Within a controlled scientific study one gathers reasoning, understanding and conclusion, if so how is it possible to put
spirituality through the constraints of a controlled study then ?
Mysticism should be considered imagination and nothing else.
ACHIEVE YOUR "BLISS", spirituality, cosmic consciousness HERE!
by Terry 37 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Homerovah the Almighty
The imagination can be sold can it not the WTS. has proven very well that it can.
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Sirona
Noone said that "spirituality" was put through controlled study.
Sirona
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Homerovah the Almighty
By the way I loved that psychological profile of the WTS book publishing company that Terry did.
its discussions like this that would make one of the boys in Brooklyn squirm in their seats !
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Satanus
Science simply doesn't deal on this subject.
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Satanus
'The MYSTICS create their own language of vague non-meaning. The vocabulary of the Mystic contains words which mean what they want them to mean.'
Actually, quite a few of the new age practices and terms have equivalents in the ancient sanskrit and hindu religion. That is like 3000 yrs old, or more. In those writings, quite a lot of effort has been put into describing the terms. The hindu relgion is fundamentally different than western religions, in that it isn't a closed system. The various writings are seen as practitioners' take on what is. Thus writings have been added by adepts at various times. Now, don't mark me down as a hindu, cuz i don't know that much about it, other than a few basics. http://selfdiscoveryportal.com/cmSanskrit.htm
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Terry
Wikipedia:
Ambiguities of meaning
The mystic interprets the world through a different lens than is present in ordinary experience, which can prove to be a significant obstacle to those who research mystical teachings and paths. Much like poetry, the words of mystics are often idiosyncratic and esoteric, can seem confusing and opaque, simultaneously over-simplified and full of subtle meanings hidden from the unenlightened. To the mystic, however, they are pragmatic statements, without subtext or weight; simple obvious truths of experience. One of the more famous lines from the Tao Te Ching, for instance, reads:
- My words are very easy to know, and very easy to practice;
- but there is no one in the world who is able to know and able to practice them. (Legge, 70) [4]
References to "the world" are common in mystical and religious traditions including admonitions to be separate and the call to detachment which is analogous to emptiness. One key to enigmatic expressions lies in the perspective that "the world" of appearances reflects only learned beliefs - based on the limitations of time, culture and relationships - and that unquestioned faith in those misperceptions limits one's return to the divine state. The cloaking of such insights to the uninitiated is an age-old tradition; the malleableness of reality was thought to pose a significant danger to those harboring impurities.
Readers frequently encounter seemingly open-ended statements among studies of mysticism throughout its history. In his work, Kabbalah, Gershom Scholem, a prominent 20th century scholar of that field, stated: The Kabbalah is not a single system with basic principles which can be explained in a simple and straightforward fashion, but consists rather of a multiplicity of different approaches, widely separated from one another and sometimes completely contradictory [5
Hmmmm.....
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caliber
The very nature of life and death are mystical. These intangible realities cannot be seen, heard, or felt in the physical sense, but they exist. In life, there exists that which cannot be held in your hand, or measured, or scientifically tested for their existence; things like belief, friendship, and love.
How can abstract things be measured anyway ?
What applies to love applies to all abstract things.. in following quote
" Love doesn't make the world go around;love is what makes the ride worthwhile !"
Caliber
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Satanus
I know very little about kaballa. However, the rest of the quote seems accurate. Perhaps, the reason for the ambiguities and the veiling has to do w the very personal nature of mysticism. Perhaps, they tend to guard some of their experiences. Mysticism has many paths, perhaps as many as there are mystics. Laotzu's path wasn't the same as mine. Maybe, the first task of a would be mystic, or a seeker, is to deal w his own stuff. Mysticism isn't a one size fits all. It's not like your standard religions, w dogmas, power structures, faith, core doctrines (although, there do seem to be certain core discoveries by each mystic) and organizations (although there are orgs by which an interested person could be helped along. Vipassana retreats are an example. http://www.dhamma.org/en/vipassana.shtml ) Heck, it's not even a religion. It's more of a personal journey, the journey of each mystic. There may be no goal, on this journey, except personal evolution.
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Terry
The very nature of life and death are mystical. These intangible realities cannot be seen, heard, or felt in the physical sense, but they exist. In life, there exists that which cannot be held in your hand, or measured, or scientifically tested for their existence; things like belief, friendship, and love.
How can abstract things be measured anyway ?
What applies to love applies to all abstract things.. in following quote
" Love doesn't make the world go around;love is what makes the ride worthwhile !"
Maybe I can shed some light on your question, if you don't mind.
"How can abstract things be measured, anyway?"
Things cannot be abstract, that is the first wrong premise in your question.
Look at your computer screen. There is a background and a foreground. The letters of these words stand out as black against a white background. The contrast and the difference between the background and the foreground allows you to perform an ABSTRACTION.
The act itself is the ABSTRACT, not the thing.
What is this process? Why do we do it? How does it help us form concepts?
Mentally separating attributes, motions, or numbers from entities allows us to make sense and meaning out of the components.
Abstracting is like tasting a wine, for example. You swish the separate components of the wine around your taste buds and compile a mental list of Pros and Cons in determining vintage, flavor,quality, etc.
It is how we learn, how we descriminate, how we form genus and differentia which builds our knowledge base and makes it accessible.
Otherwise, we must know every single thing INDIVIDUALLY per se rather than being able to GENERALIZE about types, forms, categories and modes.
I hope this clarifies the abstraction process for you.