊ/ and ˈtaʊ. ɪzəm/, lexicography shows American and British English differences in pronouncing Taoism. Taoist philosophy or Taology, or the mystical aspect — The philosophical doctrines based on the texts of the I Ching, the Tao Te Ching and these texts were linked together as Taoist philosophy during the early Han Dynasty, but notably not before. It is unlikely that Zhuangzi was familiar with the text of the Daodejing, however, the discussed distinction is rejected by the majority of Western and Japanese scholars
Taoism
–
Taoist rite at the Qingyanggong (Green Goat Temple) in
Chengdu
Taoism
–
Gates of the Chunyang
gong in
Datong,
Shanxi. It's a temple dedicated to
Lü Dongbin.
Taoism
–
A
daoshi (Taoist priest) in
Macau.
Taoism
–
Jintai
guan (金台观) in
Baoji,
Shaanxi.
38.
Animism
–
Animism is the worlds oldest religion. Animism teaches that objects, places, and creatures all possess distinctive spiritual qualities, potentially, animism perceives all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, human handiwork, and perhaps even words—as animate and alive. Animism is the oldest known type of system in the world that even predates paganism. It is still practiced in a variety of forms in traditional societies. Although each culture has its own different mythologies and rituals, animism is said to describe the most common, foundational thread of indigenous peoples spiritual or supernatural perspectives. The currently accepted definition of animism was only developed in the late 19th century by Sir Edward Tylor, Animism may further attribute souls to abstract concepts such as words, true names, or metaphors in mythology. Some members of the world also consider themselves animists. Earlier anthropological perspectives – since termed the old animism – were concerned with knowledge surrounding what is alive, the old animism assumed that animists were individuals who were unable to understand the difference between persons and things. Critics of the old animism have accused it of preserving colonialist and dualist worldviews, according to Tylor, animism often includes an idea of pervading life and will in nature, i. e. a belief that natural objects other than humans have souls. This formulation was little different from that proposed by Auguste Comte as fetishism, thus, for Tylor, animism was fundamentally seen as a mistake, a basic error from which all religion grew. The earliest known usage in English appeared in 1819, Tylors definition of animism was a part of a growing international debate on the nature of primitive society by lawyers, theologians, and philologists. The debate defined the field of research of a new science – anthropology and their religion was animism – the belief that natural species and objects had souls. With the development of property, these descent groups were displaced by the emergence of the territorial state. These rituals and beliefs eventually evolved over time into the vast array of developed religions, in 1869, the Edinburgh lawyer, John Ferguson McLellan, argued that the animistic thinking evident in fetishism gave rise to a religion he named Totemism. Primitive people believed, he argued, that they were descended of the species as their totemic animal. Subsequent debate by the armchair anthropologists remained focused on totemism rather than animism, indeed, anthropologists have commonly avoided the issue of Animism and even the term itself rather than revisit this prevalent notion in light of their new and rich ethnographies. Certain indigenous religious groups such as the Australian Aboriginals are more typically totemic, stewart Guthrie saw animism – or attribution as he preferred it – as an evolutionary strategy to aid survival. He argued that humans and other animal species view inanimate objects as potentially alive as a means of being constantly on guard against potential threats
Animism
Animism
–
Edward Tylor developed animism as an anthropological theory
Animism
–
Five Ojibwe chiefs in the 19th century; it was anthropological studies of Ojibwe religion that resulted in the development of the "new animism"
39.
