The article is the first part of a cycle of texts devoted to the profile and piano works of Alexander Scriabin. The composer had an extraordinary piano talent and the ability of coloured hearing. He worked out an innovative musical language based on a unique harmonic style. He was an unprecedented visionary of art, he had knowledge on philosophical topics, he was also a mystic who wanted to...
June 14, 2018Scott L. Lipp, Carman S. Gill, Ryan D. Foster2 citations
This chapter explores the development of transpersonal counseling by expounding upon its early foundations in the late 1960s and early 1970s. From a spiritual perspective, the authors review the concepts of those who influenced the development of transpersonal theory, including Carl Jung, William James, Abraham Maslow, Stanislav Grof, Stanley Krippner, and Ken Wilber. Next, the authors describe...
ABSTRACT Increasingly reported in contemporary times, exceptional human experiences (EHEs) are unusual spontaneous occurrences deviating from common perceptions about the nature of reality. Previous literature attests to the transformative influence EHEs exert on those who have them, which can include feeling a greater sense of spirituality. Our study investigated the relationship between EHEs...
This study represents as an attempt to make sense of a rather curious coincidence. In Philip K. Dick's novel A scanner darkly (1973-1977), a character named Tony Amsterdam experiences a mystical vision after an acid trip. God appears to him in the form of «showers of colored sparks, like when something goes wrong with your TV set». In the same year 1973, a young Bill Viola creates Information,...
Abstract The following article aims at highlighting the mythic elements inherent in Muḥyī l-Dīn Ibn al-ʿArabī’s teachings on the Divine names. The article begins with a very general introduction to the subject of Divine names in Islamic mysticism and then proceeds to clarify the meaning of the term “mythic” as it is used in this study. The core of the article is devoted to an examination of...
This chapter examines the ecological significance of cosmic consciousness and its relevance to both our historical and contemporary understanding of Spiritual but Not Religious (SBNR). Drawing on the work of Walt Whitman, Richard M. Bucke, and Edward Carpenter, the chapter suggests that the concept of cosmic consciousness presents an alternative way of thinking about nature that can be utilized...
This chapter introduces the book’s core ideas and some of the principal issues raised. Beginning with a discussion of Michel Foucault’s understanding of “technologies of the self,” it explores how drugs might be understood as “technologies of transcendence”—technologies that have the power to subvert dominant readings of reality. As such, they are always countercultural. By inducing the...
For a number of complex reasons, humans are fascinated by drugs and altered states. Even if only momentarily, psychoactive substances lift people out of the ennui and pain of their everyday lives and, in some cases, introduce them to new visions of reality. It is no surprise, therefore, that the use of recreational drugs is rising. While, sadly, this also means that levels of addiction are...
Images have often been looked at as second-class citizens in Western thought. For Plato, they were useful to help climb the ladder towards Pure Idea. Sensation, image, feeling were potential facilitators on the way to Pure Form. For Aristotle, the goal was to reach and exercise the pinnacle of cognition, active reason, a divine attribute. In philosophical writings, one could hear sensation and...
This pluralistic spirit is carried forward into Chapter 4 , in which the author discusses four ways of practicing the religious life, the ways of knowledge, devotion, works, and mystical experience. He provides instructive examples of each of these ways, showing how each of them ties into an essential aspect of religion and how each of them affects and interfuses the others. These are modes of...