Thoughts
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Culture as the Ego of a Society
Clifford Geertz, the founder of interpretive anthropology, once described culture as: ‘Believing, with Max Weber, that man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun, I take culture to be those webs, and the analysis of it to be therefore not an experimental science in search of law but an interpretive…
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Stories All the Way Down
690 Words. A few years ago, I started noticing something that initially felt uncomfortable: every idea I hold, about myself and the world, every single one, is exactly that. Just an idea. Some are grounded on facts; others not so much. But they are all just ideas. Something that arrived from somewhere inside or outside,…
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The Leaders of Tomorrow
455 Words As people in Western societies are increasingly exposed to, and experimenting with, what William James, Aldous Huxley, and Houston Smith called ‘mystical empiricism’ — direct-knowledge methodologies such as meditation, holotropic breathwork, and the mindful use of psychedelics and plant medicines — I believe it is likely that the values arising from these experiences,…
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The Trillionaire as a Cultural Failure
A couple of days ago I read the news that a person well known to the West is now a trillionaire. At first, this filled me with sadness, and I found myself thinking that this is a failure of our species. Soon, however, I corrected myself by remembering that this is not really the case.…
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Spiritopia
I often think about what the world would look like if our societies were focused on exploring the mystery of existence instead of their ideological ideas of progress or whatever it is that they pursue. Can you imagine? Imagine what it would be like to live in a world where our scientific method was free…
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The Argument for the Use of Holotropic Research Methods in the Study of Reality v2
The Argument for the Limits of Scientific Methodology in the Investigation of the Fundamental Nature of Reality 1) Observation of natural phenomena by an ‘outside’ observer provides data about the behaviour (i.e. what it does) of a given phenomenon. 2) Observation of natural phenomena by an ‘outside’ observer does not provide data about the fundamental nature…
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On the Lack of Meaning and Purpose in Life
Does the question even make sense? Lack of meaning is a lack of peace. Is an inability to stay put, to relax, to feel belonging. It is an emptiness, a deep deep nothing that we always feel in the back of our necks or the bottom of our stomachs – although it may often or…
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Faith and Karma
“Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers but to be fearless in facing them. Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain but for the heart to conquer it. Let me not look for allies in life’s battlefield but to my own strength. Let me not crave in anxious fear to…
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Consciousness Development, Individuation and Recurring Memories
I have noticed that certain situations trigger specific memories, often from my childhood, and that these seem to recur. At first, I thought these memories showed up ‘out of nowhere’. Then, slowly, I realised that they are triggered by the way certain situations make me feel. For example, I noticed that a scene from a…
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Something is always ‘wrong’
I don’t quite remember where I heard/read this, but the speaker/author said something along the lines of: ‘Athletes know that there will never be a day when they compete without pain. The idea of showing up to an event without any pain is not something real. Nevertheless, they show up and they compete.’ This really…
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Trauma Healing and Structural Change in Social Action
I have been working with value-based organisations (advocacy and campaigning, sustainability and/or international development) for a few years now. During this time, when discussing social issues, I often found the following 2 attitudes in people: The first is the one I have come across most often. It seems that this attitude is related to the…
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The Human Mind: Three Thoughts and One Argument
The exploration of the mind is a huge field in itself, with entire disciplines and sub-disciplines – psychology, philosophy of mind, etc. – dedicated to its study. For our discussion, mind can be defined as: an individual’s capacity to think and reason linearly, that is, it understands and explains how the world works through causality (e.g. 1 +…
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The Disappointment of the Ego
Enlightenment is the greatest disappointment of the ego. This is a quote from Ram Dass’ that really hits home. Before delivering it, Ram Dass warns his audience that it will probably not feel ‘right’ when they hear it. It certainly was the case with me. It felt weird, clunky, forced… ‘How can something as “pure”…
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The Argument for the Use of Phenomenological-Mystical Methodology in the Study of Reality
PRECEPTS1) The Limits of Scientific Methodology in the Study of the Fundamental Nature of Reality(Russell, Eddington, Chalmers, Goff) 1) Scientific methodology (as it is today) is based on the observation of phenomena by an ‘outside’ observer. 2) Observation of phenomena by an outside observer provides data about the behaviour of the components concerning a given phenomenon.…
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The Many Crutches in the Spiritual Path
‘Whatever purifies you is the right path, I will not try to define it’ Rumi At some point in our spiritual seeking, we are likely to come across the following discussion: Should one choose only one path and stick with it or try and combine different ones in one’s way towards awakening, enlightenment or whatever one…
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Precepts
These precepts emerged from those rare exchanges where two people attempt to speak honestly about what they’ve glimpsed of truth. They aren’t rules for a specific community or partnership, but guidelines I’ve found important for any conversation that aims beyond mere intellectual exchange toward genuine transformation. 16/01/2015