Shamanism
–
The word shaman probably originates from the Tungusic Evenki language of North Asia. The term was introduced to the west after Russian forces conquered the shamanistic Khanate of Kazan in 1552, Mircea Eliade writes, A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be, shamanism = technique of religious ecstasy. Shamanism encompasses the premise that shamans are intermediaries or messengers between the world and the spirit worlds. Shamans are said to treat ailments/illness by mending the soul, alleviating traumas affecting the soul/spirit restores the physical body of the individual to balance and wholeness. The shaman also enters supernatural realms or dimensions to obtain solutions to problems afflicting the community, Shamans may visit other worlds/dimensions to bring guidance to misguided souls and to ameliorate illnesses of the human soul caused by foreign elements. The shaman operates primarily within the world, which in turn affects the human world. The restoration of balance results in the elimination of the ailment, hundreds of books and academic papers on the subject have been produced, with a peer-reviewed academic journal being devoted to the study of shamanism. The word shaman probably originates from the Evenki word šamán, most likely from the dialect spoken by the Sym Evenki peoples. The Tungusic term was adopted by Russians interacting with the indigenous peoples in Siberia. It is found in the memoirs of the exiled Russian churchman Avvakum, adam Brand, a merchant from Lübeck, published in 1698 his account of a Russian embassy to China, a translation of his book, published the same year, introduced the word shaman to English speakers. The etymology of the Evenki word is sometimes connected to a Tungus root ša- to know, other scholars assert that the word comes directly from the Manchu language, and as such would be the only commonly used English word that is a loan from this language. This proposal has been thoroughly critiqued since 1917, ethnolinguist Juha Janhunen regards it as an anachronism and an impossibility that is nothing more than a far-fetched etymology. Ethnolinguists did not develop as a discipline nor achieve contact with these communities until the late 19th century, there is no single agreed-upon definition for the word shamanism among anthropologists. The English historian Ronald Hutton noted that by the dawn of the 21st century, the first of these uses the term to refer to anybody who contacts a spirit world while in an altered state of consciousness. The second definition limits the term to refer to those who contact a spirit world while in a state of consciousness at the behest of others. Problematically, scholars advocating the third view have failed to agree on what the defining technique should be, the fourth definition identified by Hutton uses shamanism to refer to the indigenous religions of Siberia and neighboring parts of Asia. According to the Golomt Center for Shamanic Studies, a Mongolian organisation of shamans, Shamans are normally called by dreams or signs which require lengthy training. However, shamanic powers may be inherited, turner and colleagues mention a phenomenon called shamanistic initiatory crisis, a rite of passage for shamans-to-be, commonly involving physical illness and/or psychological crisis
Shamanism
–
Shaman
Shamanism
–
The earliest known depiction of a Siberian shaman, produced by the Dutch explorer
Nicolaes Witsen, who authored an account of his travels among Samoyedic- and Tungusic-speaking peoples in 1692. Witsen labelled the illustration as a "Priest of the Devil" and gave this figure clawed feet to highlight what Witsen perceived as demonic qualities.
Shamanism
–
Russian postcard based on a photo taken in 1908 by S.I. Borisov, showing a female shaman, of probable
Khakas ethnicity.
Shamanism
–
South Moluccan Shaman exorcising evil spirits occupying children,
Buru. 1920.
40.
Totemism
–
A totem is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage, or tribe. However, the people of those cultures have words for their guardian spirits in their own languages. Totem poles of the Pacific Northwest of North America are monumental poles of heraldry and they feature many different designs that function as crests of families or chiefs. They recount stories owned by families or chiefs, or commemorate special occasions. Totemism is a associated with animistic religions. The totem is usually an animal or other natural figure that represents a group of related people such as a clan. Scottish ethnologist John Ferguson McLennan, following the vogue of 19th-century research, addressed totemism in a perspective in his study The Worship of Animals. McLennan did not seek to explain the origin of the totemistic phenomenon. If the origin of the name was forgotten, Lang argued, through nature myths animals and natural objects were considered as the relatives, patrons, or ancestors of the respective social units. In 1910, Russian American ethnologist Alexander Goldenweiser, subjected totemistic phenomena to sharp criticism, the leading representative of British social anthropology, A. R. As a chief representative of modern structuralism, French ethnologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, poets, and to a lesser extent fiction writers, often use anthropological concepts, including the anthropological understanding of totemism. For this reason literary criticism often resorts to psychoanalytic, anthropological analyses
Totemism
–
Painting by Emily Carr of totem poles that once stood at Blunden Harbour Kwatiutl village in British Columbia, representing the
mana, or spiritual power (rather than spirit) of the village or the clans within it, in this case ancestral spirits rather than animals.
41.
