Very well written from my (Aurobindonian) perspective. This is getting tougher in terms of speaking to materialists. I wonder if you could articulate at this point - who is your intended audience? In your first several installments, you speak in a way that even the most stubborn materialist would have to sit up and think about before simply rejecting it.
I wonder how much one can reliably communicate with skeptics about such things as the soul without shifting from a purely intellectual presentation to something practice oriented. You mention this briefly in your first footnote but I wonder - perhaps in a future segment - if a wholly experiential presentation might not be more powerful for the holdouts.
In any case, I did find it evocative and persuasive, but then, I'm a member of the choir (even if not such a good singer) you're preaching to:>)
Right. But I guess the materialistic skeptics have already given up reading at the latest from part II/III onwards. I don't see how one could argue convincingly about the soul to a physicalist. If one utters the word 'soul' that's it... Of course one can drag down things and reduce and intellectualize. But what will be left with? Ken Wilber's psychology? I will, however, reconsider if an experiential approach might be useful. The point is that all psychic experiences are conflated in people's mind with the higher vital sensations. Hey... I have an idea! Write a couple of paragraphs on an introspective approach to the psychic being. What about?
About writing a few paragraphs - I could take a few of the most relevant passages we wrote in our yoga psychology book.
Actually, I’ve been having some conversations with people who are mostly into the non dual type impersonal awareness stuff. The idea there is you need years of deep meditation to even touch that realization.
On the contrary, many sincere devotees (particularly those among the indigenous populations, and even more so, among the so called illiterate), have intimations - regularly - of the soul. It requires only an open heart, not a fully silent mind or years of philosophic study.
One can start simply looking at a flower, or an animal, a baby, anything that sparks a sense of wonder, beauty, deep noble goodness. Then take attention away from the object and dive deep into the feeling (not vital, emotional feeling). Then expand attention, allow attention to widen, widen until it embraces all of experience. Then let that psychic feeling expand throughout the field of attention. Do this for even 10-15 seconds at a time on and off throughout the day. More and more, recall this sense of beauty and wonder, expanding attention, looking at the sky, recalling the ocean, the infinity of outer space, and allow that combined sense of deep wondrous beauty with the awesome boundlessness of space.
Then allow “something else” to take over. And be patient. It may be days, weeks, months or even years. But there is a call, a yearning deep in everyone’s heart, that we all can contact. It is what Allah in the Koran refers to when he says “I was a hidden treasure and sought to be known.” And what Paul pointed to when he spoke of all of creating yearning for the return of Christ - that Christ love hidden deep in our hearts but hwich seeps in a mother’s love, and the deep appreciation for the extraordinary violin player now playing here at the Whole Foods where I’m typing this in North Asheville in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
And trust, a non mental heart-based faith - more properly, sraddha - that this warmth, radiance, light and Presence is here in our hearts, and not only here, but here, there and everywhere (and every-when!)
So, if you agree, I would place that (only slightly modified, mentioning the author) in a revised version of the post as follows:
"It requires only an open heart, not a fully silent mind or years of philosophic study. One can start simply looking at a flower, or an animal, a baby, anything that sparks a sense of wonder, beauty, deep noble goodness. Then take attention away from the object and dive deep into the feeling (not vital, emotional feeling). Then expand attention, allow attention to widen, widen until it embraces all of experience. Then let that inner feeling expand throughout the field of attention. Do this for even 10-15 seconds at a time on and off throughout the day. More and more, recall this sense of beauty and wonder, expanding attention, looking at the sky, recalling the ocean, the infinity of outer space, and allow that combined sense of deep wondrous beauty with the awesome boundlessness of space. Then allow “something else” to take over. And be patient. It may be days, weeks, months or even years. But there is a call, a yearning deep in everyone’s heart, that we all can contact. It is what Allah in the Koran refers to when he says “I was a hidden treasure and sought to be known.” And what Paul pointed to when he spoke of all of creating yearning for the return of Christ - that Christ's love hidden deep in our hearts but which seeps in a mother’s love, or the deep appreciation for the extraordinary violin player. And trust, a non mental heart-based faith, that this warmth, radiance, light and Presence is here in our hearts, and not only here, but here, there and everywhere (and every-when!)"
You know, it just struck me. You've inadvertently touched on the very thing which makes this so difficult.
You can get people to agree - up to a point - on the essential intellectual fundamentals, and it won't move them one step forward to understanding the post material future.
And you get evoke to some extent both impersonal non dual awareness as well as more personal, intimate soul experience. And it won't necessarily help them even minimally to gain greater understanding.
The way to connect both of these - the higher mind/intellectual understanding and inner experience (genuine, not New Age) is the key, and I'm afraid I can't think of any examples to emulate (you and I are both trying - hopefully next year when I can work on this (and play with it!) full time we can find more people interested in helping out.
Sam Harris is a good example of how not to do it. He has at least a mediocre understanding of the intellectual/philosophic/scientific issues, and at least a mediocre capacity for genuine experience, but he sees the experiential part as simply personal subjectivity not shining any light on "Reality" (as he put it once, "You don't learn anything about the real world by meditating in a cave.")
Astonishing as it was to me, Ken Wilber makes the same kind of separation that Harris does (meditation tells you a lot about phenomenological experience, he says, but nothing about the empirical physical world or about complex psychological phenomena).
Paul Brunton actually did a pretty good job, but his language, from the 1930s and 1940s, seems impenetrable for many modern readers.