Humanistic psychology
–
It helps the client gain the belief that all people are inherently good. It adopts an approach to human existence and pays special attention to such phenomena as creativity, free will. It encourages viewing ourselves as a whole greater than the sum of our parts. Humanistic psychology acknowledges spiritual aspiration as an part of the human psyche. It is linked to the field of transpersonal psychology. Essentially, this allows the merging of mindfulness and behavioural therapy. More than any other therapy, Humanistic-Existential therapy models democracy and it imposes ideologies of others upon the client less than other therapeutic practices. We validate our clients human potential, in the 20th century, humanistic psychology was referred to as the third force in psychology, distinct from earlier, even less humanistic approaches of psychoanalysis and behaviorism. In our post industrial society, humanistic psychology has become significant, for example. Its principal professional organizations in the US are the Association for Humanistic Psychology, in Britain, there is the UK Association for Humanistic Psychology Practitioners. One of humanistic psychologys early sources was the work of Carl Rogers, who was influenced by Otto Rank. Rogers focus was to ensure that the developmental processes led to healthier, if not more creative, the term actualizing tendency was also coined by Rogers, and was a concept that eventually led Abraham Maslow to study self-actualization as one of the needs of humans. Rogers and Maslow introduced this positive, humanistic psychology in response to what they viewed as the overly pessimistic view of psychoanalysis, the other sources of inspiration include the philosophies of existentialism and phenomenology. The humanistic approach has its roots in phenomenological and existentialist thought, watson and B. F. Skinner, Abraham Maslow gave behaviorism the name the second force. Historically the first force were psychologists like Sigmund Freud, Alfred Adler, Erik Erikson, Carl Jung, Erich Fromm, Karen Horney, Melanie Klein, Harry Stack Sullivan, and others. The five basic principles of psychology are, Human beings, as human. They cannot be reduced to components, Human beings have their existence in a uniquely human context, as well as in a cosmic ecology. Human beings are aware and are aware of being aware - i. e. they are conscious, Human consciousness always includes an awareness of oneself in the context of other people
Humanistic psychology
–
Carl Rogers (1902–1987), one of the founders of humanistic psychology.
42.
Positive psychology
–
Those who practice positive psychology attempt psychological interventions that foster positive attitudes toward ones subjective experiences, individual traits, and life events. The goal is to minimize pathological thoughts that may arise in a hopeless mindset, Other sorts of psychological intervention have often focused on mental illness, which suggests an emphasis on maladaptive behavior and negative thinking. Around the mid-20th century, the humanistic movement encouraged an emphasis on happiness, well-being, a pioneer of this development was Martin Seligman, who made positive psychology his main theme when he became President of the American Psychological Association in 1998. Positive psychologists have suggested a number of ways in which individual happiness may be fostered, Social ties with a spouse, family, friends and wider networks through work, clubs or social organisations are of particular importance. Such things as physical exercise and the practice of meditation also may contribute to happiness, Happiness may rise with increasing financial income, though it may plateau or even fall when no further gains are made. The remainder of this article expands on these and many other themes, Positive psychology complements, without intending to replace or ignore, the traditional areas of psychology. Topics of interest to researchers in the field are, states of pleasure or flow, values, strengths, virtues, talents, as well as the ways that these can be promoted by social systems and institutions. The words, the life are derived from speculation about what holds the greatest value in life – the factors that contribute the most to a well-lived. While not attempting a strict definition of the life, positive psychologists agree that one must live a happy, engaged. Martin Seligman referred to the life as using your signature strengths every day to produce authentic happiness. Positive psychologists are concerned with four topics, positive experiences, enduring psychological traits, positive relationships, some thinkers and researchers, like Seligman, have collected data to support the development of guiding theories. Research from this branch of psychology has been applied in various ways, the basic premise of positive psychology is that human beings are often drawn by the future more than they are driven by the past. L. M. Keyes and Shane Lopez illustrate the four typologies of mental functioning, flourishing, struggling, floundering and languishing. However, complete mental health is a combination of high emotional well-being, high psychological well-being, most psychologists focus on a persons most basic emotions. There are thought to be between seven and fifteen basic emotions, the emotions can be combined in many ways to create more subtle variations of emotional experience. This suggests that any attempt to eliminate negative emotions from our life would have the unintended consequence of losing the variety and subtlety of our most profound emotional experiences. Efforts to increase positive emotions will not automatically result in decreased negative emotions, nor will decreased negative emotions necessarily result in increased positive emotions. The International Positive Psychology Association is an established association that has expanded to thousands of members from 80 different countries. ”In cognitive therapy
Positive psychology
–
To
Martin Seligman, psychology (particularly its positive branch) can investigate and promote realistic ways of fostering more well-being in individuals and communities.
Positive psychology
–
The "Remembering self" may not be the best source of information for pleasing the "Experiencing self"
Positive psychology
–
Money, once one reaches middle class, may be best spent ensuring one's job and social ties are enjoyable
Positive psychology
–
According to Peterson, the Buddhist saying that "Life is Suffering" can be understood as a reality that humans must accept, as well as a call to cultivate virtues.
43.
Neurotheology
–
Neurotheology, also known as spiritual neuroscience, attempts to explain religious experience and behaviour in neuroscientific terms. It is the study of correlations of neural phenomena with subjective experiences of spirituality and this contrasts with the psychology of religion which studies mental, rather than neural, states. Proponents of neurotheology say there is a neurological and evolutionary basis for subjective experiences traditionally categorized as spiritual or religious, the field has formed the basis of several popular science books, but has received criticism from psychologists. Neurotheology is a neologism that describes the study of the neural correlates of religious or spiritual beliefs. Other researchers prefer to use terms like spiritual neuroscience or neuroscience of religion, the discipline studies the cognitive neuroscience of religious experience and spirituality. The term is sometimes used in a less scientific context or a philosophical context. Some of these uses, according to the scientific community. Huxley used it mainly in a philosophical context, the use of the term neurotheology in published scientific work is currently uncommon. A search on the indexing service provided by Institute for Scientific Information returns five articles. Three of these are published in the journal Zygon, Journal of Religion & Science, work on the neural basis of spirituality has, however, occurred sporadically throughout the 20th century. According to McKinney, neurotheology sources the basis of inquiry in relatively recent developmental neurophysiology. According to McKinneys theory, pre-frontal development, in humans, creates an illusion of time as a fundamental part of normal adult cognition past the age of three. The experience of death as a regression into timelessness as the brain dies won praise from readers as varied as author Arthur C. Clarke, eminent theologian Harvey Cox, and the Dalai Lama, in other words, the sensation that Buddhists call oneness with the universe. However, it has also argued that neurotheology should be conceived and practiced within a theological framework. Various theories regarding the origin of religion and the evolutionary psychology of religion have been proposed. He was awarded the Templeton Prize before his death in 1985 and his successor David Hay suggested in God’s Biologist, A life of Alister Hardy that the RERC later dispersed as investigators turned to newer techniques of scientific investigation. This work has been criticised, though some researchers have published a replication of one God Helmet experiment, Granqvist et al. claimed that Persingers work was not double-blind
Neurotheology
–
Basic science
44.
Latin
–
Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Latin alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets, Latin was originally spoken in Latium, in the Italian Peninsula. Through the power of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language, Vulgar Latin developed into the Romance languages, such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Romanian. Latin, Italian and French have contributed many words to the English language, Latin and Ancient Greek roots are used in theology, biology, and medicine. By the late Roman Republic, Old Latin had been standardised into Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin was the colloquial form spoken during the same time and attested in inscriptions and the works of comic playwrights like Plautus and Terence. Late Latin is the language from the 3rd century. Later, Early Modern Latin and Modern Latin evolved, Latin was used as the language of international communication, scholarship, and science until well into the 18th century, when it began to be supplanted by vernaculars. Ecclesiastical Latin remains the language of the Holy See and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. Today, many students, scholars and members of the Catholic clergy speak Latin fluently and it is taught in primary, secondary and postsecondary educational institutions around the world. The language has been passed down through various forms, some inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed, monumental, multivolume series, the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Authors and publishers vary, but the format is about the same, volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenance, the reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy. The works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part and they are in part the subject matter of the field of classics. The Cat in the Hat, and a book of fairy tales, additional resources include phrasebooks and resources for rendering everyday phrases and concepts into Latin, such as Meissners Latin Phrasebook. The Latin influence in English has been significant at all stages of its insular development. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek words, dubbed inkhorn terms, as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by the author and then forgotten, many of the most common polysyllabic English words are of Latin origin through the medium of Old French. Romance words make respectively 59%, 20% and 14% of English, German and those figures can rise dramatically when only non-compound and non-derived words are included. Accordingly, Romance words make roughly 35% of the vocabulary of Dutch, Roman engineering had the same effect on scientific terminology as a whole
Latin
–
Latin inscription, in the
Colosseum
Latin
–
Julius Caesar 's
Commentarii de Bello Gallico is one of the most famous classical Latin texts of the Golden Age of Latin. The unvarnished, journalistic style of this
patrician general has long been taught as a model of the urbane Latin officially spoken and written in the floruit of the
Roman republic.
Latin
–
A multi-volume Latin dictionary in the
University Library of Graz
Latin
–
Latin and Ancient Greek Language - Culture - Linguistics at
Duke University in 2014.
45.