Very well written from my (Aurobindonian) perspective. This is getting tougher in terms of speaking to materialists. I wonder if you could articulate at this point - who is your intended audience? In your first several installments, you speak in a way that even the most stubborn materialist would have to sit up and think about before simply rejecting it.
I wonder how much one can reliably communicate with skeptics about such things as the soul without shifting from a purely intellectual presentation to something practice oriented. You mention this briefly in your first footnote but I wonder - perhaps in a future segment - if a wholly experiential presentation might not be more powerful for the holdouts.
In any case, I did find it evocative and persuasive, but then, I'm a member of the choir (even if not such a good singer) you're preaching to:>)
Right. But I guess the materialistic skeptics have already given up reading at the latest from part II/III onwards. I don't see how one could argue convincingly about the soul to a physicalist. If one utters the word 'soul' that's it... Of course one can drag down things and reduce and intellectualize. But what will be left with? Ken Wilber's psychology? I will, however, reconsider if an experiential approach might be useful. The point is that all psychic experiences are conflated in people's mind with the higher vital sensations. Hey... I have an idea! Write a couple of paragraphs on an introspective approach to the psychic being. What about?
Love your comment on Wilber.
About writing a few paragraphs - I could take a few of the most relevant passages we wrote in our yoga psychology book.
Actually, I’ve been having some conversations with people who are mostly into the non dual type impersonal awareness stuff. The idea there is you need years of deep meditation to even touch that realization.
On the contrary, many sincere devotees (particularly those among the indigenous populations, and even more so, among the so called illiterate), have intimations - regularly - of the soul. It requires only an open heart, not a fully silent mind or years of philosophic study.
One can start simply looking at a flower, or an animal, a baby, anything that sparks a sense of wonder, beauty, deep noble goodness. Then take attention away from the object and dive deep into the feeling (not vital, emotional feeling). Then expand attention, allow attention to widen, widen until it embraces all of experience. Then let that psychic feeling expand throughout the field of attention. Do this for even 10-15 seconds at a time on and off throughout the day. More and more, recall this sense of beauty and wonder, expanding attention, looking at the sky, recalling the ocean, the infinity of outer space, and allow that combined sense of deep wondrous beauty with the awesome boundlessness of space.
Then allow “something else” to take over. And be patient. It may be days, weeks, months or even years. But there is a call, a yearning deep in everyone’s heart, that we all can contact. It is what Allah in the Koran refers to when he says “I was a hidden treasure and sought to be known.” And what Paul pointed to when he spoke of all of creating yearning for the return of Christ - that Christ love hidden deep in our hearts but hwich seeps in a mother’s love, and the deep appreciation for the extraordinary violin player now playing here at the Whole Foods where I’m typing this in North Asheville in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
And trust, a non mental heart-based faith - more properly, sraddha - that this warmth, radiance, light and Presence is here in our hearts, and not only here, but here, there and everywhere (and every-when!)
PERFECT!!! You couldn't describe it out better!
So, if you agree, I would place that (only slightly modified, mentioning the author) in a revised version of the post as follows:
"It requires only an open heart, not a fully silent mind or years of philosophic study. One can start simply looking at a flower, or an animal, a baby, anything that sparks a sense of wonder, beauty, deep noble goodness. Then take attention away from the object and dive deep into the feeling (not vital, emotional feeling). Then expand attention, allow attention to widen, widen until it embraces all of experience. Then let that inner feeling expand throughout the field of attention. Do this for even 10-15 seconds at a time on and off throughout the day. More and more, recall this sense of beauty and wonder, expanding attention, looking at the sky, recalling the ocean, the infinity of outer space, and allow that combined sense of deep wondrous beauty with the awesome boundlessness of space. Then allow “something else” to take over. And be patient. It may be days, weeks, months or even years. But there is a call, a yearning deep in everyone’s heart, that we all can contact. It is what Allah in the Koran refers to when he says “I was a hidden treasure and sought to be known.” And what Paul pointed to when he spoke of all of creating yearning for the return of Christ - that Christ's love hidden deep in our hearts but which seeps in a mother’s love, or the deep appreciation for the extraordinary violin player. And trust, a non mental heart-based faith, that this warmth, radiance, light and Presence is here in our hearts, and not only here, but here, there and everywhere (and every-when!)"
Beautiful, thank you.
Great... and now I'm waiting for the avalanche of un-subscriptions. 😄
You know, it just struck me. You've inadvertently touched on the very thing which makes this so difficult.
You can get people to agree - up to a point - on the essential intellectual fundamentals, and it won't move them one step forward to understanding the post material future.
And you get evoke to some extent both impersonal non dual awareness as well as more personal, intimate soul experience. And it won't necessarily help them even minimally to gain greater understanding.
The way to connect both of these - the higher mind/intellectual understanding and inner experience (genuine, not New Age) is the key, and I'm afraid I can't think of any examples to emulate (you and I are both trying - hopefully next year when I can work on this (and play with it!) full time we can find more people interested in helping out.
Sam Harris is a good example of how not to do it. He has at least a mediocre understanding of the intellectual/philosophic/scientific issues, and at least a mediocre capacity for genuine experience, but he sees the experiential part as simply personal subjectivity not shining any light on "Reality" (as he put it once, "You don't learn anything about the real world by meditating in a cave.")
Astonishing as it was to me, Ken Wilber makes the same kind of separation that Harris does (meditation tells you a lot about phenomenological experience, he says, but nothing about the empirical physical world or about complex psychological phenomena).
Paul Brunton actually did a pretty good job, but his language, from the 1930s and 1940s, seems impenetrable for many modern readers.