English language
–
English /ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ/ is a West Germanic language that was first spoken in early medieval England and is now the global lingua franca. Named after the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes that migrated to England, English is either the official language or one of the official languages in almost 60 sovereign states. It is the third most common language in the world, after Mandarin. It is the most widely learned second language and a language of the United Nations, of the European Union. It is the most widely spoken Germanic language, accounting for at least 70% of speakers of this Indo-European branch, English has developed over the course of more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the century, are called Old English. Middle English began in the late 11th century with the Norman conquest of England, Early Modern English began in the late 15th century with the introduction of the printing press to London and the King James Bible, and the start of the Great Vowel Shift. Through the worldwide influence of the British Empire, modern English spread around the world from the 17th to mid-20th centuries, English is an Indo-European language, and belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages. Most closely related to English are the Frisian languages, and English, Old Saxon and its descendent Low German languages are also closely related, and sometimes Low German, English, and Frisian are grouped together as the Ingvaeonic or North Sea Germanic languages. Modern English descends from Middle English, which in turn descends from Old English, particular dialects of Old and Middle English also developed into a number of other English languages, including Scots and the extinct Fingallian and Forth and Bargy dialects of Ireland. English is classified as a Germanic language because it shares new language features with other Germanic languages such as Dutch, German and these shared innovations show that the languages have descended from a single common ancestor, which linguists call Proto-Germanic. Through Grimms law, the word for foot begins with /f/ in Germanic languages, English is classified as an Anglo-Frisian language because Frisian and English share other features, such as the palatalisation of consonants that were velar consonants in Proto-Germanic. The earliest form of English is called Old English or Anglo-Saxon, in the fifth century, the Anglo-Saxons settled Britain and the Romans withdrew from Britain. England and English are named after the Angles, Old English was divided into four dialects, the Anglian dialects, Mercian and Northumbrian, and the Saxon dialects, Kentish and West Saxon. Through the educational reforms of King Alfred in the century and the influence of the kingdom of Wessex. The epic poem Beowulf is written in West Saxon, and the earliest English poem, Modern English developed mainly from Mercian, but the Scots language developed from Northumbrian. A few short inscriptions from the period of Old English were written using a runic script. By the sixth century, a Latin alphabet was adopted, written with half-uncial letterforms and it included the runic letters wynn ⟨ƿ⟩ and thorn ⟨þ⟩, and the modified Latin letters eth ⟨ð⟩, and ash ⟨æ⟩
English language
–
The opening to the Old English epic poem
Beowulf,
handwritten in
half-uncial script: Hƿæt ƿē Gārde/na ingēar dagum þēod cyninga / þrym ge frunon... "Listen! We of the Spear-Danes from days of yore have heard of the glory of the folk-kings..."
English language
–
Countries of the world where English is a majority native language
English language
–
Title page of Geoffrey Chaucer's
Canterbury Tales c.1400
46.
Paranormal
–
A paranormal phenomenon is different from hypothetical concepts such as dark matter and dark energy. Unlike paranormal phenomena, these concepts are based on empirical observations. The most notable paranormal beliefs include those that pertain to ghosts, extraterrestrial life, unidentified flying objects, psychic abilities or extrasensory perception, the term paranormal has existed in the English language since at least 1920. The word consists of two parts, para and normal, the definition implies that the scientific explanation of the world around us is normal and anything that is above, beyond, or contrary to that is para. On the classification of paranormal subjects, Terence Hines in his book Pseudoscience, what sets the paranormal apart from other pseudosciences is a reliance on explanations for alleged phenomena that are well outside the bounds of established science. Thus, paranormal phenomena include extrasensory perception, telekinesis, ghosts, poltergeists, life after death, reincarnation, faith healing, human auras, the explanations for these allied phenomena are phrased in vague terms of psychic forces, human energy fields, and so on. This is in contrast to many pseudoscientific explanations for other nonparanormal phenomena, in traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is a manifestation of the spirit or soul of a person. Alternative theories expand on that idea and include belief in the ghosts of deceased animals, sometimes the term ghost is used synonymously with any spirit or demon, however in popular usage the term typically refers to a deceased persons spirit. The belief in ghosts as souls of the departed is closely tied to the concept of animism, as the 19th-century anthropologist George Frazer explained in his classic work, The Golden Bough, souls were seen as the creature within that animated the body. Although the evidence for ghosts is largely anecdotal, the belief in ghosts throughout history has remained widespread, the possibility of extraterrestrial life is not, by itself, a paranormal subject. Many scientists are engaged in the search for unicellular life within the solar system, carrying out studies on the surface of Mars. Projects such as SETI are conducting a search for radio activity that would show evidence of intelligent life outside the solar system. Scientific theories of how life developed on Earth allow for the possibility that life developed on other planets as well, the paranormal aspect of extraterrestrial life centers largely around the belief in unidentified flying objects and the phenomena said to be associated with them. Early in the history of UFO culture, believers divided themselves into two camps, the first held a rather conservative view of the phenomena, interpreting them as unexplained occurrences that merited serious study. They began calling themselves ufologists in the 1950s and felt that logical analysis of sighting reports would validate the notion of extraterrestrial visitation, the second camp consisted of individuals who coupled ideas of extraterrestrial visitation with beliefs from existing quasi-religious movements. These individuals typically were enthusiasts of occultism and the paranormal, many had backgrounds as active Theosophists, Spiritualists, or were followers of other esoteric doctrines. In contemporary times, many of these beliefs have coalesced into New Age spiritual movements, both secular and spiritual believers describe UFOs as having abilities beyond what are considered possible according to known aerodynamic constraints and physical laws. The transitory events surrounding many UFO sightings also limits the opportunity for repeat testing required by the scientific method, acceptance of UFO theories by the larger scientific community is further hindered by the many possible hoaxes associated with UFO culture
Paranormal
–
Medium Eva Carrière photographed in 1912, with an apparent light appearing between her hands.
Paranormal
–
Charles Fort, 1920. Fort is perhaps the most widely known collector of paranormal stories.
Paranormal
–
Participant of a
Ganzfeld experiment which proponents say may show evidence of
telepathy.
Paranormal
–
James Randi is a well-known investigator of paranormal claims.
47.
Measurable
–
In mathematical analysis, a measure on a set is a systematic way to assign a number to each suitable subset of that set, intuitively interpreted as its size. In this sense, a measure is a generalization of the concepts of length, area, for instance, the Lebesgue measure of the interval in the real numbers is its length in the everyday sense of the word – specifically,1. Technically, a measure is a function that assigns a real number or +∞ to subsets of a set X. It must further be countably additive, the measure of a subset that can be decomposed into a finite number of smaller disjoint subsets, is the sum of the measures of the smaller subsets. In general, if one wants to associate a consistent size to each subset of a set while satisfying the other axioms of a measure. This problem was resolved by defining measure only on a sub-collection of all subsets, the so-called measurable subsets and this means that countable unions, countable intersections and complements of measurable subsets are measurable. Non-measurable sets in a Euclidean space, on which the Lebesgue measure cannot be defined consistently, are complicated in the sense of being badly mixed up with their complement. Indeed, their existence is a consequence of the axiom of choice. Measure theory was developed in stages during the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Émile Borel, Henri Lebesgue, Johann Radon. The main applications of measures are in the foundations of the Lebesgue integral, in Andrey Kolmogorovs axiomatisation of probability theory, probability theory considers measures that assign to the whole set the size 1, and considers measurable subsets to be events whose probability is given by the measure. Ergodic theory considers measures that are invariant under, or arise naturally from, let X be a set and Σ a σ-algebra over X. A function μ from Σ to the real number line is called a measure if it satisfies the following properties, Non-negativity. Countable additivity, For all countable collections i =1 ∞ of pairwise disjoint sets in Σ, μ = ∑ k =1 ∞ μ One may require that at least one set E has finite measure. Then the empty set automatically has measure zero because of countable additivity, because μ = μ = μ + μ + μ + …, which implies that μ =0. If only the second and third conditions of the definition of measure above are met, the pair is called a measurable space, the members of Σ are called measurable sets. If and are two spaces, then a function f, X → Y is called measurable if for every Y-measurable set B ∈ Σ Y. A triple is called a measure space, a probability measure is a measure with total measure one – i. e. A probability space is a space with a probability measure
Measurable
–
Informally, a measure has the property of being
monotone in the sense that if A is a
subset of B, the measure of A is less than or equal to the measure of B. Furthermore, the measure of the
empty set is required to be 0.
48.
Science
–
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. The formal sciences are often excluded as they do not depend on empirical observations, disciplines which use science, like engineering and medicine, may also be considered to be applied sciences. However, during the Islamic Golden Age foundations for the method were laid by Ibn al-Haytham in his Book of Optics. In the 17th and 18th centuries, scientists increasingly sought to formulate knowledge in terms of physical laws, over the course of the 19th century, the word science became increasingly associated with the scientific method itself as a disciplined way to study the natural world. It was during this time that scientific disciplines such as biology, chemistry, Science in a broad sense existed before the modern era and in many historical civilizations. Modern science is distinct in its approach and successful in its results, Science in its original sense was a word for a type of knowledge rather than a specialized word for the pursuit of such knowledge. In particular, it was the type of knowledge which people can communicate to each other, for example, knowledge about the working of natural things was gathered long before recorded history and led to the development of complex abstract thought. This is shown by the construction of calendars, techniques for making poisonous plants edible. For this reason, it is claimed these men were the first philosophers in the strict sense and they were mainly speculators or theorists, particularly interested in astronomy. In contrast, trying to use knowledge of nature to imitate nature was seen by scientists as a more appropriate interest for lower class artisans. A clear-cut distinction between formal and empirical science was made by the pre-Socratic philosopher Parmenides, although his work Peri Physeos is a poem, it may be viewed as an epistemological essay on method in natural science. Parmenides ἐὸν may refer to a system or calculus which can describe nature more precisely than natural languages. Physis may be identical to ἐὸν and he criticized the older type of study of physics as too purely speculative and lacking in self-criticism. He was particularly concerned that some of the early physicists treated nature as if it could be assumed that it had no intelligent order, explaining things merely in terms of motion and matter. The study of things had been the realm of mythology and tradition, however. Aristotle later created a less controversial systematic programme of Socratic philosophy which was teleological and he rejected many of the conclusions of earlier scientists. For example, in his physics, the sun goes around the earth, each thing has a formal cause and final cause and a role in the rational cosmic order. Motion and change is described as the actualization of potentials already in things, while the Socratics insisted that philosophy should be used to consider the practical question of the best way to live for a human being, they did not argue for any other types of applied science
Science
–
Maize, known in some English-speaking countries as corn, is a large
grain plant domesticated by
indigenous peoples in
Mesoamerica in
prehistoric times.
Science
–
The scale of the universe mapped to the branches of science and the hierarchy of science.
Science
–
Aristotle, 384 BC – 322 BC, - one of the early figures in the development of the
scientific method.
Science
–
Galen (129—c.216) noted the optic chiasm is X-shaped. (Engraving from
Vesalius, 1543)
49.
Esotericism
–
Western esotericism is a scholarly term for a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements which have developed within Western society. They are largely distinct both from orthodox Judeo-Christian religion and from Enlightenment rationalism, the idea of categorising a wide range of Western traditions and philosophies together under the rubric that we now term esotericism developed in Europe during the late seventeenth century. Various academics have debated the definition of Western esotericism, with a number of different options proposed. One scholarly model adopts its definition of esotericism from certain esotericist schools of thought themselves, treating esotericism as a perennialist hidden, a second perspective sees esotericism as a category that encompasses world-views which seek to embrace an enchanted world-view in the face of increasing de-enchantment. The 19th century saw the emergence of new trends of thought that have come to be known as occultism. Prominent groups in this included the Theosophical Society and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Modern Paganism developed within occultism, and includes religious movements such as Wicca, Esoteric ideas permeated the counterculture of the 1960s and later cultural tendencies, from which emerged the New Age movement in the 1970s. The academic study of Western esotericism only emerged in the late 20th-century, pioneered by scholars like Frances Yates, Esoteric ideas have meanwhile also exerted an influence in popular culture, appearing in art, literature, film, and music. The adjective esoteric first appeared in the second century CE as the Ancient Greek term esôterikós, the noun esotericism, in its French form of lésotérisme, was first used in 1828, by Jacques Matter in his book, Histoire du gnosticisme. The term was popularized by the French occultist and ceremonial magician Eliphas Lévi in the 1850s, Lévi also introduced the term loccultisme, a notion that he developed against the background of contemporary socialist and Catholic discourses. Esotericism and occultism were often employed as synonyms until being distinguished by later scholars, the concept of Western esotericism is a modern scholarly construct rather than a pre-existing, self-defined tradition of thought. The first to do so was Ehregott Daniel Colberg, a German Lutheran who wrote Platonisch-Hermetisches Christianity, various academics have emphasised the idea that esotericism is a phenomenon unique to the Western world, as Faivre stated, an empirical perspective would hold that esotericism is a Western notion. As scholars such as Faivre and Hanegraaff have pointed out, there is no category of Eastern or Oriental esotericism. The emphasis on Western esotericism was nevertheless primarily devised to distinguish the field from a universal esotericism, Hanegraaff has characterised these as recognisable world views and approaches to knowledge that have played an important although always controversial role in the history of Western culture. This attitude was endorsed by Egil Asprem, nevertheless, esotericism itself remains a controversial term, with scholars specialising in the subject disagreeing as to how it can best be defined. It subsequently became a popular approach within several esoteric movements, most notably Martinism and Traditionalism, within the academic field of religious studies, those who study different religions in search of an inner, universal dimension to them all are termed religionists. Such religionist ideas also exerted an influence on more recent scholars like Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, there are various problems with this model for understanding Western esotericism. The most significant is that is rests upon the conviction that there really is a universal, hidden, moreover, Hanegraaff noted that when scholars adopt this definition, it shows that they subscribe to the religious doctrines which are espoused by the very groups that they are studying
Esotericism
–
The
tree of life as represented in the Kabbalah, containing the
Sephiroth.
Esotericism
–
A colored version of the 1888
Flammarion engraving
Esotericism
–
A later illustration of Hermes Trismegistus
Esotericism
–
Hypnotic séance. Painting by Swedish artist
Richard Bergh, 1887
50.
John Dee
–
John Dee was an English mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, occult philosopher, and advisor to Queen Elizabeth I. He devoted much of his life to the study of alchemy, divination and he was also an advocate of Englands imperial expansion. Dee straddled the worlds of science and magic just as they were becoming distinguishable, one of the most learned men of his age, he had been invited to lecture on the geometry of Euclid at the University of Paris while still in his early twenties. Dee was an ardent promoter of mathematics and an astronomer, as well as a leading expert in navigation. Simultaneously with these efforts, Dee immersed himself in the worlds of magic, astrology, in his lifetime, Dee amassed one of the largest libraries in England. His high status as a scholar also allowed him to play a role in Elizabethan politics and he served as an occasional advisor and tutor to Elizabeth I and nurtured relationships with her ministers Francis Walsingham and William Cecil. Dee also tutored and enjoyed patronage relationships with Sir Philip Sidney, his uncle Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester and he also enjoyed patronage from Sir Christopher Hatton. Dee was born in Tower Ward, London, to Rowland Dee of Welsh descent and his surname Dee derived from the Welsh du, his grandfather was Bedo Ddu of Nant-y-groes, Pilleth, Radnorshire, and John retained his connection with the locality. His father Roland was a mercer and gentleman courtier to Henry VIII, John Dee claimed to be a descendant of Rhodri the Great, Prince of Wales and constructed a pedigree showing his descent from Rhodri. Dees family arrived in London in the wake of Henry Tudors coronation as Henry VII, Jane Dee was the daughter of William Wild. Dee attended the Chelmsford Chantry School from 1535 to 1542 and he entered St Johns College, Cambridge, in November 1542, aged 15, graduating BA in 1545 or early 1546. His abilities recognised, he became a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. At Trinity, the stage effects he produced for a production of Aristophanes Peace procured him the reputation of being a magician that clung to him through life. In the late 1540s and early 1550s, he travelled in Europe, studying at Louvain and Brussels, in 1552, he met Gerolamo Cardano in London, during their acquaintance they investigated a perpetual motion machine as well as a gem purported to have magical properties. Rector at Upton-upon-Severn from 1553, Dee was offered a readership in mathematics at Oxford in 1554, in 1555, Dee became a member of the Worshipful Company of Mercers, as his father had, through the companys system of patrimony. That same year,1555, he was arrested and charged with calculating for having cast horoscopes of Queen Mary and Princess Elizabeth, Dee appeared in the Star Chamber and exonerated himself, but was turned over to the Catholic Bishop Bonner for religious examination. His strong and lifelong penchant for secrecy perhaps worsening matters, this episode was only the most dramatic in a series of attacks. Clearing his name yet again, he became a close associate of Bonner
John Dee
–
A 16th-century portrait by an unknown artist.
John Dee
–
The "Seal of God",
British Museum (see below)
John Dee
–
Dee's
obsidian Aztec "Scrying Mirror" (see below)
John Dee
–
John Dee memorial plaque installed in 2013 inside the church of
St Mary the Virgin Mortlake
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Occult Art, Occultism". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "
